How do you make a 3d photo guide, Photo-realistic architectural design, Free render apps

How Do You Make a 3D Photo? Here Are 3 Ways to Do So

30 May 2022

People experience the world in 3D by using height, width, and length to determine their position in space. This is because of depth perception, which allows us to judge what something looks like from a distance.

With the advent of advanced software, we’ve been trying to create this 3D experience on a flat screen. From Battlezone, the first 3D game, to the plethora of examples that we have now (you can check for reference https://cyber-fox.net/blog/best-3d-animation-software), we’ve managed to greatly enrich our on-screen experience.

But this doesn’t just apply to the gaming industry. In the film, architecture, and interior design industries, 3D is heavily used to improve the visuals of a project. For this article, we’re going to talk about making 3D photos on your own.

What Are 3D Photos?

There’s a lot of confusion and misconception surrounding what a 3D photo actually is. But based on how people are using them today, it can pertain to either of these two:

3D images

Do you remember when 3D glasses were very popular? By wearing them, you’d be able to see 2D images pop out of the screen. This is made possible through 3D photography, a technique that merges two photos to create the illusion of depth.

The goal here is to create something called stereoscopic vision. It’s when you use identical pictures at different angles. This means your eyes will see it from different perspectives, which will trick your mind into thinking it’s 3D.

When the background and foreground are very distinct from one another, you can easily see the effect even without glasses. But you may not get the full experience unless you wear them. We’ll get more into the many ways that this can be achieved in the next section.

The “real” 3D photo

Because of virtual reality and augmented reality, another definition emerged. That’s why if you ask anyone who was born into the digital age, this is probably the kind that they know. Here, you don’t have to wear any specialized equipment to see the 3D effect.

With others, you have a distinct background and foreground where you can see the illusion of the latter moving when you move your phone.

Although visually they’re not the same, what’s common to them both is that they use the foreground and background elements to create 3D out of 2D.

How Do People Commonly Make 3D Photos?

The approach would be different depending on what you’re going for. That’s why we’ll include instructions on both 3D photos and 3D images. If you’re interested in making them on your own, here are a few ways:

#1. Using PowerPoint

PowerPoint may be most popular for creating presentations, but it’s also something that you can use to create a rudimentary 3D-like image. These are roughly the steps for how you can achieve that effect:

Find a good image. This means something that’s high contrast and not cut off.

Frame the picture. Before doing anything else, duplicate the picture. Then, add a border to one of them. Lastly, crop the picture so that most of the subject is cropped out.
Remove the background. Using the second picture, remove the background using “Remove Background” on the “Format” tab. Adjust using “Mark Areas to Keep” and “Mark Areas to Remove.” This can take a lot of time, depending on how complex your subject is.
Complete your 3D picture. At this point, all you have to do is put the two images on top of each other.

This process is fairly time-consuming and doesn’t deliver amazing results. Compared to this method, we prefer the one below.

#2. Using Free Apps

There are a lot of free apps now for practically every purpose, and as developers make them with convenience and user-friendliness in mind, creating one usually just involves selecting the picture you want to transform into 3D. That’s it! Once you press the transform button or whatever its counterpart is on the app, you’re done.

You can even take a picture right on the app! If you have a strong and stable internet connection, the entire process can be done in less than 30 seconds. But because the app does everything for you, you have very little control of the output. In this case, we recommend the last option.

#3. Using Graphics and Animation Software

If you want to transform an image into 3D, you have many options as well. If you plan to learn about animation down the road, we recommend using 3D animation software so you can do everything in one place.

But again, this requires familiarity with the software that you’re using. Therefore, the exact steps for how to do it would differ. What would remain the same are the basic concepts behind creating a 3D photo:

Get two identical images

Disable the red channel for one and the green for the other.
Position the image so that it’s slightly to the right or left of the other. Adjust until you get the desired effect.

These three steps would give you your basic 3D image. If you already have the animation software, we encourage you to explore what else it has to offer.

How do you make a 3d photo Conclusion

The biggest factors that would determine which method you should go for are the complexity of the output that you want, your skills, and the purpose of the 3D photo.

If it’s just for yourself and you have zero graphic design skills, go with free apps! But if you’re making something complex for a client, animation software is definitely the way to go.

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