They're working on it .... Here's a paper on the possibility of creating multiple views from a single one Well beyond me technically and all very probabilistic at this time, but interesting that it is being considered at such a high computational level. Inferring 3D Shapes and Deformations from Single Views - PDF (2.2 mbs) Regards ...
Cee, well beyond me too but I have saved the attachment for future study. Quite mind-blowing really. M
Pablo Garcia uses profilography and 3d printing to create unique experimental art pieces. Profilograph (after Muybridge) - Vimeo Profilograph (after Dürer) - Vimeo Regards ...
Hi Ross, how do you use a b & q laser to scan your model? Here's a picture of a model soldier's head that I was doing for a game, i think it would 3d print up well. The other one is a 3d model of a Sunderland.
This guy built a 3d Pieta from a couple of reference photos, he must have been mad to even start the project but his work is pretty incredible. http://forums.cgsociety.org/showthread.php?t=231722
Sorry Bob missed your question about the laser first time round and you may have found this out already. As long as it has a line generation lens then quick and dirty results can be done in David by just holding above the camera and sweeping up and down the subject by hand. David has a display which shows the contour of the point cloud as it is built up. You can change the position of the laser during the build up of the scan to "paint" areas originally in shadow then stop, process and save the scan. The movement by hand results in a slight ripple effect but this can be smoothed out in processing with a slight loss in detail. The usual next step is to get a clockwork egg timer and strap the laser onto this. When set off it sweeps the laser across the subject in a more consistent manner giving much smaller ripples which need less smoothing and hence less detail loss. I've progressed through these steps to a stepper motor which I can set up to accurately repeat the sweep. This means that I only need to calibrate once. As long as the angle between camera and laser is fixed I can then remove the calibration panes and just move round the subject. David also supports Structured Light Scanning where the laser is replaced with a video projector to throw a series of black and white lines on the subject. Not quite as accurate as Laser but much quicker scan results for things that twitch, eg heads. Regards Ross
For Blake's 7 fans, here's a 3D model I made of the DSV Liberator. Nothing to shout home about these days, but this was originally done back in 1995 running Autodesk 3D Studio on an MS-DOS based PC. I was never much cop at texturising and prefered the modelling side of things. The second image was rendered a year or two later in an early version of 3DS Max running on Windows NT 4.0 if I remember correctly. I'll post my Dalek model if I can find an image of it.
Still can't find my Dalek model but a couple of other Dr Who related ones. Both modelled in 3D Studio in the mid-1990s. Would be nice to be able to 3D print them.
What size Tardis would you want? The basic rules at the moment seem to be, no thinner than a mill and all models have to be closed, with all normals aligned outwards. So if you had a cube let's say and you cut a hole in one of its surfaces, then that wouldn't print. That's because the wall o the cube is infinitely thin. To get a print you'd need to make the walls of the cube thicker by at least a mill.
Not sure really Bob. I guess it's very expensive to get a model printed out? Presumably charged by size or volume? If the model was say 15cm high, do you know what sort of cost that would be? My original meshes probably need a lot of work to make them suitable for printing as well. Lee
I suppose you could make something that all model makers would like to have and sell those on the shapeways site. That should cover your costs for something unusual. If you look at the stuff being sold it's not that brilliant, in terms of modeling skill, just very small. http://www.shapeways.com/materials?li=nav
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-24449951 some great examples here, in metal http://www.bathsheba.com/math/ http://makezine.com/2007/05/17/bathsheba-grossman-back-a/
I've been playing around with 3D printing this year, mostly to model the running gear for a 1/6th Cromwell. And here are some results... First up the track links... Sprockets, roadwheels and idlers can all be seen here... http://www.onesixth.co.uk/vb4forum/showthread.php?5-Building-a-British-Cromwell-Tank-Mk-IV&p=34763&viewfull=1#post34763
There must be a bit of a quiet revolution going on in large scale modelling with this stuff, OG. I find the above absolutely fascinating. (And your Cromwell's looking rather fantastic.)
OG, I have just spent the last hour reading the last few pages of your 1/6th Cromwell project (from the above link) and I am in awe of your skills and attention to detail. I will have to go back and read the thread from the start to appreciate the whole story. Brilliant model engineering.
Thank you both for the nice comments, I had meant to post a couple of these pics earlier but as always time is at a premium. But I was sure that you'd all appreciate them for the sheer beauty of what can be acheived with 3D printing. I had these printed via Shapeways and if you've read the original thread you'd know that it's all still too expensive to print all the various parts to assemble a complete set of running gear. So the best that can be done is to get one copy of each part and then mold and cast as many as is needed! Still, it does mean that you can get pretty accurate pieces that would otherwise be unavailable. Let's face it, anyone who build models knows how difficult it has always been to get good Allied stuff, all the German stuff you want and even some failry obscure German stuff before you ever get basic British equipment. It's even worse in 1/6th scale, so 3D printing means we no longer have to wait and hope someone takes pity on us!
I was talking to a guy on a message board, who did a lot of 3d modeling for a headstone company. He would build a 3d model of a gravestone and the company would mill out the stone from the virtual model. Our chat was about whether displacement maps could be used, they can, and also the interesting point that you can get a hologram printed off, from a virtual model. Perhaps you could find an architectural model making company, with a mini milling machine, who can make some components at lower prices than 3d laser printing.