Leave it to Autodesk Labs to come out with the coolest stuff. One of the newest projects in its array of whiz-bang technologies is Project Photofly, which is being dubbed a "Photo Scene Editor" for creating 3D models from photographs using a Web-based service.
From a consumer perspective, the service has high utility and a huge fun factor, as anyone with a standard point-and-shoot digital camera can create near-accurate 3D models simply by taking and uploading a bunch of photographs to the service running in an Autodesk-run cloud. Once completed, the 3D models can be manipulated using any of Autodesk's design programs (Inventor, AutoCAD, 123D), and would-be designers can directly share their creations via built-in share tools for uploading to YouTube and other social sites. Autodesk says about 40 pictures are needed to produce a 3D model.
A 3D model of Autodesk Labs' Shaan Hurley. Source: Autodesk
Beyond the consumer applications, though, a service like this can have huge applicability for manufacturing and commercial product design applications. In an interview, Brian Matthews, vice president of Autodesk Labs, says companies are already experimenting with the technology to build digital models of buildings to do energy modeling and to more easily create 3D models of custom manufacturing equipment as part of a design exercise to plot out a replacement.
Perhaps even more exciting is the potential for pairing the Photofly technology with 3D printing technology, which is rapidly coming down in price, and becoming much more familiar and accessible to smaller companies and DIY inventors. Simply by taking and uploading a series of photos, Matthews says, companies have a tool for easily personalizing a product to fit an individual, which has applicability for designing products like hearing aids, teeth implants, even scanning individual people. Introduce CNC milling machines into the mix, and you catapult this vision of mass customization to a much grander scale, according to Matthews, letting companies custom build products from watches to cars using this pairing of technology.
Here's how the technology works: Users take a bunch of photos of the desired object from a variety of angles, then upload the photos to the program and hit the submit program to send it to the Autodesk cloud. Matthews says the first step in the computation process is to create a draft model using triangulation to determine where the photos are taken in relative space. Once that draft mesh is created and the user is happy with the result, the model is sent back to the cloud to do heavy computation, and a 3D triangular mesh is built.
As with all projects on Autodesk Labs, this is a technology preview and not a commercially viable product. But from the looks of things, companies and individuals are ready to experiment as 3D modeling technologies move well beyond the traditional domain of CAD.
Cool stuff. Since this involves using processing in the cloud, I would imagine this includes a service-based pricing model. For users, is this structured as a hybrid, where you buy Autodesk, then add on services such as the one you describe in the cloud on a per-use basis?
I can see the ingenuity now. All it will take is for a PIC to be programed and attatched to a camera to snap the pictures at certain intervals. Then a pedestal to revolve, or the camera to revolve around the object, and voila! Instant 3d aquisition for the service.
Most likely there will be some sort of pricing model like you suggest, Rob, but this is only a technology preview. Autodesk does this all the time, experimenting with technology being developed in Autodesk Labs and then making it available to the public to try out, comment on, suggest, etc. Pretty cool stuff, I agree.
The idea is a good one. You invest in Autodesk, then draw on its processing power to go beyond what could be done on your resident computer for particular tasks that are needed occasionally -- such as creating the virtual 3D model. Then you go back to your resident computer with the sophisticated image.
The pricing model would probably be similar to smartphones, where you buy the device, subscribe to the service, then add apps on a per-drink basis. There's a whole generation accustomed to that pricing model.
You got it, and there are a bunch of other Software-as-a-Service-type capabilities in the works in Autodesk Labs. There's Project Cumulus, which leverages the cloud computing model to deliver more computational horsepower for MoldFlow plastic design simulations, and Project Centaur, which lets Inventor users offload simulation tasks to the cloud. I believe there are others as well. It seems like Autodesk is really moving forward with this concept.
This strikes me as one of those technologies that starts out as fun, then finds a thousand different applications. I could see this having loads of consumer applications, as well as applications in industry for, say, reverse engineering.
Autodesk no longer produces new versions of the software, but this is very similar technology to their ImageModeler 2009 software. I use it and it's quite good software, the models become are more accurate with more pictures from different angles. Key difference is you have to match the similar points in the pictures manually with ImageModeler 2009.
There is also another program called Strata Foto 3D. Works well, requirements and function very close to Photofly. To me, Photofly is Autodesk's ImageModeler tech upgraded, and put on the cloud. What I don't understand is what is the need for the cloud in this application, honestly. Anyone who uses CAD/CAE/DCC software of this caliber have computers with the horsepower to do this themselves, and say it is a prototype - I wouldn't want proprietary information being sent/processed/stored in the cloud; for however long they say it will be. I think Autodesk should release this as either part of one of their packages, existing programs, or rerelease a standalone.
@ufcfan: Thanks for the intel on comparable packages. I don't know this for sure, but perhaps some of capabilities from that other Autodesk program you mention formed the basis of Project Photofly -- who knows.
I think a lot of people will share your thoughts and reservations about putting design IP up in the cloud, but as it becomes more commonplace, I think those fears will dissipate, at least for some types of applications and some industries. You're right that many larger firms will have these kind of capabilities in-house. B ut there's a huge number that don't and an even bigger number of DIY makers (do-it-yourself), which Autodesk and many other CAD/3D printer vendors seem to be targeting. My bet is this is part of that effort.
The 3D printing revolution seems to have a knack for quickly moving technology ahead by way of collaborative effort and even a little friendly competition -- all of course in the name of scientific advancement.
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