Product category:
3D CAD software
News Release from: Dassault Systemes | Subject: 3D Virtools
Edited by the Engineeringtalk Editorial
Team on 02 April 2007
Company showcases construction theory
Dassault Systemes' real-time 3D solutions enabled Jean-Pierre Houdin to model and explore the Great Pyramid in 3D and run simulations confirming his theory that the pyramid was built from the inside.
Dassault Systemes has held an even unveiling the scientifically proven Great Pyramid construction theory with its creator, architect Jean-Pierre Houdin Dassault Systemes' real-time 3D solutions enabled Jean-Pierre Houdin to model and explore the pyramid in 3D and run simulations confirming his theory that the pyramid was built from the inside
The secret of the Great Pyramid, the sole survivor of the Seven Wonders of the World, has fascinated people throughout time.
Countless theories exist as to how it was built, but none stands up to analysis.
In 1999, Houdin had an insight and decided to devote himself to developing his theory.
Eight years of passion and research ensued, whereby he imagined the construction site of Kheops as the first industrial construction site in history.
To further refine and test his theory, he called on Dassault Systemes to help.
As part of its "Passion for Innovation" sponsorship programme, DS decided to help Houdin solve the 4500-year-old mystery with its real-time 3D solutions.
DS' real-time 3D solutions allowed Houdin to explain the construction of the Great Pyramid from start to finish.
The theory has three Foundations: the use of an outside ramp to build the first 43m of the pyramid; the use of an internal spiral ramp running behind the faces of the pyramid to complete the construction; and the use of the Great Gallery to accommodate an ingenious system of counterweights to lift the heavy granite ceiling rafters (up to 63 tonnes) in the King's Funeral Chamber.
"Jean-Pierre Houdin's theory is not only interesting; it is coherent and revolutionary".
"Take the builders of that time seriously, he sees them as grand masters of construction, as real engineers", declares Egyptologist and pyramid specialist Rainer Stadelmann, ex-director of the German Institute of Archaeology in Cairo.
Bob Brier, PhD, Egyptologist and expert in the field of mummies adds: "Half-baked theories have been put forward about the Great Pyramid and until now none passed the test of sustained analysis".
"Jean-Pierre Houdin's theory is worth examining simply because of his rigorously scientific approach, which he supports with a large volume of field-based evidence".
Both experts will accompany Houdin on a scientific expedition to the site.
Other participants in the 30th March conference include: Hui Duong Bui, member of the French Science Academy and Research Director at Poytechnique; Marc Buonomo, Project Manager for Eiffel and the Millau viaduct; and Craig Smith, who has studied the construction of the Kheops pyramid in the light of modern project management techniques.
The final step for Houdin and Dassault Systemes will be to prove the theory in real life with noninvasive verification techniques conducted on the Kheops site.
This will be the largest real-time 3D virtual reality auditorium in the world, a first for Dassault Systemes and the Geode.
Seven computers running Dassault Systemes' 3D Virtools solutions are linked in a network to recreate the Kheops construction site in 3D, exactly as it was 4500 years ago.
The system allows the presenter to move about the virtual site freely in response to the audience's questions.
This links the real and virtual worlds via an immersive, interactive 3D experience.
"The Kheops event demonstrates the diversity of applications possible with 3D For All, our strategy designed to benefit the general public's daily lives with realistic interactive 3D experiences", explains Dominique Florack, Senior Executive Vice President, Products RandD, Dassault Systemes.
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