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TRIDIMENSIONALITY

               Let us look at a three dimensional object. For example, since our aim is to understand the image on the Shroud, look at this beautiful statue of Christ. When it is illuminated by a light source, each point on its surface can be characterised by (among other things) the intensity of the light that is reflected, and the colour (wavelength) of that reflected light. These parameters are governed by the surface characteristics at each point illuminated, e.g., ability to reflect or absorb light, angle made with the incident light, colour, surface material, and to a much smaller extent, the distance from the light source. The observed pattern of the lights and shadows and colours will give an impression of relief. If you move the source of light, the luminosity of each point varies, and so does the appearance of the object.


 

This very beautiful Coptic Christ - probably from the Xth century - receives the light on his right side. All the parts situated on his left are in shadow and their appearance to our eye is dark grey, almost verging on black. If the light source was really a point source, and there were no surrounding walls, etc., to reflect any stray light, the shadows would be completely dark. (2394 bytes)

this time the light was in front and the shadows have almost disappeared. Note that the impression of relief is less intense than when there are shadows. (2403 bytes)

On this photo the light comes from the right side. We have again an impression of relief (2002 bytes)

Light coming from the right of the Crucifix Light source directly in front of the Crucifix Light coming from the left of the Crucifix

               If we take a photograph of this object, we obtain, on a flat plane (a piece of paper), a pattern of colours and of light and dark areas. For a familiar subject, a human face or body for example, the human eye and brain processes this data into an imagined three dimensional model. Yet in reality the image is two dimensional on paper, and if we wanted, by the use of any mathematical formula, to convert the variations in brightness, contrast, and colour of each point in the photo into variations in the distance of each part of the object from the camera, we would get a mess, a completely distorted representation of the object (For example, a bright nose might be projected forward, but black eyebrows might be shown as several metres behind the head).

               But this is one of the marvels of the Turin Shroud. At the beginning of the 20th century, Gabriel Quidor, a French sculptor, had the intuition that the darker areas of the image did not correspond to shadows such as we might expect to find -- for example on this photo of Christ crucified. He began to suspect that with the Shroud, the degree of darkness really could be related to the distance that had once separated it from the body that it contained. Despite the rudimentary means at his disposal at the time (1923), he measured the degree of lightness or darkness at hundreds of critical points, developed a complex formula to convert these readings to distances, and then, transposed those distances above and below a base line to obtain a three dimensional representation of the face of the man in the Shroud. (see below on the left)

               In 1974, Paul Gastineau took up this idea and succeeded in making a model of the face. Then came the age of computers, with their phenomenal data processing capability. In the USA, Jackson and Jumper, using NASA's computers, confirmed the existence of this mathematical relationship, and obtained a very convincing three dimensional picture (see below, centre). The data provided by the computer was then taken by some cadets at an American air force academy who built a three dimensional model of the front part of the man in the Shroud. (see below, right). It is fascinating, but predictable, to note that they could never get any acceptable results when working from a photograph of any other object.

               Thus, to sum up so far, these researchers were able to find a mathematical relationship between the optical characteristics of each point on the Shroud, and a distance which corresponded exactly to that between the Shroud and the corpse that it contained. It is this unique particularity which has been called the tridimensionality of the image.

The first person to discover and utilise the tridimensionnal information contained in the image of the Shroud. Let us not smile at the mediocrity of the result. Considering the rudimentary means of the period it was remarkable. We must salute the insight and the ingenuity of this pioneer. (2579 bytes)
 
 

3D representation obtained by Gabriel QUIDOR

(The holy Shroud proves the death and resurrection of Christ)

This image was obtained by computer ( NASA's famous VP 8, which will pass down into history thanks to this image). Its realism and quality was a major step forward. (1925 bytes)
 
 

Image obtained on the screen of one of the computers at NASA

: this 3D representation of the body of the Shroud was obtained by superimposing hundreds of cardboard sheets. The computer sliced the 3D computer image of the body into several hundred horizontal planes and, for each plane, drew its contour outline. These contours were printed on cardboard sheets and stacked and glued together to construct a solid 3D model of the body. (4219 bytes)

"Statue" produced by the US air force cadets

               All this suggests that the process which formed the image on the Shroud is not due to a source of energy, luminous or otherwise, which was external to the corpse -- this would cause shadows, and therefore very large distortions when the image is analysed mathematically -- but that it was an internally sourced energy which came from the body itself. Apparently it is best described as some sort of radiation or force, (whatever its exact nature), whose intensity decreased according to the distance. However, far from bringing a solution to the problem, this discovery only contributed an added mystery, the nature of this phenomenon.

               Note also, that the image of the Shroud is a photographic negative, (which inverts the values of the blacks and the whites). We can see this negative, below, left, alongside its corresponding positive image. Each point in the image has been analysed optically to give the graphic co-ordinates which have allowed the construction of the "volume" map, the model, or the three dimensional image. These discoveries have been impressive and convincing, and have converted many of the former advocates of the "Medieval fake" theory to believing today in the authenticity of the Shroud.

 

Negative of the black and white photo of the Shroud. The body appears superbly detailed and yet the lights and shadows which compose it are not due to any outside lighting ( look carefully, it is the right side of the face which is lit and the outside face of the left thigh!) It is the distance from the Shroud of each part of the surface of the body which gives this illusion of highlights and shadows. The Shroud is the only object in the world which possesses this property. (9316 bytes)

: This black and white photo has all the appearance of a photographic negative. In fact, it behaves as such, but, in addition, it possesses at each point on its surface information which makes it possible to calculate, using a mathematical formula, the distance that separated that point from the body at the moment when this image was formed. (9488 bytes)

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