Cambridge's ProFORMA does 3D scanning with any stationary webcam
By Richard Lai 
posted November 23rd 2009 3:12AM
posted November 23rd 2009 3:12AM
posted November 23rd 2009 3:12AM
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oh my microwave is definitely being deconstructed for this.
Or maybe a rotisserie. This is amazing by the way. It feels like augmented reality. Does this mean that future computer games could be created by using figurines instead of CAD programs?
I want to do this for Valve Hammer Editor.. Start making some SICK CS and Left 4 Dead 2 maps!
Good 'ol Cambridge. Would hate to see this become vaporware.
@Alasdair
I want this in my phone (with camera) when you go to IKEA and come home and open uo sketchup :D
whoa... this is kinda cool
Combine this with pr0n and we've got a winner.
and it would seem a lot of unsuspecting women will have a wiener...
...in 3D!
@(Unverified), @MrAffrox
Actually, there's only one problem with that, at least from what I can tell: even if you were to use a turntable from a record player or a Lazy Susan or something, I'm thinking that even the turntable would become part of the object. If you look closely, they guy's hand gets modeled at one point; it gets edited out by the program, but traces of it are still there on the finished model.
Now, if you had a lightbox and a turntable made of a circle of perfectly clear matte glass or plastic or something, THAT might work…
I wish that there was a download for this on the Cambridge site. :(
@Kizul Emeraldfire That would be a pretty simple problem to solve. Just move the object away from the center of the turntable at some point during scanning and the scanner should edit it out. Or it would remove the turntable when you spin it around the horizontal axis (flipping it instead of spinning it).
What I would be really interested in seeing is how fast an object can be scanned. Of course, the program would have to be optimized for efficiency and probably run on a rather powerful system, but it would be awesome if you could just drop an item on a turntable, quickly spin it 360 degrees, and have a rendering of it.
Sheer awesomeness!!!
Let the modeling of all action figures commence:
he-man
gi-joe
Barbie??
hell no. Star Wars! i gotta go dig out my Plo-Koon and Bossk figures!
Wow, this is pretty cool technology! Imagine creating 3D models straight from Hot Tracks toys or something and exporting to whatever racing game.
I wonder how it knows not to capture the hand and the monitor in the background
Skynet instructed it not to.
The guy who posted the video gave this reply:
QiPanComputerVision:
The hand, like the background, is discarded from the reconstruction as it does not conform to the rigid body motion of the object. The only assumptions made are that the object is a rigid body and at least part of it is within the white circle you see at the start. No background subtraction is being done, which means that the camera does not have to remain completely still (e.g. can be worn on an AR headset).
Ya, this is also how I see it in laymens terms (sp).
The circle will capture an area of what is in that circle. Once it's been captured, it detects the differences between the screen cap and the live data. Thus it will see that there's a changing object that it should look for, and that anything additional added to the live video like dust, static non moving objects, or a hand, will automatically be ignored. It probably also detects pixel changes...like matching the colors of the textures.
Hopefully there's a app that will be released to the masses for this.
Why do all my posts show up as "unverified"
This+1080p SLR+dual xeon 5590+your choice of cad program will really change things in the DIY and 3d home movie realms... Especially if it's free for personal use.
@(Unverified)
I agree with the 'hell no', but only in regards to Barbie.
Someone's forgetting Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and Bucky O'Hare! :D *
There's a website out there that did the same thing but used two cameras to motion track a 3D point to point skeleton frame. It used some of the same concepts where it automatically tracked all the joints of the person without a suit or additional sensors. The program used two cameras (front and side) and managed to key the entire body very precisely. This is also the same concept as the new XBox 360 camera natal project, where the camera motion tracks all of the user's key joints and maps it to the game model.
I'm very excited that this is being developed and that hopefully can be used to create motion tracking for your 3D characters in like Maya or 3D Max.
incredible
Promising, but that's just a simple object. In time, this could be quite the technology.
I can see this as near-real time intelligence gathering from the sky, forming a 3D, interactive environment that can allow for precise strategic planning in guerrilla warfare.
I can also see this is as the perfect way to build physical models, then have it reconstructed digitally for manipulation and production overseas, or scaled up for a life-size building, and design development and documentation occurring in CAD.
pretty cool!
pretty cool!
Leica/cyrax has been doing it for 10 years
@(Unverified)
With web-cams?
Very nice, let's hope this tech becomes widely available soon, and not just some locked up lab experiment.
this would be amazingly useful for rough, instant scan > export to autocad for small-scale structure models
architect student
This is extremely useful, I do custom video game levels as a hobby and sometimes would love to take something sitting on my desk and turn it into an object in the game...
Lets see how well it does with a face, or a porcelain figure or something else without edges...
Also, that model doesn't look too real-time-oriented, needs some (alot of) optimization.
Scan Alicia Silverstone and a red sportsbike please.
I wish this could automatically optimize the surfaces, because that would be fantastic for regular 3d modeling if it didn't generate so many polygons.
One question, how do i get it ?
This would be great for game modding. Why bother building skins from scratch when you make a nice scan of model?
Pretty impressive with only one camera. Microsoft Research has shown some similar stuff I think. THis one seems to do pretty good job with only a handful of artifacts that would require manual clean up. Cool stuff.
Perfect for Skynet to imitate people in the T100 models.
This is real quick !!:)) Like...
Scan me, I want to get into game "like me"
Ohh! I want to try that shirt on my visual model !
Ohh no! My visual model playing in a porn! that's not me..
@Kizul Emeraldfire
Hurray for comment mis-firing. >.< I think I actually liked the OLD comments system BETTER.
Sorry, Basroil, this was meant for one of the (Unverified)s above you.
Perfect for augmented reality apps! You can import real objects into your simulation on the fly!
fail of the program - it's 'trying' to be too detailed.
object of that size don't usually need that much polygons to recreate them... ...my noob opinion :)
I'd like to get hold of this, would make my work expand so much more. cheers look forward to it's release.
were do i download software if available
AWESOME!!!!!!!
please mac version too Qi
This will change the world.