Web site adds 3-D images to photos

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Kazoo3D lets you add a selection of 3-D models to your online digital photos -- including cartoon characters like the Grinch

by Owen Linderholm

(IDG) -- Digital cameras and the Internet have already changed photography, but the new tools on a photography Web site let you blend your real-life images with fantasy. Picture your kids visiting Santa, for example, or the Grinch.

DotPhoto already allows you to store and manipulate photos online, and it is now partnered with Kazoo3D to let you add 3-D characters and images to your photos -- resized and moved to fit and complete with shadows.

Kazoo3D uses advanced 3-D modeling and rendering and provides a free application to download called KazooStudio that uses Kazoo3D models and merges them with your own photographs. A range of free 3-D models is included, and you can order additional packs of 10 to 15 3-D models from the Kazoo3D site for $10.

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Among the free models are balloons, several dinosaurs, an alien, a champagne bottle, a skateboard and more. The additional 3-D model packs come from partnerships Kazoo3D has made with Universal Studios and include 3-D models from Rocky and Bullwinkle and the Grinch. Other packs cover the holidays, fun creatures and objects and crazy characters.

Numerous editing options

The KazooStudio software enables you to move, manipulate, rotate positions, and change the size of 3-D models. What's more, you can blend the models into existing digital images, including photographs. With an upgrade, you can use KazooStudio with Adobe PhotoDeluxe and get two additional programs, KazooLight and KazooPaint.

KazooLight lets you add lighting and shadow effects to your 3-D models. With KazooPaint, you can recolor and paint your 3-D models to customize them even further. The programs let you save files in jpg format or in an interactive Kazoo format that allows other KazooStudio users to manipulate the 3-D image for themselves.

DotPhoto now lets its customers download a dotPhoto-themed version of KazooStudio for use with all dotPhoto digital images. The dotPhoto Web site provides tools and space for subscribers to store, share, print, and save their images online. Among its tools are a way to add sound files that play while people are viewing your photographs. You can also sell your photos to other dotPhoto customers through its site. Business photography solutions are also available.

Kazoo3D plans to continue to offer more 3-D models and has partnerships with Streetwise Software, which offers interactive characters, and with Adobe. For now, dotPhoto and Kazoo3D have added a new way to make your holiday photos stand out from the crowd.

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Kazoo3D
Adobe

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