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I recently downloaded and had a play with Autodesk 123 catch.

The results were not quite as good as I had hoped for, but still fairly impressive considering what it does.

So what does it do? I don’t know the technical side of it, but basically you take a load of pictures, with any camera (even an iphone) and it pieces together a 3D model from them.

In the past i have worked on a 3D scanning job which required the use of a £50k 3d scanner and about 30 minutes per scan. It also had to be done at night, and placed very carefully, which in this case meant closing a road. So the idea that this could be re created with a few snaps was very appealing. I had begun to have ideas of my clients taking pictures of things and sending me a ready built 3D model, which I could then just clean up and set up for whatever use they needed. Sadly its not quite that good but there were some interesting results…

So here are some of the results after afternoon playing around with it:

This is a gravestone just outside the office door (I work in an old chapel by the way!):

The holes are just where it missed or couldn’t work it out, I find this a bit odd ass I took a lot of the front of the stone and it didn’t get it.

Next I got a bit ambitious and tried to do an interior. I first did one of the entire office, but it just didnt work (it gets confused with repeating shapes), but I did manage to get this one of my desk:

Lastly, I decided perhaps it would work better just focusing on one thing, so I got Maria to capture me! The results were kind of insulting (I do not look that deformed in reality!)

In summary, it was fun to do, and interesting, but far from a production ready process right now. I’ve heard good things about the xbox kinect for this application so I may try that next!

Autodesk 123 catch is free software, give it a try like me and see if you can get some nice results. They also have an iphone app that works in the same way.

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Here’s a quick video of me creating a Goat in Zbrush, to be given away as part of the Trex pack!

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Heres a video showing off the trex model in all its glory. This model is running real time in a game engine, nothing was added in video editing after.

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A quick video I recorded while making a gun turret the other day for Zombie Lunch

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I recently created a gun turret for the Zombie Lunch project, and came across with this technique I wanted to share.

I simply wanted to quickly add some edge highlights to this gun turret, in order to enhance the metallic properties of the material, and bring out the edges a little more.

Turret- in need of edge high lights

This model is for a simple iOS game, so it just has one 512×512, unlit diffuse texture. I could have painted the edge highlights in within photoshop, as I did for the rest of the texture, however the method below is much more accuracte, and could be used for more advanced models (with larger and different types of maps).

So, heres how to achive this quick and easy finishing touch (im using 3DS max)-

Open up your unwrapped model, and select all the elements to your texture, then add a unwrap UVW modifier.

Add a UVW modifier to the model

If you already know how to model in 3Ds max, you should be fairly familiar with this modifier. Very simply it is used to position the UVs (or texture coordinates) of the model.

Now open up the edit UV window and go to Tools>Render UVW template

**Note, this technique works a little better if the UVs are well laid within the square out and the different sized islands are not intersecting each other. If you have not done this, select all the faces and go Mapping>Normal mapping> box mapping….its not as good as doing it by hand, but works for this tutorial.**

Render to UVW

Normally I use this tool to render out a guide for texturing in photoshop, but its pretty good for getting edge highlights out as well! Use these setting (change the resolution to match your texture) and save it on your computer.

Render UVW settings

Now open up Adobe Photoshop and use the place tool (file> place) too add the new texture on top of your existing texture, in a new layer.

I had the blend mode set to normal, but you could play around with using other blend modes such as screen.

Edges

Finally, take the mask or eraser tool, and erase all the lines that are not edges and you want to portray as smooth (such as on this cylinder above).

Erase the unwanted edges

Tip: Its not possible to render out thinker lines, but if you want them you could try selecting the lines (CTRL click on the layer) then go select>modify>expand and fill this selection.

Just to add a finishing touch, go filter>blur>gaussian blur to take the pixelated edge off a bit.

And heres the finished Turret with some nice edges…

Remember to like us on facebook, follow us on twitter or sign up for our RSS feed for notifications of more tutorials and news in the future!

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Unreal 4 – A massive leap in technology

I just spotted some new tech demos of the Unreal 4 engine. For those who don’t know, the unreal engine is a computer game engine, that processes real time 3D graphics and functions. A large chunk of modern PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 games are built and run on the unreal 3 engine.

Unreal 4 was just announced a few days at E3! Already it seems to be an outstanding step forward in terms of what it can deliver.

Heres a nice flashy video that shows off just what it can do:

As well as a much needed UI makeover (which reminds me A LOT of how Unity 3D is set up), there are some very advanced dynamic realtime lighting and particle effects. This video really showcases the features well:

I can’t wait to get stuck in with engine and see what can be produced. I still feel strongly that way too much time is needed to learn how to use engines (and 3d apps for that matter) to create desired effects, and it often leads to the initial artistic idea being forgotten and replaced with technical problem solving. This version of unreal seems like it really could bring the power back to the artist.

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After watching Jurrasic Park one too many times I got inspired to created a 3D model of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, and 6 months later here it is! (it was a spare time project). From the start I decided to make it work well with the Unity 3D game engine, which is our current preferred engine here at Export 2 Reality.

I started by sculpting a high poly model in Zbrush, refined it A LOT, then took it into 3D studio max, re topoligised it (changed the structure of the mesh), before taking it back to z brush for more details and base colour texture. Once I was happy with the model I baked the maps into the low poly version of the model and rigged and animated it. I have created a character in this manner before, but this time I really got to grips with the workflow, and hope to do it much faster in the future.

You can see the latest version of the model in the interactive viewer by clicking on the image below

Trex 3D webplayer

If you happen to be a unity user, and could do with a trex in your game (who wouldn’t want that!) then you might be interested to know ive put it on the unity store. Its simple and secure, drag it and drop it right into your unity project! Get it here.

Looking for a custom built 3D character for your game or animation? Let us know (it doesn’t have to be a dinosaur, but we will like you more if it is).

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I just recently discovered this stunning animation:

“Forms is a digital artwork that responds to the human body in motion. It focuses exclusively on the mechanics of movement, using footage of world-class athletes to illustrate human movement at the extremes of perfection.

Videos of athletes were processed through custom software to create evolving abstract forms that explore the relationships between the human body and its movements through time and space.

This artwork was especially commissioned for In the Blink of an Eye by the National Media Museum, with the support of imove.”

Source

I admire the beauty of it, however, I am personally more interested in the technical process the artists Quayola & Memo Akten took to create this piece

After reading up on it I discovered they used camera tracking and animation software to re create the character animation in 3D space from video footage. After this they placed dynamic objects such as particle emitters and springs and attached them to the surface of the character. Combined with the animation and a nice render the effect is amazing.

Do you have a creative vision you would like to see a reality like these artists? If so get in contact with us, here at E2R we love to explore the creative potential of the technology we use.

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Check it out, I picked up some new mini business cards!

Ask me for one next time we meet, though I may be reluctant, right now i’m feeling they are too nice to give away! There are 26 variations, see if you can collect them all!

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Due to the continued sales of this pack I decided to update it. Its perfect for quickly populating a street scene in unity 3D. It is aimed at current gen consoles or PC, and has levels of detail for efficiency.

A few of us have contributed to it now so thank you to those who have helped…you know who you are!

Get it here: http://u3d.as/content/export-2-reali…-34-models/1CW

Talk about it here: http://forum.unity3d.com/threads/113534-Street-props-Recently-UPDATED

Or comment here!

Let me know what you think

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