ABSTRACT 3D modeling of cultural heritage objects is an expanding application area. The selection of the right technology is very important and strictly related to the project requirements, budget and user’s experience. The triangulation based active sensors, e.g. structured light systems are used for many kinds of 3D object reconstruction tasks and in particular for 3D recording of cultural heritage objects. This study presents the experiences in the results of two such projects in which a close-range structured light system is used for the 3D dig- itization. The paper includes the essential steps of the 3D object modeling pipeline, i.e. digitization, registration, surface triangulation, editing, texture mapping and visualization. The capabilities of the used hardware and sotware are addressed. Particular emphasis is given to a coded structured light system as an option for data acquisition. 3D MODELING OF CULTURAL HERITAGE OBJECTS WITH A STRUCTURED LIGHT SYSTEM Devrim Akca Department of Information Technologies, Isik University, TR-34980, Sile, Istanbul, Turkey Formerly, at the Institute of Geodesy and Photogrammetry, ETH Zurich, CH-8093 Zurich, Switzerland. Corresponding author:akca@isikun.edu.tr Received: 16/05/2011 Accepted: 10/10/2011 KEYWORDS: active sensors, 3D point cloud, scanning, registration, surface triangulation, visualization Mediterranean Arhaeology and Archaeometry, Vol. 12, No 1, pp.139-152 Copyright © 2012 MAA Printed in Greece. All rights reserved.