Medical imaging technologies such as the CT and MRI create sets of 2D slices. There are various ways to reconstruct these 2D slices into 3D models. Generally each of these slices were taken at a known distance apart. Imaging software can create   a simple 3D structure by placing each of these images that known distance apart in 3D space and thereby create a 3D model out of 2D images. This model can be further analyzed by doing a “volume rendering” in which internal objects with different grey scale values are separated into different 3D components.

The following is an image of a 3D model of the brain and eyeballs created in a free software called OsiriX:

Source for image and information: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_scanner

I think this technic is interesting because it represents the internal rather than producing an empty shell of the surface of the object.

I also came across the artist Marlene Oliver  who works almost exclusively in 3D medical imaging technologies.

For my origami  project I modeled three pyramids in rhino, unfolded them in pepakura and printed them out in two different materials on the laser cutter.

These are cut out of handmade paper:

These were made with stonehedge with rasters:

This technique utilizes a Kinect, the Processing Language, and RhinoCAM. You need the OpenKinect libraries I found made by Daniel Shiffman. It is very simple and he even has an example code that does the kinect ‘finding’ for you. Then using some alterations so that Processing will export a DXF file for you to run in rhino, you can import the file into Rhino like this .

There are some drawbacks from such a powerful tool. first is that you need to “stitch” the individual DXF files together in rhino as if they were point cloud models. The only way I can see fixing this is to try and use multiple Kinect s at once and modifying your code in processing. Another drawback is resolution. From what I’ve seen, it won’t give a splitting image of someone. That being said, this way of 3D scanning is great in that you can easily do this on your own as long as you have background in processing/java , rhino, and some fiddling with a Kinect.

Overall, just check it out and try it for yourself.

LASER SCANNING

• E.G.: Konical/Minolta VIVID 9i 3D Laser Scanner, or VIVID 910
• Leica HDS3000 HDS3000: The first “surveyor-friendly” 3D scanner
• 3dlaserscanning: blog with practical information

STRUCTURED LIGHT

• Structured Light: Overview on Wikipedia
• MadMapper: popular commercial software for artists for space-scanning + projection mapping

IMAGE CORRELATION

• 123Catch: Free service by Autodesk
• “NEW LOW-COST 3D SCANNING TECHNIQUES FOR CULTURAL HERITAGE DOCUMENTATION” by Reznicek and Pavelka
• “Photo tourism: exploring photo collections in 3D” by Snavely, Seitz and Szeliski (2006, University of Washington/Microsoft Research).  see also this paper on comparison of techniques

KINECT

• ReconstructMe: free-hand walk-around model space
• KinectFusion: Microsoft solution (see also this demo on YouTube)
• RGBDSLAM: point clouds from RGBD (see also this evaluation paper/PowerPoint)

RESOURCES

• 3d Scanning in Wikipedia
• Center for Advanced Spatial Technologies: Documentation of numerous historic projects/sites

This holder is designed possibly as a fruit basket or table ornament.  The joints are waffle notch joints.  I wanted to experiment between the CNC router and vacuum former in the dFAB lab.  I was impressed with the variety of forms that developed out of each pocket of the waffled structure as the plastic formed and cooled.

My 3D print works were explorations into the Rhino 4.0 command “FlowAlongSrf”.  This unique command takes three dimensional geometry and uses a reference surface to warp that same geometry into the shape of the target surface.  My first goal was to create complex interlocking chains to print in plastic.  After that I decided to push the limits of the plaster printer through the same process of warping geometries to other surfaces.

The creation is laser cut cardboard and acrylic.  The cardboard rotates inside the acrylic to reveal a storage cavity.  A stand was created as an improvement to the overall design.

• Identify a 2D or 3D scanning technique for creating digitally represented models of physical objects
• Identify the unique strengths as well as the short comings of the above technique
• Create a blog post that 1) explains the technique, 2) shows some examples (embed), 3) lists the strengths/shortcomings, 4) gives linkes/references for further research

A presentation about a soft robot.

https://docs.google.com/presentation/pub?id=1VxhogTbpFGvAwFr5in9Zi1zCKdV7h7xs558NVb1YNIQ&start=false&loop=false&delayms=15000