Category Autodesk Labs

Capturing the World Around You in 3D – Some Project Photofly Examples

Project Photofly allows anyone with a common point and shoot digital camera to create near accurate 3D models from photographs using the power of cloud computing. Creating 3D models is almost as simple as snapping the photos.

Here are some of the 3D Photo Scenes I have created, and a brief background on each of them. The first image is a photo of the actual object while the following image is a screenshot of the 3D model in the Project Photofly’s desktop Photo Scene Editor.

Publish your AutoCAD Model to Google Earth

This Google Earth extension has been around and been very popular for several years but was just updated for the current release of AutoCAD 2012. Now it covers AutoCAD 2007 to AutoCAD 2012. With this extension you can import Google Earth images into AutoCAD or even a mesh of an area with the image draped over it into your AutoCAD session. You can also export your 3D models to Google Earth in the KML format complete with location data so it appears in Google Earth in the right location.

Project Photofly Produced Video of Kiva Ruin

Last week I was in Southeastern Utah in the Cedar Mesa region which is one of the most rich archeological regions in the United States with sites remaining today dating back 5000 years from the Ancient Pueblo and Basketmaker cultures. This first example video of a 3D model created as a 3D model automatically was of the remains of a kiva ceremonial house approximately 800 years old.

Project Photofly – What are you doing with it?

Judging from the online Project Photofly Gallery and YouTube videos posted, it appears that many are experimenting, exploring, learning, and having fun with the new free technology preview Project Photofly release 2 which can take your photos and create a 3D model automatically. While the technology is really new having only been released less than 3 weeks ago, I know some took the deep plunge and are using it in your day to day workflows to create point clouds and 3D models. I am interested in examples how you are using Project Photofly in your workflows for architecture, consumer design, visualization, game design, historic preservation, and other possible uses.

I would love to discuss how you are using it and what you like and do not as well as what we should consider for the future of this technology.

House on Fire Ancestral Pueblo Ruins in Autodesk’s Project Photofly and AutoCAD

I visited South Eastern Utah this spring to capture in photos some of the natural geology like Arches National Park and also some of the amazing archeological sites from the ancient pueblo cultures from about 800-1500 year old.

I took a series of photos using my Nikon D7000 and a point and shoot Panasonic camera. Using the recently released free download of Project Photofly version 2 I was able to convert the photos into a 3D Photo Scene which is a 3D model constructed of 3D point and even a textured 3D mesh. The 3D photo scene was created from 110 photos and took NO manual point selection by me it was automagically converted to a 3D model using mathematical algorithms in Project Photofly.