3D Body Scanning - Custom Characters Hello, I am a researcher from the University of Texas, and I am looking at the possibility of bringing new 3d scanning technology to videogames. More specifically, recent developments allow for a complete 3d body scan in about 7 seconds. We would like to combine this technology with software to allow gamers the ability to import a perfect 3d image of themselves into the video game of their choice. Is this something that would interest you? If so, what games would you like to see support this technology? Thank you, Josh Bruno
Um ... the only purpose for a 3D avatar of oneself would be to have one that looked life-like. That said, degrees of resolution become the limiting factor. Scanning a whole body would have little relevance. A standard set of body shapes and heights would do for most gaming purposes, so that detail could be concentrated on the the head and neck morphology, even so the amount of detail required (vertices and polygons) would be huge if recognisable likenesses are to result. The real art of 3D modelling for gaming purposes lies in the texture maps which, artfully done, can conceal the lumpen nature of the underlying skeleton. So degree of resolution do you propose for such a system? How would texturing be applied. In The Sims 2 all sims (of the same skin tone) have exactly the same face, which is distorted by the "genetic" variation forced on it by the shaped its underlying mesh. Does your system involve creating a simultaneous texture map to go with the 3D mesh? If so that would be an amazing advance ... although I suspect that it would not be especially cheap for consumers to obtain a scan because models would need to be scanned under controlled lighting conditions, preferably in underwear or less, so not an option for open scanning platforms sited in a mall. I doubt many people would rush to pay out a modest fee for a rough cast mesh (no matter how detailed) if the texture map is an anodyne stock image. Likewise I don't really see people standing in line to get into a changing booth to strip off and be kazapped in a light-box at $25 a throw ... and that's a conservative cost estimate by me. Where would you want a life-like avatar, anyway? In virtual online worlds like Second Life or EA Land? Bandwidth looks like the limit there for some time to come. Simulation games like The Sims ... well only the The Sims, actually. Maybe, but it seems to me a luxury few would be interested in. The biggest market for hi-resolution graphical games is the FPS and there's not a lot of point in having a lifelike avatar in a FPS. Besides, most of the best FPS games are on console, and customisation and console games are not natural partners. It looks like a fun idea, but I suspect the market needs to be created for the technology. It seems like a bad move to bring an innovation to market with a notion to add sparkle to an existing and thriving genre. Internet speeds have increased 20 fold in the twelve years I have been using it. My PC has gone from a 386 using Windows 3.1 to something outa Star Trek, but when puch comes to shove it still needs me to make it go and I still have to rescue its chips from freaking out when some dopey over-Flashed advertisement gets stuck in a network queue. The short of it is that computers and the net have bigger, better and faster, all by 10 and 20 times over the last decade, but the hardware isn't doing 10 and 20 times as much as it used to. The internet is handling 10 and 20 times as much actual traffic as it used to either. Before vBulletin there was Matt Wright's cgi forum script. There were no avatars, no signatures, no search function, no pictures. It was great. We're not saying more now than we did then ... all we got now is more buttons and pictures and background goodies. Hell! Most some present day style sheets are bigger than the average 1997 html page. People don't wanna go back to the bad old days of no FAQs and an absence of numerous actively-scripted context relevant buttons and lists and ads. Modern computing is to mid 1990's computing as a Model T Ford is to a 40 ton semi-rig powered by the engine from a modern Ford Focus. The more load you put on the truck the quicker that engine'll overheat, but keep it loaded lightly and you'll get 70mph out it no sweat. My poor old Star Trek computer is hauling so many processes that even Bill Gates isn't really sure of some of them ....
