---
title: "New AI Can Create a 3D Model of an Object From a Single 2D Image"
description: "NVIDIA has built an AI that can create a detailed 3D model of an object in less than 100 milliseconds from just a single image of it."
date: "2019-12-10"
modified: "2019-12-10"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin.md"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/new-ai-3d-model-object-single-2d-photo"
categories:
  - "3D Printing"
  - "Artificial Intelligence"
  - "Future Materials"
  - "Science & Energy"
tags:
  - "3d modeling"
  - "dib-r"
  - "NVIDIA"
  - "the digest"
---

# New AI Can Create a 3D Model of an Object From a Single 2D Image

![NVIDIA has built an AI that can create a detailed 3D model of an object in less than 100 milliseconds from just a single image of it.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/12/new-ai-3d-model-object-single-2d-photo.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NVIDIA\</em\>*

## The Deets

NVIDIA has built an [artificial intelligence](<https://nv-tlabs.github.io/DIB-R/files/diff_shader.pdf>) that can create a detailed 3D model of an object — all from just a [single image](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nvidias-ai-dancing-video-single-photo.md>) of it.

The system, dubbed the "differentiable interpolation-based renderer" (DIB-R), is the first AI to manage that feat, and also produces its models in less than 100 milliseconds — a capability that NVIDIA says could make the AI ideal for use in autonomous robots.

## Bird Brain

According to a NVIDIA [blog pos](<https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/2019/12/09/neurips-research-3d/>)t, it takes about two days to train DIB-R to produce models of certain type of object.

After training the AI on photos of birds, for example, the researchers could feed it a photo of a bird it hadn't seen before, and the system could speedily produce a 3D model of the bird predicting its shape, color, and texture.

## Robot Vision

NVIDIA opined that autonomous robots could use DIB-R to improve their depth perception, allowing them to navigate their 3D environments more easily.

Conversely, it could also allow humans to one day create and virtually explore 3D models of environments captured in photographs.

"Imagine you can just take a photo and out comes a 3D model, which means that you can now look at that scene that you have taken a picture of \[from\] all sorts of different viewpoints," researcher Sanja Fidler [told *VentureBeat*](<https://venturebeat.com/2019/12/09/nvidia-trains-ai-to-transform-2d-images-into-3d-models/>). "You can... take old photographs in your photo collection and turn them into a 3D scene and inspect them like you were there, basically."

**READ MORE:** [Nvidia Taught an AI to Instantly Generate Fully-Textured 3D Models From Flat 2D Images](<https://gizmodo.com/nvidia-taught-an-ai-to-instantly-generate-fully-texture-1840323132>) \[*Gizmodo*\]

**More on NVIDIA:** *[New AI Can Make a Vid of You Dancing Like a Pro From a Single Pic](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/nvidias-ai-dancing-video-single-photo.md>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)

## More

- [This Algorithm Can Create 3D Animations From A Single Still Image](<https://futurism.com/algorithm-3d-animations-still-image.md>)
- [Google Creates AI That Turns Text Into 3D Objects](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/google-ai-text-into-3d-objects.md>)
- [Disney’s 3D Printer Produces Models Almost Instantaneously Using Light](<https://futurism.com/disneys-3d-printer-produces-models-almost-instantaneously-using-light.md>)
- [This 3D Printed Electric Motorcycle Looks Like Something From “TRON”](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/3d-printed-electric-motorcycle-tron.md>)
- [A Physicist and His Son Are 3D-Printing a Full-Scale Lamborghini](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/3d-printing-lamborghini.md>)
- [We Can Now Easily 3D Print With Metal](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/3d-printing-metal.md>)
- [Now We Can 3D Print Homes for Next to Nothing, Using Mud](<https://futurism.com/now-we-can-3d-print-homes-for-next-to-nothing-using-mud.md>)
- [Researchers Create First Ever 3D-Printed Heart Using Human Tissue](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/researchers-3d-printed-heart-human-tissue.md>)