Company Roaming Planet to 3D Scan Whole Ecosystems to Incorporate Into Unreal-Based Virtual Worlds

When you watch this jaw-dropping video, keep in mind that none of the elements from nature are actually from the real world -- though at one point, most of them were. This is made possible by a company called Quixel, which has been roaming reality for a long time, 3D scanning whatever they saw from the material world they considered worth incorporating into virtual ones:

On our global scanning expeditions, we scan entire biomes and ecoregions to capture everything contained within them. From the smallest blade of grass to the largest cliff, every element is scanned and made fully modular, enabling you to create the most detailed worlds imaginable.

So almost like a 19th century naturalist expedition, except all the samples aren't sent back to museums, but to 3D rendering studios. More on how they made this specific video from the Unreal blog:

To prepare for the project, Quixel spent a month in ice-cold rain and thunderstorms scanning locales in Iceland, returning with over 1,000 scans, capturing a wide range of eco-regions and natural environments to feature in the short. The result is “Rebirth,” a 1:45 real-time cinematic set in a futuristic alien landscape. 

Hat tip: Kottke.

Comments

[vurt konnegut]

excellent

[Trilo Byte]

While it may have been featured on the Unreal blog, Quixel's content can also be used with Unity (and by extension, SineSpace) and with stand-alone content creation tools.