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Entries in scan (14)

Saturday

Jul312010

World's Fastest Motorcycle: Scanned

Saturday, July 31, 2010 |

John Morewood managed to get his NextEngine 3D Scanner HD near the world's fastest motorcycle (360.913 mph / 580.83 kph, holy cow!), the ACK Attack Streamliner, and grab a scan. Hopefully, the beast was not at speed during the scan. This was not just a routine scan, as John says:

The size of the ACK Attack (21' long X 30" in dia.) pushed the Nextengine's scan envelope into the "more than creative realms ..." A special 3D Scanner Linear Slide and Gantry was designed and assembled to facilitate making 580 individual scans. After five weeks on trying to produce a .IGES file from way too much scanned data the project has been back burnered. I have come to the realization that just because "one" can do something does not mean that "one" should do that something...

We agree with that - and truly admire John's initiative on this one. Although "only" eight days of scanning were done, the setup took weeks. Be sure to read the saga of this amazing scan attempt.

Via Zip-Bit

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Friday

Jun182010

A Simple Scanning Service

Friday, June 18, 2010 |

3D Scanner manufacturer GKS Global Services has introduced a really simple method of obtaining complex 3D scans. They're addressing the scenario where you need a 3D model of an existing physical object, but you can't afford to buy your own scanner and/or don't happen to have the skills to convert the data into a usable 3D model.

How simple is it? There's only three steps:

Send them a photo of the object in question. They'll use the photo to provide a quote for the work
Send the part (assuming you accept their quote)
Wait for your 3D model to arrive

We presume there's a fourth step in which your original part is returned, but they don't mention that specifically.

The service can provide STL, parasoled or parametric results. They also offer onsite scans if required - if your object doesn't happen to fit in a box.

Via GKS Global Services

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Friday

May282010

Rapido3D 3D Services Get Personal

Friday, May 28, 2010 |

UK-based 3D "Laser Scanning and 3D Mesh Bureau" provides the standard 3D services such as 3D printing, scanning, engraving, CNC machining, etc. But they also offer two unusual 3D services: "Head and Facial Scanning" and the more ominous "Body Scanning". The results are startling, as you can see in this video.

According to their site:

Head and Facial Scans are captured on our Cyberware colour PS Head/face scanning rig, developed By Cyberware specifically for Human heads. invented by them nearly twenty years ago, constantly developed and still regarded in the industry as the best Human head scanning device available.

And then there's the "full colour whole body scan". Why do a body scan? Here's a great reason:

Niell Gorton a multi award-winning prosthetic make-up artist with 20 years’ industry experience. used our whole body scanning system to capture the body of an actor to create a replica to aid in the making of a prosthetic suit, these method enabled him to have a body double of the actor in his studio without the need to have the actor posing for hours at a time to make the suit.

Who would do a body scan? Rapido3D actually lists the "People Scanned", and there's quite a few notables on their list, including Lady Gaga, Liam Neeson, Naomi Campbell and Angelina Jolie. We're not on their list, oh well.

Via Rapido3D

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Saturday

Jan232010

The Apple Tree and The Apple Picker

Saturday, January 23, 2010 |

We're amazed at the results of an experimental 3D scan undertaken as part of Creaform's Annual 3D Scanning Contest: The Apple Tree and The Apple Picker.

The scan attempted a rather difficult subject, that being a live human in the act of picking apples from a real tree. As you can see in the image above, the scan had to deal with very significant detail, hidden areas and even motion. The project split the work into two parts: the picker and the tree itself, which were to be linked together later.

Using Creaform's handheld Handyscan 3D Laser Scanner, the tree's trunk and primary branches were scanned onsite in an orchard initially, while smaller branches and leaves were scanned and added in later.

Of more complexity was scanning the picker, which evidently took place over several scan sessions. 3D Targets were affixed to the patient model, whose action position was scanned using the targets. Once the model's position was captured, body segments were scanned separately in much more detail. Finally, the pieces were assembled in software to produce the human model seen above.

It wasn't quite as simple as just that. There was the matter of creating a watertight 3D model from the data, and even worse:

The main challenge was the complexity of the object to scan. The shapes were very “organic” and hardly compatible with the conventional data treatment process.

Eventually the data was successfully integrated, enabling creation of both video and images. One of the major enablers of this project was the handheld scanner, which could easily move about in the shoot locations.

We're fascinated with this project, because it hints at a future where 3D photographic models might be captured. No, this isn't quite like that, as it was truly a significant effort to create this scene. But the scene itself roughly appears to be a live 3D photograph. We're reminded of the primitive 2D photographs of the mid-19th century. What comes next?

Via Proto3000 (PDF)

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Saturday

Nov282009

Fingers Restored By 3D Scanning

Saturday, November 28, 2009 |

Did you ever take a very close look at your fingers? They are incredibly complex machines, with not only shape and texture, but also motion. Imagine if fate caused the loss of one or more of them?

There are solutions today, such as those produced by Didrick Medical, who make a kind of finger-harness that fits over the hand and implements an "active-function artificial finger prostheses". The design permits a variety of finger loss scenarios to be resolved. This is their "X-Finger" product.

But the problem is in the build. Turns out that everyone's hands and fingers are pretty much unique. Who knew?

Didrick Medical's approach is to custom design each and every X-Finger to perfectly match the recipient. However, as you might suspect, the measurements are very complex, tedious and time consuming.

Enter 3D Laser Scanning from GKS Global Services, who used their equipment and software to gather the necessary 3D modelling data much more quickly than had been done manually. The scanning is done from a cast of the hand, presumably to avoid "twitches".

Once the 3D model is successfully captured and tweaked, SolidWorks takes over and the production process continues as normal. And the fingerless get new fingers.

Via LaserDesign

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Thursday

Nov192009

Real-Time 3D Scanning - With a WebCam!

Thursday, November 19, 2009 |

Researchers at the University of Cambridge have developed a breakthrough technique for vastly simplified 3D scanning. The system, called ProFORMA (Probabilistic Feature-based On-line Rapid Model Acquisition) uses 3D Delaunay tetrahedralisation to transform scanned points into a 3D surface mesh in real time by merely hand-turning an object in front of a webcam!

The video demonstrates the startling potential of this software, which theoretically could run on virtually any home computer.

According to their paper:

ProFORMA uses a fixed video camera to allow on-line reconstruction of objects held in a user's hand. Partial models are generated very quickly and displayed instantly, allowing the user to plan how to manipulate the object's pose in order to generate additional views for reconstruction. We demonstrate how augmented reality can be used to assist the user in view planning, guiding the user to collect new keyframes from desirable views in order to complete and refine the model.

We'd like this rapid scan technique to eventually become a standard feature for home computers, as that would massively simplify some of the difficulties in consumer use of 3D systems.

Via Cambridge University Engineering Department and PhysOrg (Hat tip to Micah)

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Friday

Oct162009

Scan That Prison!

Friday, October 16, 2009 |

Every year a "Mock Prison Riot" takes place at a decommissioned prison in West Virginia. Corrections professionals arrive once per year to undertake training activities, but in order to properly prepare for the event, they have to know something about the prison. Unfortunately, no proper blueprints exist, and participants had to manually measure as much as possible. This process proved largely unworkable.

This year, however, a new approach was taken, in which the entire prison was scanned and converted into a 3D model, using technology from GKS and Valador. They decided to build a 3D "game" environment and provide that to participants instead of a traditional floor plan. This enabled participants to simulate various prison scenarios and generally improve training effectiveness.

A long-range laser scanner was used to capture the information over only 4 days, as this technology can be used for both indoor and outdoor work. The scans were then converted into usable 3D models, and finally into a solid model. Model conversion took some 2 weeks, after which very realistic textures were added to complete the scene. Be sure to check the video to see the results.

Once completed, participants can then run through the 3D model and gain great familiarity with the layout just as if they were physically there.

So we're wondering whether this approach could be used to capture detailed models of arbitrary buildings. Imagine a library of models of famous historical buildings, for example. Having such models would be a small step towards a world where you could quickly print out your own miniature copy of the Roman Colosseum, for example. Or perhaps you require a life-size replica of a parlor at Versailles and need only extract that portion from a 3D model?

We'll settle for just the solitary confinement cell from the prison.

Via GKS

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Wednesday

Aug192009

Build Your Own 3D Scanner?

Wednesday, August 19, 2009 |

You know you want to. Now you can!

There's a relatively straightforward approach for making an inexpensive 3D scanner using stuff you probably are sitting beside right now, and several websites detail methods of doing so, some even including software you can use yourself.

The approach is described by Jean-Yves Bouguet and Pietro Perona of the California Institute of Technology, who propose "shadow scanning". In this approach, a shadow is repeatedly imaged at an extreme angle as it slowly passes over a 3D object. Software interprets the shadow position differences and derives the 3D model. The diagram above explains it a lot better.

Via CalTech and the University of Washington (Hat Tip to Massimo Menichinelli)

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