VideoTrace: Create 3D models by tracing 2D video

The University of Adelaide and Oxford Brookes Computer Vision Group have developed VideoTrace, an astonishing program that allows you to trace an object in a conventional, 2D video and quickly generate a 3D model of it.

In the video below you watch as footage of an SUV is traced, then that footage is used to spawn a detailed, CGI model of the SUV. Then the SUV and the CGI model version are shown parked beside each other, both looking like real trucks as the camera moves around them.

The possibilities are dizzying. If this thing could be hooked up to a 3D printer, you could make your own replica props tracing scenes from your favorite movies. Imagine you're watching an old horror movie, and you see a statue in the background you really like. You could trace that statue onscreen, then print out a 3D copy to display in your home. I'd love to see how well this program handles the human form. Is it possible to trace old footage of Jane Fonda in Barbarella, let's say, and then develop a 3D model of her? And could I then print out my own 3D copy of Barbarella? Please?

The project is apparently still in beta, and the Australian company Punchcard is trying to secure the funding to make it available to the public. Hopefully that will happen soon. Something like this reminds you that we're actually living in the future.


VideoTrace: Rapid interactive scene modelling from video from gallo1 on Vimeo.


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Technocrati tags: [VideoTrace]