8 ms·

Show HN: 123D Catch by AutoDesk – Create 3D scans of virtually any object

49 points by kevinwdavid 12y ago

Animats 12y ago
Autodesk's 123D Catch has been available since 2012. This is just the phone app interface. All the real work is done on Autodesk servers. It's reasonably good if you take an organized set of pictures for it. A clean background behind the object of interest helps. The object has to have lots of edges for the algorithm to match; sculptured surfaces like cars may not match well. For some purposes, projecting a pattern of dots or lines onto the object is helpful. (The original Kinect did something similar). Programs for this have been around for years. Most of the improvements have been in doing a better job of guessing about areas where matching edge info isn't available.
ChuckMcM 12y ago
FWIW this is a pretty cool app. Makes for an interesting way to generate 3D models of things without any training in using CAD or modelling tools.
AndrewKemendo 12y ago
So this came out a few years ago [1] and then it seemed like it just disappeared. This is the second or third thing I have seen on this in just a few days. What happened in the interim? [1] http://blog.123dapp.com/2011/12/3d-scanning-for-posterity http://blog.123dapp.com/2011/12/3d-scanning-for-posterity
- simoneau 12y ago
  The Android version was released recently, September 9, 2014.
danjruss 12y ago
It makes me think of the "fabled" (if you will) copy machine, where you basically xerox a physical object. Obviously it's more complex than this, but it's exciting to think about where the 3D model and 3D printing industries are headed, and specifically with development of their intersection
- boatzart 12y ago
  Check out the AIO Zeus: http://www.zeus.aiorobotics.com/ http://www.zeus.aiorobotics.com/
Kiro 12y ago
Is this really a Show HN? Did you make this?
lcrs 12y ago
There's documentation of a method to achieve the same thing using free-ish software here: http://wedidstuff.heavyimage.com/index.php/2013/07/12/open-source-photogrammetry-workflow/ http://wedidstuff.heavyimage.com/index.php/2013/07/12/open-s... Principally it uses VisualSFM and Meshlab, both of which came to life as testbeds for algorithm research but are now useful in their own right. By all accounts 123D Catch does an excellent job, but is quite rigid in its workflow. Apparently it uses the engine from Acute3D's considerably more expensive Smart3DCapture. Sadly neither VisualSFM or 123D Catch are usable for commercial work because of license and copyright problems respectively.
- hnha 12y ago
  Try insight3D(dng), it's AGPL!
deleted 12y ago
[deleted]
vfxGeek 12y ago
Having worked with this kind of software solutions since the ninties I must say that you should really instead look into the software Photoscan from russian Agisoft (www.agisoft.ru) it's alot more flexible and is very cheap ($129 usd) This was called "Photo Fly" before when it was a "Autodesks Labs project" and I belive the tech originates from when autodesk bought the french software company RealViz that made the software Photomodeler.
- mediumfilms 12y ago
  Photomodeler was excellent before Autodesk bought it.
josephpmay 12y ago
If you're looking for the professional, desktop based version of this software, it's called Project Momento and is currently in beta https://beta.autodesk.com/callout/?callid=D69655022B4F42C880513D4E3085C7D0 https://beta.autodesk.com/callout/?callid=D69655022B4F42C880...
yourad_io 12y ago
Just FYI, You must create account to have an imageset processed. This looks like it is happening server-side, so I suppose there's a reason for it. Cleverly enough, it doesn't prompt you to do so until after you've taken the 10-20-however-many pictures of your object. I suspect this would make a hell of a difference over a login screen upon launch or capture.
- nwh 12y ago
  They also publicly display everything you do with it.
chenster 12y ago
Is it similar to what Seene is offering? It doesn't do full scale 3D but close. http://seene.co/ http://seene.co/
dsjoerg 12y ago
how long should i expect to wait? i've been waiting >90 minutes already
- determinded 12y ago
  Seconded. It might be a 24 hour pool for free users. Maybe not? Anyone know?
gcb0 12y ago
everytime i glance at 3d software i have waking nghtmares on the state of spreadsheets and text editors in the 80s and 90s. everyone praise every shenangan. companies couldnt care less about integration and dat portability, etc.
- lcrs 12y ago
  It's not great but it is slowly getting better as the big studios open-source their inhouse formats - Disney, Sony Imageworks and ILM are all doing so and Alembic, OpenVDB, OpenSubdiv, OpenEXR, and Ptex are all widely supported now. The process of opening up things people are already using seems to be working out much better than previous committee- or vendor- driven efforts like FBX, X3D or AAF... That said, I spent yesterday trying to figure out how to get Leica laser scan data into Houdini, and the only way is to convert to ASCII CSV, so we've got a way to go. Text files are great for debugging, but when you've got 300 million points you pine for the I/O speed of a binary format :/

49 points by kevinwdavid 12y ago

Autodesk's 123D Catch has been available since 2012. This is just the phone app interface. All the real work is done on Autodesk servers. It's reasonably good if you take an organized set of pictures for it. A clean background behind the object of interest helps. The object has to have lots of edges for the algorithm to match; sculptured surfaces like cars may not match well. For some purposes, projecting a pattern of dots or lines onto the object is helpful. (The original Kinect did something similar). Programs for this have been around for years. Most of the improvements have been in doing a better job of guessing about areas where matching edge info isn't available.

ChuckMcM 12y ago

FWIW this is a pretty cool app. Makes for an interesting way to generate 3D models of things without any training in using CAD or modelling tools.

AndrewKemendo 12y ago

So this came out a few years ago [1] and then it seemed like it just disappeared. This is the second or third thing I have seen on this in just a few days. What happened in the interim? [1] http://blog.123dapp.com/2011/12/3d-scanning-for-posterity http://blog.123dapp.com/2011/12/3d-scanning-for-posterity

simoneau 12y ago
The Android version was released recently, September 9, 2014.

danjruss 12y ago

It makes me think of the "fabled" (if you will) copy machine, where you basically xerox a physical object. Obviously it's more complex than this, but it's exciting to think about where the 3D model and 3D printing industries are headed, and specifically with development of their intersection

boatzart 12y ago
Check out the AIO Zeus: http://www.zeus.aiorobotics.com/ http://www.zeus.aiorobotics.com/

Kiro 12y ago

Is this really a Show HN? Did you make this?

lcrs 12y ago

There's documentation of a method to achieve the same thing using free-ish software here: http://wedidstuff.heavyimage.com/index.php/2013/07/12/open-source-photogrammetry-workflow/ http://wedidstuff.heavyimage.com/index.php/2013/07/12/open-s... Principally it uses VisualSFM and Meshlab, both of which came to life as testbeds for algorithm research but are now useful in their own right. By all accounts 123D Catch does an excellent job, but is quite rigid in its workflow. Apparently it uses the engine from Acute3D's considerably more expensive Smart3DCapture. Sadly neither VisualSFM or 123D Catch are usable for commercial work because of license and copyright problems respectively.

hnha 12y ago
Try insight3D(dng), it's AGPL!

deleted 12y ago

[deleted]

vfxGeek 12y ago

Having worked with this kind of software solutions since the ninties I must say that you should really instead look into the software Photoscan from russian Agisoft (www.agisoft.ru) it's alot more flexible and is very cheap ($129 usd) This was called "Photo Fly" before when it was a "Autodesks Labs project" and I belive the tech originates from when autodesk bought the french software company RealViz that made the software Photomodeler.

mediumfilms 12y ago
Photomodeler was excellent before Autodesk bought it.

josephpmay 12y ago

If you're looking for the professional, desktop based version of this software, it's called Project Momento and is currently in beta https://beta.autodesk.com/callout/?callid=D69655022B4F42C880513D4E3085C7D0 https://beta.autodesk.com/callout/?callid=D69655022B4F42C880...

yourad_io 12y ago

Just FYI, You must create account to have an imageset processed. This looks like it is happening server-side, so I suppose there's a reason for it. Cleverly enough, it doesn't prompt you to do so until after you've taken the 10-20-however-many pictures of your object. I suspect this would make a hell of a difference over a login screen upon launch or capture.

nwh 12y ago
They also publicly display everything you do with it.

chenster 12y ago

Is it similar to what Seene is offering? It doesn't do full scale 3D but close. http://seene.co/ http://seene.co/

dsjoerg 12y ago

how long should i expect to wait? i've been waiting >90 minutes already

determinded 12y ago
Seconded. It might be a 24 hour pool for free users. Maybe not? Anyone know?

gcb0 12y ago

everytime i glance at 3d software i have waking nghtmares on the state of spreadsheets and text editors in the 80s and 90s. everyone praise every shenangan. companies couldnt care less about integration and dat portability, etc.

lcrs 12y ago
It's not great but it is slowly getting better as the big studios open-source their inhouse formats - Disney, Sony Imageworks and ILM are all doing so and Alembic, OpenVDB, OpenSubdiv, OpenEXR, and Ptex are all widely supported now. The process of opening up things people are already using seems to be working out much better than previous committee- or vendor- driven efforts like FBX, X3D or AAF... That said, I spent yesterday trying to figure out how to get Leica laser scan data into Houdini, and the only way is to convert to ASCII CSV, so we've got a way to go. Text files are great for debugging, but when you've got 300 million points you pine for the I/O speed of a binary format :/