Editor’s Note: This story was originally published on July 10. Microsoft said Thursday that the Remix3D.com online repository will shut down on Friday, Jan. 10. This story has been slightly edited to ...

There's a model of an odd-looking boat on a tabletop in front of me, and a woman is capturing it with her phone's camera. Only she's not just snapping a photo of the thing — she's moving around it, ...