The Cemetery Hill - Final write up

Above: a screencap of the cemetery hill environment in Unity.

• The fence is a geo asset reconstructed from scanned object data
• The ground is a tileable material asset reconstructed scanned ground data
• Audio is white noise was recorded same day on location
• A particle emitter to mimic seedlings being blown off a tree (documented from that day) to demonstrate dynamic shadows
• Statue is a previously scanned asset (reconstructed from scanned object data) which is NOT true to the location to demonstrate combining scanned assets
• a default cube, for lighting comparison
• Lighting setup is a simple directional light and gradient skybox. 

Critical analysis:

Bad input = bad output

• There are obvious issues in model and texture quality, which can only be solved with better data capture. Admittedly, I began shooting this location in the late afternoon, which made me feel rushed. The benefit was that it was cloudier (therefore, more diffuse lighting) but I relied too much on burst shutter mode and was sloppy in photographing.
• This brings up an important point: I wish I spent more time in the data capture phase of my research for this term. I don't feel closer to perfecting the (already documented) methods, instead I felt rushed to output assets and get back into software side. In the end I didn't feel ready to talk about rendering because I was being sloppy upfront and not testing all the tools I have available to me. Bad input = bad output, and there are no good renders without good data.

The tileable material doesn't look like ground

• Yeah, see above. Need a tripod, manual shutter, and more time.
• There was also a lot of wind that day, which is not an ideal condition.

The statue looks out of place

• This is another case of bad input = bad output, but I can get a little more specific here. First, this was shot on my phone instead of a proper DSLR. The albedo was not completely clean and color matched to the scene, however with more time both of these can be finessed to perfection. In my last post I demonstrate how I can use Substance Designer to achieve a clean albedo, then reuse the template on different assets.

The seedlings are just planes

• I know, it's placeholder. This kind of asset is an example of something that would be better box modeled, and for this demo that's a skill I didn't think was necessary to demonstrate. Plus, the real reason this was included was to show something animated with dynamic shadows.

Successes:

I'm happy with the way the space is taking shape

• The organic feeling (that usually takes SO long to replicate) is almost instant in scanning. The space has a distinct 'character' to it that feels natural. Popping the white noise track in made the whole scene come alive. Plus, the process on this project has been FAST, this is the product of less than a total week of work hours. 

I'm happy with the direction of my research

• I am starting to see the path of how to get from where I currently am to here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hCeP_XUIB5U. I think it's important to emphasize that I am still replicating these scanning methods (which Unity has thoroughly documented and published). It turns out that there are already some pretty big shoulders to stand on. 
• I've greatly enjoyed working closer with Unity and realtime art-- something I was never formally trained in and want to continue learning. 
• Posting about my work has helped me get involved in other scanning projects around the school, and there does not seem to be any shortage of them. 

--

Looking ahead to next term, I hope to be able to increase the quality of scans and get results that are closer to the Unity Fontainebleu demo. 

I would also like to define a more specific and meaningful production that would fit into the thesis model.

I am not so worried about producing an effective tech demo as I am about making interesting interactive art. One fear I have is that I am entering my third term without having any discussions about art making and art direction. I hope this is to come before its time to propose our thesis. 

For that reason, next term I am hoping to continue researching best practices in scanning tech, but also look into areas such as installation art, interactive art, VR.