In a tech-driven world dominated by multi-million dollar startups and ventures, two Rock Ridge High School students are proving that innovation is not reserved for people with deep pockets. 

Junior Ajay Vingamuri and sophomore Abhinav Duddala, the minds behind the startup Shapeshift, are transforming their passion for technology into reality. Their journey showcases that resourcefulness, determination, and creativity can be just as powerful as a million-dollar company’s contract, where they are turning their passion for technology into reality 

Shapeshift’s overall design is a platform that transforms 2D sketches into 3D models, making it accessible to anyone who wants to create digital designs without needing expensive hardware or knowledge. To date, the program has a small beta testing group of 20 people. The model itself was trained on 100 thousand images to accurately transform ideas to objects–like the sketches of a table into a detailed interactable model.

The general idea for Shapeshift began with a personal challenge. “When I was younger, I didn’t have the best hardware, and it made creating 3D models a huge struggle,” Vinjamuri said. “I wanted to find a way for anyone–no matter their resources–to create 3D models easily.” 

The journey of building Shapeshift was no small feat. Vinjamuri spent three months researching computer graphics before reaching out to a Princeton professor in the field. “I read a research paper, emailed every author listed, and eventually got a response,” Vinjimuri said. While the professor estimated an 11-month development timeline, Vinjimuri and Duddala completed it in just four months.

Beyond development, the team entered prestigious competitions such as MIT Solve and the Blue Ocean Entrepreneurship Competition to gain recognition. “We had the brilliant idea to start our submission three hours before the deadline,” Duddala said. “We had to create a seven-minute video, a slideshow, and an entire graphic. It was a crazy night, but also one of our favorite experiences.”

The belief that creation should be available to everyone became the backbone of Shapeshift.“Even if a five-year-old wanted to make a 3D model to use in a video that they’re making or like a toy, they can use [Shapeshift] easily [to build it].” Duddala said. “There’s no limitations at all. No hardware limitations, no software limitations, and no knowledge limitations.”

This duo has big plans for the coming weeks. First, they plan to finalize their website and make the platform public. Currently, Shapeshift is still in the beta testing phase. The biggest obstacle now is funding. “It is really expensive to launch because of server costs and limited AWS credits,” Vinjamuri said. “We expect to have the website ready by March 30–latest April 30th.” 

The team plans to pitch their idea to the Princeton Computer Graphics department for further support with funding and outreach. “We are also drafting a mobile application version for Shapeshift,” Duddala said. “It won’t launch immediately, but it is definitely in the works.”  

As Vinjamuri and Duddala continue to program, find funding, and market their product, they are attesting to their philosophy: Big ideas don’t require big budgets.