Autodesk and Gian Pablo Villamil “GP” have now published the 123D Catch Camera Rig design as an Instructable and on Thingiverse. This Do It Yourself camera rig can used for capturing objects in 3D by mounting your digital camera and then rotating the camera around the object you wish to capture in 3D. You then use 123D Catch to upload and process the photos to a resulting 3D textured mesh. The 123D Catch Camera Rig design by GP was created to be low cost with parts from almost any hardware store and several of the components provided as STL files ready to be 3D printed.

The Camera Rig for 123D Catch Instructable:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Camera-rig-for-123D-Catch/?ALLSTEPS 

The Camera Rig for 123D Catch on Thingiverse
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:19558

To capture objects in 3D using photos from a standard digital camera and Autodesk 123D Catch you do not need a camera rig but this makes it super simple to easily capture nice still shots and keep the object consistent resulting in the best 3D model solution when processed.

Some key 123D Catch Tips:

• Fill the frame with the object you are capturing.
• Try to never rotate the object you are capturing and instead move the camera around the object.
• A diffuse light or cloudy day is best.
• Random patterned objects work best like sandstone, carpet, as opposed to blank white painted walls.
• You can place your object on a random patterned background for even better results. Think of placing it on wood or even newspaper.
• Transparent and shiny objects do not work well as the software is unable to define a point to calculate in 3D space. This limitation is true of many computer vision technologies.
• More 123D Catch (formerly known as Project Photofly) tips and tricks http://bit.ly/kcI0aj

Cheers,
Shaan

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