Next you load the images to the computer with Foto 3D and create a new project and load the images. At this point you will know if you calibrated your lens properly because your images will be properly masked or not. If it is properly masked, your object will be the only thing that is not transparent. If not you will see the masking occur in the wrong places and things will look screwy. At that point you will have the choice to start over, or handle the masking by hand. Once masked, you can fine tune the images.

From here you generate your wireframe which essentially puts together all of the images into a wire mold of your object. While you get options here for adjustment, keep in mind that there are trade-offs and while it may seem cool to add a lot of polygons, some where down the line it may become more costly in terms of memory and size relative to the benefits received.

Next you will optimize your surface which will make your object look like a soap carving; just a lump that sort of has the shape of your object. Finally, you texturize the model and that is what makes it look like your live object.

So what features does Strata Foto 3D bring?

• Automated Masking – With the proper backdrop and calibration of your lens, Foto 3D identifies your background and does the masking automatically. It takes the guesswork and tedium out of hand masking.

• Surface Optimization – uses the profile of your shape in each photo and generates a surface mesh. The more photos the more accurate your surface mesh. These make for smoother corners and edges.

• Auto Texture Creation – uses the same photos to generate a photorealistic UV map for your object and uses that to automatically create a photo-realistic texture on your object.

• Interactive Mesh Decimation – lets you determine the number of polygons to use to create your object. You may want more if you are using the model in a 3D rendering package such as Strata 3D CX you may want higher quality and thus more polygons. If you want smaller size for downloading on the web, then you can opt for fewer polygons.