how to make a 3D model using Zerene Stacker and Adobe PS

[JH]

I try to describe step by step how to make a 3D model using Zerene Stacker and Adobe PS
A) What You do in Zerene stacker
(Note! you will need the Prosumer Edition or Professional Edition.)
1) The choice of subject is important. A perfect subject for this technique does not have any hidden surfaces when viewed trough the camera for example a sphere. For this example I used a coin.
2) Later on You need to use the dimensions of your subject to scale the depth map in Adobe photoshop. In this case I used Nikon BD plan apo 40x lens with a 2.5 x projection lens on a 24X36mm sensor. This means 40 x 2.5 = 100x on sensor or a field of view of 0.24 X 0.36 mm on sensor. The difference between the highest and the lowest part of the subject is 0.05 mm.
3) Photograph the subject. I took 104 pictures the step size was 0.0005 mm.



This photo is stacked with “Stack New Images (Pmax) ” so I could watch the stacking procedure “live”. It looks OK so I use this as the picture I am going to use in Adobe PS

4) In preferences select “Save depth map in directory” and choose a directory.
5) Do a Dmap stack to create a Depth Map. I used 0 (!) contrast threshold.



Note that the white areas are the deepest and the black areas are the closest, later we will invert this because Adobe PS handles black as the deepest and white as the closest.

[JH]

B1 Make a 3D object in Adobe PS CC

(Sorry! This is done with the Swedish version, the functionality is the same but the text in the pictures are different from the English version.)

1) Open the depth map and the Pmax picture in Adobe PS
2) Post process the Pmax file if You like. [Edit:If You crop the picture You also need to crop the depth map]. I did some sharpening and curves then saved the results “3D COIN”.
3) Post process the Deptmap file. I looked for sensor dust (can create “spikes” in the final picture), added 5 pixels of Gaussian blur – also to avoid smaler “spikes”.
4) Inverted the depth map with the adjustment layer “Invert” so the black is white and the white is black and saved the results “3D depthmap”.
5) Make a 3D object of the picture.



6) Now you have something that looks like a hedge hog. That’s because Adobe uses the picture as its own “false” depth map.

[JH]

B2 Use Your own depth map for Your 3D object in Adobe PS CC

(Sorry! This is done with the Swedish version, the functionality is the same but the text in the pictures are different from the English version.)

Next step is to open the “false” depth map and replace it with the real one.

1) Double click on the “bakgrund djupschema” probably backround depht… in English



2)This opens the background layer.


3) Now go to the depth map layer and copy it to the background layer



4) Go to the background layer.



5) Look at the picture layer (now the background starts to save- when it have saved you will have a 3D model!

[JH]

B3 Scale Your 3D object in Adobe PS CC

(Sorry! This is done with the Swedish version, the functionality is the same but the text in the pictures are different from the English version.)

The next step is to scale the model.

1) choose 3D
2) then you can choose the symbol that looks like a calculator “Djupschema” (depth something)
3) then you can choose the symbol that looks like a cube
4) then you can scale the model – in this case 36 x 24 x 5



5) Now you have a scaled model.



Here is the final result uploaded to Sketcfab: https://skfb.ly/676tM

Best regards Jörgen

[mawyatt]

Jorgen,

Thank you so much for taking the time to show us how this is done.

Best,

Mike

[lothman]

Thank You

[microman]

Awsome, thanks !

[ChrisR]

Yes , thanks, but I'm on CS5

[JH]

Yes , thanks, but I'm on CS5

I do not have CS5 but I think it handels depth maps.
Regards Jörgen

[rjlittlefield]

Jörgen, thanks very much for posting this concise explanation. Now I finally grasp what those YouTube tutorials were trying to tell me...

ChrisR, I have Photoshop CS5 Extended, in addition to Photoshop CC.

The user interface is different, but CS5 Extended does provide this functionality also.

Ironically, on my computer CS5 actually works better for this job. I don't know why, but CC is sluggish and the UI is prone to doing unexpected things, while CS5 is much more responsive and free of surprises.

--Rik

[pierre]

Will try this



Many thanks Jörgen

[ChrisR]

ChrisR, I have Photoshop CS5 Extended, in addition to Photoshop CC.

The user interface is different, but CS5 Extended does provide this functionality also.
--Rik

I'll have to try it. The "3D" menu item is missing..

[JH]

Thanks for the nice comments

I've got a PM asking about uploading to Sketchfab. For me that have been quite easy because both programs that I use for 3D; Agisoft PhotoScan and Adobe PS CC already have that as an option. In Adobe CC the option is installed under 3D / Share 3D Layer on Sketchfab. I do not know about Adobe CS5.

You need to register at Sketchfab before uploading

Note! there are a lot of 3D (light) options in Adobe PS CC. I do not know how well they work in Sketchfab, I have had some uploading errors indicating that there might be problems.

Regards Jörgen

[soldevilla]

I have spent much of the day trying to understand the creation of a 3D volume in Photoshop ... without luck. I manage to texture the basic shapes by default (cylinder, sphere ... bottle, what were the Photoshop programmers thinking?:roll:) I also get your "hedge hog" ... but I can't apply my depth map on an image. I have not yet downloaded the trial version of Zerene Pro, because I do not want to spend time understanding the steps in Photoshop, so I created some gray spots blurring an image to use as a depth map. At this moment I don't care if the result is not credible ... as long as it is a result.

I get lost in the instructions on how to apply my own depth map. Can anyone help me? I've searched for tutorials on YouTube, but almost everyone adds texture to the bottle ...

[JH]

I have spent much of the day trying to understand the creation of a 3D volume in Photoshop ... without luck. I manage to texture the basic shapes by default (cylinder, sphere ... bottle, what were the Photoshop programmers thinking?:roll:) I also get your "hedge hog" ... but I can't apply my depth map on an image. I have not yet downloaded the trial version of Zerene Pro, because I do not want to spend time understanding the steps in Photoshop, so I created some gray spots blurring an image to use as a depth map. At this moment I don't care if the result is not credible ... as long as it is a result.

I get lost in the instructions on how to apply my own depth map. Can anyone help me? I've searched for tutorials on YouTube, but almost everyone adds texture to the bottle ...

After the "hedge hog" the next step is as you mention post "B2 Use Your own depth map for Your 3D object in Adobe PS CC" above. To open the “false” depth map and replace it with the real one double click on the “Bakgrund Djupschema” probably backround depht… in English. I have marked the line you should double click in the picture below.



As I mention here https://www.photomacrography.net/forum/ ... 004#258004 It is outstandingly fast to use Helicon Focus to do this but when I want the scaling to be accurate, I use Photoshop and the method described above. If you have a correct feeling of the scale you can scale the picture manually in Helicon to get a more accurate model. Se picture from Helcon Focus below.



Hope this helps

Jörgen Hellberg