Method and system for the modelling of 3D objects
A system arranged to model a 3D object comprising an image acquiring means arranged to receive a single 2D image of a subject and processing circuitry 104. The system is arranged to acquire an image 300 from the image acquiring means 110, process the image using the processing circuitry 102 and generate a 3D computer model 2300 of the object from the image. The image acquiring means may for example a digital camera; a scan of an image; a digital video recorder; a DVD player; a network connection or a machine readable medium. The system may comprise generating a physical model from the computer model 2300.
1 . A system arranged to model a 3D object comprising an image acquiring means arranged to receive a single 2D image of a subject and processing circuitry, the system being arranged to acquire an image from the image acquiring means, process the image using the processing circuitry and generate a 3D computer model of the object from the image.
2 . A system according to claim 1 wherein the processing circuitry is used to generate a 3D model of a 3D object from a 2D image of the object.
3 . A system according to claim 1 wherein the image acquiring means comprises any means of acquiring a digital 2D image, such means comprising any of the following: a digital camera; a scan of an image; a digital video recorder; a DVD player; a network connection; a machine readable medium.
4 . A system according to claim 1 in which the 3D computer model comprises a low relief representation of the object.
5 . A system according to claim 1 which comprises a head acquiring means arranged to isolate heads within an image acquired by the image acquiring means.
6 . A system according claim 1 in which the processing circuitry comprises a surface generation means arranged to generate a surface from the image.
7 . A system according to claim 6 in which the surface generation means is arranged to process the image and allocate depth information to each pixel of the image according to the tone of that pixel.
8 . A system according to claim 7 in which in which the processing circuitry is arranged such that black is taken to have the lowest height, and white is taken to have the highest height.
9 . A system according to claim 6 in which the processing circuitry also comprises a smoothing means arranged to smooth the surface generated by the surface generation means.
10 . A system according to claim 6 in which the processing circuitry comprises a shell generation means arranged to generate a shell from the surface generated by the surface generation means.
11 . A system according to claim 1 which comprises one of a rapid prototyping machine arranged to fabricate a physical representation of the 3D computer model and a CNC machine arranged to generate a physical representation of the 3D computer model.
12 . A system according to claim 1 which comprises a vector creation means arranged to generate one or more vectors, which are representations of separate shapes such as lines, polylines, polygons and splines.
13 . A system according to claim 1 which comprises a blending means arranged to create a blend surface from a vector onto the model of a surface.
14 . A system according to claim 1 which comprises an edge detection means arranged to detect an outline of a portion of the image.
15 . A method of generating a 3D computer model of an object comprising the following steps:
i. acquiring a single 2D image;
ii. using the image to obtain depth information relating to the object;
iii. applying the depth information to a template of a model and producing a 3D computer model from said depth information and said template.
16 . A method according to claim 15 which generates a physical model from the computer model that has been generated.
17 . A method according to claim 16 which generates the physical model using one of a rapid prototyping machine and a CNC milling machine.
18 . A method according to claim 15 in which the method generates a low relief from the object.
19 . A method according to claim 15 which includes the step of converting the image into a relief by taking the value of one or more of the pixels of the image into a height.
20 . A method according to claim 15 which is used to generate a 3D computer model of a head.
21 . A method according to claim 15 which comprises using a vector creation means to generate a silhouette vector, the silhouette vector comprising a vector around an outline of at least a portion of the image.
22 . A method according to claim 21 which uses the silhouette vector to define a portion of the image from which information may be discarded.
23 . A method according to claim 21 in which the vector creation means is used to create a height defining vector that is used to roughly set the height of the computer model.
24 . A method according to claim 23 in which the height defining vector has a tangent that is roughly parallel to a tangent of the silhouette vector.
25 . A method according to claim 23 which blends the height defining vector and the silhouette vector.
26 . A method according to claim 15 which subtracts height information derived from the image from the template.
27 . A method according to claim 26 which subsequently smoothes the model.
28 . A method according to claim 27 which adds height information from the image to the model.
29 . A method according to claim 15 which comprises generating a surface and further the step of generating a shell from the surface.
30 . A machine readable medium containing instructions to cause a computer to function as the system of claim 1 when programmed thereonto.
31 . A machine readable medium containing instructions to cause a computer to perform the method of claim 15 when programmed thereonto.
32 . A data structure comprising a bit map image to which height information has been assigned to each pixel of said bit map.
33 . A machine readable medium containing a data structure according to claim 32 .
34 . An object produced by the method of claim 15 .
35 . An object according to claim 34 which is one of the following: the representation of a head on a coin, the representations of heads on crockery, seal rings, jewellery, cameos, intaglios, a relief for the memorial industry.
36 . A method of generating a 3D computer model of a 3D object from a 2D image of the object comprising the following steps:
i. acquiring a single 2D image;
ii. using the image to obtain depth information relating to the object;
iii. applying the depth information to a template of a model and producing a low relief 3D computer model from said depth information and said template.
37 . A system arranged to generate a 3D computer model from a 2D image of a 3D object, the system comprising a processor arranged to process data representative of the 2D image and modify a template using height information derived from the 2D image in order to generate a 3D low relief model of the 3D object.