Modelling Ruth Aylett
Overview Basic issues Modelling packages Low polygon modelling Importing models Buildings Photogrammetry Laser range finders LIDAR The great outdoors Cheap methods
3D Authoring tools Most models produced with generic 3D modelling packages offline Some packages derive from film/animation: Maya, 3DStudioMax, Softimage, Rhino, Blender, AC3D. creation of realistic creatures or backgrounds for film or games industries. Not designed for creating real-time rendered models Others from science/technology: Matlab, PV-WAVE, AutoCAD. Not designed for realistic textures, lighting etc Integrated with game engine: Unreal Tournament, Never Winter Nights, Unity etc All packages create objects, give them styles, assign behaviours and place them in 3D Cartesian space.
Other VR Software Tools DI Guy - Boston Dynamics Poser Metacreations Simulink - Mathworks Vizard WorldViz CityEngine ESRI Specialised terrain modelling (many)
3D Studio Max 3D Studio Max (or 3ds max) - Autodesk Probably biggest selling professional 3D content creation package. Many special purpose plugins such as Character Studio. Still relatively expensive PC only for a long time Much used in film
Low polygon modelling Realtime constraints require working to a polygon budget See http:// www.webreferen ce.com/3d/ lesson52/ for an example Also http:// cg.tutsplus.com/ tutorials/game-art/ sculpt-model-andtexture-a-low-polyskull-in-blender/
Use of texture Make low-poly model look better Normal maps Implementation of bump mapping Fake lighting of bumps and dents RGB image " corresponds to X, Y, and Z coords of a surface normal from more detailed version of object" True v fake bump mapping" True = perturb geometry (affects silhouette)" Fake = apply to normals only" Can be calculated in real-time on graphics card"
Using level of detail (LOD) Produce different versions of same object Very low polygon versions to be used when distant 5000 polygons in one view is often plenty Using texture can help
Obtaining texture images Libraries from software 3DS Max, Maya etc Web www.3dcafe.com Camera with Photoshop editing
Texture photography Orthogonal pictures are best (but physically impossible) If the camera has a zoom function zoom in as far as possible stand well back this gives photos that are as close as possible to being orthogonal
Texture photography If the camera has a manual / automatic control then use it particularly important for white balance A series of photos taken on automatic will have a different setting for white balance for each photo and the colours will not balance
Texture photography Avoid using the flash if you can It is better to have light evenly distributed across the object you are photographing Direct flash light is often uneven, particularly if close up
Photo editing in Photoshop The best tools for texture editing are photo touch up packages like Adobe Photoshop These packages allow the user to Distort the texture perspective in photos taken at an angle Rub out unwanted features in the texture passing traffic undesirable reflections Create tileable textures The aim is to create a clean, orthogonal, (maybe repeating) image
Importing models -1 Always an issue Given use of separate modelling and runtime software Some formats are widely imported by runtime systems 3ds and vrml 1.0 Use of VRML 1.0 x3d can be exported in VRML syntax But VRML 2.0 (the ISO standard) added: Animation, user interaction etc So these must be removed
Importing models - 2 Geometry is not the only problem Textures often problematic 64 or 128 bit squares often required Use of texture tiling (see fields of X3D Texture node) Games engines may be idiosyncratic E.g Unreal Tournament had a carve out approach to modelling
Scaling up Hand construction of models is slow Modelling packages give limited support Can modelling be automated? How much? Buildings? Whole cities? Terrain? Games companies need to cut costs
What makes a good model? Trade-off between polygon count, accuracy, and effort Depends on the application Virtual heritage: as accurate as possible! Low polygon statues? City Effort dominates Iconic v standard buildingss Physically-based models Model behaviour is key
Modelling buildings Use architects drawings By hand: slow but accurate? Photogrammetry Use cameras on the real thing? Laser scanning from models LIDAR data
Architects drawings The obvious approach, BUT Not always available Require a long manual model construction As-built not always as-designed
Photogrammetry
Processing the data Manual identification of approx 12 points in all 3 views Use of accurate knowledge of focal length and negative size Can calculate exact distance of camera from scene
Laser rangefinding Use of laser beam to gather distance information time-of-flight: the round trip travel time of a single pulse is measured and distance calculated based on the speed of light Can also capture reflectance data
Laser Scanning Range Finder Real World Capture Conversion of range data Range 2.5m - 80+m Accuracy 2mm - 10+cm
The Liverpool Project Use laser scanner to scan the physical model Create VE model of a model
The Process -Build the Model Select area to scan 1 overall - 5 perspectives @ 4mm intervals 4 sections - 4 perspectives each @ 2mm intervals Nearly 2 million points in the clouds Segmentation Hierarchy - areas, buildings, planes Fit surfaces 10,000 Polygons
The Liverpool Model
Creating the dinosaurs from the BBC TV series using Laser Scanning Advantages: Fast, Accurate, Can be automated Disadvantage: Expensive, Large output file, Can be hazardous
LIDAR Light Detection And Ranging Airbourne laser rangefinding Using known position, altitude, orientation of plane
Data collection Collects position (x,y) and elevation (z) At pre-determined intervals Accuracy depend son flying height, laser beam diameter, GPS quality, post-processing Accuracy up to +- 15cms elevation No need to select specific scanning targets
The great outdoors Human artefacts are the easiest thing to model Lots of planes, often orthogonal Thus low-polygon models But grass? Bushes? Trees? Flowers? One polygon for each blade of grass? Several for each leaf? Water? Clouds? Fire? Flesh? Fur? Hair?
Cheap methods All involve compromises with appearance Water: Use a water texture: of course it doesn t move Sunken blue shape Create some polygons and a colour animation This can look like flow
Trees Billboard with tree texture on it Looks the same from any angle Two polygons at 90 degrees with tree texture on them There are commercially available models And a few free ones: e.g xfrog public plant See http://web.inf.tu-dresden.de/st2/cg/ downloads/publicplants/