A much earlier project required us to produce a Peppers ghost that was based on a model of the Temple of Apollo at Pompeii. We had one artist impression of the temple, and found some archeological information on the internet, and that was about all.

First of all, we started building a 3D model of the temple in 3D Studio Max, and once we had the basics together, our 3D printer was used to generate a fully detailed model of the model that was to follow. This model, shown below, was used for customer approval, and they found a handful things that had to be changed before the real thing was manufactured.

This model took about 8 hours or so to print; the real thing, which measures 36″ deep by 24″ wide and about 18″ high, took many, many more hours and had to be printed in chunks which were then assembled together before being detailed and painted. Modifications included the addition of a second floor to the gallery on the sides and rear of the temple, and a handful or other details that just had to be right for the resulting exhibit to work.

Once we had the “real thing” together, we mounted it into its case, and then the filming was done at our shop while we were looking at the resulting video in the peppers ghost so that we could see that the actors were pointing in the right direction. This kind of thing requires a lot of careful coordination.