starosek - Collaborative Project

project summary

For this project, I used Polycam to capture a series of Arizona desert plants and environmental objects using photogrammetry. The goal was to create a collection of 3D assets that could be assembled into a cohesive digital environment reminiscent of a calming walk through nature. These scans were exported and processed in Blender, where they were cleaned up, positioned, and integrated into the final scene together with additional environmental assets.

One of the main discoveries during this process was the amount of environmental and surface detail preserved through photogrammetry alone. Although the meshes are imperfect and contain artifacts typical of scan-based workflows, the resulting objects retain a strong sense of material presence and spatial realism. In several cases, the distortions and simplifications produced during cleanup also created visually interesting forms that may become part of future experiments involving abstraction and environmental design.

The final rendered walkthrough combines these scans with ambient sound design intended to reinforce the project’s central question:

How can we use 3D scans to create a digital experience that helps the audience feel more present and grounded?

raw 3d captures

3D scans (.fbx files from Polycam): 

https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1a85nlsL0PxTK6anJlYYGJ0qpDJ6sIE0l?usp=sharing 

The following images show several of the raw photogrammetry captures created for this project before scene assembly and animation. These assets were generated using Polycam and exported as textured FBX files for further processing in Blender. They demonstrate the range of environmental detail preserved through photogrammetry, including both isolated plant forms and larger fragments of terrain that can be incorporated into digital environments.

final results: video + audio

The audio content in this project includes my personal recordings and the following files from freesound.org:

https://freesound.org/people/Edelhanie/sounds/594655/

https://freesound.org/people/PodcastAC/sounds/705186/ 

I preprocessed the audio files using Adobe Audition 2026 and arranged them in Adobe Premiere Pro 2026 to match the pacing and movement of the rendered walkthrough, which was then exported as the final video shown below.

This project suggests that high-fidelity sound can compensate for scan-based or imperfect visuals created through photogrammetry, allowing the resulting environment to still feel immersive, calming, and spatially convincing. The relationship between sound, perception, and environmental construction using scanned 3D objects will continue to be explored in future work.

Link to original project proposal and planning document