My head is a 3D scan

Last week, my wife Alice and I stopped into MakerBot Industries, the DIY 3D printing company in Brooklyn, and got our heads scanned. The MakerBotters covered us in cornstarch (so that the laser-scanner could resolve our hair and eyebrows) and waved this crazy, six-degrees-of-freedom laser-scanning wand around us until we had been turned into polygons. Now our heads are online in Thingiverse, along with many others who happened to pass through MakerBot's doors while they had the scanner on the premises (it was a loaner). It's no Stephen Colbert head, but it's mine, and I'm (cautiously) excited about what the world ends up doing with it!

New York Notables « MakerBot Industries

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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boo

Frankly, because of the blurriness (not so impressed with the resolution), it looks like a kinder, gentler you.

Perhaps the one that your family sees while you rant at the rest of us. :}
PaulR

No goggles? No cape? No high-altitude balloon?
Anonymous

i made this. no idea what it means (or whether hotlinked facebook image is acceptable here!) but https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-ash4/252476_10150272597253659_772503658_8899570_2549209_n.jpg
nanuq

Er, Cory. I don’t think this is what people meant when they said you should have your head examined.
Anonymous

Can you grow Chia greens on it??
alowishus

Call me macabre, but I want a 3D model of my own skull.
billstewart

Can you grow Chia greens on it?
knoxblox

Judging by what we now know about the Greek sculpture of antiquity, you should definitely paint it.
andyhavens

First thing… add glasses. I hardly recognize you without the specs.
Anonymous

Alternate article title “MakerBot Industries Gives Good Head.”
shanealeslie

Better hope that the Realdoll people don’t get hold of a copy…
Cactaur

Mass produce them to replace those worn out Guy Fawkes masks.
Ratio

Your head was not “online in the thingiverse” already?
Gulliver

Excellent. Soon I’ll have a full plastic set of my favorite pundits, and then…I’ll have a full plastic set of my favorite pundits. Bwahaha!!!

Incidentally, is any one else waiting for the day when members of Congress tweet personalized dildos to 3D faxes?
ThomDowting

I had the same reaction now as I did when I saw Stephen Colbert’s statuette. Brilliant! BUT… the technology isn’t quite there yet. What I mean to say is, if I saw this statuette by itself I wouldn’t be able to just look at it and say “Hey, that’s Cory Dotorow.” Same thing goes for Colbert’s. There simply isn’t enough definition to make a positive identification without prompting, i.e. “take a look at this statue of Stephen Colbert”.

Tl;dr: Does anyone know whether the lack of detail in the statuette is due to limitations inherent in the scanning or printing process or both?
Anonymous

use to make negative mold then fill with chocolate. Viola! Chocolat cory to replace Chocolate bunnies for Easter! Brilliant!!
Anonymous

Nice image and the article posted really inspiring
Anonymous

Hey ThomDowting, for a high resolution concept, see http://www.ShapeShot.com. The dimensional capture quality is amazing and the high res color is even better.

Combine with ever improving ’3D printing’ and you really have something.

Meanwhile many apps will stay virtual, think “you in a video game” so color image quality is key.
- ThomDowting
  
  Hey Anon –
  
  I took a look at the link on thingiverse and it seems like the STL file rendered by the image capture “wand” is pretty detailed. Far more detailed than the statuette. This makes me think that the capturing technology is up to snuff but that the 3D printer’s “resolution” is not quite ready for prime time. Think way back when to the days of dot matrix. I give it 5 years before the tech is mature and instead of easy bake ovens kids are clamoring for one of these puppies. Soon to be followed by a deluge of lawsuits from Mattel(R) and Lego(R) who have started to really sweat how copies of their intellectual property are allowing pirates to reproduce their toys and products in the comfort of their own homes. It will get kind of Matrix-y when the RIAA’s copyright claims start to hit the meat-o-verse.
bobbcorr

Ideas on my list: Cake topper for very large cake, doorstop, trebuchet ammunition, hat rack, Clever Thing to See Poking Out from the Ground in a Graveyard, garden decoration. I’m leaning towards the last one.
Anonymous

I’m wondering how long it will be before people start combining hi-resolution 3D ultrasound with rapid prototyping to produce pre-birth baby sculptures
- ahmacrom
  
  Or ultra detailed fetuses jutting out of anti-abortionist signs….
  but what I’m really waiting for is what the XXX industry will use with this technology. Those dolls are gonna look sweet ! C’mon ! You know that’s what their doing…
Max

If you want a 3d body scan in the uk, a friend of mine does them. Mainly for ladies to buy clothes but equally applicable for men. Google “tailored for you”. She is based near Swindon but travels the country with the scanner.
Apologies for the shameless advert!
- Tzctboin
  
  So riddle me this: then sned people to scan you, so they can use your body scan to make clothes….
  
  Would it no be simpler to, you know, just take your measures?
  
  There are several East Asian tailors that do this now (just measuring you properly) and the results are fab.
  
  I fail to see the usefulness of the body scan, unless you could send it to companies around the world and they would send your clothes back, but even then I think it is over kill, you only need a tailor that knows how to take measures.
- Anonymous
  
  i didn’t know people were doing this already, that’s actually pretty cool
Gary61

The image is a bit blurry (as previously noted), and that’s because the camera was using a type of ‘sonar’ to ‘see’ and gauge the focal length distance.
But, as is well known, Cory is generally ‘stealthed’ (to keep no-good-niks from spotting him), and that rendered it hard for the camera to accurately gauge the focal distance – hence, the blurry image.
The F-117A Stealth Fighter had the same issues with their promo photography, for the same reasons.
BTW – I don’t think Colbert is all that funny (my tastes run to Jon Stewart) – but Cory is chock full of awesomeness!
BTBTW – no, I’m not gay. I just enjoy the man’s posts and books and mindset.
BTBTBTW – Carry on.
Anonymous

Needs glasses. Can someone print out a copy of those too?
mccrum

Look at this banana-colored Cory Doctorow. Just look at it!
Anonymous

I design surgical instruments. One project over a decade ago would have been for sinus surgery. So how do you check to see if you can get in there and get the job done? Cadaver! I was not looking forward to that.

My suggestion was to use off the shelf software that converts MRI and CAT scan data to CAD. It’s pretty common for surgery planning, especially custom cranial facial implants. Think reconstructive surgery. Scan the undamaged side, mirror the data, voila!

The project was canceled early on, but I even planned on having scans of everyone on the team. Easier to get their permission than get patient data.

Really intriguing was the possibility of digital test surgery on patients with real problems. Cadavers are luck of the draw kind of thing. But being able to test using data from people with the actual problems we wanted to solve would have been fantastic!
Avram / Moderator

Someone needs to splice in some mouse ears.
- Anonymous
  
  http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:9294
  
  I just did it. It’s C-O-R-Y D-O-C-T-O-R-O-W.
  - Cory Doctorow
    
    GENIUS!
John Farrier

Soon, we will each be able to own a Cory, customized to individual taste.
In Blue

Get that thing printed stat!

Soon you will notice that every time that you look away from the statue, it will nudge itself closer to you. What ever you do, do not blink. It’s imperative!
Gulliver

Incidentally, these templates can be edited to produce, say, a multi-headed monster, right?
emmdeeaych

The future or BUST!!