Autodesk has recently released a set of tools that will revolutionize the way we perform architecture, engineering, and live our daily lives in the future. 123D is a technology that takes the information from Photographs and produces actual content (CAD and 3D printed) from it.

http://www.123dapp.com/create

Below are links to articles highlighting the news, but to say it will change our lives is not an exhageration.  In the future, kids will be able to design their own toys and print them out.  Adults will take photo’s of objects (coffee mugs and other small items) and print them out for personal use.  The technology has been used to create (and print off) replacement parts for various mechanical objects.   To convey this to the world of architects, imagine taking photo’s of buildings and then reproducing the buildings on the fly in CAD from the stitched together photos (not YOU reproducing the buildings, the software reproducing them in CAD format from the photos).  You’ll be able to shoot photo’s of a hard to model objects and then import the CAD data into AutoCAD or Revit.

Sound to good to be true? They’ve all been done and I’ve done the last two things myself (recreating a building’s exterior shell and minor portions of the interior, also creating CAD content from taking photos around objects).  While the dimensions are not precise, they are close enough that no one will question their accuracy and proportions for background content and generic family/block content.  They also make a good starting point for those looking to model to precision.

Take a look at the following articles to learn more about just a few applications of the technology. While it is still developing, the future is now and it will become very wide spread in the next 3-7 years.