Quick start

EZ2DIGITIZE turns photos or a video of a small object into a textured 3D model (OBJ, GLB, STL, 3MF) and, with a GPU, Gaussian splats. Everything runs on your computer; nothing is uploaded anywhere.

Install

• Linux (x86_64): download EZ2DIGITIZE-<version>-x86_64.AppImage, make it executable (chmod +x) and run it. It needs glibc 2.35 or newer (Ubuntu 22.04, Fedora 36, any current Arch).
• macOS (Apple Silicon): unzip EZ2DIGITIZE-<version>-macos-arm64.zip. The app isn't notarized yet, so remove the quarantine once: xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine EZ2DIGITIZE.app.
• Windows (x64, community-tested): unzip EZ2DIGITIZE-<version>-windows-x86_64.zip and run EZ2DIGITIZE.exe (ez2d.exe is the command line). The app isn't signed yet, so Windows SmartScreen warns once: More info → Run anyway.

Releases are on the project's GitHub releases page.

COLMAP, OpenMVS and Brush come inside the app. Video import uses the FFmpeg installed on your computer (pacman -S ffmpeg, apt install ffmpeg, brew install ffmpeg). Splats need a GPU with a Vulkan driver (Mesa's RADV, NVIDIA's, Intel's) or Apple silicon.

Your first model

1. Take the photos (see the capture guide): 40 to 80 photos all around the object, from two heights, everything in focus.

2. New project (File → New Project), then Import photos… and pick the folder. Or Import video…, or From phone… to send photos over Wi-Fi by scanning a QR code, or, if the phone already syncs its photos to this computer (Syncthing, iCloud Drive…), to take them from that folder as they arrive.

3. Read the Photo checks tab: it flags photos that are blurry, a different size, from another camera, or that can't be read. Uncheck a photo to leave it out.

4. Optional, needed for turntables: in the Masks tab, Make masks keeps only the object in every photo (cleaner, faster). Uncheck any mask that cuts off part of the object. To scan the underside too, see Other side… and the Both sides tab (capture guide).

5. For a room or an outdoor scene instead of an object, set Subject to Room or outdoor scene (see the capture guide). Choose a Quality: Fast for a preview (a few minutes), Balanced (the default), High for the finest surface (much slower). Mesh size simplifies the result for the web or a slicer.

6. Press Build mesh. The steps list shows progress; the Log tab shows the tools' output. On a recent desktop, 60 photos take about 15 minutes at Balanced. Better: press Place cameras first. The 3D view opens on the camera placement, with four tools next to the view's name:

   • Coverage shows where photos are missing: a ring per height, gaps shaded orange (red when a whole side is missing), and cameras that matched few others in orange. Take more photos there.
   • Crop box keeps the table out of the model: Use a crop box puts a box around the object; drag its yellow handles to fit.
   • Scale gives the model its real size. If you photographed it on the printed marker sheet (Marker sheet… here; see the capture guide), that is done already. Otherwise measure two points on the object (its height, say), press Pick two points, click them, type the distance and press Set scale.
   • Upright: if the model lies tilted, Level: pick 3 points on the mat stands it up.

   Then Build mesh.

7. The finished model opens in the 3D view tab (turn it with the mouse); it also shows the dense cloud, the camera placement and splats.

8. Open folder shows the result in exports/: OBJ (with its texture), GLB, and STL/3MF for printing if you chose them. The model stands upright, centred, on the ground; with the scale set, STL and 3MF are in millimetres and OBJ and GLB in metres.

Build splats trains Gaussian splats from the same camera positions. They are exported twice: as Brush's PLY, and as a ten times smaller SPZ stood upright like the mesh (most splat viewers open either). With and a mesh from them ticked, it also makes a surface through the splats (on the CPU, with vertex colours instead of a texture): a second mesh to compare with the textured one, sometimes better on thin or shiny parts.

From the command line

The same app runs headless (the AppImage or EZ2DIGITIZE.app/Contents/MacOS/EZ2DIGITIZE with a command):

ez2d new ~/scans/skull
ez2d import ~/scans/skull ~/Pictures/skull          # or a video, --frames 100
ez2d photos ~/scans/skull                           # photo checks
ez2d masks ~/scans/skull                            # automatic masks
ez2d run ~/scans/skull --quality balanced --export obj,glb,stl
ez2d run ~/scans/skull --splat                      # Gaussian splats
ez2d run ~/scans/skull --splat --splat-mesh         # and a mesh made from them
ez2d status ~/scans/skull

ez2d check lists the tools and GPUs found; ez2d --help the rest.

If something goes wrong, see troubleshooting.

This page is synced from docs/QUICKSTART.md in the EZ2DIGITIZE repo.