
Thorskan – Better Reality 3D Scan - ivoflipse
http://www.geeks3d.com/20140107/better-reality-3d-scan-thorskan-really-impressive/
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scotty79
Quite prominent grafiti in the first demo says: "F*ck Cracow's police" but in
polish and without asterisk.

We are not very PC in Poland.

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thenomad
Seems like 2014 might be the year of photogrammetry, between this and the
Microsoft thing posted a few days ago.

There's a lot of VERY impressive photogrammetry software out there - see
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photogrammetry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photogrammetry)
\- but it hasn't really made it into the mainstream yet.

Incidentally, one of the big uses for this tech will be the heritage / museums
industry. They're very big on photogrammetry for capture and display.

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JoblessWonder
I can't imagine this technology is directly adaptable to video games. These
videos seem to be pre-rendered which isn't going to help in video games. You
won't be able to kick any of that trash around or break a window. It might be
helpful for architecture purposes depending on how it is implemented. I guess
I'm just not super-impressed without seeing how it is done.

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bd
There is already a game in development using this technology - "Get Even" by
Polish studio The Farm 51:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L48SdXmd0_k](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L48SdXmd0_k)

[http://www.thefarm51.com/index.php?module=news&id=50&menu=1&...](http://www.thefarm51.com/index.php?module=news&id=50&menu=1&p=1)

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JoblessWonder
I guess I just don't see what the advantage is from creating the environment
manually. Sure, if you know of a warehouse that already has great graffiti and
the exact layout your game needs then go for it. But what if you need a
stairwell or a hallway? Are you going to build it? Or have to find one and
then modify it so it matches the photo-realistic nature of the process? I'm
sure there are level designers out (and I know that there are 3D artists out
there) that could easily recreate this. Usually in-game they are given limits
that prevent them from doing something like this though.

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DonGateley
What I found most fascinating was the degree to which detail increases when
the entropy of human constructs increases without intervention. Eventually
this aspect will reverse and it will all become homogeneous. What actually is
this thing that first increases and then decreases when a highly ordered
system progresses into disorder?

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scotty79
Closenes to optimum of your perception that happens to be between "boring" and
"so much chaos you can't figure what you are looking at".

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VladRussian2
like between Universe in the beginning - hot meson-gluon soup and at the end -
vast over-expanded vacuum with few super-super-super-large black holes

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bane
TBH, this kind of technology was what I was hoping Photosynth was going to
turn into.

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jjcm
I work on photosynth, so allow me to respond (albeit with a bias).

Photosynth was designed to work with the most common use case - pictures taken
with cell phones at different, undetermined angles, with 10-20 seconds in
between each shot.

Contrast that with the camera system used for THORSKAN -
[http://i.imgur.com/VE1qXwS.png](http://i.imgur.com/VE1qXwS.png)

That's 72 professional DSLRs set up to take pictures of the object
simultaneously. I'm not discounting THORSKAN's accomplishments, these are some
extremely beautiful demos. But they can't be created by your everyday user.

Eventually things like photosynth will get on this level, but the camera
technology in phones will have to change. Luckily, this is already happening.
Intel's CES announcements focused on stereo camera systems in laptops and
portables, and MS has an investment in it with the kinect already. Having even
two cameras shooting at the same time dramatically improves results.

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bane
Hi thanks for the response. I can appreciate how having consistent equipment
at known locations and angles taking images of a scene can help with scene
reconstruction. But I'm not sure I follow on the need for very close temporal
alignment. Is it because of the consistent lighting conditions? With all
things being equal, would it matter if each imager used with THORSKAN took a
picture 20 or 30 _minutes_ apart?

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JoblessWonder
When you say "very close temporal alignment" do you meant the stereo cameras
he was talking about? If so, (and I'm sure since he works on Photosynth he is
infinitely more qualified to comment but this is the internet so I'm going to
anyways) then the advantage of a stereo camera is that you can more accurately
judge depth as long as you know where the two lenses are in relation to each
other. Think of it like like those old-timey 3D images. [1] It appears as
though Intel's version is going to be a single camera with a depth sensor like
the Kinect.[2]

[1][http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscopy](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stereoscopy)
[2][http://www.display-central.com/free-news/display-
daily/3d-ca...](http://www.display-central.com/free-news/display-
daily/3d-cameras-coming-to-ultrabook-and-laptops-says-intel/)

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bane
Not exactly, he made several mentions of the important of multiple shots
happening within a very tight time frame (or at least that's what I was
reading into the comment).

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angersock
Not going to lie, saw the videos and my first thought was "Get out of here,
stalker!"

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ivoflipse
I first wanted to link to their homepage, but its just a sign up page for
updates.

Their Vimeo has some more nice looking videos like this one:
[http://vimeo.com/60564990](http://vimeo.com/60564990)

Too bad they aren't exactly spilling beans on how their tech works, what it
takes to run or any details for that matter. I guess we'll have to wait,
unless someone else has more info.

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ezioamf
I can't wait to have it on Google street view.

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JoblessWonder
Apple acquired C3 Technologies which does 3D Scanning from aircraft.[1] It is
pretty awesome technology. Google has their own version I believe. I haven't
heard of Google Street View vehicles using laser scanners for depth readings
though.

[1][http://9to5mac.com/2011/10/29/apple-acquired-mind-
blowing-3d...](http://9to5mac.com/2011/10/29/apple-acquired-mind-
blowing-3d-mapping-company-c3-technologies-looking-to-take-ios-maps-to-the-
next-level/)

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Qworg
AFAIK, post Thrun, all Google Street View vehicles have a laser scanner(s).

[http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GoogleStreetViewCar_S...](http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:GoogleStreetViewCar_Subaru_Impreza_at_Google_Campus.JPG)

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JoblessWonder
Makes sense. Especially since they worked on that Radiohead music video that
was "shot" with laser scanners.

