Artec has been involved in this for quite some time. Major blockbusters such as “Jurassic World”, “Terminator Genisys” and “Operation Zombie” have all utilised 3D scanning technology and obviously achieved great success with it. In the short or long term, however, the question arises as to whether it makes more economic sense to outsource such services or to use an in-house 3D scanner to create CGI props.

The former method

Visual Effects Director at FXTC Inc. Boyd Shermis opted for the second option for the production of “Fear the Walking Dead”, even though he had always outsourced the 3D scans required for numerous other well-known films such as “Speed”, “Just 60 Seconds” and “G.I. Joe – Secret Mission Cobra”. At that time, objects or even the actors themselves had to be sent to an external scanning service provider or the latter had to come directly to the studio. Although the results were always professional and of excellent quality, if you add up the scanning costs as well as export and import costs, the sums quickly add up. Not to mention the fact that the entire process usually takes a little time.

A different approach

However, the third season of “Fear the Walking Dead” changed this conventional method. A key factor in this was the filming location in Baja California, Mexico. From a logistical point of view alone, it would have been problematic to send the props from there to a studio in LA, especially as most of them were weapons. For this reason, Boyd bought his very own stripe light scanner on behalf of the TV channel AMC to produce the required 3D scans under his own roof. The choice fell on the Artec Space Spider 3D scanner. It may look like a bulky old iron at first, but the scanner made working on the set of “Fear the Walking Dead” much more pleasant. The VFX studio FXTC saved a lot of time and money and quickly realised that this was by no means a bad investment.

Other reasons for purchasing this particular model included resolution, user-friendliness, availability and, ultimately, the price. After all, the well-known series had to dig deep into the effects bag of tricks on more than one occasion. If a character had to be torn to pieces and shredded, it was scanned and placed in the scene. The same applied to all kinds of props, where it was not always possible to handle them and have them interact with the actors in the way the director might have wanted. So here, too, a copy had to be used.

The Artec Space Spider became Boyd’s new best friend. Over the course of 16 episodes, it scanned the faces of various actors, a forearm with a hand and a colourful, long series of props – mainly needed when something with a lot of blood was broken down into its individual parts in an appetising scene.

The process

As several hand props per week normally had to be scanned and prepared, an efficient and fast process was required. Affected objects were placed on a turntable with different markings. These visual cues made it much easier for the device to capture uniform surfaces. By registering the markings, the scanner knew at all times which part of the object it was currently scanning and where it was spatially located.
The markings were placed very precisely (green adhesive tape 1 cm apart, magenta-coloured tape had alphanumeric digits for differentiation) in order to achieve the best possible result. In addition, care was always taken to scan everything in the same soft, indirect room lighting (approx. 5,400 Kelvin) in order to minimise disruptive factors.

Preparation

Once the scanning process was complete, the post-processing began. Using the 3D modelling software Artec Studio, several scans of the object were registered and merged. Everything was then polished, errors were corrected and the turntable was finally deleted from the 3D image. The asset was then coloured and sent to Maya or 3ds Max as an .obj file before being added to the scene using VFX magic. “Most of the time, the different weapons are tracked and extended to make it look like they’re piercing the zombies’ skulls,” Boyd explained. Thank you, Boyd! But that’s nothing new anymore. If a scene has to be filmed with a knife, it is usually much shorter than what is ultimately visible on the screen. Then you have to track the movement of the knife pixel by pixel in order to change it afterwards.
The nice thing about scanned props is that it is already a digitally added object, which is why a CGI blade can be added much more easily and smoothly afterwards. The whole process was relatively straight-forward. It was important to have constant measurement units and to note exactly which lens was used at which time in order to always align it correctly with the grid. This grid mapping made it much easier to get an idea of the inherent lens distortion when visual effects were added. Since each lens was essentially unique, the grid could be used to determine exactly how much the VFX function needed to rectify (flatten) the image to facilitate tracking of the (flat) CGI model. Knowing the focal length and approximate focus distance was also helpful to know where and how the lens was focussed.

Was it worth it?

Overall, Boyd saved himself at least between $30,000 and $40,000 by using Artec Space Spider. The biggest point, however, remains time: not only the speed with which required scans could be produced, but also the flexibility to do so. Deadlines could easily be set and met internally without being affected by external factors (flights, customs duties, travelling time, etc.).

“This is it. Version 1.O.O is gold.” Reiner Prokein, the man behind Bforartists, proudly declares the development cycle to be complete after almost three years on his website http://www.bforartists.de and thanks his development team for their commitment. Most of the original goals have been achieved. Future developments will probably depend on the next major expected Blender update.

The ambitious goal of the developers is a 3D application with all the possibilities that Blender offers in the current version, but with a more user-friendly graphical programme interface, better documentation and comprehensible tutorials. The focus should be on ease of use and better understanding of the software rather than on speed and effective use of hotkeys. Bforartists is particularly aimed at Blender newcomers or occasional users who do not want to study the specifics of the Blender UI in order to achieve results. The name stands for “Be for Artists” and means: “for the artist, not for the programmer”.

Blender or Bforartists? It’s (not only) about looks

Like Blender, Bforartists is open source. It is available in English for Windows (the language change in the preferences works, but with the original Blender translations). An announced version for Mac OS X is to follow. Things are not looking so good for Linux users at the moment. The personnel situation at Bforartists is a problem. However, Linux freaks have the option of downloading the source code from Github and compiling it themselves (this should work in the same way as for Blender).
Blender’s user interface was often a point of contention – as with many complex applications designed for effective use by specialists. When the jump to version 2.5 took place, opinions were divided – as is so often the case when switching to something new – partly because of the (then) new UI. Blender is now more popular than ever. Nevertheless, Blender’s UI presents considerable hurdles, especially for the uninitiated. It starts with the fact that objects cannot simply be clicked with the left mouse button by default. In Blender, selections are made with the right mouse button (can be changed in the preferences). Blender users should be familiar with some shortcuts. Some programme functions such as the search function only seem to be accessible via keyboard shortcuts. The Blender programme interface is a topic of discussion in various forums and video channels. The Blender developers themselves are also aware of the complexity of the UI – and seem to be working on solutions for the next updates.

When you open Bforartists, you realise: it’s Blender – only different. The developers have endeavoured to create a high-contrast interface for the standard theme (customisable in the preferences). The start screen offers various interaction modes (e.g. “Blender” to follow Blender tutorials, “Maya”, “3DMax” or “Bforartists” – including an “Experimental” version). The actual differences relate to the user philosophy – away from a workflow optimised for speed based on the intensive use of hotkeys and towards graphical operation with (rather) reduced shortcut use. This should suit beginners and occasional users.
Although the differences between Blender and Bforartists are only external – under the bonnet it’s still Blender – the list of changes in Bforartists is quite long. Hundreds of duplicate menu entries have been removed. Many functions that can only be accessed via hotkey have been given menu entries (e.g. the search function – now found under “Windows”). Menu layouts have been optimised. A completely new icon sheet with several hundred native icons is used. The tooltips have also been revised.

The use of icons has saved space in the menus. This looks clearer and often saves scrolling (under “Display” you can switch between pure icon display and display with text).
There is a toolbar editor (menu item Editor Type > Tool Bar) with which customisable toolbars can be designed. Menu items (e.g. File, Meshedit, Primitives etc.) can be stored directly in toolbars. The respective call then only requires one click instead of the usual menu selection: a time saver. These settings can also be found in the Preferences, under Add-ons > User Interface: Toolbar Settings Bforartists.
The position of the menu bar(s) at the top shifts when the working window is zoomed in and out. This is supposed to be a Blender bug, but you can accept it. In order to achieve a better overview, a new keymap has been introduced, reduced to the necessary hotkeys (you can of course define your own shortcuts or switch to Blender’s interaction).
No improvement for experienced Blender users, but those who are new to the software have the advantage of being able to use shortcuts that are probably easier to remember. Add-ons such as Reset 3D View or Important Hotkeys (shows or hides frequently used hotkeys) should make working with Bforartists more pleasant. Smaller helpful details include an option to hide the 3D cursor or adjustable wireframe colours (in the object display settings).

The latest

The latest update of Blender is version 2.79b. The developers of Bforartists explain that their software always obtains the code from the Blender master (the latest version), which is why there are some add-ons for which the current code in Bforartists is too new, so that problems can occur. This applies, for example, to Destructive Extrude, a purchase add-on on Gumroad.
To use GPU rendering with CUDA 9, it is recommended to upgrade to 64-bit Windows (Nvidia only supports 64-bit systems).

What impression remains?

Bforartists does indeed make a tidy impression. Getting used to the more graphical user interface is easy for a non-professional. Whether or not it is worth trying out Bforartists as an alternative to Blender is, as with all software, an individual decision. As Bforartists is actually Blender (2.79b) – also open source – and has the same range of functions, there is no risk in testing it.

The wider distribution speaks in favour of using Blender. Blender has a large community and there is a huge amount of tutorials and literature. Professionals achieve fast results with Blender’s workflow (intensive use of hotkeys).

Those who are familiar – and satisfied – with Blender should not be lured away. Bforartists is aimed at people who have little or no experience with the programme and at those who want to reduce the effort required to familiarise themselves with Blender’s special UI. Reiner Prokein, the initiator and driving force behind the development of Bforartists, says that he would not be sad if Bforartists became superfluous after the next major update of Blender because there would be nothing left to improve. There would still be enough work on the documentation and tutorials.
It remains to be seen what the much-anticipated update to Blender 2.8 will bring. Until then, thanks to the volunteer developers who have worked for 3 years to create an easier-to-use interface for Blender. And, yes, Blender is Blender with a conventional UI – or as Bforartists.