3DSOM Pro - Creating a 3D model in 5 Easy Steps
1. The Photo Shoot
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| A photo shoot for 3DSOM Pro. |
The chosen object is placed on a stand in the centre of the 3DSOM Pro mat. A backdrop is used to simplify masking the scene and then fifteen to thirty digital images of this scene are captured using a conventional digital camera.
The 3DSOM Pro mat can be printed directly from the software at variable size. The software can handle images taken in standard office lighting conditions or for optimal quality using a professional studio setup.
- The Photo Shoot section in the online User Guide
- More photo taking features.
2. Masking the Images
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| A masked image being edited. |
With the images loaded into the software, 3DSOM Pro automatically masks all the images (separating the object from the background) with a single mouse click.
For images that were not captured under the 'ideal' conditions, a new powerful set of manual and semi-automatic masking tools are provided. Accurate masking in 3DSOM Pro can now be achieved quickly and easily.
3. Wireframe Generation
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| The wireframe and smooth shaded model. |
The 3DSOM Pro surface generation wizard helps you to automatically generate a high quality triangle mesh model (the solid geometry onto which texture maps will be added).
Tools are provided for editing the surface using additional silhouettes or for combining a second scan of the object. The geometry can also be edited manually in a 3rd party editor before texturing in 3DSOM Pro
3DSOM Pro can automatically fit a subdivision surface to the optimised mesh for significant model compression (10:1) and improved mesh quality.
4. Generating the Surface Texture
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| The textured model ready for export. |
Textures are added in order to create the final model by blending together the information in all of the input images. 3DSOM Pro merges together the colour information from all the images, using patented technology to produce a single high quality texture map with a single click.
3DSOM Pro provides powerful 'Copy and Paste' tools for editing the textures by painting on the current view using an image editor such as PhotoShop.
Additional 'view-dependent' texture maps can be generated which are supported by the 3DSOM Pro patented 3D java format - combining the best of 3D and 2D image movies.
5. Exporting the Final Model
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| The model imported into 3D Studio Max. |
Once you are happy with the model, it can be exported for use on a web page or for import into other authoring packages and applications. Integrating 3DSOM Pro into your workflow is important and we have chosen a set of representative export formats that should meet your needs.
3DSOM Pro also provides a 3D java viewer allowing fully interactive, plugin-free 3D content to be published easily. The latest version supports subdivision surfaces, texture streaming, scripting and hotspots.