A technical challenge : recording with laser

These floodlighting projects need some specific computer program, high-performance to elaborate a show calculated to the split second. It also need high level equipment to project and a team with high qualifications

The first step consists in recording the all cathedral using a laser. This is a new way to transfer a huge monument or a volume, in its every detail, on a computer. That is to say the monument itself, its size (every side, in a longitudinal or transversal way, its floor plan…), its sculptural decoration (statues, gargoyles, gates...).

When it's done, technicians can work the monument on the computer, create an animation with images, etc...

To illustrate this new technology, I invite you to visit the following website : http://mappinggothic.org/

This website was created by Stephen Murray (Professor of Art History and Archaeology at Columbia University) and Andrew Tallon (Assistant Professor of Art at Vassar College)

They realize that pictures are not enough to represent a space on a computer, especially a gothic one. They published on the website pictures with high quality but also 3D maps of the architectonical volume, panoramic views as if we were inside the monument.

Their aim is to develop a more appropriate way of representing the spaciousness of individual monuments, but also provide the user of the site with new ways to understand the relationship of hundreds of buildings.

We can make comparisons between monuments:  which one has the highest nave, the biggest floorplan...etc...

This is a very amazing website for both student and scholars.