Creating three-dimensional models based on real objects is a task usually left to a 3D scanner, but what happens when the source is nothing more than a conventional image? How can we extract enough information to reproduce that model? The technique known as 3-Sweep might be the solution you're looking for.
You take a photograph, load it into your favorite graphic editor and modify various aspects. This is a relatively common action these days, so there's nothing surprising about it (beyond making decades disappear from the faces of models and politicians). But if what you want from an image is to obtain a 3D model of the object that has been photographed... that's a very different story.
To any computer, an image is nothing more than an arrangement of pixels in two dimensions; however, if the user helps identify each of the dimensions, the system could do the rest of the work. That's what 3-Sweep is about, a technique developed by researchers at Tel Aviv University and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya, which works as described in the video.
Get a 3D Model from a Photograph
The video is quite detailed. The first two strokes made by the user determine the profile of the piece, while the last stroke sweeps along the main axis. As expected, 3-Sweep works without problems with cylindrical objects and other complex parts. The software also allows a high level of editing, as demonstrated in the examples of the faucet and the telescope. The detection and editing process takes some time, as the video is sped up between two and four times, depending on how detailed the object is.
3-Sweep can be downloaded for free from its official website, where you'll also find a useful video tutorial and a detailed user manual to understand its use. It's not a complex task, but it has its tricks. The download is only 31MB and the software runs on Windows 7 and later. So you know, if you need to create a 3D model from a photograph, 3-Sweep might be the solution you're looking for.
3-Sweep
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