Workflow for turning a photo of an object into a 3D carving?

Software / Firmware General
1

Hi everyone, new here and still finishing my build. One of the first things I want to try is carving a small 3D relief in wood of an object I only have photos of (an old carved drawer pull that broke).

How do you usually get from a photo to something the CAM software can use: a heightmap, a proper 3D mesh, or tracing it by hand? I’m mostly unsure about the step between the photo and a usable model, and what resolution or depth is realistic with a 1/8" ball nose. Thanks for any pointers.

2

3D mesh will be your best option. From that you can create a heightmap. If its simple enough you might be able to model it yourself, otherwise there are AI tools that can create STL files from photos, though I haven’t tested these myself.

If you share a photo someone here might be able to help model it depending on complexity.

3

I haven’t done this but there was a long thread recently about folks doing similar stuff: Creating depth map images using google - might be worth a read through.