Autodesk’s Photofly Can Turn An Image Into A 3D Model

Autodesk's Photofly 3D

Thursday, May 26, 2011, 22:33

Design software giant Autodesk has developed a new software that will help you design a three dimensional model of anything by just taking a few snaps from your digital camera or cell phone. This new product will be launched as free software next week and will allow you to get a 3D model of anything you want by using a set of images that you clicked and printing it with a 3D printer. This awesome software is named Photofly and it provides an accurate customized structure by overlapping photos. The 3D mesh created by the images is very sharp and highly detailed with precision and density of a laser scanner. The product was developed by a branch of the company called the Autodesk Labs which is headed by Brian Mathews.

The performance of this cool design tool is comparable to a laser scanner but there is a huge difference in the cost of the two. It is very affordable technique and even 40 images taken from the proper angles are sufficient to obtain a three dimensional model of a man’s face and neck with well defined expressions and details. An important point to note is that the software is currently available for the computers with Windows OS only. All the images for creating the model are uploaded to a cloud server where it is processed and the final output can be downloaded by the user. The resultant three dimensional version will appear as a naked wire-frame model of the captured scene or a version with realistic surface color and texture. The colored designs can be viewed in an iPad app but for sharing and editing, the underlying mesh ahs to be exported in standard 3D format.

If the photos are taken correctly, the model will have a spatial accuracy up to 99% and it is more than sufficient for professional designing. So the images can be physically recreated with the help of advanced printers and 3D printing services which have become cheaper in past few years. Machines like Makerbot and services such as Shapeways print these models in ceramics, plastics, and even metals.

This enhanced version of Photofly is the first of its kind consumer that provides such degree of accuracy. A few software and apps like Microsoft’s Photosynth had come before this but they produced far less detailed prints. Photofly has a very well defined algorithm that processes the images through a lot of steps. Initially, it determines the different positions from where each picture is taken. It uses the triangulation method based on the different views of certain distinctive features. After that, it goes through a more detailed triangulation function, generates a 3d surface for everything visible by using contrasting images. However, not many users have experienced it yet so it is not clear that whether its user friendly or not. The success of this software will pave the way for other such unique ideas and 2D images will be a thing of the past. It has got a number of applications in structural designing, recreating objects in archeology and paleontology, etc. It can be used to take a bunch of photos and very quickly design a 3D model to make the vital measurements needed to figure out what needs to be done to make any house or building greener and energy efficient.

Image Credit: Imaging Resource