Why the Video Game 'Assassin's Creed' Could Help Rebuild Notre Dame

Life follows art - again. JL

Amanda Woods reports in the New York Post:

The 2014 game ‘Assassin’s Creed Unity,’ set in Paris during the French Revolution, features a realistic 3D model of the historic house of worship. An artist for the game spent two years perfecting the model of the cathedral that appears on gamers’ screens. She studied the structure brick by brick — as well as the exact paintings that hung on the walls. She even added the cathedral’s spires, which were not yet there at the time the game is set.  French publisher Ubisoft still holds the original 3D models, as well as images that could prove crucial in the reconstruction.
A video game could hold the key to the restoration of the fire-ravaged Notre Dame cathedral, according to news reports.
The 2014 game ‘Assassin’s Creed Unity,’ set in Paris during the French Revolution, features a realistic 3D model of the historic house of worship.
Caroline Miousse, an artist for the game, spent about two years perfecting the model of the cathedral that appears on gamers’ screens, the Verge reported at the time of its release.
She studied the structure brick by brick — as well as the exact paintings that hung on the walls, Miousse told the outlet. She even added the cathedral’s iconic spires, which were not yet there at the time the game is set.
“I made some other stuff in the game, but 80 percent of my time was spent on the Notre Dame,” Miousse recalled.
It’s likely that French publisher Ubisoft still holds the original 3D models, as well as some images that could prove crucial in the reconstruction, several outlets reported.
“What video games would also be good for,” tweeted Ştefan Teişan, director of the Cluj Cultural Centre in Romania. “One of them 3D scanned #NotreDame in so much detail that this could help rebuilding the cathedral.”
The company has not yet to comment on that possibility.
Hope for the heavily damaged structure could also be found in the work of late art historian Andrew Tallon — who used laser scanners to create a model of the medieval structure.
“I know this doesn’t help, but we have exquisite 3D laser maps of every detail of Notre Dame, thanks to the incredible work of @Vassar art historian Andrew Tallon,” Hannah Groch-Begley, a Ph.D. student, posted to Twitter. “Prof Tallon passed away last November, but his work will be absolutely crucial.”
The Monday evening blaze caused the cathedral’s 305-foot-tall wood-and-lead spire to collapse and destroyed two-thirds of its roof. But the extent of internal damage and the condition of the building’s stained glass rose windows are still unknown.
And experts say it won’t be possible to precisely rebuild the roof because of the special-sized wood used to create its massive beams centuries ago.