Check out the exquisite detail of the recreations of the Parthenon and the British Museum.

A different technique was used to capture the massive — 73 meters in length — Parthenon. Working with the ongoing Acropolis restoration effort, the team used a time-of-flight 3D laser scanner to record the geometry of the temple. The device uses an infrared laser and spinning mirror to scan an invisible spot of light across the surface of the structure, determining the distance to each point by measuring the time for the laser to return. The panoramic laser scans in and around the Parthenon — comprising more than six billion 3D point measurements of the site — were then used to create a 90-million polygon model of the Parthenon and its surrounding environs.

Digital photography of a structure only shows the shading, highlights and shadows under the illumination present when the photograph was taken. The coloration of the Parthenon's weathered surfaces was achieved by a surface reflectance estimation technique. A "light probe" device measured incident illumination from the sun, the sky and clouds at the same time that the digital photograph was taken. When the photographs were unlit in the laboratory, the lighting effects were corrected, revealing the true colors of the surfaces. This technique is accurate to within 5% of the actual surface colors — the most accurate method to date.

Witness the awe of the Cella of the Ancient Parthenon with the Statue of Athena.

The last element necessary to complete the photorealistic reconstruction of the Parthenon was realistic lighting. Lacking the time to wait in Greece for the combination of clouds and sun that he needed for just the right illumination, Debevec used lighting captured from the roof of L.A.-based ICT to form the virtual lighting in their renderings of the Acropolis.

The result of all this advanced technology is a computer-generated film of breathtaking realism and artistic achievement. In the film the two sites — the temple and the museum — merge. Clouds roll across the sky with tumultuous magic as the marble sculptures reappear in their original niches and ledges in the temple. The light changes, reacting as the sky changes from cloudy-bright to direct sun. In the final sequence of the film, the temple's original bright painted colors fade-in, restoring the Parthenon and its sculptures to their ancient glory — a sight not seen for millenniums.

Mary Ann Skweres is a filmmaker and freelance writer. She has worked extensively in feature film and documentary post-production with credits as a picture editor and visual effects assistant. She is a member of the Motion Picture Editors Guild.