No doubt you’ve seen the tragic images of the fire at Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.  It is estimated the structure could take years or even decades to restore.  However, did you know that 3D scanning could be a huge help in this process?

It appears there are at least a couple groups who have digital copies of Notre Dame.  We’ve written in the past about the non-profit Cyark, who creates 3D-scans of  historic structures to create digital documentation, but surprisingly the two most prominent groups who scanned Notre Dame have their basis in video game technology!

The first is architectural historian Andrew Tallon, who scanned the structure using a XBox Kinect.  The second was UbiSoft who had an engineer spend literal years of time scanning the structure for the Assassin’s Creed game series.  By combining all these sources along with images, architects hope to recreate and maybe even improve upon this ancient structure.  This incident also shows the importance of work of groups like Cyark in creating digital archives of historical treasures.