Photogrammetry is the process of pulling
visual data from an array of photographs for the purpose of generating fully
textured high poly models. Recently this process has begun to be seen within
video games with EA’s Star Wars: Battlefront series being a stellar example of
the stunning graphics achievable with this technique.
I found an interesting article from Indie game developer Andrzej Poznanski, who talked in length about how his team utilised photogrammetry techniques to create the visuals for their game The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (2014). Whilst this is not a new game Andrzej highlighted something that I felt was pertinent in regards to my approach as an environment artist.
As Andrzej points out, the thing that really set their Photogrammetry assets apart from traditional methods was the logical way the textures had been broken up. Repetitive tiling and texture seams are not obvious and whilst it is possible to disguise these without photogrammetry, the variation that comes through real photos are not randomised. They have a logical reason for looking the way they do scuffs for example aren’t added without thought, they appear where they would logically. As he puts it:
“The floor might be more worn out around the front door, or where your chair wheels constantly scrub a patch of the floor, and the outer wall might be darker from the side that gets hit by the rain more often, etc. … Like in video games. Even if on the unconscious level, your brain points out to you all those perfectly tiling textures, all those evenly worn-out surfaces, those stains placed in all the wrong places – and whispers in your ear: LOL!”
This is something that I have often struggled with doing correctly. I have been aware that I needed to add texture variation to my environment however I am guilty of doing this randomly. You can see this in my Hangar Bay environment below, where I added dirt to random locations to try and break up the texture:
I found an interesting article from Indie game developer Andrzej Poznanski, who talked in length about how his team utilised photogrammetry techniques to create the visuals for their game The Vanishing of Ethan Carter (2014). Whilst this is not a new game Andrzej highlighted something that I felt was pertinent in regards to my approach as an environment artist.
As Andrzej points out, the thing that really set their Photogrammetry assets apart from traditional methods was the logical way the textures had been broken up. Repetitive tiling and texture seams are not obvious and whilst it is possible to disguise these without photogrammetry, the variation that comes through real photos are not randomised. They have a logical reason for looking the way they do scuffs for example aren’t added without thought, they appear where they would logically. As he puts it:
“The floor might be more worn out around the front door, or where your chair wheels constantly scrub a patch of the floor, and the outer wall might be darker from the side that gets hit by the rain more often, etc. … Like in video games. Even if on the unconscious level, your brain points out to you all those perfectly tiling textures, all those evenly worn-out surfaces, those stains placed in all the wrong places – and whispers in your ear: LOL!”
This is something that I have often struggled with doing correctly. I have been aware that I needed to add texture variation to my environment however I am guilty of doing this randomly. You can see this in my Hangar Bay environment below, where I added dirt to random locations to try and break up the texture:
From here on I intend to pay close attention to details and recreate them sensibly in my scene. I feel this will be a subtle but important contribution to making my environments feel real. Of course I can’t contend with real world scanned textures created through photogrammetry, however I feel at least I can adopt a logical approach as Andrezj says and really emulate details in the proper locations whereas before I was doing this without thinking.
DICE. (2015) Star Wars Battlefront. [DISC, DOWNLOAD] Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One. Redwood City: Electronic Arts.
POZNANSKI, A. (2014) Visual Revolution of the Vanishing of Ethan Carter. [Online] Available from: http://www.theastronauts.com/2014/03/visual-revolution-vanishing-ethan-carter/ [Accessed: 15/06/2018]
RUSH, J. (2018) Photogrammetry for Games. [Online] Available from: http://www.cgsociety.org/training/course/photogrammetry-for-games [Accessed: 15/06/2018]
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