Creating compelling artwork of humans has always been a tough challenge. Artists have to deftly leap over the uncanny valley, and it can be tricky using an art program to perfectly recreate the face of a professional actor. Luckily, technology is gradually making it easier and easier for visual effects artists to bring the human form into digital space.
A recent example of this is the masterful use of 3D scanners to capture assets for the plane scene in World War Z. 2h3D, a UK-based 3D scanning firm that has worked on movies such as The Golden Compass and films from the Harry Potter franchise, was tasked with scanning a few brain-munching zombies. The studio’s high-tech equipment allowed the team to scan actors’ bodies in less than five minutes, and then scan their faces in less than one minute. The real time sink came from processing and editing the images, which included integrating the high-res faces onto the low-res bodies.
The really cool thing about this behind-the-scenes look is that 2h3D did all of their work with Artec scanners. These scanners may not be quite as powerful as their larger and more expensive counterparts, but they’re incredibly convenient. They don’t have to be calibrated, they’re fairly small, and all you have to do to use one is plug it into a computer’s USB port.
I’m not trying to toot Artec’s horn so much as I’m trying to illustrate how far technology has come and where it might go in the not-so-distant future. Artec scanners sell for well over $10,000, which makes them prohibitively expensive for many artists. The important thing to keep in mind, though, is that 50 years ago we didn’t really have 3D scanners at all. Fifteen years ago 3D scanners were absolutely massive and required an incredible amount of setup. 3D scanning technology is gradually getting cheaper and smaller. Theoretically, it won’t be long before artists can carry around a fairly inexpensive 3D scanner in their pockets.
The practice of using 3D scanning techniques has gradually been on the rise in the visual effects world. All we really need is for the technology to become accessible enough for artists to take scans of whatever they want, whenever they want.
A lot of visual effects artists out there are accustomed to building 3D models from scratch. If you’ve never had the opportunity to work on a 3D scan, then I highly recommend that you consider taking art classes. The right courses will give you a chance to work with high-resolution 3D scans of real-world objects. Mastery in this field is increasingly becoming an in-demand skill, so don’t get outshone by your fellow artists.
The 3D scanning revolution in the art world is right around the corner. Will you be ready to take full advantage of the tech boom when that window of opportunity flies open?