Can a picture taken w/ an iphone be used to make a 3D printed mold?

[bterry]

Is it possible to interpret body dimensions (including depth) from a conventional point-and-shoot camera? Basically, can you calculate body dimensions to be used in 3D printing using an iphone camera? If so, details? If not, what if there was either a marker (e.g., a loose-fitting shirt with reflective markers - similar to motion capture dots) or a scale (e.g., known distance from camera)?

Purpose: I'm a medical student trying to see if it's possible to design a custom mold of a person using only conventional, ubiquitous equipment (i.e., smartphone camera, open-source software...etc.)

Thanks,
BT

[awerby]

Take a look at 123D Catch: http://www.123dapp.com/catch It requires photos from multiple angles, but it can generate a 3D model. Whether the resulting model is accurate enough for your medical use is another question.

If not, scanning with a Kinect-type device would be the next level up. These have distance-sensing abilities, so the model doesn't have to be built from 2D images. Since Apple recently bought Primesense, the company that makes them, there's some hope that the next generation of i-phones might have 3D scanners built in.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com

[old man emu]

I agree that as a start to your research you should try 123DCatch, which is a free download. You can use any type of digital camera to take your photos.

With regard to markers, the advice is to use a visually "busy" background. A good, cheap method is to use a printed newspaper as the background. Try to avoid pages with large areas of similar appearance such as photographs or large advertisements.

It is a wise idea to put a scale reference in any photograph which is to be used for making accurate drawings, or in this case, 3D models. You could simply use a piece of graph paper, or, if you have a 3D printer, draw up and print yourself some scale markers.

As to capture dots to attach to the limb, once again, a random patter of some sort is required. You could use water soluble marking pen to scribble on the limb. Just make sure that the pattern is random, and use three or four colours for contrast.

You will also need some CAD software, 123Design should suit, to produce the required stl files. Then you can use the open source slicers such as Slic3r or Cura to generate the code for printing.

Good luck with you research. I can see that the result will have great use in reducing the cost of orthopedic splints. You should also do a search of the Prosthetics threads in this forum.

Old Man Emu