Turn on light one, take the picture. Turn on light two, and so on. We then use our own algorithm to get the level of detail we need. The result is a virtual statue constructed from a mosaic of some 10 million triangles and 1 billion to 2 billion bytes of data refining the geometry and adding detailed color and texture information. To accommodate this mountain of data on a PC, the IBM researchers designed a special viewer.
Users first see a simplified model of the statue that can be viewed from any angle.
They can then mark a portion of the statue to view in greater detail, whereupon the server will add data to the image. Large portions of the statue are unfinished, not polished. You can see the sculptor's tool marks, which differ on different parts of statue. It is a very rich area of research for the historian. Early results were presented in December at a press conference at the Pierpont Morgan Library in New York City.