Italy based 3DFlow Zephyr Free edition, is like borrowing a Ferrari for an afternoon; but only able to drive in first gear.

As I previously wrote the free version has a limit of 50 photos to create your models- but from this initial test that is more than enough for a hobbyist or student looking to get started.

The application’s downsides are; time, platform specifics, and resources. Only available for PC, and resource heavy, it can take a lot to create a model. This model was rendered out of ONLY 38 photos shot on an iPhone (7); but nearly took 3 hours to render on a mid-grade PC. To export up to Sketchfab, which the app does natively with an API key, can be an issue for free Sketchfab account holders as mesh uploads are limited to 50mb. However, Zephyr’s selection tools can allow users to clean up their model and reduce the overall file size to fit the upload requirements.

Regardless of its limitations, for anyone trying to get started in photogrammetry it is a great start. And 3DFlow has their own video tutorial series to help people start creating models.