Examples of Automatic 3D reconstructions from photographsExamples by Paul BourkeMarch 2012 Also: As an example of navigable 3D models in an iBook
Automatic 3D model creation from a series of photographs has been an active area of research for many years. The techniques would appear to be maturing, this is reflected in a number of stable software tools. Some examples are presented here in an attempt to illustrate the current state of the art, full OBJ meshes and textures are provided for each example. The examples presented are all from projects in early 2012. A number of the current software tools have been evaluated, the main ones being 123D Catch (Autodesk), PhotoScan (Agisoft), Photomodeller, Bundler, Visual SFM, and Photosynth (Microsoft). Note that the last two are based upon the opensource tool Bundler. These packages are classified broadly as photogrammetry and more recently as SFM, Structure from Motion. The interest here is to evaluate the techniques as a way of creating assets for virtual environments, in this case high mesh accuracy is not necessarly required, the apparent detail is conveyed in the textures. Of course there are other applications where geometric detail is important and the exploration here seeks to evaluate that possibility, for example, capturing sufficient geometry to form a useful research and archive of the 3D object in question. The following three examples illustrate convex relief and engravings, in these cases all from Indian temples in the region around Manipal (South-West). 1000 pillar relief, IndiaObj file and textures View in browser (20,000 triangles, 4Kx2K texture)
Obj file and textures View in browser (30,000 triangles, 4Kx2K texture)
Obj file and textures View in browser (10,000 triangles, 4Kx2K texture)
The next example is similar except the depth of the engraving is less and the size is such that a series of three sets of photographs are required to capture the whole length, about 4m long. Engraving, UWAObj file and textures
While the above examples are essentially height maps, the following illustrate more complete 3D models. These are photographed from every side, typically around 20 photographs for each example. Aphrodite, UWAObj file and textures View in browser (30,000 triangles, 4Kx4K texture)
Obj file and textures
Obj file and textures
Since the algorithm needs to find matching feature points the following worked surprisingly well given the uniformity and noisiness of the colour. Rock Art, site in the Pilbara, West AustraliaObj file and textures View in browser (30,000 triangles, 4Kx2K texture)
Obj file and textures
Obj file and textures
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