Create Virtual 3D Images from Your Photos

Who doesn’t like free apps?

Autodesk has launched a free app that allows you to take a picture of any object or person and get it translated into a virtual 3D image that you can zoom in on and rotate. The “123D Catch” app works for those who have iPad 2 or the new iPad with a built in camera.

How does it work?

You have to start by taking at least 40 pictures of your subject, the software than sends these back to Autodesk servers- within 10 minutes, your 3D image is ready, and is sent back to your iPad.

If you want to print your picture out, you may have to spend a little money to get a 3D printer. Either way, it’s pretty awesome to see a 3D picture of what you’ve created.

This software was created last year for Windows PC and has been translated for iPad to answer consumer purchases. Christian Pramuk, technical product manager for Autodesk, told CNET in an interview “We’re fostering community member participation…the goal here is to provide anyone with free apps for them to design, create, and fabricate…Right now, we want to give it away for free because, well, people like free stuff,” she said. “It’s about creating 3D for the masses.”

So whether you want to us it to generate 3D images of your kids, dogs or generate a virtual 3D rendering of the environment around you, with a solid 4 star review on iTunes, I’m sure this will be something you would want to try out, at least once.

Check out the YouTube video below to see how this app works.

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