by Viz Life Studio·Modeling
Images © Viz Life Studio. Used for product review; image policy.
zForm earns its place in the superhive library for handling the full path from depth maps and images to editable 3D meshes inside Blender. Note that depth maps for the main workflow must be generated separately, and the developer states the tool has not been optimized for 3D printing.
zForm is a Blender add-on that transforms pre-existing depth maps, images, and videos into 3D meshes. It can convert a single image, a sequence of images, or video frames, working from popular formats including PNG, JPG, and JPEG alongside their associated depth maps. A streamlined interface inside Blender's 3D View keeps the process to a few steps.
Beyond conversion, zForm lets you adjust mesh properties such as subdivision levels, smooth factors, and depth strength, and fine-tune material settings for metallic, roughness, and index of refraction. You can deform meshes by bending, twisting, tapering, and stretching, paint and adjust depth maps for contrast and brightness, and apply Shadow Box and Box presets. Utility tools export animations as GLB or GLTF, split objects into pieces, and generate clean laser-cut slices with adjustable thickness and optional flattening for 2D workflows.
The Explore 360 input type turns a single 2D image into an immersive 360° world you can explore in Blender, with no depth map required and best results from skybox or equirectangular images. Depth maps for the main workflow must be generated separately.
Zform - Transform Depth Maps And Images To 3D Mesh is best for blender artists converting pre-existing depth maps, single images, image sequences, or video frames into 3D meshes, and building explorable 360° scenes from single images.
Zform - Transform Depth Maps And Images To 3D Mesh is completely free to download and use.
zForm's current version, 2.4.5, is updated for Blender 5.1, so it runs on that release. The add-on works within Blender's 3D View, where it provides an interface for converting depth maps, images, and videos into 3D meshes without manually adding and adjusting modifiers each time. For details on any other supported Blender versions, check the developer's documentation page, which zForm references as its official guide. A demo video is also available.
zForm does not generate depth maps; it transforms pre-existing depth maps, images, and videos into 3D meshes, so you need a separate way to create depth maps first, whether an online or local tool. The developer notes a companion add-on called Depth Map Batch that generates depth maps for 2D images in a batch process, run locally on your own machine without APIs or web services. The Explore 360 feature is the exception, since it builds a 360° world from a single 2D image without requiring depth maps.
zForm imports images and videos in PNG, JPG, and JPEG formats, along with their associated pre-existing depth maps. From there it can convert a single image, a sequence of images, or video frames into 3D meshes. You adjust mesh properties like subdivision levels, smooth factors, and depth strength to control detail, and material settings such as metallic, roughness, and index of refraction. Mesh view options let you switch between front, side, and top perspectives while you work in Blender's 3D View.
zForm includes utility tools that export animations as GLB or GLTF. It can also split objects into multiple pieces and generate clean laser-cut slices with adjustable thickness and optional flattening for 2D workflows. Keep in mind the developer states the tool has not been optimized for 3D printing, so additional work would be needed for 3D printing projects. Mesh view options let you switch between front, side, and top perspectives to review the model as you work.
zForm is listed as free in this catalog. Licensing terms can change, so check the developer's page for current details before downloading. The developer also recommends confirming you have a way to generate depth maps before getting zForm, since the main workflow relies on pre-existing depth maps rather than creating them. An official documentation page is available as a guide, and a demo video is available too.
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