Edit: I’ve added an update with images of the newly whitewashed tunnel walls.  I feel lucky to have completed the shoot before everything was erased!

The shoot

Last weekend I completed photo image-capture of the full-length of the Enmore graffiti tunnel: 1207 photos in total down the 36 meters of the tunnel, the process taking about 3 hours.  In order to get good neutral lighting (without shadows or highlights), we shot at night, covered the lights, and used a portable lighting system to light the shots.

The tunnel was shot using an Elinchrom Ranger Quad portable flash kit.

The reconstruction

The images will form the basis for a 3D reconstruction using the ‘Structure from Motion’ process I’ve been working on as part of my PhD.

Initial low-poly reconstructed floor of the tunnel

The results

I’ve brought a handful of the initial results into a preliminary demo, to show where it is heading.  I’m looking to make this into an Android/IOS tablet application, that will allow people to navigate through these spaces, share views with others, and record/play tours through the space.

Video

Unity 3D playable version

[unity src=”1628″]

Notes

The softboxes we used for the lights could have been much bigger.  We encountered some reflection from areas of metalic spraypaint, that interfered with the automatic modelling process in some parts.

Update

As of 13/02/2014 the tunnel has been whitewashed.  I’m planning on returning fairly regularly to re-document the site.