Want to try modeling? Here are some FREE resources Smart phones (photogrammetry applications) APPLE • 123D catch ANDROID • 123d catch • SCANN3D Computers Photogrammetry • Agisoft Photoscan: http://www.agisoft.com/downloads/installer/ o With the demo version you can only make models, you can’t save them or print them. Buying a license for the software unlocks the ability to export models • (From Todays Demo) Visual SFM: Download VISUALSFM: http://ccwu.me/vsfm/ and you’ll also need Meshlab which can be downloaded here: http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/ o You can find a tutorial for visual SFM here: http://www.academia.edu/3649828/Generating_a_Photogrammetric_model_usin g_VisualSFM_and_post-processing_with_Meshlab Using slice photos or CT data • FreeD: http://free-d.versailles.inra.fr/html/freed.html • Slicer: https://www.slicer.org/ Modeling from scratch • Blender: https://www.blender.org/ Open-source and powerful modeling tool that will work with models you produce in the above programs as well • Sculptris: http://pixologic.com/sculptris/ For those more inclined to the arts Sculptris is a free sculpting program that allows you to mold a ball of digital clay Using VisualSFM and Meshlab to make models using photogrammetry 1. Make sure all you pictures are in one easy to locate folder on your computer (I recommend making a special folder for each project) 2. Open VisualSFM and add your images to the workspace using the “Open Multi Images button” located in the top left 3. Next click the “Compute Missing Matches” button . This step takes time depending on how many photo’s you use and how powerful your computer is. Dozens of photo’s takes seconds. Hundreds can take minutes to tens of minutes. 500 or more will takes hours to days (on an “average” home computer). 4. Now click “SFM Reconstruct sparse” This will calculate the sparse point cloud by isolating the matched features of the previous step. 5. Now click the CMVS button to construct your dense point cloud, which uses the matching data to fill in spaces around the points of the sparse point cloud with other features. You’ll be asked to create a name for the project. This will add the prefix [name] to several important files and folder that we’ll use later. a. This step takes the longest of any step, usually 4 times as long as step 3. It’s best to simply start this step and go do something else while it runs. Doing other things on your computer will slow this step down and, in some cases, cause the program to crash. b. Once this step has finished you can close VisualSFM and open Meshlab 6. In an empty Meshlab window click the “Open project file” button . a. You’ll be asked to locate you project file. Find the folder you stored your photo’s in a look for the folder titled “[name].nvm.cmvs” and open it and also open the “00” file b. You will see several folders and a file titled “bundle.rd.out” double click the bundle file to open it. c. After a few seconds you’ll be asked to open an image list file and it will bring up a window with a file named “list” open that. 7. After a minute or so Meshlab will load your project with the Sparse point cloud but we want to replace it with the dense cloud. a. If you don’t already see it, open the layer dialogue with this button b. Right click on the highlighted layer and select “delete current mesh”, this will get rid of the sparse point cloud but not any of the data associated with the project 8. Now select “Import Mesh” and open the folder titled “models” and double-click the “Option-0000” file. In a second you should see your dense point cloud (it may have a funny orientation, you can rotate it around to get the view point you would like). 9. Now we want to clean the points up a bit by box selecting and then deleting any errant or unwanted points from the model 10. Once you’re happy with you points collection surface mesh it. Go to the menu labeled “filter” and select the “point set” sub-menu then select “Surface Reconstruction: Poisson”. Using VisualSFM and Meshlab to make models using photogrammetry a. This dialogue box is a little intimidating but if you’re looking for a printable model I would change the 6’s to 8’s don’t go higher unless you have a powerful computer. b. This step can take some time depending on how complex your shape is and how big you set your numbers to. 11. Once you see the grey blob form under your points close the dialogue box and then go back to filters. Now head to “selection” and go down to “Select non manifold edges” which will bring up another dialogue box. Go ahead and just hit “apply” and close the dialogue. Before you do anything else click on you delete button. a. This step gets rid of pesky edges that can exist in computer space but not in real space so to print or texture they need to be deleted b. If you’re ONLY looking for a printable object skip to step [13] 12. Now we can add a texture to our object to make it look like the real thing (or pretty close). Head back to filters one more time and hit “texture” then “parameterization + texturing from registered rasters” This brings up a dialogue box that lets you change the name of the texture (which I HIGHLY recommend you do) and the resolution. a. If your computer is pretty powerful high resolution images like 2048 or 4096 look much nicer but it doesn’t hurt to leave it at the defaults. b. This step can take up to ten minutes depending on how many pictures you have 13. Now that your model is looking all shiny and complete we can export for sending around, showing off, and printing. Go to “file” and “export mesh as…” then change the file type to .STL if you’re printing or .OBJ if you’re looking to just show off or send around the digital model. a. STL files are the most versatile but don’t generally include colors, OBJ files have special material and texture files that skin the image to make it look nice. Looking to print? Want to learn even more? The Salt Lake City Public Library offers special Creative lab courses that teach all kinds of technology skills including modeling and printing. They also have computers with high end 3d software and you can submit requests for 3d prints in plastic using their printers at low cost (not quite free but for small objects usually it’s less than five bucks). .