It’s Halloween Week! Let’s Create an Animation of Jack-o’-lantern Together

10/31/22

We know Halloween is coming when we see pumpkins with different carvings placed on the shelf when we go to groceries, or when the pumpkin spice latte is on a coffee menu. Halloween week is all about partying hard and having fun, what is more, the classic symbol of Halloween cannot be left without: Jack-o’-lantern.

iReal 3D self-carved a pumpkin with “Jack-o’-lantern” pattern. And we decorated the office with various kinds of pumpkin knickknacks to make it look more like Halloween.

The main work today is to 3D scan the pumpkin, do texture mapping, and make an animation of it.

diy halloween pumpkin - ireal 3d mapping
diy scary pumpkin - ireal 3d mapping

The equipment/software we need:

3D scanner: SIMSCAN 3D laser scanner

Mapping tool: iReal 3D mapping software

Animation maker: Unreal Engine

Now, let’s start with the very first step: using the SIMSCAN 3D laser scanner to capture its highly accurate three-dimensional data.

Thanks to the advanced algorithm of SIMSCAN, our application engineer only needed to stick a few markers on the pumpkin and placed it on a turntable with enough marker points. This will help the 3D scanner better identify the geometric features of the pumpkin.

3d scan halloween pumpkin - ireal 3d mapping

The 3D scan process only took about minutes. Once finished, import the STL 3D data to GOM Inspect to check if the data was complete and accurate.

3d scan data - ireal 3d mapping

The third step is to collect multi-angle photos of the pumpkin (it is important to put a turntable and a patterned pad under the pumpkin).

multi-angle photos of pumpkin - ireal 3d mapping

Import the photos to iReal 3D mapping software and finish the mapping process quickly. You can get the full tutorial on how to use this software by clicking here.

texture mapping for pumpkin - ireal 3d mapping

The color texture looks great.

3d scanned pumpkin - ireal 3d mapping
3d pumpkin model - ireal 3d mapping

Now, use the OBJ 3D file obtained by iReal 3D mapping software to create an animation via Unreal Engine.

halloween pumpkin animation - ireal 3d mapping

You can watch the video below to explore the full story.