Exploring Apple's Object Capture API, Photogrammetry
- Niharika Karanam
- Dec 26, 2021
- 2 min read
In Apple's WWDC event held in June 2021, they introduced the Object Capture API, which turns a series of photos into high-quality 3D models. This is exciting as this could potentially save so much time and effort in the creation of 3D assets from scratch. This would include: sculpting, modelling and texturing an object that you would want to replicate as a 3D model.
This would also be very useful in the realms of Augmented Reality, as most potential use cases in marketing, education, anything else, would require 3D assets to create an interactive experience. As you can see below, the 3D assets are realistic and have great attention to detail from all angles. Potentially, this could allow non-3D artists to create 3D assets from objects they already have, bringing the ability to create AR experiences to just about anyone.
Check out more information about it here and for an in-depth tutorial on how to go about doing it:
https://developer.apple.com/augmented-reality/object-capture/
The Process
So I picked some objects that were already available at home. I selected objects with different materials like wood, glossy ceramic, plastic all of which have varying levels of detail, to investigate how the object capture API, would react to them.
The Setup
So what do you need for capturing the photos? Just simple lighting, a tripod and a turntable, nothing too fancy. There are two ways you could go about taking the photos, the first being fixing the camera's position and slowly turning the turntable to capture a series of photos and the second being going around the object with the camera in a steady manner. It's definitely easier, to capture the photos with a turntable, so I would highly recommend that.
Comments