

3D Scanner Recreates Real-Life Objects on the Computer Screen - kkleiner
http://singularityhub.com/2009/07/29/3d-scanner-recreates-real-life-objects-on-the-computer-screen/

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noonespecial
I wonder what ugly intellectual property issues will be dredged up when I can
just copy, xerox-style, any small physical object I can stick in front of my
$3000 scanner.

The end of scarcity in the physical world will make the upheaval the
entertainment industry faced at the hands of the internet seem like an
argument at a PTA meeting.

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smhinsey
It seems like it is a bit of a leap from this to anything with an internal
mechanism, which you'd have to disassemble and scan piecemeal, as far as I can
tell.

That said, one step closer to the matter replicator, which is great news to
me.

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noonespecial
Watch the "Jays Garage" video on the page where they print a _working_
crescent wrench and an even more amazing working model of a steam engine, no
assembly required. Its closer than you think.

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smhinsey
Thanks for pointing that out, it's definitely interesting and I have the bad
habit of tending to skip videos.

What I meant by having to do it piecemeal was the scanning though, not the
printing. I suppose in a world where you could simply download the whole CAD
plan for whatever you want that doesn't matter much.

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anigbrowl
I am enthused. For a turnkey package $3k is very competitive - if I had the
cash etc. etc. I'm not sure what I think of their 'HD pro' option - spend
another $995 and get 2x speed and 4x resolution! such crippleware is begging
to be hacked. Also cant' tell how their $995 CAD offering (NURBS and other 3d
goodness) stacks up against the internal performance of other 3d packages.
Anyhoo...

One reason I like this is that I've always loved film special effects, but
have been disappointed by the recent trend towards CG-everything. I personally
do not enjoy 3d modeling at all. But with this, we might see a resurgence of
the (nearly) lost art of miniature building for film and video and now gaming.
In general I think it's way faster to sculpt from real materials and scan the
result than to do the same thing in a modeling package for all but the
simplest items.

For hacker purists, here's a page about going DIY...
<http://www.chromecow.com/MadScience/3DScanner/3DScan.htm>

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gfodor
This has actually been out a while now, pretty awesome tech. I interviewed at
NextEngine a few years ago, and they wouldn't tell me what they were working
on -- I had to guess based upon their interview questions (about 3d matrix
transformations, etc) -- I did manage to come close and guess it was a 3d
scanner in box!

