3D from a 2D camera: Seene demos vastly improved full 360-degree image capture

 

 

Although the folks at the Flat Earth Society might have you believe otherwise, our world is anything but two-dimensional. Yet for the most part, that's how our cameras see it, and so that's how they present it to us in our photos.

Now, new technology from the folks behind Seene -- the iPhone app which puts some depth back into your flat photos -- promises to go a step further. Seene's existing technology gives photos a limited feeling of three-dimensionality, much like the DEPTHY web app we mentioned recently does for some Android devices.

But new algorithms from Seene's R&D department don't just add a little depth, they promise to allow full 3D object modeling using your phone. And that's pretty cool, because 3D modeling has traditionally been a field where the bar to entry is high. Creating 3D models from scratch is a lot of work, and becoming adept with the software required to create those models is an even greater challenge.

We've seen more than a few solutions to 3D capture over the years, but the majority -- devices like Minolta's Dimage 3D 1500 way back in 1999, or Matterport's 3D camera last month -- have relied on specialized, expensive hardware. That's greatly limited their appeal, and kept 3D modeling out of the hands of the public. If Seeme's software works as well as its demonstration shows, though, you could soon be creating 3D models simply and easily with your phone.

Could the next 3D revolution be upon us? We certainly hope so!