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<front>
<journal-meta>
<journal-id journal-id-type="publisher">ISPRS-Annals</journal-id>
<journal-title-group>
<journal-title>ISPRS Annals of the Photogrammetry, Remote Sensing and Spatial Information Sciences</journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="publisher">ISPRS-Annals</abbrev-journal-title>
<abbrev-journal-title abbrev-type="nlm-ta">ISPRS Ann. Photogramm. Remote Sens. Spatial Inf. Sci.</abbrev-journal-title>
</journal-title-group>
<issn pub-type="epub">2194-9050</issn>
<publisher><publisher-name>Copernicus Publications</publisher-name>
<publisher-loc>Göttingen, Germany</publisher-loc>
</publisher>
</journal-meta>
<article-meta>
<article-id pub-id-type="doi">10.5194/isprs-annals-XI-4-2026-427-2026</article-id>
<title-group>
<article-title>Enhancing Transparent Visualization of Cultural Heritage Point Clouds through Adaptive Opacity Control</article-title>
</title-group>
<contrib-group><contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Nojiri</surname>
<given-names>Hatsuki</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Takatori</surname>
<given-names>Satoshi</given-names>
<ext-link>https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3714-3748</ext-link>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Li</surname>
<given-names>Liang</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Adachi</surname>
<given-names>Motoaki</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff2">
<sup>2</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Feener</surname>
<given-names>R. Michael</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff3">
<sup>3</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
<contrib contrib-type="author" xlink:type="simple"><name name-style="western"><surname>Tanaka</surname>
<given-names>Satoshi</given-names>
</name>
<xref ref-type="aff" rid="aff1">
<sup>1</sup>
</xref>
</contrib>
</contrib-group><aff id="aff1">
<label>1</label>
<addr-line>College of Information Science and Engineering, Ritsumeikan University, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff2">
<label>2</label>
<addr-line>Shrewd Design Co., Ltd., Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<aff id="aff3">
<label>3</label>
<addr-line>Center for Southeast Asian Studies, Kyoto University, Japan</addr-line>
</aff>
<pub-date pub-type="epub">
<day>10</day>
<month>07</month>
<year>2026</year>
</pub-date>
<volume>XI-4-2026</volume>
<fpage>427</fpage>
<lpage>434</lpage>
<permissions>
<copyright-statement>Copyright: &#x000a9; 2026 Hatsuki Nojiri et al.</copyright-statement>
<copyright-year>2026</copyright-year>
<license license-type="open-access">
<license-p>This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License. To view a copy of this licence, visit <ext-link ext-link-type="uri"  xlink:href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/</ext-link></license-p>
</license>
</permissions>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://isprs-annals.copernicus.org/articles/XI-4-2026/427/2026/isprs-annals-XI-4-2026-427-2026.html">This article is available from https://isprs-annals.copernicus.org/articles/XI-4-2026/427/2026/isprs-annals-XI-4-2026-427-2026.html</self-uri>
<self-uri xlink:href="https://isprs-annals.copernicus.org/articles/XI-4-2026/427/2026/isprs-annals-XI-4-2026-427-2026.pdf">The full text article is available as a PDF file from https://isprs-annals.copernicus.org/articles/XI-4-2026/427/2026/isprs-annals-XI-4-2026-427-2026.pdf</self-uri>
<abstract>
<p>Three-dimensional (3D) scanning is widely used to preserve cultural heritage as large-scale point clouds. While these datasets contain rich geometric information, transparent visualization of such massive point clouds often suffers from visual clutter and reduced clarity, particularly when both external and internal structures are involved. Previous work resolved the problem of normal orientations, laying the foundation for robust shading in transparent visualization. Building on this foundation, this paper introduces a novel method of adaptive opacity control for region highlighting, which interprets shading as a distribution of opacity. By adjusting the lighting direction, effective opacity can be locally controlled without modifying the original point cloud data. This mechanism enables selective highlighting of user-specified regions, enhances the visibility of complex structures, while also allowing interactive dynamic shading by continuously changing the lighting direction. The effectiveness of the proposed method is demonstrated using culturally significant heritage point clouds, including UNESCO World Heritage sites, where intricate internal structures can be more clearly analyzed. Beyond cultural heritage, the proposed method is also applicable to modern architectural and other large-scale 3D scanned objects with similarly complex forms.</p>
</abstract>
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