Waverley Abbey Yew Tree

Community Showcase
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This Majestic ancient yew tree grows from the ruins of Waverley Abbey, the first Cistercian abbey in England. The yew was crowned Woodland Trust UK tree of the year 2022 and will represent the UK in the European tree of the year competition.
The photogrammetry model was created in Reality Capture using more than 4,500 photos taken on a Sony a7R IV. The master model came out at 2.7 billion triangles with 179 8K textures.
The model was post processed using ZBrush, Rizom UV, Substance Painter and 3ds Max. The full tree was created in Speedtree using a LiDAR scan reference mesh (also built in Reality Capture).

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5 Likes
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Greetings @Historic_VR !

We warmly welcome you to the Unreal Engine community! :smiling_face_with_three_hearts:

I am amazed at how great your reality capture looks! That’s definitely high poly and it shows in its intricate details. I understand that no one knows exactly how old the yew tree is, but it’s believed to be more than 500 years old - legendary!

The twisted roots growing over the abbey ruins are certainly something to marvel! With so many exposed roots, I can only imagine how intertwined and widespread the roots must be underground!

I have deep admiration for projects that preserve history. You’ve done an extraordinary job with the Waverly Abbey Yew Tree! I hope the Woodland Trust or other woodland preservation organizations are aware of your work. What are your plans for this scan?

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Greetings @Get_DOVAH_it!

Thanks for your very kind comments. We did indeed let the Woodland Trust know about the model: https://twitter.com/WoodlandTrust/status/1649410162891935747

The scan is up on Sketchfab to view for now, though we may do something VR related further down the line.

Thanks for taking the time to read and comment!

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Hi there @Historic_VR,

Hope you’re well and having a spectacular week so far!

Looking at how stunning this scan turned out, the 4500 photos were definitely worth it! It’s hard to believe that this exists. It seems like something out of a fantasy book :blush:

Beautifully done and thanks so much for sharing. :slight_smile:

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Hi @PresumptivePanda!

It is indeed a magnificent tree and we’re really lucky to have it on our doorstep!

Thanks for taking the time to view!

1 Like