Kendys Ortega has successfully completed her Master’s degree in 3D Animation for Film and Games at Cologne University of Applied Sciences (TH Köln) and the ifs Internationale Filmschule Köln.

Her master’s thesis, »Unlocking Emotions in Realistic Portraits: A Historical Approach to Facial Motion Capture Technology in the Creation of Digital Humans (2019–2024)«, investigates emotionally expressive digital humans through a research-driven, practice-based methodology.

The project centers on the creation of a highly realistic digital self-portrait (digital double), developed using photogrammetry as the primary scanning method within a state-of-the-art VFX framework and production workflow. It applies contemporary digital production pipelines to construct a full-body digital human through a multi-camera photogrammetry system with 56 synchronized cameras, enabling high-fidelity capture in a single acquisition process.

The research further integrates a dedicated head-scanning pipeline based on a single-camera setup, structured to follow industry-aligned methodologies within existing technical constraints. The project demonstrates the convergence of advanced VFX workflows, digital human technologies, and character production pipelines, contributing to current approaches in digital human creation, facial realism, and performance-driven digital representation.

Software Implemented:
Autodesk Maya, Autodesk Arnold, Maxon Zbrush, Agisoft Metashape, Wrap Faceform, Adobe Substance Painter, Marvelous Designer, Foundry Mari.