D DAY 360 x330 Case Study 01
DDay 360: In Early 2014 accompanied Windfalls Films, Military Historian Steven Zaloga and Colonel Len Fullenkamp, Professor of Military History and Strategy, to the D-Day landing beaches in Normandy, France. The aim was to capture vast stretches of the beach and cliffs at Vierville sur Mer, together with the remains of military bunkers for use in a ground breaking documentary DDAY 360 for PBS. Using the recently launched Faro Focus 330 ScanLAB were able to capture full colour pointcloud data for almost a mile of the beach, 750 meters of the troops exit route off the beach, a series of bunkers and gun locations in just 3 days on location. Client and Team DDay 360 produced by Windfall Films for PBS : Matthew Shaw, Thomas Parker Windfall Films: Director - Ian Duncan, Producer - Glenn Swift Fluid Pictures: Adrian Wyer Presenters: Colonel (Rtd.) Len Fullenkamp: Professor of Military History & Strategy Steven Zaloga: Military Historian Alex Kershaw: Author, The Bedford Boys About the Program After two years on the drawing board, D-Day was the most meticulously planned operation in military history, a logistical effort on a scale never seen before or since. On June 6, 1944, 3,000 planes dropped 23,000 airborne troops behind German lines, and 7,000 ships delivered around 20,000 military vehicles and 130,000 allied soldiers, who stormed five heavily defended French beaches in an all-or-nothing assault on Nazi occupied Europe. Once on the shore, the troops had to negotiate two million mines buried in the sand, 46,000 fearsome beach obstacles and hundreds of miles of barbed wire, while dodging the shells and bullets fired by 40,000 German defenders. Focusing on the most important strip of Omaha beach that day - the exit at Vierville-sur-Mer - D-Day 360 strips D-Day back to its raw data to reveal how the odds of victory, in the greatest gamble of World War II, swung on what happened over a five-hour period on a five mile stretch of French coastline. Data gathered through laser scanning, 3D computer modelling and eye-witness accounts bring the battlefield to life as never before. The film takes advantage LIDAR to re-create the landscape and allow viewers to switch effortlessly between the macro and the micro - pulling back for the big picture and zooming in to a close-up of a single soldier on the battlefield. It s a new approach and perspective that tells the story with details never before available. WN-72 A dissected image of the scanned German gun position WN72, located near Exit D2 at Vierville-sur-Mer
Vierville-sur-Mer The full extent of 3D Scanning at Vierville-sur-Mer
WN-72 A sectional image of the scanned German gun position WN72, located near Exit D2 at Vierville-sur-Mer
WN-72 A view down the barrel of the gun in WN-72, Vierville-sur-Mer
Technique and Workflow On location: The ScanLAB team travelled to Normandy in early 2014 with a traditional film crew and the expert witnesses who appear in D-DAY 360. 2 LIDAR captured locations feature in the film. The landing beach at Vierville-sur-Mer and the German defensive battery at Longues-sur- Mer. Vierville-sur-Mer: 1.5 days on site ½ resolution scans ¼ resolution scans for interior spaces 46 scans in total External colour by Nikon D7000 Approximately a mile of coastline and was captured in just 1.5 days using the x330 at ½ resolution. This included detailed capture within two bunkers and gun turrets. A total of 46 scans where completed at centres of up to 75 meters apart. Referencing was completed using 145mm and 200mm diameter spheres. Colour was captured using an external Nikon D7000. Longues-sur-Mer: 1 day on site ½ resolution scans ¼ resolution scans for interior spaces 29 scans in total External colour by Nikon D7000 The 500 meter long series of four defensive artillery positions at Longues-sur-Mer were captured in a single day. This included highly detailed capture of the interior of one gun position and scanning of the gun itself. A total of 29 scans were referenced using 145mm and 200mm diameter spheres. Colour was captured using an external Nikon D7000. Processing: Both locations were aligned using FARO Scene 5.1.6 (at the time the latest version of Scene available). Following filtering and automatic target detection and successful target based alignment was completed for both locations. Colour processing was completed in PTGui before application to the scan data in FARO Scene. Downloading, processing and alignment and exporting of ready to render data was completed in 5 days. Visualisation and Rendering: For the documentary two methods of pointcloud rendering are employed. Method A: completed the majority of pointcloud rendering using Bentley Pointools v8i. Method B: Where pointcloud data was rendered in conjunction with other CGI artwork Fluid Pictures used a development version of Sparta Project to render the pointclouds. Longues-sur-Mer The full extent of 3D Scanning at Longues-sur-Mer, Normandy
Longues-sur-Mer The series of four artillery positions at Longues-sur-Mer, Normandy
The Success of the x330 With the budget and time limitations in place this project would not have been possible without the FARO x330. With just 3 days of access to two vast locations the ability of the x330 to capture an enormous amount of data, at such a great range and in a limited amount of time was instrumental to the success of this production. The ease of data collection and processing meant that the filmmakers could tell stories that could previously have never been told before. The ability to move a camera from a landscape scale view of the beach to the detail of shell impact marks on the inside of a concrete bunker, showing factual content at all times was previously impossible. The 3D scan data gave a new perspective on these historic events that would have otherwise only been possible by expensive aerial camera work and the use of a helicopter. About are one of the UK s leading providers of large scale 3D scan data. They specialise in visualisation of pointcloud data for film, tv, advertising and the creative industries. Their work has been broadcast internationally and exhibited at leading cultural institutions across the world. They are currently working with leading architects, scientists, broadcasters and artists on a portfolio of projects worldwide. Longues-sur-Mer A detailed view of one of the artillery positions at Longues-sur-Mer, Normandy