Researchers at the Australian Centre for Visual Technologies have created a tool that can allow users to plot points in 3D space to create a model, using a video as a point of reference. VideoTrace lets the user scroll through a sequences of frames in a video and trace the shape of an object. It will then get texture information from the polygons plotted and map them onto the model’s surface. In essence, it creates a textured shell. The abstract from their five page report states:
Each of the sketching operations in VideoTrace provides an intuitive and powerful means of modelling shape from video, and executes quickly enough to be used interactively. Immediate feedback allows the user to model rapidly those parts of the scene which are of interest and to the level of detail required. The combination of automated and manual reconstruction allows VideoTrace to model parts of the scene not visible, and to succeed in cases where purely automated approaches would fail.
Their demonstration video shows how fast the process actually is. Once they model the SUV you can tell which is the copy as the real SUV has a reflection from the sun on the windscreen. It is an amazing software.
