So my friend Mike and I were talking about the best way to bring the real world into 3D game engines, like Unity and Unreal. Mike's been a game developer for a long time and founded GAME-U, a terrific after-school program designed to teach kids how to design and build their own video games. Wanting to know more, I researched the available options and it turns out that there are a whole lot of choices. I have pulled together a list of those options. They span the range from simple fish-eye camera lenses to a rig packed with 14 Red cameras and a LIDAR sensor.
From my perspective they all come with some form of compromise. Some are 2D only, others stereoscopic 3D, few have what I would call real 3D and even the ones that do involve serious post-processing or provide a geometry that leaves game developers deciding it may still be easier to draw the environment the way they always have before. This feels like a category of hardware/software systems on the verge of true greatness and utility in light of the impending VR tsunami, but not quite there yet.
In a future post I will offer my views on the elements of the ideal reality capture system. For now, please enjoy the following (pretty close to) comprehensive list of reality capture systems:
From my perspective they all come with some form of compromise. Some are 2D only, others stereoscopic 3D, few have what I would call real 3D and even the ones that do involve serious post-processing or provide a geometry that leaves game developers deciding it may still be easier to draw the environment the way they always have before. This feels like a category of hardware/software systems on the verge of true greatness and utility in light of the impending VR tsunami, but not quite there yet.
In a future post I will offer my views on the elements of the ideal reality capture system. For now, please enjoy the following (pretty close to) comprehensive list of reality capture systems:
Did I miss any? Do you have any experience with any of these options? In later posts, I will be discussing my experience with certain of these systems. As always, let us know what you know and move the discussion forward.