3D mesh generator

I’ve tried several free programs to convert a height map into a 3D mesh, and I finally found one that sort of works: Extrudy

It’s a bit weird to use, since the author developed it for the specific purpose of creating pendants, so you’re limited to medallion-like objects with a front and back. The nice thing is that you can load a gray-scale image as a height map in “bas-relief” mode. Within a few hours, including learning curve, I was able to convert this:

into this:

And finally printed as this:

Anyone who has ever tried to create a complex 3D model from basic cubes and cylinders – often only to have an application crash and lose days of work – will be able to appreciate the potential of this tool…