Creating digital twins for games and movies

Challenge

To deliver a new solution for the VFX, movie and gaming industries which reduces time and costs associated with pre-filming data capture. Specifically, an easier and more cost-effective method to produce “plates” for creating a composite in post-production. This includes digital twins for games, film sets, and other virtual worlds.

Problem

When building large-scale models with as much detail as possible, both up close and distant, standard methods can’t handle the job. This is especially true for the movie and gaming industries. Such a complex task requires not only special equipment but also a team of professionals with experience in similar projects.

Solution

To create an object as close to reality as possible, you need to display all the details from different angles, taking into account the light, shadow and texture of the material. A massive amount of data then needs to be extracted and put together. Our team of 360° imaging experts has tremendous experience scanning completely different objects in various conditions, and we are happy to take on new and exciting challenges.

With such a task, Scanline VFX approached us during their data collection phase of The Gray Man, a Netflix movie, to assist with the 3D scanning of beautiful Prague. Over a few days, we covered more than 5 km of Prague streets using our high-resolution 360° cameras and novel post-processing workflows and solutions.

What was especially crucial for this VFX project?

Scanning large environments and extensive data sets easily, quickly and at a reduced cost
Capturing the required data to create a quick representation of the geometry and have photography that aligns with specified ‘geo’
Limiting lighting changes in the scene from the sun

We can’t share the materials we’ve scanned for this movie, but we are happy to share the data we collected for ourselves with the same technology! This is one of the most exciting projects in the highest possible resolution and detail – just check it out: