Turn a 2D Image Into 3D Using Blender

Pictures can be turned 3D quite nicely however, details will not be completely made 3D because of the low number of pixels in the image. It cannot be guaranteed to bring accuracy either, but if you wanted a clip of a couple seconds of a photo looking 3D, you can easily do so in Blender.

Steps

1. Download the image you want to use.
2. Open the image with an image editor that can support selection with edge detection. Save it as a project.
3. Duplicate the layer and isolate one object in the image. It is up to you to use your favorite method to turn everything but the subject transparent. Do the same for all objects in the scene.
4. Duplicate the layer and use the clone stamp tool (or the equivalent) to remove all objects, making only the background visible. It does not need to be perfect, as only a bit of the cloned part will be displayed on the final result.
5. Save all layers as separate images. Save as a PNG image, for the alpha channels.
6. Open Blender.
7. Add the unedited image as a background image, for reference. Change the axis to Camera.
8. Change the camera's focal length to the image's. If you do not know, you can use guesswork to change it later.
9. Move the camera so that the ground roughly matches the grid.
10. Add a mesh for the first object. You do not need to edit details, or subdivide that often. The edges matching the outlines of the object should be bigger than the object, because you have transparency in your image. You will need to do a lot of messing around to get the correct perspectives. Try scaling and moving the mesh, rotating the camera, etc.
11. Add another mesh for the second object. The relative distance between the two meshes is important, as it will be a big factor in how the brain translates the depth in the final result. Add all the other meshes too.
12. Map the textures.
    1. On a mesh, add a new material, and click shadeless, and enable transparency, setting it to 0 with Z transparency.
    2. Add a new texture. Change texture type to image. Add the respective image to the mesh. Enable premultiply. Change coordinates to sticky. Enable the influence of alpha. Press space in the 3D view and click 'Add Sticky'. Do the same for every other object in the scene.
13. Add a UV sphere on the camera, and scale it up very big. Do the process of adding the texture but for the background.
14. Render the image. If there is a missing texture, check if the alpha influence is enabled, and that you added sticky.
15. Add an animation to the camera. Do not change the position of the camera too much, and don't make it too lengthy.

Tips

• If there is something that is impossible to model, just clone stamp it out.

Things You'll Need

• Blender [1]
• An intermediate knowledge of using Blender

Related Articles

• Use Blender

Sources and Citations

• http://www.blenderguru.com/videos/camera-mapping

See also

• Choose the Best Render Settings on Blender
• Use Blender
• Make a Wine Glass in Blender
• Use Blender Physics

What links here

• Make a Wine Glass in Blender