The first couple months of this year have been very exciting when it comes to cheap simple 3D scanning. Tools such as ReconstructMe and 123D Catch are making it painless to make decent quality 3D scans. I've done tests over the last few weeks with both and am very pleased with the results. ReconstructMe uses the Kinect to build a 3D model in realtime. You hold the Kinect and move it around your subject and the software builds in realtime, even filling in gaps via nifty error correction. The results out of 123D Catch have been amazing. Close up "scans" reveal incredible resolution and the great thing is that since you are snapping photos that you get the textures from your subject to resulting in photorealistic 3D models.
3D Scan Tests Using ReconstructMe + OpenNI + Microsoft Kinect
3D Scan Tests Using 123D Catch:
Going back to my wanting to build photographs and video instead of capture it is the reason I'm so psyched about these applications. They give me an intuitive quality way to get 3D scans of people for virtual worlds. 3D scanning used to seem like something I was going to have to break into a computer science lab with a motion capture rig to do but in the past two months my eyes have been opened.
WELL.TORCH is my final project for Pixels & Polygons class. My intention with this project was to proof of concept an idea for an installation. The premise is that users enter a darkened room where they see a projected edge of a deep well that has been blended intentionally with the physical environment of the gallery space - think dirt and stones on the floor. When they approach the edge of the well naturally they can see farther down into the dark abyss. Taking out their torch and waving it around the mouth of the well casts glimmers of light that reflects on the contents and the very bottom.
The reality of the user scenario for this proof of concept was that the user had to perch on a Wii Balance Board and lean forward to see over the edge of the cliff. In reality this worked well but needs more smoothing of the values for realism and also the area of the balance board is too small to be immersively used in a gallery space without rethinking things. It was responsive though and did it's job. For the torch the user holds a Wii Remote to cast their light down the pit. The accelerometers of the Wii Remote worked well enough but I think in another version some computer vision on an actual torch looking prop, perhaps that emitted trackable IR, would be more fitting.
I ended up with pretty much what I wanted sans a proper headlook from a custom character. I spent most of the time figuring out the scripting and Unity stuff before even hanging a projector and in hindsight I think I should have started with the projector. In my mind the shadows cast by the user's arm when they wave their torch (wii remote) over the well seemed cool but in reality I think they are a bit much. Still, it was neat to step up to the edge of this digital pit, squat on the balance board and perilously perch trying for a better view of what's below. I actually subconsciously found myself treating the projected hole as a real one as I walked around setting things up - I didn't want to fall down. For a week's worth of work I feel good about it - now I want to make a bunch of custom assets to make it my own instead of a bland dark hole.
Whether anything ever comes of this project remains to be seen but it taught me a lot about scripting events in Unity. There were a lot of things that were frustrating that I couldn't figure out - like how to properly get the bones of a model to animate with a headlook script without turning into a tornado of death but there were also success. At first I was having trouble getting the two OSC communications from the Wii Remote and Balance Board to play nice together in Unity but I ended up rescripting some things and making it work - although sometimes I have to hit the play button in Unity 3-5 times to get both devices working at the same time but I'm not sure if that's my fault or Unity's.
Going forward, even though I'm committed to the Unreal Development Kit, I can see myself coming back to Unity, spending a ton of time bringing myself up to speed on the interface, and making some cool stuff.
