Photogrammetry - the science of making measurements from photographs, especially for recovering the exact positions of surface points. Moreover, it may be used to recover the motion pathways of designated reference points located on any moving object, on its components and in the immediately adjacent environment. Photogrammetry may employ high-speed imaging and remote sensing in order to detect, measure and record complex 2-D and 3-D motion fields (see also sonar, radar, lidar, etc.). Photogrammetry feeds the measurements from remote sensing and the results of imagery analysis into computational models in an attempt to successively estimate, with increasing accuracy, the actual, 3-D relative motions within the researched field. (source: Wikipedia)
Photogrammetry - the science of making measurements from photographs, especially for recovering the exact positions of surface points. Moreover, it may be used to recover the motion pathways of designated reference points located on any moving object, on its components and in the immediately adjacent environment. Photogrammetry may employ high-speed imaging and remote sensing in order to detect, measure and record complex 2-D and 3-D motion fields (see also sonar, radar, lidar, etc.). Photogrammetry feeds the measurements from remote sensing and the results of imagery analysis into computational models in an attempt to successively estimate, with increasing accuracy, the actual, 3-D relative motions within the researched field. (source: Wikipedia)
A detailed breakdown of our step-by-step workflow can be found here.
Align photos.
Generate point cloud.
Generate highpoly mesh.
Generate/project textures.
Opportunity to change the way we think and create content
Available manpower (artists transitioning from BF4)
Photogrammetry can make great high res, largely organic assets
We still need man (alien?) made asset
We need to significantly increase our efficiency
Let’s look at were we are and re-evaluate everything we know. Nothing is off limits.
Today we’ll discuss some of the software we settled on
The beginnings of photogrammetry with Battlefield 4
An example of the range of captured assets from the Lucas archives.
An example of the range of captured assets from the Lucas archives.
Supporting scanned assets with other tools such as Marvellous Designer
Hard-Surface materials created with traditional methods
An example of the level of detail we’re able to get with combining photoscan with new (to us) software.
An example of the level of detail we’re able to get with combining photoscan with new (to us) software.
An example of the ingame assets using the combination of techniques.
A screenshot from Battlefield: Armored Kill that was considered ‘realistic’ during its time…
…to a screenshot from Star Wars: Battlefront, using photogrammetry on a very limited number of selective content to build up a realistic environment
A slideshow of locations we have visited on scanning trips, for a quick glimpse into the range and variety of settings at our disposal.Iceland
Iceland
Death Valley, USA
Utah, USA
Death Valley, USA
National Redwood Forests , USA
National Redwood Forests , USA
Finse, Norway
Finse, Norway
Iceland
Iceland
Iceland
A small selection from our large library of scanned materials that would be used for Sullust terrain surfaces
A small selection from our large library of scanned materials that would be used for Tatooine terrain surfaces
A small selection from our large library of scanned materials that would be used for Endor terrain surfaces
A small selection from our large library of scanned materials that would be used for Hoth terrain surfaces
A small selection from our large library of scanned materials that would be used for Hoth terrain surfaces
Vegetation and ground scattering assets captured on a blue board for easy background extraction
An example of a scanned asset, showing how intentionally generic and tilable they are.
An example of a scanned asset, showing how intentionally generic and tilable they are.
An example of a scanned asset, showing how intentionally generic and tilable they are.
An example of a scanned asset, showing how intentionally generic and tilable they are.
An example of a scanned asset, showing how intentionally generic and tilable they are.
An example of a scanned asset, showing how intentionally generic and tilable they are.
An example of a scanned asset, showing how intentionally generic and tilable they are.
An example of a scanned asset, showing how intentionally generic and tilable they are.
An example of a scanned asset, showing how intentionally generic and tilable they are.
An example of a scanned asset, showing how intentionally generic and tilable they are.
Opportunity to change the way we think and create content
Available manpower (artists transitioning from BF4)
Opportunity to change the way we think and create content
Available manpower (artists transitioning from BF4)
Data taken from a cross sampling of content creator disciplines. Straw poll – not necessarily accurate 1:1, but representative of reality.
A basic step by step guide through the Photogrammetry workflow
A basic step by step guide through the Photogrammetry workflow
A basic step by step guide through the Photogrammetry workflow
A basic step by step guide through the Photogrammetry workflow
A basic step by step guide through the Photogrammetry workflow
A basic step by step guide through the Photogrammetry workflow
A basic step by step guide through the Photogrammetry workflow
Shadows
Need to mask out shadows
Super important to have 16 bit depth
Before that, remove as much as possible from the camera raw (shadow slider photoshop camera raw plugin)
Create mask from what’s dark.
Flatten luminance in the colors first
Shadows tend to be colder, so you can use color to grab them.
Once you’ve gotten the shadows removed, you can treat it like something that’s been captured overcast
Get rid of ambient light
Two ways
Use the normal map (baked out in object space) to get the angle.
Use the occlusion, baked from the geometry.
Also need to use the mask to remove the color (bounced light)
Overcast is best
Let’s look at other aspects of the asset creation
Texel refers to the graphical representation of a pixel on a 2d object (eg. a texture). Basically, when you look at a pixel of a texture rendered on a 3d model, you are looking at a“texel”.
In this shot ~25x’s more pixels available than the screen can render.
Mips always try to keep a 1:1 ratio. So detail will get mipped away anyways!
Not only is this extremely close for 1p, it’s an even more extreme distance for 3p. At this resolution, there is certainly an absolute difference in quality, but a trivial relative difference in quality.
To give you a sense of the memory impact (and subsequent streaming impact) that this has.
The quality of these assets are great. This just reinforces what we’ve been saying – focus on the craftsmanship. More resolution isn’t what’s going to make these assets look better – the overall quality of the asset is what’s going to sell it.
In this example, the multiply node is set to a factor of 4, give a range from 0-4 (or 5 distinct integers). Color information (only greyscale though) is stored in the alpha.
- Anything we can do to increase efficiency
PBR is a talk in and of itself, but there a few things worth mentioning.
Render passes that compose the final image
Render passes that compose the final image
Render passes that compose the final image
Render passes that compose the final image
Render passes that compose the final image
Render passes that compose the final image
Render passes that compose the final image
Render passes that compose the final image
Render passes that compose the final image
Battlefield titles extensively used WorldMachine for the terrain, but we needed to support our up-close Photoscanned assets with realistic landscape in the distance
We instead complemented Photoscanned assets with real-world landscape data
The square in the middle represents the 8x8km Frostbite terrain, where mesh extends the backdrop a further 50km in all directions
Example of a scanned surface
Example of a scanned surface
Example of a scanned surface
A Level Construction Kit was created for each planet or biome
LCK video
This scene appears to be comprised of many elements with much variation…
…but it is only comprised of a very limited amount of generic assets that work well to populate a large area without appearing repetitive.
This scene appears to be comprised of many elements with much variation…
…but it is only comprised of a very limited amount of generic assets that work well to populate a large area without appearing repetitive.
This scene appears to be comprised of many elements with much variation…
…but it is only comprised of a very limited amount of generic assets that work well to populate a large area without appearing repetitive.
This scene appears to be comprised of many elements with much variation…
…but it is only comprised of a very limited amount of generic assets that work well to populate a large area without appearing repetitive.
A slideshow showing the variety of locations in Star Wars: Battlefront, created with a limited set of assets using the Level Construction Kits
A slideshow showing the variety of locations in Star Wars: Battlefront, created with a limited set of assets using the Level Construction Kits
A slideshow showing the variety of locations in Star Wars: Battlefront, created with a limited set of assets using the Level Construction Kits
A slideshow showing the variety of locations in Star Wars: Battlefront, created with a limited set of assets using the Level Construction Kits
A slideshow showing the variety of locations in Star Wars: Battlefront, created with a limited set of assets using the Level Construction Kits
A slideshow showing the variety of locations in Star Wars: Battlefront, created with a limited set of assets using the Level Construction Kits
A slideshow showing the variety of locations in Star Wars: Battlefront, created with a limited set of assets using the Level Construction Kits
A slideshow showing the variety of locations in Star Wars: Battlefront, created with a limited set of assets using the Level Construction Kits
A slideshow showing the variety of locations in Star Wars: Battlefront, created with a limited set of assets using the Level Construction Kits
A slideshow showing the variety of locations in Star Wars: Battlefront, created with a limited set of assets using the Level Construction Kits
A slideshow showing the variety of locations in Star Wars: Battlefront, created with a limited set of assets using the Level Construction Kits
A slideshow showing the variety of locations in Star Wars: Battlefront, created with a limited set of assets using the Level Construction Kits
A slideshow showing the variety of locations in Star Wars: Battlefront, created with a limited set of assets using the Level Construction Kits
A slideshow showing the variety of locations in Star Wars: Battlefront, created with a limited set of assets using the Level Construction Kits
A slideshow showing the variety of locations in Star Wars: Battlefront, created with a limited set of assets using the Level Construction Kits