Thursday, March 20, 2014

#40@40 Mini Me

So I had this idea. Another case of trying something out which is uncommon now but in the future nobody will even think around, getting something printed on a 3D printer.

As luck would have it I happen to find out that ASDA was running a trial touring printing service at its different branches where you could go and get yourself scanned and they would print out a small model of you for 60 quid.

A trip out to ASDA in Dagenham had me standing in a large white tent by a cigarette kiosk watching a technician scanning one of the security guards. After filling out some forms it was my turn. The trick with getting a good scan was get a comfortable stance and then don't move and you don't have to fix your smile before the end as they come back and do that bit last.

So the technician was slowing walking around me with a white box which took a thousand or so digital photographs. All the while the scanner knew its position and orientation so afterwards software can compile all the pictures into one complete scan. Apparently it all gets built up on a wired frame and then they tidied up a bit before the thing is printed. The technician backed up the scans with some ordinary digital pictures of my face at the end so they could get the details right. He also took pictures of areas which had more detail such as my hands. He said it all gets sent away for alot of preprocessing and then a file is sent to the printers.

The print process is a bit of mystery but I think its to do with heating a points in a bath of ceramic powder which is then cleaned off to give the finished colour model with the colour details printed straight onto the surface.

So two weeks later I was back in the store and a had in my hands a little statue of me. The detailing is really quite good and when the thing is standing on my windowsill its really quite spooky from across the room. It's definitely me!


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