photogrammetry
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Google's 3D scans recreate historical sites threatened by climate change
Google is no stranger to reproducing historical sites online, but it's now pushing technical boundaries to recreate those sites at risk of vanishing due to the ravages of climate change. It's launching a "Heritage on the Edge" collection in Arts & Culture that will include over 50 exhibitions illustrating the effect of an evolving climate on historical landmarks, including five locations recreated in detailed 3D (with 25 models total) using a mix of scans, photogrammetry and drone footage. You can see vivid depictions of the statues at Easter Island's Rapa Nui, the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh, the trading port of Kilwa Kisiwani in Tanzania, Bangladesh's Mosque City of Bagerhat and Peru's ancient city of Chan Chan.
Epic makes 10,000 lifelike photogrammetry assets free for Unreal Engine
Epic Games has acquired a company called Quixel, a tools and services provider for graphic artists, which also created what it says is the "world's largest photogrammetry asset library." Quixel is known for Megascans, an enormous library with over 10,000 2D and 3D photogrammetry assets that was previously used to create photorealistic scenes for games like Destiny 2 and films like Black Panther and The Lion King. Even better, now that the company is part of Epic Games, the developer will make Megascans free for use with Unreal Engine.
'Inventory' preserves street clutter with photogrammetry
Most of the time, we barely notice the lamp posts, bollards and road signs around us. They're street clutter that barely registers in our brain as we go about our busy lives. But Oddviz, an art and design collective from Istanbul, looks at them differently. The group sees this 'street furniture' as important culture capsules that evolve as they corrode or get covered in posters, stickers and graffiti. Society doesn't protect them, though, like an iconic landmark. So Oddviz has started documenting them -- a form of digital preservation -- using a 3D modeling technique called photogrammetry.
Google offers access to virtual 3D models of ancient monuments
Historic monuments around the world face threats from natural disasters, tourism and war, which is what led Ben Kacyra to found CyArk -- a non-profit organization working to scan and digitally archive ancient monuments. With laser scanning, photogrammetry, drone imaging and structured light scanning, CyArk's team has been developing detailed, digital 3D images of structures like the Ananda Ok Kyaung temple in Myanmar, the Al Azem Palace in Syria and Chichen Itza in Mexico. Now, Google is making these models available through its Arts & Culture platform.
3D models offer a detailed look at Mary Rose artefacts
In 1545, the Mary Rose warship drifted to the bottom of the Solent, a slither of sea that separates the Isle of Wight from mainland England. It was rediscovered in 1971 and carefully salvaged in 1982, triggering a major preservation project in the city of Portsmouth. Now, you can examine some of the vessel's remains -- including the skull of a thirty-something carpenter -- in your browser, for free. The 3D models are part of a project called Virtual Tudors, which hopes to challenge the long-held belief that osteological bone examinations need to be conducted in person.
The 'Star Wars' holographic chess game is nearly a reality
"Let's be real: Any article you read about Magic Leap or any AR platform, the first thing they talk about is Holochess." That's Mike Levine, the former senior effects specialist at LucasArts and the current CEO of mobile game developer Happy Giant. Levine is working on a new project with Corey Rosen, the former creature-effects supervisor at Industrial Light & Magic, and legendary monster designer Phil Tippett -- the man who created Holochess for the original Star Wars: A New Hope. Together these sci-fi comrades are building HoloGrid: Monster Battle, a tactical collectible card game that takes numerous cues from the classic Holochess scene. Forty years on, Star Wars still exerts a huge influence on Tippett's life. "It's really weird," Tippett says. "It's like being in some kind of time bubble or Groundhog's Day. It keeps coming back."
