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Who Wants a 3D Scanner, Anyway?
splineboy asks: "In June 2002 a sun-starved computer engineer walked into a small room armed with an old PC, a 20 year-old video camera, some lasers, glass rods and an awful lot of duct tape. His mission was to create a program capable of converting a real world object into a computer model that could be manipulated, stored and eventually reproduced using stereolithography. After several hours of gluing, taping and generally walloping things with a hammer, Project Splinescan was born. Originally running on a batterd old machine (AMD-500), the prototype scanner proved the concept of low cost 3D scanning with a few rough scans. Now that a stable, multi-platform 3D scanning solution is on the horizon (even high school kids are building their own) - a question rings clear through the ether: 'OK, you proved you can make it work, but what's it good for?'"
"What are the potential uses of a portable, low cost 3D scanner? Medical? Animation? Special Effects? Archeology? Ceramics? Lego Modelling? I've got my ideas about why 3D scanning seems to be getting so popular, but how would you like to see these projects developed in the future?"
Unfortunately, soon after his triumph, his most brilliant computer game designs were stolen by one of his company's executives, who passed them off as his own. After breaking into the corporate building and hacking into the computer network to attempt to locate evidence of the theft, he mysteriously vanished, and was not heard from for some time. Eventually, he resurfaced, spouting wild tales about 'talking to programs' and 'surviving the game grid', but bearing concrete evidence of the executive's misdeeds. The prevailing explanation for his bizzare behavior is chronic drug abuse. Whatever the reason, he persists in such delusional beliefs to this day.
Find out more about his tragic story in this compelling and informative docudrama.
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~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
Why does the blurb say the original computer was an AMD when the article was a P3? Doesn't seem like an easy mistake...
Quantapoint uses a similar (but much more developed) system to generate blueprint for buildings.
Forward, retransmit, or republish anything I say here. Just don't misquote me.
maybe you can reproduce a stantart human bone by 3d scan it and then "print" it in a rapid prototyping machine (3d printer) so it can be used/attached to someone who lost his original bone :)
Sourdia Rulez
Custom tailored clothes ordered online.
Combined with some NCR cutting equipment the cost could be brought down quite low.
whenever I see this sort of thing, or rapid prototyping machines, all I can think of is that I'd like to get my hands on it for making sculpture.
I'm not even sure how I would USE it to sculpt, what kind of work I would do... I just know I'd find some way.
This space available.
LOTR used this technique alot, to scan molds of armor and the orcs used in CG art.. ect
www.brido.com : not your average blog..
As someone who works (more or less) within the hearing aid industry, I can tell you right now that 3D scanners are the Next Big Thing (tm) in custom medical products.
The ability to take a mold for any sort of custom prostethic - be it an ear mold, arch support, or whatever - and then transmit that mold electronically rather than having to physically mail it is tremendous. I mean, shipping companies won't appreciate losing all that business, but any healthcare professional that has to deal with mailing dozens of custom molds a week will be overjoyed at the ability to send those scans around for free at any time of the day, and be able to trim another 2-3 days off the custom prothesis creation timeline.
I mean, aside from the obvious speed gains that could be had for 3D modeling for movies and games.
That green slime had it coming.
porn. Of course.
rewriting history since 2109
I worked at a company where 3D imaging of plaster models of teeth was a critical component to the business model. Scan teeth into computer, rearrange teeth, produce output for devices that move teeth into new positions like braces.
Jherico
What can the average user can do to ensure his security? "Nothing, you're screwed"
strippers/pornstars will make billions selling their bodyscans to be reproduced in the privacy of your home.
I'm playing Animal Crossing on the Gamecube at the moment, and there's a TON of low-res models, all of which had to be hand made.
Any game where you need lots of real-world content (eg. The Sims) would benefit from being able to create lots of varied stuff quickly and cheaply.
3d scanning and printing will make Miniatures Wargaming a much more active hobby. Imagine, instead of waiting for Games Workshop to sell you some incredibly overpriced Space Marine, you can just copy your buddy's. Have a cool "kitbash" (homemade modification)? Publish it and let others download it. This is why I see the current business model for Games Workshop and all the other minitures companies radically changing by 2015. It will become a much more fan-centric hobby.
Aim Penis size bragging: "You wanna see the scan of my wang, baby?" D
The guitar is popular with mucians even though there are more advanced technologies available.
A different input helps the creatuve process.
This isn't to say 3d Raytracing is obselete obviously. But this allows a differtn way of doing things.
A blog I run for the wealth
In the case of toys.
The world could be overrun with scanned smurfs!
Not Free SF Reader
There's an even easier and simpler alternative that doesn't even use lasers... nothing but a lamp and a ruler! http://www.vision.caltech.edu/bouguetj/ICCV98/
The results are remarkably good for such a simple setup.
My website
Archaeologists, Paleoentologists, Museum Curators, Art Historians: anybody working with valuable but fragile artifacts that many people want to study but are afraid to handle. Scan them in, 'paint' them with a texture, then post them in a virtual museum.
Artists could be interested in exactly the same application.
John.
http://sharpfang.deviantart.com/
It would be helluva easier to make these with such a scanner.
"Who would want a pill that makes you blind?"
"That's Marketings' problem"
b3 4phr41d 0f my 4bov3-4v3r4g3 c0mpu73r kn0wI3dg3!
MadDwarf
Manufacturing is getting pretty automated, however there's still plenty of room for more automation, such as the design.
Say you want to manufacture a plastic or metal non-mechanical part. If you could scan it very accurately, and then have that object's dimensions and characteristics imported into a CAD program, you can then use the CAM side (Computer Aided Manufacturing) to generate code that can run in a machine.
The implementation of this is most important, and of course your scanner would have to be extremely accurate for this to work (i.e. 0.001+- thousandth tolerance? Not sure)
No need to take the bone out, that's what we have CAT (computerized axial tomography) and MRI (nuclear magnetic resonance imaging) for: to take pictures of our insides without having to cut us open. Seriously, there are places that already do this and a few patents on the topic of automatically or robotically creating or custom milling a prosthesis specifically for one person's hip socket or replacing part of a pelvis or part of the zygoma after tragic accidents.
Digital acquisition of MRI is capable of 512x512 pixels over 25 cm (~ 10 inches) or 1024x1024 pixels over the same area so the voxel sizes are below half-a-millimeter, which is pretty decent resolution for 3-d milling.
Creating an artifical femoral-head to fit into the patients hip-socket makes sure that there won't be any wierd gaps, and does not require cutting the pt open first. Just scan them.
OK, you realize that there are serious 3D scanners that have been on the market for many years? Products like the Cyberware Scanners are in the industry standard, used by major film studios and CG effects companies, engineers, game programmers, etc. They produce platform-independent datasets like VRML, DXF, IGES, etc etc. They use lasers to scan the surface of an object, since video has insufficient resolution to produce accurate 3D surface models (which should be obvious from looking at the crappy models from Project Splinescan).
So.. just what was the point of inventing an cheap but inferior technology that can never produce detailed, accurate models?
Think of the possibilities of photocopying in 3D! Not duplication or replication, but copying the outside of an object such as a... well... something with nothing important on the inside. But it would be cool.
OK you realise that serious steel has been on the market for many years? Products like Pittsburg steel are used by the major iron works, ship builders etc. They produce highly specialised steel to various standards. They use large expensive mills to produce accurate sttel, since mini mills have insufficent controls to proudce accurate steel.
OK you realise that serious cameras has been on the market for many years? Products like kodak are used by the major newspapers, magazines etc. They produce high quality photographs to various standards. They use large expensive film to produce accurate photographs, since digital cameras have insufficent resolution to proudce accurate photographs.
But never mind, you probably still hand weave.
"Hm, except fans can create decent minis on their own. "
Unfortunately human nature being what it is. The only thing that'll happen is the same thing that happened to movies, music, games, and books.
From the Geometrix website: If you want better than a 1 in 10 chance that the way you did your hair any given morning will lock you out of whatever you're protecting biometrically you have to be willing to live with something like 1 in 1000 people being mis-identified as you.
I've seen a lot of facial recognition technologies. This is the best one I've seen, and it sucks.
The state of Connecticut just bought some of this shit (yes, the swear is appropriate in this case) to verify your identity when you go to get a state issued ID card. There are millions of people in Connecticut. That means once they get everybody in the database it's likely that there will be about a thousand or so names that come up on the screen when you get scanned. Just imagine what will happen when they start running crime scene survailance photos through, or when the person stealing your identity is doing it with a valid, state issued card. This technology is dangerous in it's current form.
Spare parts could be scanned in and stored in an on-board computer. When they are needed a 3D printer can print them. Saves a huge amount of space and weight.
you know, for dildos modeled after porn stars and things like that
Do you have some references on that? sounds like a cool article.