The MobileFusion system allows users to create instant 3D scans with their smartphones about as quickly and easily as they can text message, make a phone call or snap a mobile photo.
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It seems like it was just yesterday that I first was introduced to 3D scanning as a desktop production method used for 3D printing, yet over the past two years or so, the technology has continued to evolve at rapid rates. The phone tracks the object that’s being captured and then builds up a model as the camera captures it from different angles.
Imagine using your smartphone as a 3D scanner. The app doesn’t even require any extra hardware nor an Internet connection.
Dubbed MobileFusion, the app allows you to walk around an object and scan it to your phone.
Microsoft Research detailed the project today; the division says this technology could be used to capture a subject as a full 3D object using a smartphone, whether it is some aspect of an outdoors landscape, a person, or something you’re looking to print. The technology works by taking several pictures of a subject and combining them into a single 3D object.
Also, the app promises to create high-quality photos that will be extremely useful in areas like augmented reality video games and 3D printing.
What’s more interesting is the fact that the said application does not rely on anything but the respective mobile phone.
MobileFusion will be officially unveiled early in October at the global Symposium on Mixed and Augmented Reality, and could prove to be quite a significant breakthrough in allowing the digitalization of our planet.
The way the app works is that it uses a sophisticated algorithm which uses a smartphone’s camera in order to take multiple images in a similar fashion as to how the human eye functions.
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The research team hopes to support a wide range of platforms, specifically mentioning Android, iOS, and Windows Phone. He suggested users might make 3D scans of landmarks they see on vacation, or of items they might want to sell online.
