P3D Re: Converting 2D into Simulated 3D

[Gabriel Jacob <jacob@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

At 01:32 AM 1/21/00 -0700, Al wrote:
>Somewhere I heard of someone taking standard photos and retaking pictures
>with a camera from two differing angles and being able to simulate a 3D
>illusion. Has anyone else heard of this or have reproduced this with good
>results?  

I've run across some interesting programs that supposedly do this. One 
showed some examples with buildings taken from two different angles and 
then the program converts it to a 3-D model. Albeit non-stereo, but it's
a small step from 3-D model to stereo! :-) I think it was a prototype or
commercial program. 

There is another interesting (rather limited I find, but can be fun)
program that is similar to the above program but optimized for faces.
It's called Face Factory. It's a consumer program and sells for $40US.
The cover has a nifty lenticular of a kid's face. To render a 3-D model
of someone's face, you take two snapshots at right angles. You can
download a demo of the program on their web site with a pre-installed
face (doesn't let you use your own images) that you can play with!
Check out,
  http://www.ulead.com/ff/runme.htm

Another interesting program that is similar, is Softface 3D. This one 
also concentrates on the face, but is a bit more acurate in the sense 
that the program doesn't use a generic face to convert to a 3-D model,
but rather uses homogenous points in two different pictures (doesn't
have to be at right angles). The drawback is that to do it acurately,
you have to paint the model (actual person's face) with black dots! It
was fun to play with, but I wasn't able to save the 3-D model face that
I rendered. I'm not sure if it was a bug in the program or because it
was a demo. In anycase, once you save the 3-D file, you can send it to
the company and for a nominal fee, they'll send you a VRML version of
the file. Once you get that it's a small step to view it in
stereoscopic 3-D using one of the other programs, also available on
the net as a plug-in to your web browser, or whatever.
Check out,
http://www.eptron.es/softface3d/

Gabriel