Photogrammetry

During my time at Foundry 42, a sub studio of Cloud Imperium Games, working on Star Citizen, I was lucky enough to collaborate with the design, construction and use of a dedicated photogrammetry rig.

The rig consisted of 52 mounted Nikon DSLR cameras routed through various splitters set up to use a remote trigger which was also linked to the lighting. 

We specifically recruited various actors and models for us to capture, we aimed for a diverse cast with a wealth of different features to form the bases of characters and customisable options. We would do an initial set up of each participant, typically removing make-up, adding markers, tweaking the rig and a run down of the session. We would then essentially do a FACS session capturing various expressions, poses and shapes to eventually feed into the system and help us create blend shapes and wrinkle maps.

We experimented with various pieces of software and eventually ended up utilising Agisolft Photoscan to act as our main piece of processing software along with typical character artist tools such as Maya, Zbrush and Wrap123 to create game meshes.