Photofly Makes 3D Models for Everyone

Along with MakerBot and RepRap printers, this has got me excited about building 3-D models and this one you don’t have the equipment, PhotoFly from AutoDesk (makers of AutoCAD and other great CAE software).

There is an article in the NYTimes here

Excerpt

Since Photofly, a service that turns uploaded photos into three-dimensional models, was introduced in May, it has received an average of 80 uploads an hour, for a total of 70,000 images, according to Autodesk, the service’s creator.

Along the way, it has also spawned its own YouTube mini-genre.

Among the dozens of videos of 3-D models on the site are representations of stuffed animals (like Eeyore), battleships, Lego men, kitchen tables, fruit dishes, remote controls, vacation souvenirs, crab arms, Nerf guns, sneakersand remote controls. If anything, it’s notable how mundane the objects are, an indication of how easy  this modeling process  — once mainly the purview of laser scanners — has become.