This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
This chapter is from the book
Objects you can’t inflate
So far in this chapter we’ve looked at a few success stories – photographs that naturally lend themselves to 3D inflation. But not all images are so fortunate; there’s a lot of trial and error involved in finding pictures that will work using this technique.
Here, we’ll look at a selection of objects that, theoretically, ought to be just right for inflation, but which, for different reasons, fail to produce convincing models.
This soccer ball, at first glance, may look as if it’s the perfect object for this sort of treatment. After all, it’s perfectly round, so surely that’s the best shape for inflation?
The problem is that the regular pattern on it has already been photographed wrapped around a sphere. When we then wrap it once more, it’s blown out of proportion.
In addition, there’s a significant problem at the seams, where the mirrored joins look desperately unconvincing.
Verdict: FAIL.
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This bottle should inflate perfectly: the thin neck will expand less than the wide body, after all. But look what happens: the base is blown out like a balloon. Verdict: FAIL.
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Animals can work well, as we saw with the beetle and its larva. So how about extruding our four-legged friend?
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At first glance, this seems to work fairly well. There’s a slight problem with the back legs, though.
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The real problem comes when we rotate it: it turns into a hideous, misshapen mutant monster. Verdict: FAIL.
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