Experiments with photogrammetry

August 2022

I experimented with different methods of photogrammetry to try to digitize my roommate, dorm, and other objects in a VR environment. The idea was that I just thought it’d be fun to show people how it feels to be in my dorm from anywhere. I learned that quick LiDAR scans with the Polycam app were fast and dirty. If I want to get much higher resolution models, I have to take hundreds of pictures and let them render out on my Mac using the Object Capture API. When I tried to do this on my body to rig it and make a digital avatar for VRChat or Bonelab, I learned that it starts to break if the subject gets too big. So, I split up each scan into different body parts: head, torso, feet, left arm, and right arm. I did this before I learned how to use Blender. I have since learned how to use Blender, but have yet to put my body parts together. This idea eventually became explored much further in-depth when I joined the EmpathyBytes VIP and used photogrammetry to capture Georgia Tech artifacts to preserve in a VR museum.