ArtBeat Virtual Reality

06/01/2021

//How I build Virtual Movie Sets in UnrealEngine - part 3 - City Destruction//

I'm hereby sharing my 3rd 'vlog' on how I create 3D Virtual Production content for Unreal Engine. This week is all about the destruction of the City elements I built previously - adding resemblance to the post-apocalyptic reference I picked at the start of this series.

This process actually requires some architectural knowledge, because parts of the internal building structures will be visible. After adding random debris - I use cloth simulations to resemble curtains swirling in the wind. In UnrealEngine 4.26 I combine all elements with lighting setup, camera positioning and color grading - finishing off with the placement of 3D Human Actors in this Virtual Set.

This part concludes the basics of building a realtime 3D environment - my next updates will focus on 3D character setups, posing, emotions and more. Note that the combination of Environments and Characters I'll show, is difficult / impossible to capture by 3D scan or Green Screen filming - simply because the environments don't exist in the real world - in other words; I want to demonstrate that any 'imaginary' setup is possible - made inhouse from behind a computer.

Hope this series is giving you new insights in the possibilities of realtime Virtual Reality - let me know if you have comments or questions.

thx, Aron

I'm hereby sharing my 3rd 'vlog' on how I create 3D Virtual Production content for UnrealEngine. This week is all about the destruction of the City elements ...

23/12/2020

Quick update on the Virtual Movie Set I'm working on in .

Besides giving the environment a more post-apocolaptic look, I started integrating my sculpted 3D avatars into the realtime set. For now just static -allowing me to play around with camera settings like Depth of Field / custom aperture etc. All running smoothly at 50/60 frames per second, raytraced in UnrealEngine 4.26 (recording software s squeezing FPS)

Below is a screencapture from within Unreal's editor - no external FX software was used.

Let me know what you think! Thx Aron

Quick update on the Virtual Movie Set I'm working on in .Besides giving the environment a more post-apocolaptic look, I started integrating my ...

04/12/2020

How I build Virtual Movie Sets in UnrealEngine - part 1 - Introduction

After focussing on Digital Humans for Virtual Productions purposes in recent posts - I would like to share my thoughts on how I see broader integration of them in related technology.

Therefore I'm introducing a series of 'vlogs' or video's explaining how I build up Virtual Sets for UnrealEngine, giving some insights 'under the hood' of Virtual Production technology. My ultimate goal is to make a movie- or music clip, including digital actors, entirely on a laptop. Only making use of stuff I make myself - so without the need of studio's, greenscreens, real actors, traveling etc. See how far I can push this on my laptop ;)

I plan to share weekly updates - covering 3D modeling, texturing, lighting, cinematics, (cloth) physics and more....

Below is my first tryout, apologies for the background noise of my laptop fan - due to stock issues, delivery of my new workstation is delayed :(

Let me know what you think - or check my Youtube channel for the complete playlist

Thx, Aron

https://youtu.be/L_2dfonHK7A

12/08/2020

This week I started to dress up the 3D sculpt of my son, keeping in mind the end goal of making him act realtime in UnrealEngine. I'm thinking about dressing him like an 'Urban Warrior' - kid style.

The clip shows me working on a shin guard; hand sculpting and painting details matching the real thing - finishing off with a nice layer of scratches and dust.

The content relates to an article which was shared by Adam Arrigo https://www.linkedin.com/feed/update/urn:li:activity:6698375887928356864/ describing a trend that I stringly believe in myself: fashion brands are taking steps to market their products through realtime applications and games. So stay tuned if you'd like to know which steps need to be taken to achieve this.

In the meantime check my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/aronversteeg/videos or follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/aronversteeg/ for more regular updates.

21/07/2020

In this second part of sculpting my son Daan as a Digital Humanoid for Live Performance tasks in Unreal Engine, I'll show how to apply skin textures to a realtime 3D avatar.

Paying attention to details is crucial - therefore I start off with hand-painting different skin pores for seperate zones of the face. These small details will make a big impact in the end appearance. Then the fun part begins; painting color data on top of the pores; in this example I'm using photographic data in Substance by Adobe as a basis for further finetuning - if no high resolution data is available I paint the details from scratch. At the end of this phase the avatar is ready for realtime usage - the results you see in the video are not pre-rendered but Live from the software editor.

In the next video I will focus on adding facial hair for realtime implementation. In the meantime check my YouTube channel https://lnkd.in/duyxsGU or follow me on Instagram https://lnkd.in/dTvnbnM for more regular updates.

Stay tuned and let me know what you think!

17/07/2020

Hi all, after receiving so many positive reactions to my first series about Virtual Fashion, I decided to introduce a second series - this will give broader insights on how I build a complete 3D realtime avatar from start-to-finish. The end-goal remains the same: creating high quality Digital Humanoids for Live Performance tasks via UnrealEngine.

In this series I will additionally focus on: facial expression anatomy, game-readiness, implementing new fashion designs and dramatic posing. So let's get started ....

It all begins with picking good references - in this series, I will sculpt my son Daan as basis for the avatar. Note: yes it's possible to 3D scan a character and work from there, but my belief is that the better you understand anatomics, the better your artistic knowledge, results and freedom will be at a later stage.

I use ZBrush to do all the sculpting, based on photographs from different angles. I prefer to switch between skin materials - from shiny to matte surfaces. This allows me to polish imperfections during scultping.

After the primary forms are sculpted, attention goes out to details around ears, eyes, nose and mouth - finishing off with (micro) skin pores. The finished model will actually have 3 layers of skin details for different areas of the face.

Next video will focus on projecting skin textures on the face. In the meantime check my YouTube channel https://www.youtube.com/user/aronversteeg/videos or follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/aronversteeg/ for more regular updates.

Stay tuned and let me know what you think!

01/07/2020

I'm hereby sharing the final episode of the 'Virtual Fashion' series - in which I gave insights in how a dressed 3D avatar for Augmented- and Virtual Reality is made.

Once all virtual clothing is connected to the avatar, it's ported to Unreal Engine. This is where everything comes together; lighting, composition, mocap animations and camera movements are set up. For this demo I used Unreal's internal Clothing Tool for cloth physics. This avoids the need to bake physics upfront and boosts performance and flexibility. The tool isn't perfect yet, but I'm confident Epic Games will improve this in new updates.

Next to physics, the movie below shows the integration of Unreal's skin shaders and use cases that I foresee for Realtime Avatars; actors in movie/advertising clips, Virtual Fashion mannequins, (dance) performers on live television shows, speakers at Virtual Events and more .... in short, they're not just '3D characters' but fully clothed and functional 'action figures' for Live integration - made by one guy on one laptop ;)

Let me know what you think!

(note: the Virtual Set used in the last scene is based on a design by NEP The Netherlands)

10/06/2020

This week it's time to dress up a game character with the digital outfit I created in previous parts - end goal is to get the character set up for realtime integration with .

There's 4 main textures which are exported and used; Base_Color, Metallic, Roughness and Normal. Combined and overlayed these maps give the clothing its material appearance.

Next up is connecting the garments to an actual character - I'm using the Rico Verhoeven sculpt I made a while ago. To prevent mismatches between character and garment a fixed pose is used throughout the process. After importing the garment meshes, the texture maps are added for material detail - check the impact of a carefully set up Normal map; it transforms flat surfaces into detailed cloths.

Next time I will prepare the character for animation and physics; checking if the garment is connected properly to the character's bones, testing it in different poses and doing first physics testing in UnrealEngine. In the meantime check my ArtStation https://www.artstation.com/ArtBeat or follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/aronversteeg/ for more updates.

Stay tuned for more!

13/05/2020

This week I'm finishing the texture details on my realtime 3D outfit for Augmented- and Virtual Reality. After applying the base materials it's time for the part I love most - adding and enhancing small details like stitches, cracks and seems - and bringing the garment to life with self-made logo's projected onto the surfaces. The smallest details have the biggest impact is my believe.

Next week I will export the final textures and show you how to dress up a Virtual Character with this outfit. In the meantime check my ArtStation https://www.artstation.com/ArtBeat or follow me on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/aronversteeg/ for more regular updates.

Let me know what you think so far!

10/04/2020

Virtual Actors for Virtual Production Sets

Virtual Production Sets are trending - media companies are switching from traditional green screen backgrounds to LED-based content. Speed, flexibility and the fact that LED produces accurate lighting conditions (thus reflections on objects) are speeding up development in this industry.

Parallel to this trend, broadcasters and event-related content developers are exploring steps to go 'Virtual' - especially in times like these, were human crowds need to be avoided. The main software engine that is supplying Virtual Solutions for these industries is Unreal Engine - allowing highest quality Virtual content.

A shared similarity between current tech trends is the fact that actual humans are still part of the content - either acting in front of a green screen, or being projected as movie billboards in a Virtual environment. Thus creating the need for physical recording studio's, camera crews, traveling etc.

As Virtual technology is moving rapidly towards the trends above - one of my focusses is supplying Virtual Actors for the entertainment industry. Completely replacing physical humans with Virtual Actors.

Virtual Actors are reusable, cost efficient, flexible and compatible with multiple media formats for Virtual- and Augmented Reality.

All production can be done remotely on a laptop.

Below is an example I'm currently demoing to industries - a Virtual Production Set with a Virtual Actor, including custom clothing. Additional fields of implementation are Esports, Product Branding, Fashion, Advertising, Social Media campaigns, you name it ...

Biggest challenge for me; creating the highest quality details in both avatar and clothing. There's still a lot of room for improvement so my quest continues....

More information on Virtual Actors can be found on my website https://www.artbeat.nl/portfolios/3d-realtime-characters-avatars/

Let me know which applications you see for Virtual Actors!