A new technology developed by the folks at Eyetronics, called “ShapeSnatcher”, strives to take much of the pain out of 3D modeling, creating in a few minutes what it might have taken hours to do manually before.
In 1996 Eyetronics secured a patent for the first protoype of the ShapeSnatcher system. It would be another year of development before a final product was finalized and released.
ShapeSnatcher system is based on an optical grid, which can be projected onto an object via a consumer slide projector. Then the image can be captured with many devices including a consumer grade video camera or high end film cameras. After feeding into a computer system with a scanner, ShapeSnatcher takes it from there.
Filip Defoort of Eyetronics speaks to their methodology for creating 3D Models: “There are multiple systems on the market that try to create 3D geometry out of 2D images,” he said. “However, Eyetronics’ ShapeSnatcher technology is unique because it is entirely based on off-the-shelf hardware — a standard white light projector and a consumer (video/photo) camera. This use of off-the-shelf equipment allows one the ultimate flexibility and scalability. The ShapeSnatcher can capture objects from the size of a thumb up to — and probably surpassing — a full-sized person. You do this by merely enlarging the calibration object. Also, the ShapeSnatcher does not create a point cloud like a laser scanner does, but creates a polygonal, fully texture-mapped surface from a single image.”
Related Articles: