There are some software solutions that can take you part of the way, depending on the image. If you have two or more images of the object taken from different viewpoints, and you know the field of view of the camera that took them, there are some programs that can use that information to create a partial 3d representation of the object. Such programs are not cheap, though, as they're generally used to create visual effects for film. The cheapest one I am aware of (that works) is called Syntheyes. There was an open source one called Jahshaka or something like that, but it never really worked. They're also not easy to learn, or to use once you've learned them.

I have also seen some software approaches to using depth of field information (the difference between sharp and blurry parts of the image due to focus), along with perspective and contrast to extract depth information from an image. This works best for landscapes, where you get a significant amount of atmospheric perspective, strong focus cues, and easily approximated vanishing points. I have yet to see such a program do anything close to automatically, though. This kind of software is used to assist in converting 2d movies to stereo 3d. My last job involved evaluating every such program I could get my hands on, and most of them weren't worth the time I spent downloading, much less what I spent learning to use them.

In short, Urist's method is the simplest, cheapest, and fastest way, and it's the method that's been used by drafters since long before computing was a thing. Though usually it's used to go the other direction: to create elevations from a floor plan. I once read a really nice book on theatrical set design that gave some excellent examples of how to transform concept sketches to set layouts and vice versa, but I don't remember the title. If you happen to have a theater supply shop in your area, or a college with a theater department, you might thumb through their books and see if you can find something of that sort.