Will this be a breakthrough regarding the Shroud of Turin? The expert used free tools
Brazilian Cicero Moraes used AI tools to examine the Shroud of Turin in more detail. First of all, he wanted to check what the material was wrapped around.
The Shroud of Turin is one of the relics that Christians hold in greatest veneration. A linen cloth with an image of a human figure kept in the cathedral in Turin is believed by many to be evidence of the resurrection of Jesus Christ. However, skeptics are not convinced and see it only as a clever forgery from the Middle Ages.
The Shroud of Turin examined with AI
To dispel doubts, a team of researchers led by Cicero Moraes used the most modern tools. An expert in digital graphics and reconstruction techniques decided to create a 3D model of the Shroud of Turin. For this purpose, he used open-source tools, i.e. widely available and usually free programs. He used MakeHuman to help him create models of the human body, Blender for 3D modeling, and CloudCompare to compare groups of points.
Moraes, like many researchers before him, wanted to check how the Shroud of Turin fit on the body. Nowadays, it is extremely difficult because the old and delicate material can easily be damaged, so you can’t just try it on. 3D simulations come to the rescue. First, a 3D model of the human body was created, and then – in virtual space – it was again “wrapped” in a shroud, i.e. a virtual fabric model based on the real Shroud of Turin.
The Shroud of Turin reflected in a bas-relief?
Artificial intelligence was supposed to simulate the way it fell and all the folds of the material. The AI also checked how light and shadows created the image on the fabric. Every millimeter of the relic was scanned so as not to miss anything that the human eye cannot detect. Thanks to this, an attempt was made to determine whether the reflection on the material was created by the human body or perhaps a bas-relief, as some skeptical researchers claimed.
AI simulations show that the image on the Shroud of Turin does not spoil the full human body. This, in turn, agrees with the deformations that would result from using a fairly flat relief. Artificial intelligence helped confirm that the kinks in the material were not deep enough to justify using a real body. In this way, the authenticity of the shroud was questioned. The recesses are simply too small and fit more like a bas-relief and less like a person.
