A research group at the Tokyo Institute of Technology has developed a system which can quickly build a 3D model purely from digital photographs of an area or object. The only requirement is enough photos to provide the data necessary to rebuild an entire scene. Photographs are taken using a standard digital camera carrying an Eye-Fi card, which means the photos can be sent to a PC instantly and wirelessly. The Institute’s software then gets to work building a 3D representation.
Similar systems are being developed, but this one is unique due to how quickly a computer can recreate the scene in 3D. Most systems take a while to process images, so you wouldn’t actually know until later if more photographs are required. With this system, take a laptop with you and you know instantly if more pictures are necessary to build the 3D scene.
The system uses Structure from Motion (SfM) which estimates the camera position and 3D using nothing other than the available photographs. To reproduce spatial position data it identifies and matches object points between two pictures, which helps it understand how the scene is put together.
The demo you see above is just the starting point for this innovative software. With more development time the team hope to get it recognizing surfaces, not just points within a photo. For a system that can quickly and easily grab 3D data though, it’s impressive. The fact it is software based means it could be made available to anyone who owns a digital camera and an Eye-Fi card.
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