Version 3 of 3DSOM Pro is a major new release with many new features and improvements. The new enhanced toolset allows a much greater range of objects to be successfully modelled using 3DSOM Pro without requiring any 3rd party tools.

• Transparency and specular layers - Added to version 3.5, you can now create additional material channels to define different properties (per pixel) to parts of the surface. For example a bottle model can be semi-transparent and glossy apart from the label which is opaque and matte.
• Point Clouds - for highly patterned objects (or using a digitally projected pattern), a point cloud can be generated automatically. The 3D points are then used when optimising the surface to create a more accurate model.
• Mat-free modeling - this releases includes a new approach to creating a 3D model without requiring the calibration mat in the scene. Instead the user can manually "pin" marker points in the photos. A new interface has been designed to make this as easy as possible.
• Interactive 3D modeling tools - 3DSOM Pro version 3 provides a collection of new tools for interactive mesh editing including region smoothing, flattening, push and pull and boolean operations. These tools can be used to "hollow out" concave regions to model bowls, cups, jugs, vases etc which can not be modelled accuractely just using silhouettes.
• Texture fix brush - 3DSOM Pro version 3 provides a simple brush tool to fix common artefacts in the texture maps.
• Curved edge marking - another new feature allows curved edges such as a seam on clothing or a crease, to be outlined manually in several photos. A digitised 3D curve is automatically recovered and the data then used to improved the model accuracy.
• Polygonal objects - This version includes simple tools to model polygonal (faceted) objects such as simple man-made objects, by marking up vertex positions, edges and faces in the photographs (no masking or backdrop needed).
• Masking with the new curve region tool - A new tool for defining a region when creating masks is included. This tool has a handy "snap to image" behaviour that makes it easy to quickly define a curved mask edge.
• WebGL export - Added to v3.5, models can be exported for hardware rendering in the browser using the HTML5 Canvas tag and webGL standards supported by many modern browsers. For more info see Web GL Export.
• Flash 3D export - Our Flash powered web 3D format allows models to be viewable online without any special plugin. The latest Flash 10 viewer has improved performance in terms of speed and quality. You can now display models with 30,000 textured triangles interactively with modest hardware in the webpage or full screen. The Flash viewer also now supports "view dependent" textures for improved lighting effects and an interactive "measure" tool.
• Quick texture preview - In order to help interactive geometry editing it is now possible to quickly preview a model textured using the single closest input photo, prior to building the final blended texture map.

The new geometry workflow in version 3