2D to 3D in 3 Strokes

PetaPixel reports: [edited]

The video is a demonstration of a piece of 3D object extraction and manipulation software that made its debut at SIGGRAPH 2013.
The software was developed by Tao Chen, Zhe Zhu, Ariel Shamir, Shi-Min Hu and Daniel Cohen-Or.

3D objects are extracted from 2D images using a '3-sweep' method: two strokes to define the profile of the object, and one along the main axis. Depending on the complexity of the shape, sometimes parts have to be outlined individually, but the result it always the same: the software pulls an editable, movable 3D model straight out of a 2D photo.

The software’s current limitations mean that certain objects don’t scan in as well, and the texture of the extracted model often looks a bit strange.
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