Can someone help me create a 123D Catch file?

[gte]

I've tried it on both my work PC and my phone and both fail when trying to process the pictures?

Here are my photos, I'm not sure what is going on but I'd like to be able to play with the software a little bit?

I believe I need a .3dp file?

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx...kt5UlBFSWprTFk

[curious aardvark]

for starters you need a LOT more pictures.

20-30 is the ideal.
You also need perfectly even lighting. Those pics have too many highlights.

A soft flash is the best bet. Stick some clingfilm over the flash on your phone or camera to diffuse the light a little.

Next you need to take pics at 2 different heights. So take the pictures in pairs.
I on the level horizontally and the other from the same position but with the camera elevated and tilted slightly so it can see the top of the object.

And do that in at least 10 positions around the model.

To be honest the hardest part is getting it lit so that you eliminate shadows, but don't create too many highlights.

It's not easy, but then you're trying to duplicate a $1000+ scanner. So there's no reason it should be easy :-)

[gte]

Thanks for the tips, I will try that. Is the 123D scan software no good with their guidance GUI? Should I just do as you said and mark 16 plot points with multiple light sources and do a horizontal and elevated row?

for starters you need a LOT more pictures.

20-30 is the ideal.
You also need perfectly even lighting. Those pics have too many highlights.

A soft flash is the best bet. Stick some clingfilm over the flash on your phone or camera to diffuse the light a little.

Next you need to take pics at 2 different heights. So take the pictures in pairs.
I on the level horizontally and the other from the same position but with the camera elevated and tilted slightly so it can see the top of the object.

And do that in at least 10 positions around the model.

To be honest the hardest part is getting it lit so that you eliminate shadows, but don't create too many highlights.

It's not easy, but then you're trying to duplicate a $1000+ scanner. So there's no reason it should be easy :-)

[curious aardvark]

yeah - that's the best place to start.

The guidance stuff should have made you take a lot more pics though. So perhaps ignore :-)

You don't have to be too precise about the pics. just so long as there is a decent overlap between one position and another - it doesn't have to be exact points of the compass :-)

[cbernhardt]

You need a set of pictures taken at intervals of about 10°-20° around the object at an angle of about 20° from the horizontal and another set at a higher angle, about 50°-60° from the horizontal. The object also needs a dull finish to process correctly.

Based on my personal experience I would guess that that your object will probably not process satisfactorily. I have experimented with 123D Catch on two occasions. The first project was a model of a 1958 Corvette and the second was a headlight bezel for the car. In both cases I took about 36 hi-res pictures of each object. The before and after pictures are shown below.
The car model was a complete disaster. I was told later (by AutoDesk) that the model was "too shiny" to process correctly. The bezel came out better, but as you can see, the sharp edges would need a lot of editing to be usable for printing.
58_bezel_before_after.jpg

[curious aardvark]

Oh yeah and get as close as you can. Ideally the model needs to fill the entire frame.

Probably easiest to take from a distance so the flash doesn't make too many highlights and then crop down to get rid of everything except the thing you want to model.

I actually think the best way to do this is outside on a brightish day with the sun overhead.