Reflection on 3D Model

As part of the course Creating Digital Collections II every student had to create a 3D model of an object that was representative of the COVID-19 pandemic for them. From choosing the objects to processing the dataset and creating a model it was a long and arduous journey. Given the distance learning circumstances, I could not borrow equipment from the university. Therefore, I had to use my phone to take pictures. The software used to process the 3d models was Metashape.

My first choice was a bicycle, which has been my transportation mode since the COVID-19 pandemic started, but that proved to be a very difficult object to work with because of its size and the small details. After a lot of trials and bad results, I decided to give up on this object and pick a new one that would be better suitable for the photogrammetry process.

The second object I chose was a watercolour set, which is a hobby I picked up in the beginning of the pandemic. It was also not easy with this one, it took me a lot of time and patience to get to a result I liked. My first dataset of pictures was not good enough and the model came out with a lot of imperfections and holes, probably because of poor lighting and out of focus photos. Moreover, I had to take new pictures of my object, this time I decided to change my approach: my first dataset was photographed with the camera static and object moving, the second time i moved around the object to photograph. This actually gave me much better results in the software and saved me from the tedious task of creating masks manually. The next challenge I faced creating this 3D model was the alignment of two chunks of photos, one with the bottom part of the object and another with the top. First, I tried with the markers but that did not work out. Second, I tried creating masks based on the models to then merge chunks and this succeed somehow but after applying texture my model had big gaps between both parts that were not fixable. Once again I had to take pictures for another dataset. This time everything went great, except for the behind part of my object which was white and not textured, the software did not find so many tie points on it.

For future 3D model making, I have learned that the photoshooting process is very important, as good pictures are crucial for the scanning to work with fewer complications. Also, it would be nice to try again with equipment: a professional camera, tripod, and lazy susan.

You can check my 3D model here: https://sketchfab.com/3d-models/watercolour-set-1fb568e796a94d8a85f470531e0f3142

 

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