Martn
Demmer
Film Spring Open 2021
Photogrammetry meets Volumetric for an experimental VR Documentary approach
This SIDE is still under construction
The last Film Spring Open I had over 10 day i had two group to guide.
- I was together with Slawomir Idziak the leader of the ARRI Crime Visual Storytelling Group
- And I had a second group / task to show an introduce the participants of FSO a new way of storytelling and capturing for experimental Photogrammetry dokumentaries which are injected additionally through Volumetric.
I had my Volumetric Workstation with me and I did several Photogrammetry runs during the workshop time . I surprised the other groups and shootings by popping up and not saying much and started just to create out of the blue a lot of still pictures for building assets for an Unity VR expieirence. The Groups and Workshops situations reacted in different ways to my appearance. I mostly didnt ask them to freeze or to stop doing what they do ... some got frozen by the fact that they got photographed others just went on with what ever they did. Means several of photographed participants are in movement during I capture the several pictures needed for the photogrammetry. The result you see in very blurry faces and sometimes full bodies how are doubled or splitted. Here on that page you see some of the results represented by moving GIFs.
Here you see my walking patern ... where i did the different still pictures of the Marian Body Painting lecture.
For the Photogrammetrys I stayed in the Point Cloud Format as I thought as the most of the photographed subjects have moved during shooting the series of still pictures. A mesh would often look to confusing so I stayed in that PLY aesthetic. The aim later adding all the asset on an flat ground in Unity to make it possible to walk between the different situations. I asked several group to please record some audio files from their process of prep or from their shooting, but sadly mainly the groups where so focused on their own work that nearly no one gave in the end during assembling the different asset into unity the additional sound files.
Here you find a WEB Version of this Point Cloud
(hosted on this amazing new WebPointCloudViewerService Pointeo)
I kept the PLY results kind of
NOT CLEANED to have an more abstract and an more style of rush ... it is an aesthetic which is more DREAM LIKE and I imagine for a final unity project it would be good to get rid of skybox and everything ... DARKNESS ... using volumetric fog and several triggers to blend (activate and deactivate) the assets in some kind of dream state to keep the visitor of the VR experience somehow searching in VR ...
On the right here you see the splitted ARRI Crime Group during prep on the second day.
I approached them and asked for keep talking and going on like normal but some of them froze :) ... and by that she and her face is most recognizable
Here you see the spinning Point Cloud of Group 1 of the splited ARRI Crime Group.
As I was just walking around them a somehow having the still camera mainly on chest or head level this area is better and more dense .. and the ground and the back of the people who sit in direction of the wall (which I later removed) is less dense
Anyway when you add to that audio of that conversation and you trigger the audio when you come closer to that asset inside of an VR the experience somehow awakes an interest and creates parallel a feeling of being a ghost observer of this particular moment.
Here a moment where the ARRI Crime Group let their two main actors get familiar with the location. They tried several blockings and positions where an interaction of the woman to the man feels natural .... I used a moment where the group decided to talk about the several tested blocking and the two actors where just waiting ... Dominica the actress moved after some time and by that she has two heads on one body ... what funny enough reflects somehow her intended characterization ... so an actually "error" can be artistically used for this medium to express more then just reality
Here the Blue Squares represent the position of the still camera.
As well is the second picture here a MESH and not anylonger just a Point Cloud
Here you can see some of the used stills for creation of the photogrammetry and you can see the 4K texture files of the textured model (OBJ)
A little bit zoomed in to show the higher quality of an mesh plus textures in compare the point cloud approach ...
Link to the Point Cloud Version
Link to the Mesh Version
Link follows soon
Here an actually shooting at that pre-blocked location. The group is performed several setups and reach lately the closeup to the male actor. The actress is close to camera to walk in the next moment through background of the shot. The Group as it is the ARRI Crime Group shot on ARRI Alex Mini LF with Signature Primes. This is a very prestige setup normally used for the best of the best and most expensive shootings.
Here you can see the famous FSO equipment room. This year under the conrtoll of the Focus puller legend Mr. Henrik (he was the focus puller in the past for a lot of Mr Idziaks famous movies) So a enormes source of knowledge which managed and leaded the Rental at the Film Spring Open Workshop 2021.
The Rental thanks to Mister Idziak is every year full or more then full with the most new equipment of the market.
Arri Alexa Mini LF , another Alexa with Panavision Mount by Panavision Poland, Sony Poland send one or two Venice bodys and several other cameras like the FX6 which was used by the Making-off Team to document the workshop and interview the different guest and lecturers. Canon has send like every year a lot of body and lenses that everyone who needs a camera can get a camera. In general FSO has a unbelievable amount of professional equipment what makes this workshop so unique as the participant can easy rent the equipment for the tasks of the group or even for extra own ideas when the grup leader gives his or her permission by signature that the participant can get the requested equipment.
Here you see first a PLY from a possible side position with the blue representative position of the camera.
Second picture you see a top shot of an Mesh plus Textures
And the twisting gif is another time a Point Cloud, as i actually used the Volumetric program EFEVE to load the photogrammetrys and twist them ...
Here you see first a rough
PLY - Point Cloud
of the French FSO Group
leaded by Florent Pallares
Florent Pallares (fsofrance.org)
Here I meshed and Textured the dense Point Cloud ... click for enlarge the picture ...
here another two spinning GIFs
Florent´s Team this year worked on an giant making off which showed all their years of participation at FSO and the activities Florent is doing by now with his own FSO france around the Globe.
Here a link to this Pint Cloud