Software Converts 2D Images To 3D 152
eldavojohn writes "Dr. David McKinnon from Queensland University of Technology, has recently launched a site that turns your sets of 2D images into 3D bump maps by way of 8 years of his research. The catch is that you need to have between five and fifteen photos of your object and they must overlap at least 80 to 90 percent. So with a video of an object, one might be able to extract every nth frame and use this site to generate a 3D model. Doctor McKinnon said, 'The full version of this software would be great for realistic learning simulators and training software, where you want everything to look like the real thing. This technology could also be great for museums wishing to turn their display objects into 3D images that can be viewed online. We are even looking into making 3D models of cows to save farmers spending thousands of dollars transporting their cattle vast distances to auction sites, allowing for an eBay style auction website for cattle. Films, animations and computer games could also benefit, since 3D film making is taking over from the traditional 2D method of filmmaking. Another application is allowing people to create 3D models of their own face to use on their avatar in computer games or 3D social networking sites such as Second Life or Sony's Home.' Physorg has more details."
Re:Why bother (Score:3, Insightful)
Actually, they're toroidal, just like us. :)
That's one of the reasons why we couldn't live in a 2D world : our digestive tract would cut us in halves.
Re:VERY, VERY (Score:4, Insightful)
Even better, they only require ONE image.
In other words, it's not the same problem.
This guy has wasted his life.
Ouch. So if it's not a huge discovery in an entirely new research area, it's worthless? Would you be willing to apply this criterion to your own accomplishments?
Re:VERY, VERY (Score:1, Insightful)
Re:Umm.. maybe (Score:3, Insightful)
Sure, it can (especially if the place the cattle end up going is closer to where they came from than the auction house is to either). Probably more importantly, so can actually having and supporting an auction house capable of holding cattle auctions (cattle are large, live animals), even before considering transportation. So that adds a substantial transaction cost to auctioning cattle. If you could do it online with equal confidence, that would reduce the transaction costs substantially.