123D Catch App By AutoDesk Renders Gorgeous Images In 3D (VIDEO)

Do you have an webcam-equipped iPad and love taking tons of photos of the same thing? Then this app's for you.

AutoDesk's 123D Catch photo app for iPad lets you to take photos of objects and assembles them into a 3D image of the orignal subject.

According to CNET's Roger Chen, users must take about 40 photos of the object from varying angles. AutoDesk then grabs these photos and uses an algorithm to translate them into a movable, zoomable 3D image. The entire process takes about 10 minutes to render.

Pretty awesome, right?

Aside from the obvious cool factor of being able to zoom in and out of and turn any photographable object on an axis, you can also send data from the app to a 3D printer and create a miniature model of your original subject.

Catch 123D launched last fall for Windows only. AutoDesk updated the software earlier this month and rolled out an iPad app.

The company is perhaps best known for its AutoCAD 3D-modeling software, often used by architecture firms and car design companies. But unlike the AutoCAD software, with prices in the thousands, 123D Catch is free.

Aside from the 3D rendering app, AutoDesk also offers 123D Sculpt, a digital clay sculpting program that's also available as an iPhone app called 123D Make.

Also on HuffPost:

Check out the gallery below to see some of the most creative things produced through 3D printing.

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• A Human Kidney

  <a href="http://" target="_hplink">Last March</a>, surgeon Anthony Atala presented the results of his experiments with a 3D printer that uses livings cells to create a transplantable kidney <a href="http://blog.ted.com/2011/03/07/printing-a-human-kidney-anthony-atala-on-ted-com/" target="_hplink">at TED2011</a>.

• A Grain Of Sand-Sized Racing Car Model

  These super small racing car models are about as small as a grain of sand and were <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/03/13/revolutionary-3d-printer-models-vienna_n_1341335.html" target="_hplink">created by researchers at the Vienna University of Technology</a> using an extremely fast 3D printing machine. Watch the video above to see the printer at work.

• A Model Of Stephen Colbert's Head

  MakerBot Industries <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/08/18/makerbot-stephen-colberts-head-space_n_930468.html" target="_hplink">had a little fun with their 3D printers</a> by creating a 3D model of Stephen Colbert's head and launching it into space using a weather balloon.

• A Working Car Called The Urbee

  <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2041106/Urbee-The-worlds-printed-car-rolling-3D-printing-presses-.html" target="_hplink">Back in September 2011</a>, the world's first 3D-printed car, the "Urbee," was constructed layer upon layer using a special 3D printer. <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2041106/Urbee-The-worlds-printed-car-rolling-3D-printing-presses-.html" target="_hplink">According to the Daily Mail</a>, the car took 15 years to make, has three wheels, and features a petrol and electric hybrid engine.

• Electric Guitars

  <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/tjmccue/2012/04/02/3d-printed-guitar-takes-instrument-design-to-new-level/" target="_hplink">According to Forbes</a>, Derek Manson of <a href="http://www.61.co.nz/" target="_hplink">One.61</a>, a New Zealand product development firm, is the mind behind the creation of these awesome-looking 3D-printed electric guitars.

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Comments

[Mitchman57]

08:57 AM on 05/23/2012

Wait til the kids get hold of this.... can we all say "Sexting"?

[Mitchman57]

08:55 AM on 05/23/2012

Can you imagine holding up a tour bus so you can take 100+ photos of an Italian fountain? ....and then trying to get someone interested in looking at it?

Don't ipads shoot video?

[omeo2013]

12:51 AM on 05/23/2012

That's not exactly easy, instant 3D. You still have to take several pictures of the same thing from different angles.

[Karel Appel]

02:38 PM on 05/24/2012

Yes, it would be some much easier if you could just think of a picture and BOOM, there it is, in your lap or backyard.

[Darwin Mark Hall]

09:11 AM on 05/30/2012

Where have I heard that before?

"According to CNET's Roger Chen, users must take about 40 photos of the object from varying angles."