Get texture from images through 3D projection

Question

In my (limited) experiences on 3D programming, usually we set up a 3D model with materials and texture, then set up the light and camera. Finally we can get a 2D view through the camera.

But I need to reverse this procedure: given a 2D view image, a camera setup, and a 3D model without texture, I wanted to find the texture for the model such that it results in the same 2D view. To simplify we ignore the light and materials, assuming they are even.

Although not easy, I think I can write a program to do this. But are there any existing wheels out there so I don't have to invent it again? (C#, WPF 3D or openCV)

Answer 1

Helix3d Toolkit for WPF has an interesting example called "ContourDemo". If you download the whole source you get a very comprehensive example app showcasing its capabilities.

This particular example uses a number of helper methods to generate a contour mesh from a given 3D model file( .3ds , .obj , .stl ).

With some extending this could be the basis of reverse calculating the uv mapping, possibly.

Even if there is nothing suitable to perform the core requirement (extracting the texture) it is a great toolkit for displaying your original files and any outputs you have generated generated.