Realscan 3D helps bring Disney magic to big screen

REDONDO BEACH, USA: Realscan 3D, the industry leader in high-resolution, high-color structured light 3D scanning, recently overcame a number of challenges to deliver photo-real digital doubles used in Walt Disney Pictures’ new film Enchanted, now in theatres.

For the film, Realscan was charged with creating digital doubles of lead characters Giselle (Amy Adams), Robert (Patrick Dempsey), and Queen Narissa (Susan Sarandon).

Realscan’s proprietary hardware and ability to quickly scan objects in diverse locations allowed them to deliver the doubles on time and on budget to Tippett Studios.

For starters, Realscan needed to acquire the wedding dress worn by lead character Giselle. The dress featured intricate lacing, and an irregular shape too odd for a traditional VFX 3D scanning system. The dress measured six to eight feet across in certain areas, making the prospect of getting a workable scan very difficult. In addition to the wedding dress, the costume for the character Queen Narissa featured highly reflective, translucent scales that made not only scanning but photography a difficult proposition.

In each case, however, Realscan’s RealCapture NexGen 3D scanning technology acquired the objects in great detail without any difficulty.

Disney also benefited from Realscan’s ability to quickly adapt to productions’ rapidly changing schedules and scan in a wide variety of locations. A portable solution, RealCapture NexGen scanned the film’s talent and costumes in ad hoc locations across New York City, often between takes.

This saved Enchanted both time and money, as it eliminated the need to schedule additional locations and wardrobe, and to accommodate the heavy equipment associated with traditional scanning systems.

Rapidly becoming one of the most attractive technology companies working in the entertainment industry, Realscan 3D has created digital doubles for a wide variety of clients, including Jerry Bruckheimer Films’ National Treasure II: Book of Secrets and Déjà Vu, Walt Disney Pictures’ Underdog and South of the Border, Universal Television’s House, FOX Television’s American Idol, Nike, Nintendo, Gatorade, and Wal-Mart.