RE: gray scale recognitaion?

From: John Wright (johnw@ra-ltd.co.uk)
Date: Thu Mar 15 2001 - 15:08:08 EET


List

There are a number of grey (gray) scale conversion packages - which take a
photo, break it down into a range of grey (usually 256) and then assign
each grey a reative height in Z. You can usually define if the darks are to
be high or low, and the total range in Z. However, if you look at a standard
photograph you may see dark eyebrows, shadows around the eyes, maybe dark
hair, and nose shadows. Now if you assign white to be Z+20 and black to be Z
0 what yo will get is the jaw line, nose and cheeks up at the top, the
shadows around the nose diving away, and really deep depressions at the eye
brows - which really should be higher than the cheeks. More crucially, if
the subject has really dark hair, the head will be truncated at the
hairline.

In short, Chris Lawrie is right you can turn a photo into a 3D toolpath in
minutes,but this will not be a true 3 dimensional representation of the
face. I haven't come across a piece of software that will take a standard
photograph and build a true representation of that face in minutes I am sure
Artcam will not build a correct 3D face in minutes
To get a true 3 dimensional plaque of somebodies face you need to spend time
editing the photo to get the right tones to build the face correctly.

The only pieces of software that we have come across that allows you
- to modify the image,
- build the 3D face and check if its ok,
- then modify the image, and see the changes etc etc
all within the same package is Type 3 from Vision Numeric of France. Once
the 3D representation is close you can interactively add, remove, smooth etc
the resulting 3D surface.
I would recommend you look at their pages at www.type3.com

John Wright

Response Associates Ltd.
UK
  -----Original Message-----
  From: owner-rp-ml@bart.lpt.fi [mailto:owner-rp-ml@bart.lpt.fi]On Behalf Of
Chris Lawrie
  Sent: Thursday, March 15, 2001 9:23 AM
  To: Carl Dekker; rp-ml@bart.lpt.fi
  Cc: Domenic (E-mail); Maida Koller (E-mail); jab@delcam.com
  Subject: RE: gray scale recognitaion?

  Dear Carl
  Delcam's ArtCAM is the tool you need. ArtCAM has a number of modules for
the creation of 3D reliefs from photographs, vectors, scan data, etc.
  ArtCAM will complete the task you have described in minutes.
  Check out www.delcam.com or www.artcam.com

  If you need any more detail, please do not hesitate to contact us at our
North America Offices (James Booth 519 974 8088)

  Best Regards
  Chris Lawrie

  Chris Lawrie Product Marketing Manager
  Delcam Plc Email cl@delcam.com
  Talbot Way tel +44 121 766 5544
  Small Heath fax +44 121 766 5511
  Birmingham mob +44 411 353330
  B10 OHJ, UK www.delcam.com

    -----Original Message-----
    From: Carl Dekker [mailto:dekker@met-l-flo.com]
    Sent: 14 March 2001 21:33
    To: rp-ml@bart.lpt.fi
    Subject: gray scale recognitaion?

    RP-ML,

    I have a client looking for someone who can do the creation of a 3d file
from a photo of a persons face. They would be looking to take the file and
make a part from it, possibly via Vacuum forming.

    I remember a thread regarding these applications some time ago but could
not find anything in the archives. Any help would be appreciated.

    Thanks

    Carl Dekker
    dekker@met-l-flo.com
    www.met-l-flo.com
    MET-L-FLO Inc.
    2020 Dean St. Unit I
    Saint Charles, IL 60174
    630-584-4500 ext. 227
    630-584-0550 fax

For more information about the rp-ml, see http://ltk.hut.fi/rp-ml/



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