so I downloaded a program called 123D catch from autodesk on my phone, You take 40-70 pictures and it compiles them into a 3D model, with 10 min of adjusting in z-brush I printed this out for a family friend.
It really looks like him, but so far the program has only worked 1/3 times for me, still pretty cool. know any other programs like this?
Hi! What are those yellow dots all over the model? Are they removable?
I tried 123D Catch 3 different times and struck out each time so I finally gave up. I must have taken at least 50-60 pics of my item which was non-reflective /shrug
Kudo’s to you for getting it to work.
thats just gold paint, its not part of the figure
thats too bad 
yeah I had trouble with it too, but the family I made this for really loved it so I kept trying. I havent used it in a while, maybe they fixed it ?
I’ve played pretty extensively using a Kinect and software called Skanect ($130USD).
It’s quite impressive how well it works… check it out.
Also check out this you-tube video that is basically what you were talking about, but not an integrated solution. It uses any digital photo set, then open-source software to create the scene from it.
I have had some luck with 123D Catch.
Below is a scan of my girlfriend’s sculpture which came out well. I am trying to work out a way to print the texture on it.
I used 123D catch and here are my thoughts:
There is Reality Capture but not so free
https://www.capturingreality.com/
Too pricey for regular users but the technology is cool. Pretty sweet how you can even use a drone to do the captures.
Agisoft photo scan is very good. I’ve found it superior to the Autodesk offerings.
Agisoft is very popular—the companies that do stuff like full body scans often use Agisoft, they’ll have a rig with a bunch of DSLR cameras so it can capture a person all at once and it can get a lot of detail. Can be expensive for the best results though.
For large objects you can use some Kinect software.
For small objects, I use David Laserscanner with a projector for structured light scanning, works extremely well but costs about $1,000 for the software and hardware.
For those who use graphic tablets, new Wacom Mobile Studio Pro goes with Artec Studio, which turns the tablet to a 3d scanner. Artec 3d makes good scanners and software, so I’m sure this Wacom tablet would be a good decision for 3d artists.
The scanner built in there is a low-quality type of hardware, similar to something like the Kinect
I have a barely used NextEngine scanner if anyone is interested. After I bought it, I spent $26k on an intra-oral dental scanner a few years ago, which I just replaced with a new $34k insane speed intramural scanner. This is legitimate reason why high-quality dentistry can be expensive (the illegitimate reason is the unfortunate reality of posers).
I started with an Atlas 3D laser scanner, and got some decent results, but it required a lot of post scan work to achieve good results.
I then tried the NextEngine scanner. It’s strength was the ability to import the mesh directly into Solidworks, and convert it to editable solid parts. While that worked OK when scanning mechanical objects, it wasn’t that great for scanning organic forms, or capturing surface textures
I now have a Shining 3D Einscan S scanner. it uses structured light scanning technology, and it’s probably the best sub $3K scanner on the market. It’s one drawback is the color scanning, it’s all but non-existent. While some of the other scanners can capture a color image and convert it to a texture map, the Einscan is primarily a B&W scanner, designed to capture surface detail, and it’s color scanning “feature” is just an afterthought and not worth fooling around with.
But then again, I needed a scanner to capture the geometry of an object, so when it comes to that, the nearest competitor is either the David SLS scanner , which costs quite a bit.
… and did I mention it sells for about $1000?
You might want to check their other scanners. They now have a variety of scanners aimed at different industries/users.
