Take a look at Project Photofly:

http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/photo_scene_editor/overview/

Basically, you photograph your subject from multiple angles. Use your standard point and shoot digital camera, held by hand. Submit photos to the Autodesk cloud, and the cloud handles the trigonometry calculations to all relevant points for generating a mesh in xyz space. Then you receive the textured mesh. Obj format is supported.

Sounds like a way to get complex, realistic organic forms to complement the highly accurate, precision objects produced in MoI.

I have not tried it yet but it's free. The video and gallery examples are amazing.

Ed

Looks interesting; however, PhotoFly
1. requires a license of an Autodesk product (as in not free)
2. license is non-commercial (as in don't use this if you want to use it for something other than play)

Sorry, I just wish that when companies put stuff out there like this for people to try, that they actually allow them to use it. I like Sketchup's model. We'll give you something you can use, but if you want more features you will have to pay.

chrisd:

... however, PhotoFly
1. requires a license of an Autodesk product (as in not free)
2. license is non-commercial (as in don't use this if you want to use it for something other than play)

Where did you get that from? It is free and it is licensed for commercial use. There's just a warning that it's not production software (read beta) so there are no guarantees. It's a standalone product.

The download is a "scene editor" that is used to edit a scene/add photos/etc. It then sends the photos to an Adsk server that does all of the number crunching which in turn sends an email to download the *.rzi or *.3dp file which tells your Scene Editor how the photos are organized/arranged and where the point cloud is and all of the mesh data.

The Terms of Use (http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/photo_scene_editor/term_and_condition/) don't state anything about having to have a previously-purchased Autodesk product or it being non-commercial use only.

But the EULA (http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/photo_scene_editor/eula_text/) does seem to have something about it being non-commercial:

"Tester may not use the Pre-Release Products for competitive analysis, or commercial, professional, or other for-profit purposes."

The requirement for owning a license to an Autodesk product is on the Autodesk Labs terms of use page.

Although the downloadable component itself may not specify this requirement, it is stated elsewhere. Since you have to use the Autodesk Labs server to process the images, it follows that you are bound by that agreement.

See section 1.
http://labs.autodesk.com/terms/

Well, you could download 123D or (I think) Design Review. You would then own a licensed Autodesk product... :-)

That's a good point, as the license does not specify a purchased product. OK, I guess it is free after all!

Seems I have seems somwhere that was free till 31 december 2012 !

""The Project Photofly 2.0 technology preview will expire on December 31, 2012.""

Just an update.
Here's a reply from Scott Shepard, Project Manager for the Labs regarding the EULA: