Saint-Sulpice Chapel - The Da Vinci Code's Best Kept Secret

May 20, 2006--The demands of a movie shoot made it impossible for Ron Howard, the director of The Da Vinci Code, opening today, to shoot inside Saint-Sulpice Chapel in Paris. But the scene is pivotal to the story. And millions of readers know it couldn't take place anywhere else. Howard had a problem. So, he turned to the scientists, engineers, and visual effects artists at Rainmaker Animation & Visual Effects to digitally recreate the interior of the chapel.

The final result that audiences will see on the screen is the work of computer scientists, engineers, 3-dimensional artists, and compositors. Of all the people that work in the post-production of a movie, the compositors have most difficult task. They have to take many different film shots that have already been filmed--usually from different angles and perspectives -- and combine them into a seamless looking scene.

To recreate Saint-Sulpice Chapel artists applied photo projection technology in 3D. First, the compositors started by looking at still photographs taken from inside the chapel. But Mathew Krentz, lead compositor at Rainmaker Animation & Visual Effects, discovered a challenge right away. "All the reference images were taken during the day and the scene was happening at night." Krentz and his team were able to digitally darken the scenes and even add in moonbeams later to the film to give a dark and shadowy effect.

Once the reference images were ready, Les Quinn, lead 3D artist at Rainmaker Animation & Visual Effects, and his team used Lightwave software which uses geometry to create a 3D version of the chapel. Next, the camera movement which was shot on the film set is tracked in a program and then it is incorporated into Lightwave. Now, all Krentz and the compositing team had to do is combine the digital chapel's completed color and texture, the filmed green-screen movie set and any other elements needed for the sequence.

Digital Fusion computer software has become a standard tool used by visual effects artists for composite work. the designers hope that this will result in a seamless, flawless scene, where the audience won't be able to tell where the movie set ends and the computer graphics begins.

"The biggest compliment someone could give me is if they think the scene was actually shot inside Saint-Sulpice Chapel," says Krentz. "You want the audience not to notice your work."

So, whether you are a fan of the book or are just curious about the controversy, The Da Vinci Code's best kept secrets are the things you might not even notice.

Image Caption: A computer model of Saint-Sulpice Chapel is superimposed over the movie set with a greenscreen background. The Da Vinci Code (c) 2006 Columbia Pictures. All Right Reserved. Image courtesy of Rainmaker Animation & Visual Effects

On the Web:

The Da Vinci Code movie Web site

Contact:

Emilie Lorditch
American Institute of Physics
Tel: 301-209-3029
mheil@aip.org