London, March 31: For the first time, computer artists claim to have recreated the face of Jesus Christ from the Shroud of Turin, using cutting-age digital technology. The image was created by taking information and blood encoded on the Shroud of Turin — the bloodstained linen that many believe was the burial cloth of the crucified Jesus Christ — and transforming it into a 3D image, say the artists.
The image was recreated for the History Channel special programme The Real Face of Jesus, which will be aired this week.

“We ‘lifted’ the blood and isolated it (on a computer) so that it would sit ‘in air’ (on a transparent background),” the Daily Mail quoted computer artist Ray Downing, president of Studio Macbeth, the group that created the image, as saying.
He explained that because the Turin Shroud was wrapped around, rather than being draped on the body, the blood was transferred to the cloth as it was wound. Therefore it did not align with the places on the face from which it originated.
The ancient shroud contains a faint impression of the front and back of a human body, along with blood, dirt and water stains. The year-long project culminated with a team of graphic artists using the latest technology to create a computer-generated image. “I have a lot of information about that face and my estimation is we’re pretty darn close to what this man looked like,” Downing said.
He has claimed that his technique of computer imaging actually uncovered what substance created the image on the shroud and enabled him to see for the first time the actual face of Jesus.     —PTI