Time travel to the past or to the future has always been the dream of humanity. We have always imagined life in the past or the future, but what would it be like if we walked around in the city Paris of 2000 years ago though a simple click on Ipad.
In fact, it is no longer a dream, Dassault Systèmes, specialized in software; offers product developers the opportunity to experience their products digitally, before making them physically, developed a new 3D experience that allows accurate digital recreation of Paris: buildings, thermal baths and the Bastille.
The city of Paris has been digitized, now its 2000 years history can be discovered through iPad, or internet, which makes the distinction between reality and simulation almost impossible.
To reach such a result, specialists have been working for several years on digitizing and modeling historical data. Specialists have been able to model and texture architectural drawings, oil paintings and documents using 3DExperience software. Elements of the 3DExperience platform simulate weather effects, geographical, architectural environments, and realistic lighting while the company’s animation engine technology brings the models to life.
Concerning the buildings that no longer exist and that cannot be scanned, the team used the emerging 3D digital models to test and examine hypotheses and then make final decisions.
Paris 3D Saga
Showing a precise picture of the Bastille was an important element of the project, since the paintings of the Bastille show just a massive towering over the Paris and its revolutionary inhabitants. Whereas 3D modeling presents an accurate picture of the Bastille which is, by the way, smaller than what was imagined.
The Ipad app, Paris 3D Saga, gives the user the opportunity to compare the past and the present or the realty and the reality-like, 3D Paris of 2000 years ago. The app does also contain 3D films and a series of documentary films about digitized Paris, also developed by Dassault Systèmes.
Giza Plateau
Is another app similar the Paris 3D saga, developed by Dassault Systèmes and Harvard University, but this time the app takes you to ancient Egypt.
Giza, which is situated in the periphery of Cairo, is built by ancient Egyptians, who manifested their civilization, architecture, art and their conception of afterlife in the cities and monuments they built. The Giza 3D project is a manner of preserving this heritage and bringing to life the heritage which was already lost.
The biggest city in Africa, Giza was reconstructed and digitalized by Dassault Systèmes through the material that was available; diaries, drawings and documents, most of them were collected or developed by the American archeologist George Reisner, in order to reach the most accurate results.
Other than Paris and Giza apps, Dassault Systèmes is working with on major cities of the world. Dassault Systèmes has created partnerships with water conservation, city planning, energy and waste management companies. The partnership is about Dassault Systèmes Company’s stimulation of the present situation which will generate the picture of city 30 years from now. Thanks to this technology, the world can see the impact of any decision on our planet. This technology can also show the effects of natural disasters and can assist in better planning which will bring betters results. Nick Lerner says “Using 3D laser scanning and modelling techniques, archaeologists have been able to recreate buildings from ancient Paris and Egypt. But the technology can also be used in planning for the future”