Andreas Söderbergandreas.soderberg@outlook.com

3D-SCANNING PIPELINE FOR GAMES

To create an aff ordable pipel ine to get real l i fe objects into a game engine with some soft of scan method

I also wanted to display these meshes in a small demonstration level

PURPOSE

A playable level made in UDK with the scanned objects in it

DELIVERABLES

Start by sett ing the l ights and tak ing the photos. Between 50 to 70 i s enough for most objects .

Run al l the steps that Photoscan need to create a mesh and a texture. Remove the unwanted geometry f rom the object and export as an OBJ fi le .

Load the OBJ fi le in Maya. Rotate the mesh right and adjust its s ize . Export as a new OBJ .

Import the OBJ fi le in Zbrush and load i ts texture . Subdivide the mesh and sculpt on it to enhance both things that goes into the mesh and th ings that points out f rom i t . After that , run the Zremesher funct ion. Export the low poly mesh as a new OBJ .

Open that OBJ fi le in Uvloayout, cut the UV parts and unfold them . Save the UV mapped mesh as a new OBJ .

In Xnormal , load both the high poly and the low poly objects , and a lso load the texture for the high poly. Bake the base texture, normals and ambient occlusion . The cavi ty map can enhance the texture a b i t extra but i t takes so long to bake that I s topped to bake i t .

Load the base texture and the ambient occ lus ion maps in Photoshop and insert the AO as a new layer with the layer blending mode called multiply .

Load the unedi ted base texture in Crazybump and go to the specular tab . Load your low poly mesh in the previewer and adjust the parameters .

Load everything in Maya to make sure that i t works. Adjust the pivot point if needed .

Photoscan > Maya > Zbrush > Uvlayout > Xnormal > Photoshop > Crazybump

FROM START TO FINISH

Lightingrefl ections smooth skin

WHAT PROBLEMS DID I ENCOUNTER AND HOW

DID I FIX THEM?

BAD LIGHTING AND COLOR CONTAMINATION THAT WAS EASILY RESOLVED.

WITH ADDED LIGHTING, A BLACK CLOTH AND A SCULPTURE TURNTABLE THESE

PROBLEMS WERE RESOLVED.

POLARIZED FILTER, BEFORE AND AFTER.THE FILTER REMOVED ALMOST ALL

REFLECTIONS.

THIS IS WHAT THE ORIGINAL SCAN LOOKED LIKE. HOLES IN THE MESH DUE TO THE SPECULAR REFLECTIONS AND THE THIN

EDGES.

BEFORE AND EFTER THE USE OF A GRID AND A POLARIZED FILTER.

Simple geometry that is fast to create in Maya, 3DS Max, Modo or whatever software one uses, like tables and chairs are good examples of things that is both faster and gives a better result to do by hand.

More organic things, that one would use Zbrush or Mudbox for, are generally easier to scan.

WHAT TO SCAN AND WHAT TO BUILD

I ALSO HAD TO DIVIDE THE SCAN INTO THREE PARTS. FIRST THE CLOTHES,

THEN THE HEAD AND LAST ONE OF THE ARMS.

POLARIZED FILTER AND GRID

THE RESULT OF THE THREE SCANS PUT TOGETHER IN ONE LOW POLY

MESH.

I CHOSE TO PRESENT THE DATA THROUGH SIGNS THAT ARE POSITIONED

IN THE CORNERS OF THE DEMONSTRATION LEVEL.

Rougher materials are easier to scan. It it possible to create scans with really fi ne detail and crisp textures.

To be able to scan really smooth material some sort of painted or projected grid will help to fi nd the forms.

Specular highlights on smooth materials can be avoided with the use of a polarized fi lter.

One-colored materials with hard tracked features can also be helped with some sort of grid.

BETTER AND WORSE MATERIALS