Visual effects team creates virtual version of San Francisco Mission Dolores to mark 1776 Anza Expedition
In 1776, as the Founding Fathers signed the Declaration of Independence on the East Coast, an epic journey reached its final destination on the West Coast.
About 75 years before California became a state, the Anza Expedition traveled to what was then called Alta California to set up a Spanish colony, which included a presidio and a mission. Thanks to the San Francisco Archdiocese, and a special CBS News Bay Area visual effects team, anchor Juliette Goodrich reports from inside a digital replica of that mission, known today as Mission Dolores.
In March, visual effects team members Craig Weiis, Brian Vogt, and Robert McClelland arrived at the historic chapel in the Mission District and set up their equipment to authentically recreate Mission Dolores using spatial scanning. Pastor Francis Mark Garbo and the Archdiocese graciously gave permission. They had no editorial control over the segment.
The team used LiDAR devices and photographs to create the three-dimensional replica.
The CBS News Bay Area AV/VR team, which includes Eliot Curtis, Chad Simpson, James Klinghammer, James O'Loughlin, Steve LeDonne, and Max Fanueff, then worked their digital virtual magic for our KPIX virtual set.
This is CBS News Bay Area's first attempt to broadcast a report from within a digital twin of an actual location. The report is in honor of the nation's quincentennial, and how the Bay Area and California fits into the commemoration.
