THINK: Transparent

THINK: Department for
Transport, UK
x330 Case Study 02
ScanLAB Projects
scanlabprojects.co.uk
ScanLAB Projects
Crash v2

ScanLAB Projects
THINK: Transparent
UK Department for Transport
Rural Roads Campaign
In the summer of 2014 ScanLAB Projects worked with director Giles
Revell, post production house The Mill and advertising agency AMV
BBDO to create Transparent a short educational campaign video to
warn against the dangers of rural roads. The work collects a series of
rural locations to build up a virtual film set, in which the fateful story of a
road accident unfolds.
ScanLAB Projects developed the initial aesthetic concept and approach
and were responsible for on location 3D capture and data processing.
They oversaw the final production, animation and
rendering by The Mill, London.
Client and Team
ScanLAB Projects: Matthew Shaw, Soma Sato, Thomas Parker
AMV: Producer - Anita Sasdy, Creative Team & Co-Directors - Steve
Jones & Martin Loraine
We Folk: Producer - Oz Thakkar, Co-Director - Giles Revell
The Mill: Executive Producer - Cat Scott, VFX Producer - Jarrad Vladich,
3D Lead Artists - Tom Raynor
About the Work
More fatalities from motor accidents happen on rural roads than on
the motorway, in fact, 60% of all road fatalities in Great Britain happen
on rural roads. This work is part of a campaign for the Department for
Transport’s THINK! road safety campaign which warns drivers of the
dangers on country roads and encourages people to slow down by
braking before the bend, not on it.
Using LIDAR scanning technology the work makes an entire rural
landscapes totally transparent. These scans were then animated in
post-production to show a car speeding along a country road along
which we can see through trees, buildings, earth and people. Thanks
to the LIDAR technology, the viewer can see the danger through the
bends; the driver, however, can’t. As a result, the speeding car careers
into an oncoming tractor in a fatal crash. The end titles suggest that, if a
driver could see the danger through the bend, they would slow down.
Brake before the bend, not on it.
Transparent Corner
One of a series of bends
in rural roads scaned to
build up a LIDAR landscape
in which the campaign
video is set

ScanLAB Projects
ScanLAB Projects
Haybale Field
Six scans within a
hayfield covering an
area of approx 4 acres

ScanLAB Projects
Crash v2
Crashed VW
An elevation of a purposefully
crashed VW Golf, for the final
accident scene of the
campaign video

Crashed VW
The aligned series of scans
which make up the digital
version of the crashed
VW Golf
ScanLAB Projects
VW Crash _ v01 +
v02

ScanLAB Projects
Technique and Workflow
In order to build up the large LIDAR landscape in which this animation
is set a series of locations across West Sussex in the UK where 3D
scanned throughout August 2014. In total thirty individual locations
where selected for key elements that make up part of this fateful
journey.
On Location:
12 days on location
Various resolution scans from 1/2 to 1/4
484 scans in total
HDR colour by Nikon D7000
Each location was visited and a plan for on location scanning
developed by the team at ScanLAB Projects, in consultation with the
directors and the 3D graphics team set to work on the project. Using
the Faro x330 a complex series of locations where captured, from
heavily forested landscapes to wide open fields and a series of road
features including railway bridges, farm entrances and tight corners.
The interior of a country pub and the entirety of a working dairy farm
also feature in the landscape created. In addition a series of vehicles,
actors and extras were also captured using the x330.
When working on smaller elements, a single person or an object in
a field a few as 3 or 4 scans were referenced together using sphere
targets. In a few cases a single scan is used. Some of the larger
locations, for example the farm and the large landscape seen in the
opening shot, are a collection of up to 60 individual scans. On these
larger scale locations referencing is always target based, using 145mm
and 200mm diameter reference spheres.
When scanning vehicles, interior locations or people care was taken
at all stages to deal with the negative impact of reflect surfaces and
glass. All vehicles were chosen for their relative matte appearance.
In addition all glass surfaces and lights were coated with matte vinyl
before scanning.
When scanning people the x330 would not be the technology of
choice in most cases. However it was decided that to maintain a
consistent aesthetic the same scanner should be used across the
entire work, from landscape scale subjects to humans. Subjects were
asked to stand as still as possible and each scan was repeated several
times to ensure at least one good version was successfully captured
Fields + Road
A series of two vast fields and
a road bending through the
middle. Scanned in a single
afternoon using the
FARO x330

ScanLAB Projects
Processing:
As scan data was aligned and processed using FARO Scene 5.2.5.
For the initial visualisation .POD files were exported for use in Bentley
Pointools v8i. All data was cleaned and edited in Bentley Pointools v8i.
For final rendering and processing at The Mill .XYZ files were exported
and delivered. All colour processing was completed in PTGui and in the
Adobe Creative Cloud suite of image adjusting software
Visualisation + Rendering:
Initial visualisation was completed in Bentley Pointools v8i by ScanLAB
Projects. The final animation, camera construction and rendering was
completed by The Mill using Houdini by SideFX.
The Success of the x330
This work required the capture of a range of complex, vegetated
locations and a variety of surprising and unusual objects. The flexibility
of settings on the x330 allow the same instrument to be used for a
long exterior scan and a quick, vehicle interior scan. For example
the x330 on ½ resolution was capable of capturing an entire field in
a half hour scan. For the interior of a VW Golf a single 7 minute scan
provided enough visual information for the project. The flexibility of
setups also allows great adaptability in a complex filming scenario. The
requirements of directors, the nature of the weather and the availability
of locations are constantly fluxing external factors. While rigorous
planning was in place for most of the scanning this was not always
possible. The Faro x330 is transportable and adaptable enough for
some decisions to be made on the fly, on location to speed up or alter
the data captured in response to changes in storyboard or changes in
the weather.
About ScanLAB Projects
ScanLAB Projects are one of the UK’s leading providers of large scale
3D scan data. They specialise in visualisation of pointcloud data for
film, tv, advertising and the creative industries. Their work has been
broadcast internationally and exhibited at leading cultural institutions
across the world. They are currently working with leading architects,
scientists, broadcasters and artists on a portfolio of projects worldwide.
Tractor
The scanned tractor which
results in the final accident
scene

Longues-sur-Mer
The series of four artillery
positions at Longues-sur-Mer,
Normandy
SCAN DfT_120014
Ball Cross Inn
The staged pub scene, 3D
scanned in the x330 and
which features in the final
animation

Stills copyright AMV/The Mill/DfT/ ScanLAB Projects Stills copyright AMV/The Mill/DfT/ ScanLAB Projects

THINK: Transparent

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