How to Do Face Capture with ARKit and Blender: A Detailed Guide

Creating augmented reality (AR) experiences that involve face capture can be a fascinating and engaging project. Whether you’re a beginner or an experienced 3D artist, understanding how to integrate ARKit with Blender for face capture can open up a world of possibilities. In this guide, we’ll walk you through the process step by step, ensuring you have all the information you need to create your own AR face capture project.

Understanding ARKit and Blender

Before diving into the specifics of face capture, it’s important to have a basic understanding of both ARKit and Blender.

ARKit is Apple’s framework for building AR experiences on iOS devices. It provides a set of tools and APIs that allow developers to create AR applications with ease. Blender, on the other hand, is a free and open-source 3D creation suite that supports the entire 3D pipeline鈥攎odeling, rigging, animation, simulation, rendering, compositing, and motion tracking.

Setting Up Your Environment

Before you begin, make sure you have the following software and hardware:

  • macOS running on an Apple device
  • Blender installed on your macOS
  • ARKit installed on your iOS device

Once you have everything set up, follow these steps to prepare your environment:

  1. Open Blender and create a new project.
  2. Go to the “File” menu and select “Import” > “ARKit Face Mesh” to import the ARKit face mesh into Blender.
  3. Adjust the scale and position of the mesh to fit your needs.

Creating the Face Capture Scene

Now that you have the ARKit face mesh imported into Blender, it’s time to create the scene for face capture.

  1. Go to the “Object” menu and select “Add” > “Camera” > “Orthographic” to add a camera to your scene.
  2. Adjust the camera’s position and orientation to ensure it captures the face mesh properly.
  3. Go to the “Object” menu and select “Add” > “Light” > “Point” to add a light source to your scene.
  4. Adjust the light’s position and intensity to illuminate the face mesh.

Setting Up the ARKit Face Mesh

With the scene set up, it’s time to configure the ARKit face mesh for face capture.

  1. Select the ARKit face mesh in the 3D Viewport.
  2. Go to the “Properties” panel and expand the “ARKit Face Mesh” section.
  3. Check the “Enable” box to enable the face mesh.
  4. Adjust the “Mesh Resolution” and “Subdivision Level” to control the quality of the face mesh.

Exporting the Scene for ARKit

Once you have everything set up, it’s time to export the scene for ARKit.

  1. Go to the “File” menu and select “Export” > “Scene” > “ARKit Face Mesh Scene.”
  2. Select the desired file format and save the scene to your computer.

Testing the ARKit Face Capture

Now that you have the scene exported, it’s time to test the ARKit face capture on your iOS device.

  1. Connect your iOS device to your computer using a USB cable.
  2. Open the “Xcode” application on your computer.
  3. Create a new ARKit project and select “ARKit Face Tracking” as the template.
  4. Import the exported scene into your Xcode project.
  5. Build and run the project on your iOS device.

Final Thoughts

Capturing faces with ARKit and Blender can be a rewarding experience. By following this guide, you should now have a solid understanding of how to set up and export a face capture scene for ARKit. Remember to experiment with different settings and configurations to achieve the best results.

Happy creating!