Methodology
The process of creating a photosimulation
1) Photograph Existing Site
Good site photography is one of the most important ingredients to a successful photosimulation. The base photograph used for the simulation needs to be chosen with special attention to the audience for the simulation and to the project issues being addressed. AdvanceSim uses only high end photo equipment backed by 22 years of professional photography experience.
2) Model Proposed Design
Most constructed or manufactured features of the proposed design are modeled in Maya 3-D Studio, Trimble SketchUp and cinema 4D directly from CAD data and paper drawings. The model is edited as a wire mesh representing 3D surfaces in the design. Modeling is often more than half the effort involved in producing Photosimulations.
3) Match Camera Perspective
Our programs use topographical data and satellite imagery, this gives us real world information to bring into the photographs. The entire area where the site and photographs were taken is then modeled. The distances are then calculated using the topographical data, landmarks, and surveyed objects. In Blender, Trimble SketchUp and Cinema 4D, we can adjust the virtual "camera" until the perspective matches our base photograph. We start by placing a camera in the model at the location and altitude of the photographer when the base photograph was shot. We then add a few measured landmarks, visible in the photograph, to the 3D model. We adjust the camera's position and perspective until the modeled elements perfectly match the photograph. This gives a very accurate depiction of the final project.
4) Edit Materials
Surface materials transform geometric Cinema 4D meshes into photorealistic rendered objects. The Cinema 4D materials editor allows us to modify the visible properties of our mesh objects. Materials can have scanned photographic textures, mapped patterns, reflection, transparency, multiple colors, shininess and bumpiness. To ensure the modeled elements of the photosimulation blend seamlessly into the background photograph, we sample colors and textures from the photograph as we develop our model materials.
5) Render 3D Model
After we have placed lights in the model to simulate the lighting of the photograph, a high-resolution photorealistic rendering of the model is generated. This is the one part of the process where we just "hit a button" and wait for the computer to generate a picture for us. While test renderings generated through the course of developing the model may take only seconds for a computer to process, the final renderings used in Photosimulations require between 15 minutes and 3 hours for processing.
6) Composite 3D Rendering with Photograph
When the computer-generated rendering of the model is composited with the background photograph, the rendering looks close to being complete, but still requires a considerable amount of painting and retouching. Wherever there are foreground elements, such as buildings, in front of our 3D rendering, these will have to be painted back into the scene manually in the next step.
7) Paint and Retouch Final Photograph
The final stage of creating a photosimulation is done using image editing software such as Adobe Photoshop. Image editing tools allow us to cut and paste between photographs, adjust colors and "paint" onto the image. Organic details such as trees, landscaping and surface weathering are typically painted in using a digital airbrush. Vehicles and people are pasted into the scene by borrowing from other photographs. Painting is one of the most dynamic parts of the photosimulation process, but is also the most labor-intensive, typically representing 50% of the effort on a typical simulation.