Does anyone know how to turn a real world object into a polygon mesh
without a 3d scanner?

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There is software which will take two pictures (one from the front, one from
the side, at equal distances) of an object and create a "semi-3d" object
from it.  Not very accurate for a 3D model though, you really need something
like the Microscribe from Immersion.  It isn't really a "scanner" it's a 3D
tracing arm, it's useful for all kinds of work, but does cost a fair bit :-(

Hope this helps anyway.

--
Lance.


---
For the latest MAX plug-ins, images and much more, go to:
The Zone - http://come.to/the.zone

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Hmm, seen something of the sort on Computer Chronicles once, don't remember 
what it was. Showed a kids face (head) done. Maybe something tells in their 
archives at the web site.
 http://www.cmptv.com/computerchronicles/archive3.html

Message <3634F889.45D94FF6@spiderweb.com.au>, Steven Jones  typed...
>
>Does anyone know how to turn a real world object into a polygon mesh
>without a 3d scanner?
>

-- 
 omniVERSE: beyond the universe
  http://members.aol.com/inversez/POVring.html
=Bob

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I' ve seen something that included a slide projector and a special
slide. If you have a  black slide with maybe 100 horizontal horizontal
line openings and you project this slide onto your object which stands
before a wall you will get several bright lines on your object (they
used a face) and on the wall in the back.
You can use the parts of the bright lines that show in the back as
reference for a program that calculates the 3D position of the lines on
the object.

In a way this is also a 3D scanner, but a low cost one.

Maybe somebody else has the link for this available.
This slide and the software was a bonus for a modeller (I think for
POVRAY) they sold ; (  .

--
Marc Schimmler
Institut fuer Computeranwendungen
Universitaet Stuttgart

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Lance Birch wrote in message <36356a68.0@news.povray.org>...
>There is software which will take two pictures (one from the front, one
from
>the side, at equal distances) of an object and create a "semi-3d" object
>from it.  Not very accurate for a 3D model though,

I was thinking that perhaps this idea could be extended to video. Using a
video camera, and rotating and object around in front of it, it would seem
possible to obtain a rough model of an object. By examining the centre line
of the object and both edges, you could create a 3D model. It wouldn't be
perfect and would possibly fail to recognise craters within the surface but
would certainly be cheaper than a laser scanner! A bit of editing could fix
up any anomalies after it has been converted to a triangle mesh or other
format.

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I was reading the other day about a product that does just that.  It uses a CCD
camera that rotates around the object 360 degrees or something like that.
Think it sells for around $10k.

-Mike


> I was thinking that perhaps this idea could be extended to video. Using a
> video camera, and rotating and object around in front of it, it would seem
> possible to obtain a rough model of an object. By examining the centre line
> of the object and both edges, you could create a 3D model. It wouldn't be
> perfect and would possibly fail to recognise craters within the surface but
> would certainly be cheaper than a laser scanner! A bit of editing could fix
> up any anomalies after it has been converted to a triangle mesh or other
> format.

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>Think it sells for around $10k.


Not exactly what I was thinking when I said cheap! It would be good to have
a port of the software for use with any video camera or AVI, MPEG etc.

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Look for the digiart modeler...
(Sorry, don't have a URL either, but it is somewhere in Germany...)

Johannes.

>
>Maybe somebody else has the link for this available.
>This slide and the software was a bonus for a modeller (I think for
>POVRAY) they sold ; (  .

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Steven Jones wrote:
> 
> Does anyone know how to turn a real world object into a polygon mesh
> without a 3d scanner?

This is a lot of work, but if nothing else is available:

Take a pen and draw a lot of points on the surface of the object.
Connect these points with the pen.

Take a picture of the object, from the front, back, sides, top, and
bottom.

Use a ruler to measure the location of each point.  Enter these into
the mesh definition.

Like I said, this is a lot of work, but it may be your only option.

Regards,
John

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John VanSickle heeft geschreven in bericht <363CF855.3C5F01AA@erols.com>...
  snip...
>This is a lot of work, but if nothing else is available:
  snip..


You may try to project a mesh on the object (using a slide projector with a
mesh slide), and take photographs from different, known, locations.

Then make a program to show two or more pictures on the screen at one time.
First connect the points that represent the same spot on the object. With
the known camera positions, you will be able to generate a set of <x,y,z>
points. Then make combinations of three points to define the mesh.

Still a load of work.

Frans

BTW

I think John's solution is preferrable when you 'mesh' your girlfriend. Love
to see the result.

F.

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