Gaming Fest – Building the Metaverse (Epic Games)

A presentation given by Luis Cataldi about Quixel’s photogrammetry technology happened this week at the SCAD Gaming Fest on April 29, 2022. Luis was the former chair of ITGM until 2014 at SCAD and is now the Lead Evangelist for Quixel. He described that at Quixel, their photogrammetry is so they can grow content. Like the amazing works of Vermeer, the invention of photography, and mobile phones, Quixel’s photogrammetry is the new game-changer in this world. 

But what exactly is the Metaverse for? Luis described it as being “content hungry,” and it will have “graphically rich worlds breathing with life.” It will be a sort of digital library that people can access and use for projects. The reason for this is because digital world-building is time-consuming and expensive. But with photogrammetry, it can help decrease that time. This brings us to the next point,  Quixel is coming out with a new app called ‘RealityScan.’ It is currently in the Beta testing stage, but it will be coming out soon in the coming months. Not only will they have this app, but they will release a “Quixel Photogrammetry Field Guide” in the near future with helpful tips. 

Not only is photogrammetry great for creating assets, but it is good as a library. An example Luis gave was the set of the show ‘ Friends.’ They destroyed the original set after the last episode, so there is no way to recreate it again accurately. Photogrammetry is an excellent way of solving this problem. After filmmakers build a set for a movie or show that they potentially want to save for future reshoots, they would digitally scan it. This way, they could save the set for later as a digital twin, and if they wanted to do reshoots, they could either use a greenscreen or LED wall. 

Luis gave some helpful tips about lighting the subjects on which you’re doing photogrammetry. Here are his tips: 

• You want the most neutral lighting that you can get
• Best scanning is on a cloudy day
• Ambient light with no shadows
• You can buy tents that give you ambient lighting for smaller objects
• Because you can relight it any way you want after you capture it

A question asked during the presentation was, will traditional 3D modeler jobs phase out? To this, he answered no. The skillset will expand and evolve, but it will not be completely gone. 3D modelers in the future will probably have to incorporate new skills such as photogrammetry to keep up with the technologies of this time. Additionally, you can use photogrammetry as a base layer, but then you can work on top of it by altering the model or other additions such as painting over it. 

Quixel has a ton of free assets for the public to use and other tools such as Mixer, where you can modify your photogrammetry models. Luis gave the audience a taste of what the future will bring and how you can try it out yourself. Be on the lookout for the free ‘RealityScan’ app when it comes out!