D DAY 360
x330 Case Study 01
ScanLAB Projects
scanlabprojects.co.uk
DDay 360:
In Early 2014 ScanLAB Projects 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
ScanLAB Projects: 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
ScanLAB Projects
scanlabprojects.co.uk
A dissected image of the
scanned German gun position
WN72, located near Exit D2 at
Vierville-sur-Mer
Vierville-sur-Mer
ScanLAB Projects
scanlabprojects.co.uk
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-surMer.
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: ScanLAB Projects 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
ScanLAB Projects
scanlabprojects.co.uk
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 ScanLAB Projects
ScanLAB Projects 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
ScanLAB Projects
scanlabprojects.co.uk
A detailed view of one
of the artillery positions at
Longues-sur-Mer,
Normandy