Whether it’s Tupac, Michael Jackson or some other revered artist, dead celebrities reincarnated as holograms are big business – and, for two startups looking for fame and fortune, a source of untapped millions. The two companies, Pulse Evolution and Hologram USA, have also been locked in bitter legal wrangles due to a patent dispute, despite the fact the underlying technology is based on Pepper’s Ghost, a technique from the 19th century. Read more here: http://wired.uk/mIPKnm
Is THIS how people will be deluded? It is getting to where you can no longer believe what you see, hear, taste, feel or smell. Do you smell a RAT? Welcome to the FUTURE! Do people really not see that the ones who run World care nothing about them? All the money, time and energy they spend focused on Ancient Gods, could have been spent on caring for people. With the billions they have spent on equipment searching for artifacts in the sky, in the waters and underground, they could have fed, clothed, and housed every hungry person and animal in the world. The fact that the Elite are bringing back these ANCIENT IDOLS, and resurrecting PAGAN PRACTICES ought to clearly demonstrate that this is a SPIRITUAL BATTLE. Though most of the stories here are related to the Afghanistan Buddha, all of the information and the images are very revealing and alarming. This is the IDOL Worship of the future. Take heed my friends. The times we are living in have already moved way into the TWILIGHT ZONE. When you really grasp just how much life has changed in just 100 years, it is astonishing. LOOK how far we have “advanced” in the past 25 years alone!!! Oh my goodness. This is no longer the world I grew up in, and this is way BEYOND just the generation gap.. Reality, I am sad to say is changed FOREVER!! TRUTH has been so deeply buried no one can EVER find it without the spirit of the Creator! I shudder to think where we are headed. BUT, we must stay alert and BE PREPARED.
For the sake of time and timing, I am merely reposting these articles, without editing or additions. As usual, the links to the originals can be found by clicking the title. I will try to add my notes when I get an opportunity. spacer
We are called “dangerous people” because we are unmasking the biggest lie of all times.
Our mision
We are called “dangerous people” because our mission is to use the web and all technology, to unmask the biggest lie of all time, the lie that “God is dead”, and replace it with the absolute truth that He is alive and is coming soon to judge us.
Idolatry starts with statues and ends with holograms, and apocalyptic science will make idols stop being something religious. It is time for biblical answers:
STONE IDOLS “LIVE”
Idolatry is MUCH MORE than stone statues. Imagine that I go to Calcutta, a city in India where the goddess Kali is venerated, well, I go and I literally destroy all image and sculpture of that “goddess”, in fact, I destroy every temple where she is venerated, so soon there is no longer any visible reference of the “goddess” Kali; In theory, the problem of idolatry would have ended, right? but the harsh reality is that it is not like that. People would continue to venerate Kali even if there was not a statue of her or a temple to venerate her, because for the inhabitants of Calcutta, Kali really exists and the statue is only a representation of her. For idolaters, their idol literally “is alive somewhere in the cosmos.” Sometimes we make the mistake of interpreting the complex idolatry as the act of venerating a piece of wood or stone, but those who worship idols REALLY BELIEVE THAT THE IDOL TO WHICH THE STATUE REPRESENTS IS ALIVE. The solution to idolatry is not based on destroying stone statues but on eliminating the false idea that this idol is “alive” and has power.
The real problem with ganesha, visnu, shiva, anubis, bastet, amm, bahamut, odin, mahoma, mary, freija, chang’e, huitzilopochtli, holy death, san judas tadeo, selene, buddha, amaterasu … .is no longer they are considered “stone idols” but “living” beings somewhere in the cosmos with power and authority. Each of these statues have their books with rules and a complete “story” behind that turned them into idols of generations, to the point that the image that was formed with “their face” represents “someone” instead of “something” . The solution to idolatry is not based on destroying a stone statue, but on destroying the false idea that this idol is alive in some celestial place and has power.
HOLOGRAPHIC DEITIES
Watch closely the fans of selena gomez, michael jackson or ricardo arjona, you will be impressed by the absolute devotion of the groups that support these artists, do you think they would not venerate the holographic image of their musical idols? the holographic image of the late singer Michael Jackson aroused the crowd a while ago, and so the holographic image of the Chinese cartoon Hatusne Miku is already a celebrity with thousands of fans; Yes, there are already very real holograms that can represent any of the idols of the moment. But the key is that those who revere and literally give their lives to these celebrities do not consider themselves religious or do so as a spiritual act. What will happen soon is something incredible: the Khrisnas will stop worshiping Krishna, the Hindus will stop worshiping Kali, the Catholics will stop worshiping Mary, the Adventists will stop worshiping Elena White, the Chinese will stop worshiping Chang’e , the Greeks will stop worshiping selene …all the world will worship the beast and its holographic image, but these idolatrous worshipers of the future will not consider themselves religious.
The stone idols could disappear soon, but idolatry will remain in the human heart camouflaged as holograms, leaders, technologies or celebrities.
Idolatry of stone idols will not always exist, but people will not leave their idols to turn to God but to get away from everything that reminds them of Him. Apostasy refers to the human who will no longer allow any idol, god or belief direct your life more than yourself. The human being will be his own god. It will no longer follow any religious rule. No tradition of idols. Nothing and no one will be above their own opinion. In this scenario will be manifested “someone” who will exhaltate the human being and suggest that the human being is the only one that deserves adoration, but it will be a “non-religious” adoration, because the image of the beast does not represent a religious idol but the support to a new anti-religious world.
First it was “love yourself”, now it is “you are intelligent and powerful”, then it will be “you are worthy of veneration” and it will end with “you are superior to all god and belief”. Apocalyptic idolatry will contain a process of unconscious self-worship.
What will you do when you see yourself rejected by everyone, being persecuted by the government, authority and your family, to kill you, while you are hungry for several days? that scenario defines much more than our “endurance of trials”, it really shows our level of idolatry. Why do you think that the worship of the beast of the apocalypse will require an image? What need would be to design or build an image, be it a hologram, be it physical or whatever, of the beast? exact: idolatry. It is the worst sin before God. It is not just about worshiping the beast, but about worshiping “something that you can see or touch,” remember: God is Spirit and seeks worshipers in spirit, not materialistic worshipers who need to see to believe. Or better example: if I need to do something or see something to believe, it is idolatry.
The final apocalyptic test is about idolatry. In the end we could divide the saved and the unsaved, as not idolaters and idolaters, as simple as that.
SCIENCE BEHIND IDOLATRY
Scientists, university students, doctors, atheists and agnostics venerating the image of the beast. That is the general scenario of apocalyptic idolatry. Idolatry is interesting from the scientific point of view because it is not religious, many people can worship people, ideologies, things, money, deities, deceased, leaders, biblical characters … or themselves, without even seeing it as an idolatrous act. That is the point: the idolatry of apocalypse will not seem idolatry.
Why do not we talk about the veneration of Indian cows? Or of the veneration of the stone tablet where the body of Jesus was in Jerusalem? Or of the veneration of the river of death in Calcutta? Or of the adoration of money in Las Vegas and in Dubai? Or the veneration of Santa Claus in America? Or how about the veneration of the wailing wall in Israel? Or the mosque of saint sofia in istanbul or the mosque of the prophet in saudi arabia? And what about the potala of the dalai lama in the tibet or the monastery of the transfiguration in egypt? and even more, Mahoma, the Kim family in North Korea or the Virgin of Guadalupe? Or the use of Hindu biblical ideas such as karma, salt baths for protection or yoga? I could mention hundreds of venerations that today are not taken as idolatry, because for all the millions who venerate something from the previous list they are not practicing idolatry but rather something religiously and culturally acceptable, and what’s more, many of those venerators do not even consider themselves religious.
What will happen in apocalypse will be taken as something natural and not as an idolatrous sin, the apocalyptic idolatry will not come from the church but from the world, imagine clearly what will happen: the apostate world that does not want to know anything about God and His word, he will soon agree to venerate the holographic image of the beast and will not see that action as idolatry. The problem is that we have religiositated the idolatry instead of understanding that today there are millions of atheists worshiping things, people and others, but we continue to call idolatry only one or two religions that venerate statues, without globally seeing the issue we are facing and we will face tomorrow: an idolatrous world but not a religious one.Daniel 11; Revelation 13; Daniel 3; Exodus 20
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At Luo Tianyi’s concert last Saturday, fans waved blue glow sticks to the rhythm. Photo: SCMP via Jane Zhang
Top Chinese pianist Lang Lang accompanied 15-year old singer Luo Tianyi in a performance for thousands of screaming fans at Shanghai’s Mercedes-Benz arena last Saturday.
Luo, with grey pigtails and green eyes, has over three million fans on Weibo, China’s equivalent of Twitter, and tickets to the concert cost as much as 1,580 yuan (US$235).
Only thing is, Luo is not real. She is a virtual idol who shared the staged with Lang, marking the first concert between a holographic singer and real-life musician in China.
Luo is China’s most popular virtual idol – digital avatars with their own voices and personalities. At the concert, Lang’s piano work and Luo’s synthesised voice were enhanced by breathtaking visual effects. Fans waved blue glow sticks to the rhythm and yelled Luo’s name, with some even bursting into tears.
“I know how powerful these virtual idols are and they are really cute,” Lang Lang told the South China Morning Postbefore the concert. “I think sparks will fly when my music encounters hers.”
Saturday’s event was the second time Gao Yu, a university student from Sichuan province, has travelled to Shanghai for one of Luo’s concerts.
“When [Luo] finished the song Xinliyougui [roughly translated as guilty conscience], I immediately shouted ‘Tianyi, my lover, I love you!’. People around laughed and started to shout ‘I love you, my lover!’ too,” the 20-year-old girl said.
Staging a virtual idol concert takes a lot more resources than one for a real idol. A team of about 200 people from China and Japan worked for six months to prepare for the two-hour performance,according to Shanghai Henian Information Technology Co, the company that acquired full rights to Luo’s character from its Japanese partner Yamaha in 2015.
Luo’s solo performances were produced well before the concert. Every movement and facial expression needed to be created using complex 3D modelling and motion capture techniques.
During the concert, Luo’s real-time interactions with Lang and the fans had help from a separate voice dubber and motion-capture actress working backstage.
“When talking about ACG [anime, comics, games], many people may not understand it or just see it as cartoons for children,” said Yuki Cao, chief executive officer of Shanghai Henian, which manages Luo and five other virtual idols.
“We’ve been trying to get more people involved, to understand this young, imaginative and dynamic culture so it is no longer a subculture, and even becomes mainstream.”
From left to right: Henian CEO Yuki Cao, Chinese pianist Lang Lang and music producer Michael Lin. Photo: SCMP/Jane Zhang
The worship of virtual idols by Chinese youngsters has boosted an emerging industry in the country, with the estimated number of holographic celebrities now between 30 and 40.
The trend originated from Japan, which has a long history of virtual idols, the most famous being holographic pop star Hatsune Miku, a 16-year-old female who sings with a synthesised voice.
Luo Tianyi is perfect. She is not a real person so she can be whatever you want her to be. It’s like a customised idol that only belongs to you Kit Cheung Jie, 17, a fan
Idols are given their “age” by their creators – and staying the same age forever is a distinct advantage in an industry famous for favouring the young and the new.
With 1.7 million fans on Weibo, Miku has performed several successful concerts in China, singing in both Chinese and Japanese.
Her popularity proved there was a huge potential market for virtual idols in the country, especially among ACG consumers in China, which numbered about 350 million in 2018.
Separately, the market for China’s animation industry – including comics and peripheral products like toys and artwork – is expected to reach about 198 billion yuan (US$29.6 billion) this year, according to a report by market research company iResearch.
Want to see Amy Winehouse live? Now you can… as a hologram
Luo Tianyi was created in 2012 by Yamaha and Thstars, the parent company of Henian. Luo’sfinal image was selected from fan paintings while female Chinese voice actress Shan Xin provided the voice.
The vocals are synthesised using Yamaha’s Vocaloid software, which means composers can pay for access to Luo’s voice database and compose songs, earning potential royalties if the tune is included in Luo’s repertoire.
An actress wearing a motion capture suit does rehearsals for the Luo Tianyi concert. Photo: Thomas Yau/SCMP
Kit Cheung Jie, a 17-year-old senior high school student in Hong Kong, has spent more than HK$20,000 (US$2,548) over the past seven years buying items like toys, paintings and other peripheral products licensed by Henian. To help pay for the fan memorabilia, she saved money on her meals and even did part-time jobs at local restaurants.
“Luo Tianyi is perfect,” Cheung said. “She is not a real person so she can be whatever you want her to be. It’s like a customised idol that only belongs to you.”
Cheung also volunteers as an admin for a Weibo account that shares the latest information about Luo.
With about 13,000 followers, she spends two to three hours online every other day to manage the account, arranging events, crowdfunding for followers, and posting fan paintings and novels about their idol.
For the concert with Lang, Cheung raised about 5000 yuan in a crowdfunding campaign to buy flowers on behalf of about 145 fans who could not go to the event.
“I used to be very introverted. I could not imagine being an admin of a fan group and a senior manager of the fans. Luo Tianyi gave me the opportunity [to be a leader],” she said.
Besides the companies that manage the daily operations of virtual idols, individual painters and producers also play an important role in the ecosystem to enrich the idols’ personalities and portfolio.
Luo interacts with a flesh-and-blood pianist at her concert. Photo: SCMP via Jane Zhang
Yang Feiyiqi, a music producer who goes by the name Poker on social media, has been writing songs for Luo since 2012. Majoring in English at university and self-taught when it comes to composing music, Yang’s most famous song for Luo has been played over 1 million times on Chinese video streaming and gaming platform Bilibili.
“If Luo Tianyi is virgin land, we are adding blocks to it to build a very beautiful castle,” the 25-year-old producer said.
Many producers write songs for Luo without expecting payment, posting the tunes online for free. Yang declined to elaborate on potential compensation he receives from doing these songs that he calls “generating electricity with love”.
However, the effort is not all altruistic. Yang has gained his own fans and fame through writing songs for Luo, which has in turn led to paid song writing work.
He has also cooperated with Henian to write songs for product ads featuring Luo, including one for Vita Lemon Tea.
3D holograms and anime: China’s rich kids changing entertainment
While there are dozens of virtual idols in China, Luo is the only one that has been able to make a profit. She has been a brand ambassador for Pizza Hut and Japanese video game For Whom the Alchemist Exists, as well as doing promotional work for domestic make-up brand Pechoin, beverage brand Nestlé and fast food chain KFC.
The Communist Youth League of China also recruited Luo to become its youth ambassador, pointing out that virtual icons cause “zero harm” to youngsters as they will not yield to temptations like drugs or get involved in sex scandals like some human idols do.
Luo’s fans stand outside her concert, banners at the ready. Photo: SCMP via Jane Zhang
The application of cutting-edge technologies and devising a workable business model for content producers have been the biggest stumbling blocks in the development of virtual idols, despite years of development work in the industry in China.
Technologies including 3D modelling, augmented reality (AR), motion capture and facial recognition are all necessary to create viable virtual idols, requiring a large financial investment which has proved to a barrier to entry, according to a report from Chinese consulting firm Newsijie.cn.
“China’s virtual idol industry is still in a very early stage,” said Liu Zizheng, chief executive of Chinese social live streaming platform KilaKila. “We were in the exploration period up until 2018 so this year might be a boom one for the industry in China.”
Favourable conditions now point to success for the industry, he said. The popularity last year of virtual reality-related film Ready Player One and 3D avatar app Zepeto helped more people accept the concept of a virtual performer, while the launch of more advanced software and hardware, like IOS 12 and the iPhone XS, provided users with the tools to generate and consume virtual idol content with their phones rather than via costly professional equipment.
Virtual singers like Hatsune Miku and Luo Tianyi represent the first generation of virtual idols, according to Liu.
The second generation of idols are being created from characters in anime, comics and games, like Tushan Susu in Fox Spirit Matchmaker produced by Tencent Animation and Comics, and Ootengu from the popular NetEase game Onmyoji.
Liu’s company Kilakila has an ambitious plan that goes beyond just anime and game characters – a world where anyone can create their own virtual idol.
Liu Zizheng, CEO of Chinese social live streaming platform Kilakila. Photo: SCMP
Targeting users aged between 18 and 25, Kilakila raised 120 million yuan last Octoberto build China’s first virtual idolinteractive platform. It has access to 90 per cent of China’s voice talent and currently boasts more than 10 million monthly active users.
“We hope every organisation, key opinion leaders and ordinary users can turn their dreams into reality and create a virtual idol that was only in their imagination [before],” Liu said, adding that the most pressing challenge is development of industry standards.
Just as 3G and 4G standards allow telecoms companies to provide uniform products and services, the virtual idol industry needs cross-platform interaction and cooperation to improve efficiency in areas like 3D modelling and the production of virtual facial expressions, he said.
More than 10 companies, including Weibo and Kilakila, launched China’s first virtual idol fund early in January, with 100 million yuan allocated to help incubate promising projects and hire talent for content production.
While the fund will encourage more people to try many possible combinations to create new virtual idols, nobody can predict which ones will really touch the fans hearts, according to Pei Pei, an analyst from Sinolink Securities.
“If [the fund] can ignite the passion among ordinary people and the production community [to create new virtual idols], there might be one or two successful ones out of a thousand,” Pei said.
Besides the technology challenges, finding a viable business model is another barrier.
A fan watches a virtual idol live streaming on Kilakila. Photo: SCMP
Virtual idols backed by big companies or generated from ACG content with a huge fan base operate on a similar business model as real idols in that they earn money through concerts, advertisements as well as offline and offline appearances.
However, on Kilakila’s interactive virtual idol platform users have the opportunity to generate income through activities such as live streaming and paid Q&A sessions with fans.
Though the size of China’s virtual idol industry was less than 100 million yuan last year, with the increasing investment into the sector it is expected to grow to 1.5 billion yuan by 2023, according to Newsijie.cn.
“Ultimately, virtual idols must be part of the entertainment industry rather than the tech industry. Technologies are just tools,” said Pei.
An animator explains how he uses his skills to reanimate creatures that have been dead for millions of years.
Who can forget Steven Spielberg’s first Jurassic Park movie in 1993? How eagerly did we anticipate that bellowing T-Rex? Or gasp at the sheer scale of the diplodocus as it lumbered into view? Never before had animation been so lifelike and believable. I was hooked – this is what I wanted to do.
An animator’s role is to design the movement of a creature or character. For 15 years I worked in visual effects for films where this was a useful skill – if a director wanted his hero to be attacked by a four-headed, six-legged dragon, I could use my knowledge of anatomy from existing creatures and my understanding of physics to design its movement. When I transferred to academia, it was not immediately apparent where this skill could be used in a research practice.
Then I realised it could be useful in recreating extinct species. Without the actual animal to study, artists have to bridge the gap between bones and the creature’s fully fleshed appearance. Paleoartists – illustrators of extinct species have been doing this since the first fossils were found.
However, where a paleoartist is concerned with the look of the creature, I wanted to focus on its movement, combining existing knowledge and skills with detailed research into current palaeontological discoveries to create as accurate an animation of that species as possible. By focusing on the science – something professional animators rarely have time to do – and building it from a skeleton, I could acquire a deeper understanding of the creature and the way it moved.
Scotland’s archaeopteryx guy
This year celebrates the 100th anniversary of the publication of On Growth and Form by renowned Scots zoologist D’Arcy Thompson, a professor of natural history at Dundee and St Andrews Universities for 63 years. So it was fitting in 2017 to animate a fossil from his large collection of zoological specimens at his museum in Dundee.
D’Arcy Thompson, a professor of natural history for 63 years at Dundee and St Andrews.ongrowthandform.org, Author provided
I was drawn to a rare cast of the Berlin Specimen of archaeopteryx – one of the earliest known descendants of modern birds. The archaeopteryx is an icon of evolution that helped to show the transition of dinosaurs to birds, and support the then new theory of evolution. Thompson refers to this in his book, describing how the hip-bones of archaeopteryx could be manipulated to form the hip-bones of more recent late-Cretaceous bird, Apatornis.
The fossil is not only vitally important scientifically, but is one of the most beautiful found, with its wings held aloft in an angel-like pose. First the delicate fossil was laser-scanned, then loaded into our computer animation program, Maya.
The key to animating it correctly would be the skeleton, and luckily the cast allowed me to clearly see the sizes and shapes of the limb bones. Then I researched bird movement, looking at chickens, jackdaws, lapwings, vultures, magpies and crows. Archaeopteryx is about the size of a crow and so I looked to them for the speed of movements, although they are built for walking, with long legs, like a chicken.
A cast of the Berlin Specimen archaeopteryx from the zoological collection of natural historian D’Arcy Thompson.Shutterstock
And there are differences between these modern birds and their Jurassic predecessor; the long tail of archyopteryx would mean that its centre of gravity and leg posture would be different. On a visit to the Royal Veterinary College in London, I was introduced to the XROMM machine which X-rays animals as they move – an incredibly useful resource for animation.
Social media reaction
From X-rays I moved to animation tests to see how one movement would fit on the proportions of archaeopteryx. Then I thought it might be interesting to post my work on Twitter, so I created animated gif files to play automatically. Next I decided to hijack the paleontological hashtag #fossilfriday and posted my animation with the 3D scan of the fossil cast in the background. Not only did they prove popular, but palaeontologists and paleoartists gave me great feedback that was helpful as I refined my animation.
When top paleoartist Scott Hartman, with numerous scientific papers to his name, described my walk as a “very solid archaeopteryx walk cycle”, that really made my day.
The most popular animated gif was of the skeleton emerging from the fossil, bone by bone, which then came to life. There is something magical about an animal reforming in front of your eyes, something broken becoming whole, something extinct and long dead coming back to life. It’s something every dinosaur enthusiast wants to see.
So how did the archaeopteryx fly? It may have had wings to aid jumping and running, gliding down from a tree or to help it climb. There is even a theory that the archaeopteryx ran across water like a basilisk lizard, using its wings to prevent it from sinking into the water.
At the moment there is no clear consensus, so the final animation was more of an exploration of current ideas and theories. My archaeopteryx flapped and jumped to catch a dragonfly then ran with its wings out and flapping, then flew and finally glided back to earth.
But it was important to connect the animated archaeopteryx to the fossil, to increase understanding of the animal, not upstage or distract from it. The animation was projected on to a perspex prism containing a 3D print of the fossil cast, which provided a holographic effect where the bones seemed to emerge from the fossil, reform as the animal, then disappear again, leaving the viewer looking at the fossil with new eyes.
There is still so much to know about the archaeopteryx. As new specimens are found and new discoveries made, the artworks will need to reflect those changes. Like scientists, paleoartists need to change their views according to new evidence. So the time will come again when I return to my archaeopteryx and make it fly once more.
This captivating, concave Buddha sculpture creates an optical illusion when viewed from a short distance. Stare straight ahead and it appears that Buddha’s face is actually 3D. Move left or right, and it seems that the face is turning with you. Made of cast resin with gold finish, this wall sculpture measures 19 x 15 x 3 inches, including the frame. Weighs about 5 pounds and includes hooks for easy hanging
The giant Bamiyan Buddhas of Afghanistan have been rebuilt — this time with light. On Sunday, fourteen years after the ancient statues were destroyed by Taliban militants, artists animated the Buddhas with 3D light projection technology, filling the empty cavities where the Buddhas once stood.
The Atlantic reports that the $120,000 projector used for the installation was donated by a Chinese couple, Janson Yu and Liyan Hu. Yu and Hu were saddened by the destruction of the statues in 2001. Wanting to pay tribute, they requested permission from UNESCO and the Afghan government to do the project. 150 local people came out to see the unveiling of the holographic statues on Sunday, observing and playing music through the night.
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The two statues, built in the sixth century, were 115 and 174 feet tall. Before their destruction, the statues were a treasured feature of the local culture. Earlier this year, the BBC interviewed Mirza Hussain, one of the men who was forced by the Taliban to destroy them. “I regretted it at that time, I regret it now and I will always regret it,” he said. “But I could not resist, I didn’t have a choice because they would have killed me.”
In February, UNESCO unveiled designs for a new cultural heritage center at Bamiyan, to showcase not only the monuments that were lost in 2001, but also the vibrant culture that still thrives in the region. Earlier this month, the region was named South Asia’s Cultural Center for 2015.
This photo taken on June 7, 2015 shows the projected image of a Buddha statue in Bamiyan that had been destroyed by the Taliban in 2001. AFP AFP/Getty Images
In March 2001, months before the horrific events of 9/11 put the Taliban on most Americans’ radar, I watched with horror as a group of Afghan extremists rode through the jagged Hindu Kush along the ancient Silk Road. They stopped in the Bamiyan Valley, a lush basin ringed with sandstone cliffs and began to climb a pair of stunning 100-foot high Buddhas that were carved into the sides of the valley walls 1,500 years ago.
The men were carrying loads of dynamite. Slowly, with choreographed precision, the men placed their explosives in inlets throughout the Buddha sculptures and hit their detonators. Boom. The Buddhas of Bamiyan were destroyed forever.
Or so everyone thought.
With the exponential advances of 3D digitization, projection, and printing, in 2015, the Buddhas of Bamiyan rose again. Thanks to new 3D projection technology that cast holograms of the original Buddhas from projectors mounted on scaffolding, a crowd of locals, playing music and staring in awe at what was just moments earlier a gaping hole in the mountain, watched as the two towering idols, lit from within, rose again for one evening. For me, this was a memorable moment, showing just how far 3D technology had come.
The reincarnation of the Buddhas marked a turning point for a new kind of historical activism. Thanks to the power of 3D printing, the technological prowess of innovative startups, and the industry-wide power of giants like Google(GOOG, -0.36%), we have a new tool in the fight against cultural terrorists: a way to bring back the glorious historical monuments that some would like us to forget.
The Taliban televised their demolition of the Buddhas, and Ben Kacyra was horrified. Kacyra, a native of Mosul, Iraq, had seen his fair share of senseless destruction. He was so devastated by the loss of the Buddhas that in 2003 he founded CyArk, a humanitarian and cultural nonprofit that creates digital records of the world’s cultural heritage sites. Among the sites now committed to their digital memory: the Ananda Ok Kyaung temple in Bagan, Myanmar, which was badly damaged by a 2016 earthquake (they mapped it before the earthquake, saving its pre-damage shape); the Al Azem Palace in Damascus, Syria; and the ruins of the Mayan city of Chichen Itza in Mexico.
CyArk’s work has been so significant that in April, Google partnered with the company to launch the Open Heritage project, which allows people to experience the world’s great wonders—both existing and ruined through a careful marriage of CyArk’s 3D data and a Google-powered mobile or virtual reality headset.
But we can go even further.
The rubble of the Buddhas has now been scanned and printed at 1:25 scale. These small model statues are being used to plan the life-size restoration of the statues through 3D printing. It is an ambitious tech project, and we may be years, if not decades, away from achieving the ultimate goal of recreating these statues.
There are other organizations doing similar, inspiring work. University of Oxford, Harvard University, and Dubai’s Museum of the Future have worked together with the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA), which distributes 3D cameras to residents in areas attacked by ISIS so that ancient buildings and artifacts could be documented before they are lost to war forever. The Million Image Database project aims to document historic and archaeological locations all around the world, using 3D photography to capture dimensions and specifications. The data is archived so that artifacts and structures can be recreated through 3D printing in case of damage. The organization aims to collect one million 3D images of these endangered historic sites, and has already captured more than half a million images, thanks to the 5,000 3D cameras that have been distributed.
In a project conducted by the Victoria & Albert Museum in London, historians recreated a chair owned by Marie Antoinette using molds, 3D scanning, and 3D printing. By scanning the missing parts, they were then able to reverse 3D print them. The moldings taken from the 3D printed pieces were re-casted in a non-chemical material that was then toned and gilded so that it would match the original pieces. Many of such items were stolen or destroyed following the French Revolution.
With technology and innovation, powered by the rise of 3D scanning and printing, all things are possible. Quite soon, in fact, 3D printing will allow us to take these stunning digital imprints and do more than view them through the filter of a hologram or virtual reality headset. Smaller versions, printed to scale on the home 3D printers that will soon exist in households across America, will offer endless opportunities for education and cultural enrichment.
Italian carmaker XEV and 3D-printing company, Polymaker, have teamed up to mass-produce a 3D-printed vehicles, called LSEV, in China. Subscribe to Fortune – http://www.youtube.com/subscription_c… FORTUNE is a global leader in business journalism with a worldwide circulation of more than 1 million and a readership of nearly 5 million, with major franchises including the FORTUNE 500 and the FORTUNE 100 Best Companies to Work For. FORTUNE Live Media extends the brand’s mission into live settings, hosting a wide range of annual conferences, including the FORTUNE Global Forum. Website: http://fortune.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/FortuneMagazine Twitter: https://twitter.com/FortuneMagazine
Subscribe to our YouTube channel here: https://sc.mp/2kAfuvJ LSEV, the world’s first mass-produced 3D-printed electric car, will be available in China by the second quarter of 2019. It’s produced by X Electrical Vehicle and Polymaker.
This 3D-Printed Electric Car Will be Road Ready in 2019
LSEV will cost just under $10,000.
But the potential is much grander, as well. In the very near future, harnessing these digital libraries and the immense bandwidth offered by a giant like Google, we will also be able to fully recreate cherished heritage sites, using not just light and shadow, but actual brick, mortar, and 3D-printed concrete.
The Buddhas of Bamiyan will rise again in that lush valley, not just as a beautiful light show for one night only, but as living, tangible proof of the resilience of human creativity in the face of senseless destruction. Just imagine if we do the same for the Temple of Bel in Palmyra; the libraries at the University of Mosul; and the Armenian Genocide Memorial in Syria.
It’s no longer a far-off dream. The technology is ready. With the wonders of 3D, we’ve found a new way to fight for the preservation of our cultural and spiritual monuments, powered by brainpower and the collective will of humanity.
Correction: An earlier version of this article misstated the creation of the Institute for Digital Archaeology (IDA). It has worked together with the University of Oxford, Harvard University, and Dubai’s Museum of the Future. It was not created by them.
PUBLISHED: 11:31 EDT, 15 June 2015 | UPDATED: 14:10 EDT, 15 June 2015
A Chinese couple who have explored the world together have used a 3D laser light show to restore one of the two sacred Buddha statues that were destroyed by the Taliban.
The 1,500-year-old Buddhas of Bamiyan, which were carved into a cliff face in Afghanistan, were blown up in 2001, after they were declared to be false idols.
But Zhang Xinyu and Liang Hong, a millionaire couple and full-time adventurers from Beijing, were so moved on hearing about the destruction of the ancient relics that they took it upon themselves to resurrect the statues.
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Resurrected: A millionaire couple have used 3D laser light projections to resurrect the Buddhas of Bamiyan
Photo Credit: Masterminds: The project is realised by Zhang Xinyu (right) and Liang Hong (left), both passionate travellers
Then and now: The original statues (left) were destroyed by the Taliban in 2001, but the couple recreated one of them (right) earlier this month
Masterminds: The project is realized by Zhang Xinyu (right) and Liang Hong (left), both passionate travelers
The two destroyed Buddhas stood 115 feet and 175 feet tall respectively in Bamiyan valley in central Afghanistan.
The couple used 3D light projections to recreate the taller statue in the place it once stood in a stunning show earlier this month, reported the People’s Daily Online.
They gained permission from UNESCO, who have marked the Bamiyan Valley as a world heritage site, and the Afghan authorities to put on the display over the weekend.
About 150 spectators watched the light show, which took place after sunset on June 6 and 7, dancing to the music in front of the holographic Buddha into the night.
Affluent Zhang Xinyu, 38, and Liang Hong, 36, are hailed as the ultimate travelers in their home country.
After reportedly earning their fortune of nearly £1 million through a series of small businesses, including inventing a special machine to make fresh tofu, the two decided to pursue their dreams by traveling around the world.
The couple even have their own travel show called ‘On the Road’ to document their journeys to some of the most dangerous parts of the world, ranging from Chernobyl to Somalia.
They embarked on a 41,500-mile journey in 2013, visiting more than 30 cities in 24 countries, and got married in Antarctica in March 2014.
Impressive: More than 150 people went to watch the light show and danced in front of the holographic statue well into the night
Stunning: They used the projections to fill the 175 feet hole left behind after the statue was destroyed
In an interview with Xinhua News Agency, Mr. Zhang said: ‘We knew very little about Afghanistan before we came here.
‘Our entire image of this strife-torn nation was merely about poverty and suicide attacks,’
In the same interview, Ms. Liang said: ‘When I saw the smile on the people’s faces in Bamiyan, I knew what we have done is quite meaningful, not only for the Bamiyan people but also for ourselves.
‘We wanted to find a way to help the people there and showing the Buddha by image projection was the best we could do.’
Road warriors: Mr. Zhang and Ms. Liang decided to pursue their dreams by traveling around the world after they amassed their fortune of nearly £ 1 million in a series of small businesses
In 2005, a Japanese artist proposed a laser projection of the Buddhas but the plan was never realized.
Mr. Zhang and Ms. Liang then decided to take on the project and add the Bamiyan Valley as another destination on the long list of places they have visited across the world.
The spectacular resurrection project is part of their multi-nation tour along the ancient Silk Road.
Both fans of photography and advanced technology, the two developed a £77,500 projector especially for the light show and perfected the projections on a mountainside in China.
The Buddha statues were carved into the sandstone cliff in the 6th century and survived a number of attacks before being destroyed in 2001.
The historic Buddhas of Bamiyan statues have made a return to the Afghan valley as 3D light projections. Credit: Ali M Latifi
The Taliban thought it had destroyed one of the world’s wonders, the monumental Buddha statues of the Bamiyan Valley.
But the Buddhas shine again in the towering cutouts in the mountainside where they stood for centuries. They are back, thanks to 3-D light projection. And they look great.
Ministère Culture ✔@MinistereCC
#Unite4Heritage Une image de Bouddha est projetée sur le site de Bamiyan, détruit par les Talibans en 2001 @afpfr
Built in the 6th century before Islam had traveled to the central Afghanistan region, the two Buddhas of Bamiyan were famous for their beauty, craftsmanship and of course, size. The taller of the two Buddhas stood at more than 170 feet high, with the second statue at nearly 115 feet. They were once the world’s largest standing Buddhas.
In March 2001 Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar ordered the Buddhas destroyed. They were subsequently blown apart and left in rubble.
But the technology that gives us images of Tupac Shakur or Michael Jackson in concert, or Narendra Modi on the campaign trail, have been applied to the Bamiyan Buddhas. Now, 3-D light projects on the empty cliff where the statues once stood. The device that controls the illumination was a gift from a Chinese couple to the Afghan people.
Al i M Latifi ✔@alibomaye
This is the first time such “#3D technology” has been used in #Bamiyan
The illumination has brought relief to many of the locals who had been pressed into service by the Taliban in 2001 to destroy the Buddhas. After tank fire failed, the local workers drilled holes, planted dynamite and conducted a series of explosions to bring the giant statues down. “I regretted it at that time, I regret it now and I will always regret it,” one of the workers, bike repairman Mirza Hussain, told the BBC in March. “But I could not resist, I didn’t have a choice because they would have killed me.”
Many have called for the reconstruction of the statues, but UNESCO suggests rebuilding the massive stone Buddhas might be impossible. With the new light projection, the Bamiyan Valley might just have the next best thing.
Ministère Culture ✔@MinistereCC 
