Best software for printing from photographs

[jjbedore]

I am completely new to 3D printing. I would like to print 3D images from photographs, but wonder about the quality. What would be the best software for me to purchase/download that would let me scan photos and then develop a 3D model from them? Thank you for your help.

[LambdaFF]

Hi, a 2D photo is just that, a 2D photo. The color information is not in itself sufficient to rebuild a 3D outline.

Now, you can go on anyway and transform a greyscale information into a "height". The results range from amazing to not so nice. You can try it. Do a search on this forum on lithopane for the link on an instructable from ghassei.

You can use 123Dcatch to try and take 3D scans of people. But then you will need to do quite a lot of editing to reach something printable. Given that you state you're new to 3D printing that may require some efforts.

Some companies claim they can do that from 2D color photos... and charge you quite a lot. Never bothered to try.

Some companies have scanning booths and they do all the scanning, editing and printing for you. Even more expensive, and given the results I won't try either. There were some articles by molitchou on this.

Not trying to burst your bubble but to make the point that there is no Polaroid-like "point, click, print" solution today.