In a blog post from the official Star Wars website, developers of the upcoming entry in the Star Wars Battlefront series detail what they did in order to create a world within the game that felt true to the iconic Star Wars universe.
At the heart of it all is a method called photogrammetry, which is the process by which photographs are run through computer software to then create a 3D model from which developers of Battlefront can then work.
“Fed with images, the software creates reference points based on all the angles and ‘connects the dots,’” states the blog post, “resulting in a highly detailed foundation of something that can then be turned into a lower resolution game-ready mesh.”
However, this technology isn’t perfect and after the 3D model is created, artists then have a basis from which they can continue their work until the final 3D model to be used in the game is finished.
The blog post goes into detail on the reaction and emotions of the developers that were lucky enough to go to places like the Lucasfilm Cultural Arts Museum and seeing props, like the original Death Star.
“The first time I was there, we were so focused on work and was shooting 24/7 so I didn’t really reflect on where I was,” character artist Björn Arvidsson says. “But, on the second visit it hit me: where I was, what I was doing…looking at all this amazing stuff, and thinking about how few people actually have the opportunity to go there, I was in awe.”
Check out the whole blog post for details on how Darth Vader’s helmet was captured and recreated in-game or where the team had to travel in order to recreate authentic locations in the Star Wars universe like Hoth and Tatooine.