Chongqing—The recently explosive Chinese game Black Myth: Wukong showcases a variety of Chinese landscapes and cultural elements with exquisite and realistic visuals. Many of the game's scenes faithfully depict architectural marvels from places like Shanxi and Chongqing. Notably, the Thousand-Hand Avalokiteshvara from the Dazu Rock Carvings in Chongqing has been perfectly replicated in the game. How was this achieved? Let's take a look at how Jia Heng, the structural digital engineer responsible for scanning the Dazu Rock Carvings for the Black Myth: Wukong team, explains it.

Scanning and modeling techniques faithfully recreate real-world objects in a game's virtual world. Simply put, the staff must take comprehensive photographs of the object to capture as many details as possible. After importing the photos into a computer, specialized algorithms generate a model of the object based on these images.

The level of detail in the final rendering depends on the quality and quantity of the photos. Inadequate photo-taking, such as those missing certain angles, with uneven lighting, or overly dark and blurred, can create significant difficulties for the subsequent computer modeling process.

For challenging scenes like the Thousand-Hand Avalokiteshvara at the Dazu Rock Carvings, Jia Heng attributes the successful outcome to their excellent lighting techniques, photography equipment resembling the golden staff wielded by Wukong and the assistance of the Dazu Rock Carvings staff. The engineering team (with merely three people) completed the shooting in just eight days. With guaranteed photo quality and quantity, the final result in the game perfectly replicates the breathtaking beauty of the Dazu Rock Carvings.

The Dazu Rock Carvings are a valuable cultural heritage of Chongqing and the world. Advances in technology not only allow us to faithfully present their beauty to players overseas but also provide a solid foundation for preserving and protecting such beauty.