Since I bought my first 3D printer, one of the most common questions I get is, “Can you 3D print a miniature version of my kids?” While it’s doable, the process is far from simple. It involves 3D scanning, generating a model, fixing any imperfections, sanding, smoothing, and, of course, the painstaking job of painting. People are often surprised and a bit disappointed when they realise the effort and cost involved. Sure, some printers can print in colour straight out of the box, but for now, that technology is prohibitively expensive.
Inspired by this common request, I took on this side project to see if I could generate this from just a single photo. After a lot of trial and error, I’m thrilled to say I got it to work.
It has to go through a lot of steps to understand, refine and render the image into a 3D printed look and feel from a reference image.
Hands, as always, are still an issue in the world of machine learning. To get around this, I rendered most of the images of people standing with their hands in pockets or behind their backs. This simple tweak saved me a lot of time and allowed me to create more images without compromising too much on detail.
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