123D Catch Finally Released for Android

 

The entire sane world breathes a collective sigh of relief as the years long wait for 123D Catch app to be available on Android smartphones comes to an end. Those that don’t wish to sacrifice their sanity and bank balance on underperforming, outdated iPhone can now download the app from the Google Play store, after Autodesk released it on the 9th September.

For those that don’t know 123D Catch, previously known as Project Photofly, that allows you to create 3D models from regular digital photos. That’s digital photos of almost anything, taken with any old digital camera, including the one on your phone or tablet.

The Catch scanning app is part of Autodesk’s 123D suite, and turns the user’s smart device into a 3D scanner. After the scanning process, the 3D virtual model can be shared, or combined with the 123D Catch Web App to get them ready for 3D Printing. The app can also be used to create STL files, so the models can be sliced and altered, and they can sent off to a 3D printer or uploaded printing websites.

As mentioned, the iOS version has been around for a while now, but as Autodesk have been continually investing in reality capture technology the time has come for the latest version to be available on Android operating systems as well.

So, with model creation becoming ever easier the huge library of 3D models available to download will continue to grow exponentially. As more homes take on a 3D printer as part of there family array of gadgets, will a day trip to Paris result in elderly relatives receiving a 15cm scale model of the Eiffel Tower? Will a trip to India mean the house now has a perfectly rendered, miniature Taj Mahal outside the front door? Will this be an alternative to taxidermy when Aunt Rose’s cat shuffles off the mortal coil?

Printed replicas are not the only application, though. Museums and universities will be able to use this software to virtually catalogue their collections the way that ancient texts have been able to be scanned onto the Internet for preservation.

The main point is, almost anything can become a model for a 3D printer now. With the iOS app, Autodesk had opened the door for the 3D printing hobbyists and now there is an Android version, the masses have the power to create nearly anything they like.

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