Microsoft To Help France Showcase Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral in Digital Replica (reuters.com)
- Reference: 0178431458
- News link: https://slashdot.org/story/25/07/21/1548229/microsoft-to-help-france-showcase-paris-notre-dame-cathedral-in-digital-replica
- Source link: https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-help-france-showcase-paris-notre-dame-cathedral-digital-replica-2025-07-21/
> Microsoft is teaming up with the French government to [1]create a digital replica of Paris' Notre-Dame Cathedral , France's most visited monument, the U.S. tech company's president, Brad Smith, said on Monday. The 862-year-old Gothic masterpiece was reopened last December after a five-year restoration following a devastating fire in 2019. A digital replica will serve as a record of the building's architectural details, Microsoft said. It will also provide a virtual experience for visitors and those unable to visit.
[1] https://www.reuters.com/technology/microsoft-help-france-showcase-paris-notre-dame-cathedral-digital-replica-2025-07-21/
Is there a .wad file? (Score:4, Funny)
The FPS world is waiting.
Re: (Score:2)
Years ago a studio made a playable walk through of Notre Dame with the Unreal engine. Because google is awful anymore I can only find a few references in academic papers.
Re: (Score:2)
Nice, some sort of Da Vinci Code/Ghostbuster mashup?
What better place for medieval demon hunters to entomb the dark lord's fallen angels than have them be petrified as gargoyles? But wait, what if there's a fire...
c.f. Dr Who's Weeping Angel story arc.
WTF (Score:4, Interesting)
So shit like this pisses me off for a different reason.
Why?
Because Microsoft ALREADY did this in 2007, nearly TWO DECADES AGO, and then canned the tech and threw it away. We ALREADY had a full 3D model of Notre-Dame. It was cool. It was awesome. It was interactive. And it was entirely dynamically generated just from photographs on Flickr.
The technology was called PhotoSynth. But you already KNOW they're gonna shove some fucked up bullshit "AI" marketing behind this, its going to take longer to produce results, and the results are going to be shittier than we already had.
[1]https://www.ted.com/talks/blai... [ted.com]
[1] https://www.ted.com/talks/blaise_aguera_y_arcas_how_photosynth_can_connect_the_world_s_images
Re: (Score:2)
Wow man that's a throwback I remember this presentation, it was so cool.
I guess parts of this tech have disseminated out into photo tools elsewhere and I know PhotoSynth was an actual thing for awhile but yeah this never seemed to materialize to the potential shown.
Re: (Score:2)
It looks like it was an accidental electrical short during some construction.
Will it feature (Score:2)
L'écran bleu de la mort?
The real question (Score:2)
Will it be hosted on SharePoint?
Planning Ahead (Score:2)
> A digital replica will serve as a record of the building's architectural details
So when it burns down again they will be ready!
VR? (Score:2)
So there will finally be a use for expensive VR headsets?