Creative Dimension Software ships 3DSOM Pro 5

A head scan recreated from 25 source photos using the new markerless capture workflow in 3DSOM Pro 5.

Creative Dimension Software has released 3DSOM Pro 5, the latest version of its image-based modelling software, adding the option to reconstruct objects from images captured without reference markers.

3DSOM Pro: a primer
3DSOM Pro converts a set of source photographs of an object into textured 3D geometry.

It includes features for correcting lens distortion and masking out the background of a shot, along with both semi-automatic and manual tools for optimising the geometry and texture maps it generates.

The software is primarily used in design and research, but is capable of a wide range of output, including people capture, and can handle models with concave surfaces: a traditional problem for tools of this type.

Reconstruct objects without the need for markers in the background of photos
The main change in 3DSOM Pro 5 is the option to reconstruct objects from photos captured against any background: before, you needed to shoot against a calibration mat or, as of 3DSOM Pro 4, a ‘domino’ target.

According to Creative Dimension, you need “good overlap” between shots for markerless reconstruction to work well, and the old marker-based workflows are still supported for trickier cases.

Markerless image processing is also GPU-accelerated, at least if you have an Nvidia card (it’s CUDA-based), which speeds up the process by around 4x, according to the benchmark graph shown in this blog post.

In addition, loading of JPEG images is now multithreaded, so performance should be improved no matter what capture workflow and make of GPU you use.

Pricing and availability
3DSOM Pro 5 is available for 64-bit Windows only. The commercial version costs $995, including a year’s maintenance, and can be installed on one desktop machine and one laptop. You can also rent it monthly.

Read a full list of new features in 3DSOM Pro 5 on Creative Dimension Software’s blog