That staple of fun fairs and railway stations the photo
booth which only recently was made redundant by the phone camera is set to make
a comeback. In its new configuration it will create a digital file suitable for
3D printing.
Luxembourg’s Artec Group rolled
out its first Sharpify
Booth in June at a supermarket in Trafford Park, Manchester, England. In October
Artec demonstrated the technology in the US at the “Inside 3D Printing" conference in
Santa Clara, Calif.
A 12 second full
body rotating scan in the booth can produce a file suitable for a 6 to 9 inch
sculpture. If Artec are chosen to print the figurine the scan is free and a
full colour self replica is estimated to cost between $99 and $199 depending on
size. Should the customer have their own 3D printer, which is not unlikely now
that home 3D printers cost less than $1000, the scan will cost $20.
Artec also has a software package called Sharpify Pro that
allows owners of Xbox Kinect game
boxes to scan themselves at home which can be printed on their own 3D printer.
In their
marketing material Artec claim “Shapies are perfect for capturing life's
milestones in 3D figurine form like birthdays, graduations, a wedding,
pregnancy, or even this year's awesome Halloween costume."
As the technology
advances this may well become the method of choice for professional sculptors.
In July the Indiana based 3D printer manufacturer, SeeMeCNC, claim
to have built the world’s largest 3D printer capable
of printing objects up 3 meters (10 feet) high.
But for the uber
cool the latest desk/mantelpiece ornament may come from New Zealand’s Brainform who are
offering to print a model of a customer’s brain from a supplied MRI scan.
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