The innovation describes and discloses systems and methods related to deep neural networks employing machine learning to detect item 2D landmark points from a single image, such as those of an image of a face, and to estimate their 3D coordinates and shape rapidly and accurately. The system also provides for mapping by a feed-forward neural network that defines two criteria, one to learn to detect important shape landmark points on the image and another to recover their depth information. An aspect of the innovation may utilize camera models in a data augmentation approach that aids machine learning of a complex, non-linear mapping function. Other augmentation approaches are also considered.