Finding an RSF Military Camp
Introduction
Organization: Centre for Information Resilience (CIR)
Research question: Can we link any cars or people we see in the videos in Libya with the fighting in Sudan?
Object of interest: Vehicle
This investigation relies heavily on the car. In such a case you can either model it yourself from reference, or source and adapt it. That's the modeling challenge. The identification process of the car in different places relied primarily on damage, which seems to have been added by texturing (which in turn requires UV unwrapping or a high-density mesh for vertex painting). The hole in the back door might be a texturing job and the structural damage on the door could have been sculpted or manually deformed (for example by using the proportional editing tool).
Photomatch
Base Model
Techniques used (likely)
- Sourced Model: The model is likely sourced. It is very detailed, meaning a SubD/low-poly workflow probably created this base model.
- Custom Details: Military details (the hatches) are added in by hand, likely with a SubD workflow to match the base model's fidelity.
- Texturing & Damage: The answer to the main question relies on matching the car by damage and texture. Texturing requires UV-unwrapping at least parts of the car to paint over them (or projecting/baking the original image onto the model). The model also features non-texture damage: the door was likely separated from the body and its structural damage either sculpted or direct-modeled (e.g., proportional edit).
- Bullet Holes: Modeling bullet holes by hand is very time-consuming — a stencil is faster.
Summary
This case is an example of vehicular identification through damage and texture matching, combining sourced base models, hand-built custom detail, and projected/baked textures.