Witchcraft software that extracts 3D models from photographs

Woah this is inexplicably cool. Recently I’ve been faced with the prospect of doing some actual 3D modelling, me a simple reporter doing 3D modelling? Not a chance. Thanks to the community of 3D modellers and printers online I was able to make my file using a converted SVG file and Tinkercad, it sort of worked.

But that was a really simple task with uncomplex geometries and it did leave me wondering how on earth people even begin to start modeling properly in 3D.

It does though look like one piece of software could make it relatively straightforward. The ‘3-Sweep’ technique demonstrated in the video above can extract 3D images from a 2D photograph with three strokes of the mouse.

We’re yet to see whether these models can be exported out into full 3D printable files but it is without doubt a step, no more of a leap in the right direction. Pirate3D are certainly impressed simply stating “Whoa.” about the Gizmodo article.

Watching that software I now kind of know what some indigenous tribes mean when they think photography is stealing your soul...