I have invented my own Metaverse - exclusive interview with dr ing. Ladislav Dedik

Maciej ?emojcin: What was the first object you have ever 3Dscanned?

Ladislav Dedik : We are scanning and creating 3D models for 20 years now, for commercial purposes and for movies. We made a photogrammetry scan of a doll from a museum back in 2012. It was back in 2013, we began to focus on museum objects, architectural objects, and so on. We had a two large national projects for the digitisation of the cultural heritage of Slovakia, and it was from 2013 for 3 years.?

M?: What is 3D scanning? How do you define it?

LD: 3D Scanning has many techniques. For example, in architecture, lidar scanning is used. But for cultural heritage, it was insufficient in terms of the level of detail. It didn't suit our needs, so we switched to a combination of lidar scanning and photogrammetry, which brought a much greater level of detail and higher quality. When it comes to smaller museum objects, there is a much wider range of objects, from small buttons or coins to chairs and large horse carriages. We used a total of about 18 types of scanning techniques for various things and those methods for scanning individual objects to capture their essence. So there isn't a definitive answer to what scanning is; even ordinary photography can be considered scanning. I can create a 3D object from two photographs, but the scanning result always depends on what is expected from it. One thing is to capture reality just for an internal archive, but another thing is when we want to work with it further in a virtual space for virtual production and so on. We need to know the purpose of the scanning and at what level of detail we need this scanning for the final purpose.

When we have a real, tangible object and can 3D scan it, we can transfer it into the virtual space of a computer, and you can virtually view and look at it. It is a transfer from the real world to the virtual world.

We have been working in the film and virtual world since 1997, living in illusions, creating illusions for the film, and the film needs as many real objects as possible in the virtual or film world for visual effects. It is an old requirement for us to transfer real objects for visual effects. We are still focusing on how to perfect the process, making it better, more realistic, and indistinguishable by the human eye. The goal is to make it more visually credible and to be able to capture a large number of objects. The more objects we have, the more beautiful and richer the scene in the virtual world. The idea is to bring the real world into the virtual one, and the path is just constantly evolving.

M?: Why cannot you just build 3D models? Isn’t it easier than doing all the effort with going to a place and scanning?

LD: Artists have always been criticized for their work looking artificial and plastic instead of realistic, even though it has developed well over the decades. The classic methods, whether for character modeling or creating sculptures, involved having a real sculptor make a design, which was then scanned and modeled. This process has been known and used in various studios for quite some time.

Nowadays, our clients are large gaming companies that have been using these techniques for a long time. The technology has evolved and improved until we came up with our 3D scans, and suddenly they realized that they had a completely different problem. Our scans were incredibly realistic, hyper-realistic compared to their hand-modeled environments. They had to degrade our scans to make them fit in and not stand out, and everything had to be changed to be scanned for realism. The main reason is that it looks realistic and good, and people believe it. This is the foundation that has brought a great boom in capturing realistic environments and objects.

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M?: What are the most exciting or favorite objects you have scanned?

LD: We have scanned various types of objects, and for each type, I have my favorite. We have scanned architecture, which offers many interesting locations to travel to, whether it was France, where we scanned mansions, or military bases and historical sites. We scanned several interesting objects outside of Europe, in Morocco, Mexico, Croatia, United Kingdom and India, where the Taj Mahal was a great experience for me. Each location has its charm that we try to preserve when transferring to the virtual world. I appreciate that we had the opportunity to scan several places not accessible to the public, such as the Omega House in the Athenian Agora. With small objects, we have encountered interesting items often stored in museum deposits, which we transferred to the virtual world. We were scanning living or moving things, such as people or animals, and it has also been a technological challenge. We are currently in the process of scanning intangible cultural heritage, planning to scan dances and similar things, not only the figures and costumes but also the complete movement of the dancer.

There are many objects that bring various challenges, and it has been a great joy for me to go through them. It's hard to find just one favorite, but there are several that are the pillars of our work. The Taj Mahal, monasteries, and other monuments have provided amazing experiences and unique atmospheres when no one else is around. Not everyone can experience it, but I believe that this feeling can be transferred to the virtual space.

Taj Mahal is a real monument that everyone should see because it's something different in pictures and something different when you're actually there. Not everyone can achieve it, but I believe that in the virtual space, a large number of people can really get to it. It's the same as when you look at the pyramids for the first time or at the edge of the Grand Canyon. In pictures and movies, it looks great, but when you stand there physically, you suddenly realize that the scale for a person is completely different, and the feeling is completely different. So, the goal is to bring this experience to the masses through virtual reality.

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M?: Who legally owns a scan of a public property?

LD: Currently, after scanning the cultural heritage of Slovakia, everything remained the property of the state and the property of museums, and the project was set so that we don't have the right to the scanned objects. Since then, however, we go the route that with each supplier, we largely agree that we have the right to use the scans. This means that we currently have more than 10,000 objects scanned, which we have rights to. This means that we are creating a database of UHD 3D objects that we plan to publish gradually and we have already started with them under the VR4D.com brand. We have a long way ahead of us, because processing tens of thousands of objects into a game engine is demanding. I believe that we will succeed gradually.

M?: Can 3D scanning help create the metaverse? And what is metaverse?

LD: I believe these objects will be very suitable for the emerging metaverse. And I also believe that in cooperation with artificial intelligence, we will be able to create a much larger amount of visually interesting virtual objects. Everyone has the right to create their own metaverse. We also want to make our own metaverse; these metaverses are nothing new.

Virtual worlds have existed for more than 20 years, they just have different names. It's not a new revolutionary technology, it's just a name for a virtual world that big companies are trying to capture for their marketing. The metaverse is here and will continue to develop. It's a virtual world. It's about people meeting. Each space brings a different feeling or possibility for those meeting options.

And I hope that maybe we will succeed in creating such a virtual world, where people will not only be able to meet, but it will also be at valuable places of cultural heritage that will stimulate discussion.

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M?: How about wide spreading virtual film production? What’s the future of this technology??

LD: The potential of virtual film production is huge and has many advantages. If the producer realizes the limits, such as the size of the scene, interaction with the ground, the need for high-quality preproduction, he can achieve a high-quality result at an affordable price. The images are beautiful if the scene is well prepared.

We create our objects in such a way that they meet the quality of the highest level of detail, so that they can be used not only for backgrounds, but can also be used for close-up shots.

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M?: What are the biggest challenges of the nearest future for the virtual-metaverse industry?

LD: I think that it is a big challenge to sensibly handle artificial intelligence, which is gradually entering the entire creative scene. It already gradually changes the development of the entire virtual industry. I'm afraid of to what extent people will be willing to trust this artificial.

We will see how visual art created by a real author will be able to compete with content created by AI. Currently, much of the art industry is being ripped off for machine learning and AI-generated creations.

And to a large extent, it kills the interest in real artists. For example, concept artists are paid for this work, and they gradually pushed out and it is questionable whether they will be able to survive from this art. I have a concern about that. Whether we are falling into an artistic abyss, because now it is only at the level of concepts and concept art and so on, but gradually it will move to musicians, it will also move to filmmakers and so on. That is why this is a very interesting but also important challenge, with which we will see how the future will cope. My goal is to distinguish what is real, what has some history, some value, and what is an artificially created object.

In concept art, it is already very difficult to recognize what was created by a real author and what was created by artificial intelligence. In some industries, we are already artificial intelligence at the time of creation. In some industries, that time is gradually coming.

Film and multimedia industry is very close to getting lost in those differences, people already have apps that deform their faces, show what they will look like in 20 years, and so on, and it all leads to improvement, to push it forward and we will reach the stage where you will really watch a movie and want to have a different main heroine, and it will change that main heroine for another actress. You don't like that actress and the program will tell you, which actress would I like to play? You choose. It's not that far. You want to have violence in the movie, it will be cut out. These are the ways, where the business will go, there films will be on-demand and not in the cinema. There will be only director's cuts, which will be certainly popular, they will go for broadcast. And there will be all the films that don't meet the category or elements will be replaced by artificial intelligence like i.e. something to cover nudity. Everything will meet the requirements, simply the film will move in that direction, I am convinced, and it won't take long, we will be there in 10-20 years. ?Many of these tools will come in 5 years, but specifically what I was talking about, it will be like that, it will be fine-tuned, it won't be entirely certain, but everything is heading there.

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M?: how would you like the future when the virtual will mix with real to look like?

LD: I would like to have my own Metaverse. I have it invented, I need to implement it. I believe that my children will have at least someone who will catch it to such an extent that they will be able to continue in this spirit. I believe that I have students whom I teach who will be successful in this direction and will thrive in this industry for another 20 years. I hope we will still make films. There will still be filmmakers until all professions disappear. For example, scriptwriting. To a large extent, artificial intelligence is already involved in the creation of scenarios. It can be influenced this way. This will happen sooner than we think. And it will be hard to tell if a person or artificial intelligence wrote it. I hope that there will be authors who will come up with new stories or that it will be recognizable that a new subject has arrived that writes another world, which will be unknown. There will be new Spielbergs who will be able to shoot the film differently or will be able to move the story somewhere else visually and content-wise.

Every period of history has its own charm, also this one in which we live today, and I still believe that the future will be even better. I didn't know computers exist 40 years ago, but when I first got to know it, and I started with programming. I started solving things and it was a world that was opened for me. My children live permanently on the computer. But each of them in a different way. One plays sports, one programs, another is dedicated to virtual art and each has something different whether it is worse or not. I can't imagine taking them 40 years back with the knowledge they have now. They would probably not enjoy it. They would go crazy. But, what about them in another 40 years? I know they will develop, find their way to be successful or function and be satisfied and happy, even it won't be easy. What I am really worried about is that someone will take all these toys from them. And this is one of any number of energy-related reasons. There may be war, they may have to flee, they may have to change their ways. There are many things that can come and stop all that development.

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M?: Can you precise that, what you have in mind?

LD: This is precisely what we see in Ukraine, where there, from day to day, the approach to life as such has fundamentally changed, absolutely changed priorities. From learning or education to everyday life, to the struggle for survival, and identity and culture struggle. This radical change took place, and the priorities completely changed. I believe that they will manage to withstand this battle. And the war won’t destroy all the museums that exist, so that they have their own identity. Only then they can continue building their culture, and all of us can truly freely progress. I see this as the biggest problem of all. It’s important how will we guide our children, so we have the opportunity in 40 years we can freely talk like this, and no one will stop us halfway with some artificial intelligence, saying you're talking too much about a topic which could be prohibited.

There are already countries, where people are afraid to talk to each other as it was during period of socialism, because they don't know who will hear them, so I'm glad that we can talk openly. We don't have to be afraid that someone is listening to us. Maybe someone is listening to us now, but at least no one stops us so far.

Today, people are influenced in various ways by those great manipulators who have their own goals. I keep my fingers crossed for those who work on the other side and fight against it. They have their own creativity, opinions and thoughts. The question is to what extent such creative people can open the eyes of those who mostly only watch 10-second videos every day.

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M?: What would be your advice or wish for the young generation?

LD: Between the young generation, which is now experiencing everything on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and all other social media, and the metaverse in some way, there will be definitely some creative people who will be able to connect it all in these media, and tell the story in a completely different way. Then they will have a huge creative potential, because they will be able to function in it to such an extent that they will influence large masses. The main question is on which side they will stand.

Will it be showbusiness, or will it be some political manipulation? I think that's the path is here, where the big creators will appear who will be able to influence people and will be able to create this type of content. They are already here now, there are still very few of them, but gradually those who will be able to really take advantage of it, more and more of them will come. I believe that very interesting projects will emerge. I am personally curious about how it will be. But there will definitely be metaverse versions where people create interesting concepts, where one experiences the story and absorbs it, and also enjoys it. I've experienced it before and I believe that it will happen again.

Short Bio:

doc. Ing. Ladislav Dedik ArtD. - graduate of the #Slovak Technical University in #Bratislava, Faculty of Architecture and doctoral studies at The Film and Television Faculty, Academy of Performing Arts?in Bratislava. In 1997 founded the?company? Studio727 as a #vfx studio for movies. From 2012 developed multiple technologies to #3dscan and process all varieties of objects. Since 2017 we have been #scanning people and animals based on our own developed #fbs technology.

2013 – 2020 - co-owner of software Capturing Reality ?- participating in the evolution of state-of-the-art photogrammetric technologies and tools. Involved as a leader in national digitization projects of cultural heritage of #Slovakia , #Greece and #India including #TajMahal. From 2022 developing a game?#NewDarkAge. Owner of the VR4D.com - online asset store.