Blog Posts

Week 15: One Final Walk Together

Published:April 23rd, 2026
Category:Spring Semester

This week felt different from all the others. It was not just another presentation week, not just another deadline, and not just another item to check off before the semester ended. It felt like the final chapter of a long story that all of us had been writing together, one week at a time. With our liaison joining us for the Final FDR, we had the chance to present our work one last time and look back on everything that brought us here. What began as an idea slowly turned into a real system through countless discussions, small wins, frustrating setbacks, and moments where things finally started to click. Standing there as a team and sharing our final progress felt proud, meaningful, and a little emotional too, because we all knew this was not just the end of a project, but the end of a shared journey.

Team Voxel

What made this week even more special was what happened after the presentation. For the first time in a long while, we were not rushing to fix something, not worrying about the next deliverable, and not buried in our own task lists. We actually got to pause, sit together, talk, laugh, and just enjoy each other’s company. That simple time together meant more than we expected. Somewhere between all the technical work, reviews, and late efforts, we had become more than just teammates working on the same project. We became a group of people who learned how to depend on each other, support each other, and grow together. That quiet, relaxed time after everything was done made us realize that sometimes the best part of the journey is not only what you build, but who you build it with.

As we now say goodbye to this chapter, there is a deep sense of gratitude in all of it. Gratitude for the work, for the lessons, for the challenges that pushed us, and for the people who walked through them together. Team Voxel will always be more than a project name to us because behind it are memories of effort, stress, laughter, teamwork, and growth that we will carry forward. While this journey is ending, the people in it are moving toward new beginnings, new goals, and new futures. And with that comes hope that each of us carries the same determination, creativity, and resilience into whatever comes next. This may be our goodbye to the project, but it is also a quiet hello to the future. And wherever life takes us, we will always be able to look back at this experience and say, we built something meaningful together.

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Week 14: Lights, Camera, Reconstruction!

Published:April 17th, 2026
Category:Spring Semester

This week felt a little different. After spending months building, fixing, testing, debugging, re-testing, and probably staring at our pipeline longer than we stared at some of our textbooks, we finally got to show it off properly. And honestly? Team Voxel had a full main-character week.

First up, we created a 2-minute video for the project, and this was our pipeline’s time to be a star. We wanted to capture the full story in a short, exciting way. It was fun seeing our project go from “lines of code and technical headaches” to something that actually looked polished and presentation-ready. And yes, if one of the screenshots gives “angry boss demanding results” energy, that is completely valid. But don’t worry, the team delivered. YouTube release soon… maybe our pipeline is about to become more famous than us.

After that, we worked on our poster, which was basically our project’s glow-up moment. If the video was the trailer, the poster was the official movie poster. It brought together all the important parts of our pipeline, the technical highlights, and the results we were proud of into one clean visual. Making it was actually a nice reminder of how much we had done. When you’re deep in the work every week, it’s easy to focus only on the next bug or next fix. But seeing everything laid out on the poster made us step back and think, “Wait… we actually built all this?”

And then came Peer-FDR, which really felt like the grand finale. After months of designing, building, refining, and testing our 3D modeling pipeline, we had the chance to present everything one more time. This was not just another presentation. It felt like the final chapter of the story, where all the random pieces, late fixes, trial-and-error moments, and team effort finally came together into one complete system. We walked through the pipeline, explained the changes we made over time, and showed the final results with a lot more confidence because, for once, everything was actually working the way we wanted.

One of the best parts of Peer-FDR was getting feedback from people who really understood the work behind the scenes. They were not just seeing the final polished version, they understood that every “clean result” probably came from ten earlier versions that were absolutely not clean. That made the whole experience feel more rewarding. It gave us a chance to reflect on how much we had grown technically, but also how much we had grown as a team.

By the end of the week, it honestly felt like the perfect send-off. We had the video, the poster, and the final presentation all coming together at once. After everything this project put us through, it was nice to end on a high note and actually enjoy the moment. Team Voxel survived the chaos, built something we are proud of, and wrapped up the semester in the best way possible.

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Week 13: From Testing to Finalization: Wrapping Up Our 3D Pipeline

Published:April 10th, 2026
Category:Spring Semester

This week marked an important testing phase for our project as we moved beyond demonstration and focused on evaluating the pipeline on real-life objects. We tested the system on a variety of objects with different shapes, textures, and surface properties to better understand how it performs in practical scenarios. This phase helped us see not only where the pipeline works well, but also where improvements are still needed when dealing with more challenging real-world conditions.

Through these tests, we were able to observe the robustness of our full pipeline in a more realistic setting. Some objects produced clean and detailed 3D results quickly, while others revealed limitations that gave us valuable insight into segmentation quality, geometry generation, and texture preservation. Overall, this testing phase was an important step in validating that our work can extend beyond controlled examples and function effectively across a wider range of inputs.

As we now enter the wrapping-up stage of the semester, our focus is on final polishing, documenting results, and preparing our final deliverables. This phase is not only about finishing the project, but also about reflecting on how much progress we have made from early development to a fully integrated and tested system. We are proud of what we have built, and this final stage is giving us the opportunity to close strong while highlighting the effort, learning, and teamwork that made this project possible.

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WEEK 12: SUCCESS AT PROTOTYPE DAY!

Published:April 3rd, 2026
Category:Spring Semester

What a week! After months of building, refining, and integrating our 3D modeling pipeline, we finally stepped onto the floor for Prototype Day. We are thrilled to report that the event went incredibly well, and the reception from the judges and attendees was even better than we anticipated.

Seeing the system perform “in the wild” was a proud moment for the team. After reaching our full integration milestone last week, it was rewarding to see the pipeline handle live demonstrations smoothly. The stability we worked so hard on really paid off, as we were able to showcase clean, detailed 3D reconstructions in real-time.

Team Voxel

The judges? They were impressed. They liked the visual quality of the models and how the whole system flows. It was great to hear that the details we have been working on for weeks like the clean backgrounds and sharp textures actually stood out to them.

What’s Next? We are not slowing down just yet. We actually shot a video for our project this week to capture the system in action and we are currently in the process of editing it. Between that and some final polishing of our deliverables, we are ready to close out the semester strong.

It all came together,and we could not be more proud of what we built!!

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Week 11:Integration Complete- Gearing Up for Prototype Day

Published:March 27th, 2026
Category:Spring Semester

Last week was Spring break we had got some good time to relax and now with that energy forwarding to this week, we reached another key milestone: the full integration of our 3D modeling pipeline is complete. All modules now work together seamlessly, bringing us closer than ever to a fully functional end-to-end system.

The pipeline is finally performing as envisioned: taking a short video, running it through the workflow, and producing clean, detailed 3D models with sharper textures and improved reconstructions.

With integration complete and these last refinements underway, we are gearing up for Prototype Day. Everything is now steadily coming into place as we move closer to our final demonstration. In addition to refining the interface, we have been actively working on validating the entire pipeline through structured test cases, including a range of edge scenarios. This includes evaluating performance under varying environmental conditions, object complexities, and input inconsistencies to ensure the system remains stable and reliable.

Our testing efforts span the full workflow from the initial segmentation stage through reconstruction, texture mapping, and final output generation. By systematically analyzing each stage and its interactions within the pipeline, we are identifying limitations, improving robustness, and documenting best practices for optimal input conditions. This end-to-end validation ensures that the system not only performs well under ideal conditions but also maintains consistency when faced with real-world variations.

As a result, the pipeline is not only integrated but also increasingly resilient and well-understood. With these final validations and refinements in progress, we are confidently approaching Prototype Day with a system that reflects both technical completeness and practical reliability.

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Week 9: See the Difference! Integrating Our 3D Modeling Pipeline

Published:March 13th, 2026
Category:Spring Semester

Look what we got for this week!! We have officially reached the stage we’ve all been waiting for: Integration. After weeks of fine-tuning individual modules, we are now moving beyond optimizing them separately and focusing on how they all work together as one cohesive system.

The magic is in the details. Last week was all about “cleaning” by improving our background removal. This week, we turned our attention to the visual “skin” of our models. We improved our UV unwrapping and texture baking methods, and the results really speak for themselves.

Optimized Nikhil

And yes… we didn’t just stick to simple shapes this week. We decided to put our pipeline to the test with the board game Catan. Since board games contain a lot of fine details and printed text, it was the perfect challenge. As you can see in the output figures, the system handled it surprisingly well!

Catan Board

At the same time, we also began integrating the optimized modules into the full pipeline, bringing us closer to a complete working workflow.

And now we’re getting ready for Prototype Day. With sharper textures, better reconstructions, and integration underway, the system is finally starting to look like the vision we had at the beginning: take a short video, run it through our pipeline, and generate a clean, detailed 3D model.

It’s all coming together!

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Week 8: From Shaky Videos to Sharp 3D Models: What We Improved This Week

Published:March 6th, 2026
Category:Spring Semester

This week, our team took another big step forward in teaching computers how to turn ordinary videos into detailed 3D models. After implementing several improvements to our pipeline, including a smarter background-removal technique and updates to how textures are applied, we started seeing noticeably cleaner results. Everyday objects like LEGO blocks, toy ships, and even a dog toy were reconstructed with sharper details and far fewer unwanted “extras” in the background. In other words, our system is finally learning an important life skill: ignoring the messy table and focusing on the actual object in front of it.

Ship
Lego

Along the way, we also discovered that capturing the right video makes a huge difference in the final 3D model. Smooth, steady footage produces the best reconstructions, while shaky or rushed videos can confuse the system (apparently computers don’t enjoy rollercoaster camera movements). As we continue refining the pipeline, the team will be testing more objects and integrating the latest improvements into a complete workflow. The goal is simple but exciting: take a short video, press a button, and watch it transform into a fully interactive 3D model in just a few minutes. If all goes well, the next demonstrations should be both impressive and maybe even a little bit magical.

Guess what? what we tested on? Yeah on real human (Thanks to Nikhil for volunteering for this).
Isn’t this crazy??

Human (Nikhil)

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Week 7: QRB2 Success & Pipeline Integration Progress

Published:February 27th, 2026
Category:Spring Semester

With the Quarterly Review Board (QRB2) presentation successfully completed, this week marked an important milestone for our team. Our primary effort was focused on delivering a clear, technically strong, and visually engaging presentation that effectively communicated the progress of our 3D reconstruction pipeline.

For QRB2, we prepared highly detailed slides that showcased the full workflow of our system. We emphasized step-by-step visual explanations, structured pipeline diagrams, and real output examples to clearly demonstrate how each module contributes to the final asset quality. This approach helped reviewers better understand both the engineering depth and the practical impact of our work.

The presentation was well received, and we obtained valuable feedback that will help guide our next phase of development. Reviewers particularly appreciated the clarity of our workflow visualization and the inclusion of real reconstruction results.

Integration Progress

On the technical side, we have continued advancing pipeline integration. Most major components are now successfully connected, and the system is increasingly functioning as a unified end-to-end workflow. A few remaining modules are still in the process of being integrated, and these will be our immediate focus moving forward.

Looking Ahead

As we approach Spring Break, we are optimistic about using this time to push the remaining integration work forward and further stabilize the pipeline. Our next steps will concentrate on completing the final module connections, performing full-pipeline validation, and continuing performance tuning toward a robust production-ready system.

We are excited about the momentum coming out of QRB2 and look forward to the progress ahead.

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Week 6: QRB2 Preparation & Pipeline Integration

Published:February 20th, 2026
Category:Spring Semester

With the Quarterly Review Board (QRB2) presentation approaching, our primary focus this week has been preparing a clear and visually compelling walkthrough of our 3D reconstruction pipeline. Building on the progress from last week, we refined how we communicate each stage of the system to effectively demonstrate both technical depth and measurable improvements.

For the QRB2 presentation, we placed strong emphasis on presenting the pipeline in a more intuitive, visual format. Rather than only describing individual components, we structured the slides to clearly show the end-to-end data flow from input capture through reconstruction, cleanup, and final asset generation. This approach highlights how each module contributes to overall model quality and system robustness.

Integration Phase Underway

As individual components of the pipeline have now reached stable performance, we have officially moved into the integration phase. Based on the updated design decisions from the SLDR, we are aligning module interfaces, standardizing intermediate outputs, and ensuring smooth handoffs between stages. The goal is to transform our collection of optimized components into a cohesive, production-ready pipeline.

We are excited about the system’s progress and confident in our upcoming presentation. The next phase will focus on full-pipeline validation and performance tuning as we move closer to a robust end-to-end solution.

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Week 5: Polishing for the QRB

Published:February 13th, 2026
Category:Spring Semester

  

With the Quarterly Review Board (QRB) presentation coming up, the team is fully focused on polishing our 3D modeling pipeline and ensuring our demo is ready for the judges.

Boosting Model Quality We made a key decision to utilize the full image dataset for our reconstructions. We confirmed that using the complete set of frames fills in critical gaps and captures much finer details—like the texture of the statue—without adding significant processing time. The result is a much smoother and more complete 3D model.

Focus on Cleanup & Integration Our current priority is eliminating background noise to ensure a clean final look. We are testing new methods to automatically remove these “outliers” and are finalizing the texture mapping process to get everything ready for integration. We are excited to showcase our progress to the board in two weeks!

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