Creating digital twins of real-world solutions is a common practice used for design assessments and training purposes. This approach is especially valuable in the human spaceflight domain, where certain hardware may exist in only a handful of copies and prove to be prohibitively expensive to replicate physically. A notable example is the Orion crew capsule, which is projected to play a key role in the Artemis lunar landing programme.
Objectives
Given the growing role of ESA in the Artemis programme, it was seen as essential for our XR lab to acquire and maintain a portfolio of relevant digital assets, such as the Gateway lunar station. In line with these aims, I got tasked to produce a virtual replica of the Artemis crew capsule – the Orion.
What I did
I collected relevant reference photos found online and produced a VR-optimized interior model of the crew capsule. The 3D modeling, texturing and VR deployment took me around 50 hours to complete.
Workflow
I had no official blueprints or interior dimensions at my disposal when undertaking this project. Instead, I scanned the internet for any relevant resource and collected a library of reference photos. Drawing on these reference photos, I was then able to model the main elements of the capsule in 3D, using Cinema 4D.
Once completed, I textured the model using Substance Painter. To ensure optimization for real-time rendering, I developed a single shader for the whole scene, incorporating PBR textures in 4K resolution. Finally, I brought the model into Unreal Engine to introduce interactivity. The rendering below was produced in UE5 utilizing Lumen real-time illumination.
