Created exclusively for the SIGGRAPH 2019 Immersive Pavilion, by the team behind the previous SIGGRAPH 2017 VR piece: Il Gigante: Michelangelo’s David in VR, this second title continues to explore the work of the famous painter, allowing users to climb onto the painter’s scaffold and admire the painted ceilings in ways that no regular visitor of the Sistine Chapel is able to.
This is, again, an example of the potential of Virtual Reality to give the public a unique point of view of artistic creation. If you’ve been able to visit the real place, this experience allows you to go into the detail that was not possible to admire before. If you’ve never visited the chapel, this is a great way to admire the work of the painter and discover one of the artistic wonders of the world.
Il Divino: Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling in VR is also viewable in a non-VR mode, available for keyboard and mouse play, but once you’ve tried it in Virtual Reality there is no way back to a flat screen: it’s as if you’re watching postcards of a place against really being there. When you climb atop Michelangelo’s scaffold, the sense of vertigo looking down to the chapel’s pavement is real! Now, the documentary will reveal you, the artist spent whole days there, to paint the delicate textures you can now admire down to the individual cracks and brush strokes.
Created by a team that includes Christopher Evans, Wes Bunn, Elijah Dixson, Paul Huston, Scott Clifford, Nicole Gorny, Chris Norden and Kira Foglesong and published by Christopher Evans, Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling in VR has a goal: to leave a lasting gift that can be used to spur interest in Michelangelo’s work, democratize the ceiling and allow anyone in the world to view and learn about it. Chris Evans says that the project “was only possible with the help of friends and coworkers” and adds that “I am always on the lookout for other CG artists interested in Michelangelo’s work to help”, confirming that the app will continue to be added to and improved in the future.
To create the app the team relied on historical drawings and meticulous documentation, including the schematics documenting famous places, down to the millimeter created by a famous French architectural historian, Paul Letarouilly, whose drawings and schematics are being used in the rebuilding of Notre Dame. Letarouilly documented the Sistine Chapel, as part of his Vatican series. These engravings from the 1800s were instrumental in creating the project, says Christopher Evans.
Powered by Unreal Engine, Il Divino: Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling in VR allows you to walk through and learn about the Sistine Chapel Ceiling. Step onto Michelangelo’s own scaffold, a reproduction of the original used by the artist, and learn about how he painted the ceiling, or enter a Vatican conservator’s mobile aerial platform to see the ceiling up close, and learn about the controversial cleaning. In all, there are over 100 clickable elements connected to an hour of commentary talking about Michelangelo’s monumental work, for a unique documentary experience that really immerses the viewer.
To find more about the whole project, read the interview with Chris Evans, SIGGRAPH 2019 Games Co-Chair, where he shares his longtime passion for Michelangelo’s work, and how games technology can be used as a form of art, to give viewers the chance to physically stand inside the Sistine Chapel, stare at its ceiling, and absorb Michelangelo’s astounding work.
Independently of the headset used to explore Il Divino: Michelangelo’s Sistine Ceiling in VR, this is a must-have title for any VR library, a new app to add to the series of articles ProVideo Coalition started last week, with Edvard Munch’s The Scream, to help readers start or expand their collection of VR experiences.