[Kevan]

Thanks to Trevor Ford for this short journey.

Go to a website, upload a photo, generate a 3D image, download as a 3D file... is this possible?

...of course it is

There's plenty of websites out there, good ones you have to pay for their best tools but for freebies this is what you can do.

Upload a photo, in this instance Stirling Moss

   

Go to one of the websites offering this service, at the moment I'm experimenting with https://hyper3d.ai/rodin

It takes a few minutes to generate a 3D image which will look slightly different as you'd expect but it's passably good.

I run the .stl file through Netfabb to repair the mesh and the end result is pretty good actually.

   

I always fancied a Darrian T90GTR... no 3D file is available and I've even contacted Darrian with the possibility of a 3D file... with no luck although he liked the idea.

   

After hollowing the file to 1mm in a 3D printer slicer and removing the wheels and floor with simple blocks in 3D Builder... it looks similar enough to a Darrian T90GTR to be worthwhile printing.  The windows can either be cut out like a resin cast bodyshell or further work in 3D Builder to remove most of them that just needs tidying up.

   

These tools are here now and will only get better.
For a 3D file from a single photo these are remarkable.  These websites have the option to use multi view photos but you have to pay for that service.

[ZeGas]

OMG Kevan,

I really need you to give me a rundown on the hollowing, I have tried a couple of time failing both.
So much to learn.

I use chitubox basic as a slicer,
Blender purely to convert STL to DXF and back again
and AutoCad for mods.
On bodies I keep running out of memory and crashing in AutoCad as it only uses a single core processor.
But I persist.

[Kevan]

Hi Grant.

Chitu has a hollowing feature, you set the wall thickness but it only works on solid objects.

I used Netfabb to hollow this file, I think it's included in Chitu

[dvd3500]

Oh my saints!!
This could be so good!
As you all know I am a talentless, mathematically challenged person with slight patience issues and getting a 3D scan from a photo could be life changing!
Thanks for sharing!

[Kevan]

My journey down this new road was cut very short as my laptop died 

...yesterday a new laptop arrived which means using a smartphone to authenticate a lot of accounts and whathaveyou...

...yesterday my smartphone died too, I only discovered it wouldn't boot up when installing whatsapp on my new laptop 

...   ***** technology!!!!!!!!!

[Gordon Steadman]

I hope you'll forgive an old git lamenting progress.

For me, the number one point of the hobby has been racing and I've had my successes - and a few failures :-)

However, it's also the creative process involved in making a lump of wood turn into something useful and a faithful-ish replica of the original car. Because of where I live and the lack of clubs anywhere near, if I want to continue with slot cars as a hobby, its the woody stuff that comes to the fore.

Seeing what is now possible with technology rather depresses me. OK, I know not everyone is a woodworker or even that creative but I lament yet another human skill disappearing, even if it's replaced by others that require knowledge of technology.

Signed: another sad old git

[Kevan]

The ability to race something you have to make because it's not available to buy is very satisfying.

Making it with a knife or a machine is neither here nor there, I can't use a knife, you may not be able to use a 3D printer, either way we're making something unique which should be applauded.

[DPJ]

...
Blender purely to convert STL to DXF and back again
and AutoCad for mods.
On bodies I keep running out of memory and crashing in AutoCad as it only uses a single core processor.
But I persist.

What version of AutoCAD are you using?
You can send me the file if you want a more powerful computer to churn out your file...

Send me a PM if you're interested and we can have a chat about it.

[Gordon Steadman]

The ability to race something you have to make because it's not available to buy is very satisfying.

Making it with a knife or a machine is neither here nor there, I can't use a knife, you may not be able to use a 3D printer, either way we're making something unique which should be applauded.

Of course I appreciate the truth of your statement but I've reached the age where change is unwelcome just because I have become the old git that my younger self would have mocked.

Over that last few years my life has been so unsettled, with so many changes, some welcome and some definitely not, that I really just want a period of settled existence and peace and the freedom to expire gradually and gently into the void. 

Change is always disruptive, I can do without it now. 

[DPJ]

Of course I appreciate the truth of your statement but I've reached the age where change is unwelcome just because I have become the old git that my younger self would have mocked...

This is all just a frame of mind.

It's simple... be happy and stop carrying the weight of previous time.

Have positive energy, and do things that make you happy. No use crying over spilled milk, is what my grandmother used to say.