Hey there! We're the team at RND-PRO.com, and we get excited about mixing hardware, software, and a little bit of AI magic to solve interesting problems. Today, we want to share the story of how one of our favorite open-source projects, PhotoPizza, came to be.
It began with a startup we co-founded called MEGAVISOR. Our big idea was to make the internet a more interactive place. We envisioned a world where you could explore digital content in a whole new way, seamlessly jumping between different views—like from a panoramic shot of a museum to a close-up 360-degree view of an artifact.
Picture this: you're exploring a virtual museum, and with a single click, you're examining an exhibit up close, rotating it as if it were in your own hands. We wanted to make that experience smooth and captivating, and we think we nailed it.
Naturally, e-commerce was a perfect fit for this tech. For online shops, showing off products from every angle is a game-changer.
Back in 2010-2011, affordable gear for creating 360-degree photos of large items (or even people!) just didn't exist. The whole concept of "photo-360" was new, and people often mixed it up with 3D models or panoramic photos.
We needed a universal tool that could handle everything from tiny electronics to massive appliances, clothing, art, and even cars. That's when we realized we had to build our own solution.
We also knew it had to be fast. We looked at the standard gear of the time and saw a lot of slow-recharging flashes and inconsistent lighting. So, we opted for continuous lighting—the kind used in video production. Paired with a Canon 7D, which could shoot a rapid 7 frames per second, we were able to capture a full rotation of 100 frames in no time.
We started with a simple prototype, pieced together from whatever we could find locally. Here’s a little timelapse of our early days:
We also wanted to make it easy for other photographers to experiment without breaking the bank. We showed them how to get started with simple household items, like a cake stand or even just a piece of paper.
Once we saw the first high-quality images from our prototype, we knew we were onto something special. We decided to turn it into a full-fledged project and make it open-source to help grow our interactive content platform. The hunt was on for affordable, durable materials that would make our turntable reliable and easy for anyone to build.
After a lot of experimenting, we landed on acrylic glass. It was strong enough to handle heavy loads and tough enough for metal bearings. Of course, for those on a tighter budget, PVC and plywood were great alternatives, even with their own little quirks.
Speaking of bearings, we kept it simple and often used ones from roller skates — they were cheap and easy to find!
The brains of the operation was an Arduino, and for the muscle, we chose a NEMA 17 motor with a pulley and some silicone plumbing gaskets.
And just like that, PhotoPizza was born! It was an open-source project that gave photographers the power to create stunning 360-degree content without a hefty price tag. It wasn't just for photos, either—it was perfect for shooting video and for photogrammetry 3D scanning.
PhotoPizza quickly became more than just a tool for product shots; it was a way to create an experience, making viewers feel like they were holding the product in their hands. We were thrilled to see it embraced by the creative community and proud to have played a part in setting a new standard for interactive content.
Later on, we decided to give the control block an upgrade. We rewrote the firmware and swapped the Arduino for an ESP32, using Espruino to run JavaScript. The ESP32 was faster and had built-in Wi-Fi, which let us create a web-based control app. Pretty neat, right?
We even built a heavy-duty version, the PhotoPizza D1200, with a 500 kg load capacity to photograph motorcycles. Check it out!
The awesome logo was designed by our friends at
Was a huge help in creating the firmware for the ARDUINO: