System Restore - Laser scans from 2015 may assist with restoration of Notre Dame

[rcmaehl]

Sources:
Geek
Forbes

 

Summary:
Detailed scans from 2015 (down to 0.2"), from the late Andrew Talon, could help with the eventual detailed restoration of Notre Dame

 

Media:

 

Quotes/Excerpts:

Quote

As the world woke the day after the tragic fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris, France, determination sunk in to rebuild. French billionaires and companies have continued to pledge donations to rebuild and restore the Notre Dame Cathedral, currently topping $670 million. While the desire and financial support to rebuild Notre Dame will likely not be a hurdle, there remains the difficult task of accurately restoring the cathedral. The whole world owes great gratitude to the late art historian and Vassar College professor, Andrew Tallon. Tallon began exploring the use of laser scanning. In 2015 Tallon meticulously mapped Notre Dame Cathedral using laser scanners mounted on a tripod. These devices scan the surrounding three-dimensional area sending out laser beam sweeps. The device then measured the distance between every point the laser hits and the device itself...with an accuracy of 5 millimeters. Tallon conducted these surveys from 50 locations throughout. He collected over 1 billion points of data. On top of that, Tallon took spherical panoramic photographs from the exact spot as the laser scanner. He then tied in each laser point collected to a pixel color from the photograph. What this produced is truly exquisite. A photorealistic 3-D replication of Notre Dame .

 

My Thoughts:

As much as this is good news, I feel at least some sadness Andrew is not around to see the results of his work put to good use. Regardless, with todays masses of information, images, pictures, and especially Andrew's detailed scans of the building. I'm sure the restoration of Notre Dame will go without a hitch. It's amazing what we can achieve with today's technology.

[Arika]

If they use the scans from Assassin's creed Unity like I've seen posted everywhere, the spire would be inverted, part of the roof will be "ripped" out to the horizon and glitching around every few seconds.

 

if they don't make a stained glass window of this on the rebuild, what is even the point?

 

[Doobeedoo]

They can use AC as reference too

[ZestyJalapeno]

 

6 minutes ago, Doobeedoo said:

They can use AC as reference too

Timesplitters would be a great reference as well

[Sauron]

Cool stuff, I worked with this sort of point clouds for my bachelor's thesis.

[maartendc]

This technology is very commonly used nowadays in construction and renovation projects, not exactly an innovation these days. Maybe in 2015 it was still more novel. 

 

II am an architect, and we use laser scanning for renovations of existing "historic" buildings all the time. The cost to get a building scanned, depending on the size, is like $5000-$10,000. Very cheap, considering the overall cost of a project.

 

You get a pointcloud out of it, which can even be in color.

 

The real issue is how they will rebuild: You can never really replace what was lost: the original ceiling, timber structure, spire, etc. You can replicate it, but it will never be the same.

 

 

[Sauron]

2 hours ago, maartendc said:

I am an architect, and we use laser scanning for renovations of existing "historic" buildings all the time. The cost to get a building scanned, depending on the size, is like $5000-$10,000. Very cheap, considering the overall cost of a project.

Well, Notre Dame was probably more challenging to scan accurately than your average building - still, obviously not very expensive in the grand scheme.

[Trik'Stari]

9 hours ago, Dogeystyle said:

 

Timesplitters would be a great reference as well

I thought of that exact game and that level when I heard the cathedral was burning.

 

Always wanted to visit it, despite being an Atheist. Lovely building.