[Work] 3D scanning

excerpts from
Picture Perfect Modeling

What else limits the penetration of 3D scanning? "In a word, cost," says Edward Anderson, program manager with Air Products, Inc., of Pensacola, Florida, who uses 3D scanning devices in managing repairs and updates in process plant environments. "We have to make capturing the data so cheap that the return on investment can be calculated in months or weeks, not years. Plus, when the field data can be turned automatically into a 3D model via software, then the cost will really come down, and this work process will boom."


There are many frontiers in 3D photography, and many problems to be solved. Pre-cision measurements are difficult to make, accurate scanning devices are expensive and bulky, and processing techniques are time consuming. No single scanning method dominates the field, and no single manufacturer has captured the marketplace. "The opportunities are vast," says Lyle Shirley, an optical physicist and president of Dimensional Photonics Inc., a Massachusetts-based 3D imaging start-up company. "But the applications for accurate 3D imaging systems are unlimited."

What does all this development in 3D scanning and processing mean for the professional user of 3D photography? Will inexpensive commercial 3D cameras eventually become off-the-shelf commodities that are as easy to use as traditional cameras? This technology certainly has the potential to bring low-cost 3D desktop scanning to the professional market, a goal many researchers have dreamed about and worked toward for years. "A 3D imaging system coupled with a stereolithographic printer or rapid prototyping device would enable both 3D fax machines and 3D copy machines," declares Shirley. The concept of a high-precision single-box 3D scanning device is an exciting idea. It's the 3D camera of the future, and a picture we look forward to seeing.