Microsoft’s research lab has announced a new technology that will make smartphone’s rear camera work like a 3D scanner that can automatically create 3D models that are supposed to be adequate for printing.
Advertisement
The models, which are crafted without the aid of any additional hardware or an internet connection, are said to be robust enough for 3D printing.
Microsoft’s Research arm has given the world a sneak peek at its latest project: 3D-scanning using a regular mobile phone.
Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) sees the app being used to take a 3D scan of anything such as the Eiffel Tower or something that one wants to sell online.
With MobileFusion, you’ll be able to create 3D models while on the go.
“What this system effectively allows us to do is to take something similar to a picture, but it’s a full 3D object”, explained Peter Ondruska a Ph.D. candidate now studying at Oxford University, and an intern who worked on the project for Microsoft Research.
Dubbed MobileFusion, the app allows you to walk around an object and scan it to your phone.
3D scanning is a booming industry, especially as 3D printers start to become available to consumers.
The application uses a system called MobileFusion, which appears to be much more advanced than any other existing method on the market for creating 3D images using nothing but a mobile device, no matter if it’s an iPhone, Windows Phone, or Android phone. Kinect recognizes users by comparing them to a 3D object that the camera has created and stored.
Advertisement
For those excited about the increasingly close frontier of augmented reality, the applications of an easily accessible 3D scanner like MobileFusions are exciting to say the least. MobileFusion is all about accessibility and ubiquity of 3D scanning according to the principal researcher, Shahram Izard.
