3D scanning in color - making a mini-me

[Gary_Ash]

For quite a few years, I've been interested in ways to scan a complete car into a 3D computer file at a reasonable cost.  The technology seems to be there, or almost there.  Some weeks ago, we were in Den Haag, Netherlands and visited Madurodam park with my adult daughter and her family.  There was a Fantasitron booth there where my wife and I got scanned by about 100 cameras in a few seconds.  A few weeks later, a 3D model of us in full color arrived at my house.  The scanning is done by taking ~100 photos in a few seconds with digital cameras, not a laser.  The 3D model, about 3.5" high, was printed out by Shapeways in a colored plaster-like material for $54.  The detail is pretty good, might be better in a larger size print, but that could be $200-$400. 

 

I'm encouraged that the photogrammetry process can be used to scan large objects like cars and buildings and produce exact scale models.  If you want a 3D miniature figurine of yourself or family members, try Googling "3D selfie".  There are many places in Europe to get it done but only a few in the U.S. so far.  It will be coming, though.  I also looked at the scanner attachment for iPads and iPhones at www.structure.io .  For $499, they deliver a sensor that attaches to an iPad and Skanect software for scanning almost anything you can imagine, including your car, your dog, inside your home, etc..  As interesting as it looks, you had better be good at computer stuff to use this and have a powerful computer at home.   In principle, you walk around the object and take a normal 2D photo every 10-15 degrees.  It may be necessary to take a series looking down and some looking up, as well as looking into holes and depressions to get all the details.  Perhaps 30-100 photos at 5 megapixels each are needed.  The software then matches the images and creates the 3D model.  This would be a good way to capture and preserve old cars.

 

This seems to be an opportunity for someone to start a business.  Buy the sensor and software, go to car shows, take the needed photos of a car, and deliver a 3D miniature of the car - and its owner.  How much would people pay for this service?  It would probably cost $200-$500 or more, depending on the size of the printed model.  Any interest?  No, I'm not starting such a business, but you can!

 

Here are some photos of the 3.5" high model of me and my wife shown next to some car keys for scale.  My other daughter thought the models were creepy, LOL!

 

 

[Spinneyhill]

Looks like a way to print a casting prototype of an unobtainable part, or even the part itself, if someone has a sample.

[4Hud]

I can't imagine what this field has in store with another 5-10 years of development but it should mean some great things for our hobby.

[JACK M]

This may not be the place to post this but I am going to do it anyway.

It came to me in an email the other day.

Kinda scary.

 

The Exponential Age?

 

 

 

Did you think back in 1998 that 3 years later you would never take pictures on film again?

       

In 1998 Kodak had 170,000 employees and sold 85 % photo paper worldwide.

Within just a few years their business model disappeared and they went bankrupt.

What happened to Kodak will happen in a lot of industries in the next 10 years and, most people  won't see it coming.  

Yet digital cameras were invented in 1975. The first ones only had 10,000 pixels,

but followed Moore's law.  So as with all exponential technologies,

it was a disappointment for a time, before it became way superior

and became mainstream in only a few short years.

It will now happen  again with Artificial Intelligence, health, autonomous and  electric cars,

education, 3D printing, agriculture and jobs. 

Welcome to the  4th Industrial Revolution. 

Welcome to the Exponential Age.       

               

Some believe that software will disrupt most traditional industries in the next 5-10 years.

              

Uber is just a software tool, they don't own any cars, and are now the biggest taxi company in the  world.

                  

Airbnb is now the biggest hotel company in the world, although they don't own any properties.

                     

Artificial  Intelligence:  Computers become exponentially better in understanding the world.

This year, a computer beat the best Go-player in the world, 10 years  earlier than expected.

                            

In the US , many young lawyers are finding it hard to get jobs.

Because of IBM's Watson you can get legal advice (so far for more or less basic stuff) within seconds.

With 90% accuracy compared with 70% accuracy when done by humans.

                                  

Some say there will be 90 % less lawyers in the future.

Only specialists will remain.

              

Watson already helps nurses diagnosing cancer, 

which is 4 times more accurate than human nurses.

              

Facebook now has a pattern recognition software that can recognize faces better than humans.

In 2030 computers will become more intelligent than humans. (NEVER says Albert)

           

Autonomous cars: In 2018  the first self driving cars will appear for the public.

Around 2020 the complete industry will  start to be disrupted.

You may not want to own a car anymore.  You will call a car with your phone,

it will show up at your location and drive you to your destination.

You will not need to park it, you only pay for the driven distance and can be productive while being driven.               

              

Our kids may not need to get a  driver's licence and won't own a car.             

     

It will change the cities,  because we will need 90-95% less cars for that.

We can transform former parking spaces into parks.               

              

1.2  million people die each  year in car accidents worldwide.

We now have one accident every 60,000 miles  ( 100,000  km),

with autonomous driving it's estimated that will drop to 1 accident in 6 million miles

(10 million km). That would save  a   million  lives each  year.                      

    

Some car companies will become bankrupt.

Traditional car companies try the evolutionary approach and just build a better car,

while tech companies like Tesla, Apple, Google will do the revolutionary approach and build a computer on  wheels.                   

              

Many engineers from Volkswagen and Audi are already terrified of Tesla.               

              

Insurance  companies  will have massive trouble  because without accidents,

the insurance will become many times cheaper.

Their car insurance business model may disappear.                

              

Real Estate will change.  Because if you can work while you commute,

people can move further away to live in more beautiful and or cheaper neighborhoods.                         

            

Some predict that electric cars will become  mainstream by about 2020 or so.

If so, cities will be less noisy.               

               

Electricity will become far cheaper and cleaner.

Solar production has been  on an exponential curve for 30 years,

but you can now see the burgeoning impact.               

             

Last year, more solar energy was installed worldwide than fossil. 

Energy companies are desperately trying to limit access to the grid

to prevent competition from home solar installations, but that can't last. 

Technology will take care of that strategy.               

              

With cheap electricity comes cheap and abundant water.  

Desalination of salt water now only needs 2k Wh per cubic meter at 0.25 cents.

We don't have  scarce water in most places, we only have scarce drinking water.

Imagine what will be possible if anyone can have as much clean water as he wants, for nearly no cost.               

   

Health: The Tricorder X price will be announced this year.

There are companies who will build a medical device

(called the " Tricorder " from Star Trek) that works  with your phone,

which takes your retina scan, your blood sample  and you simply  breath into it.               

            

It then analyses 54 bio-markers  that will identify many  diseases. 

It will be cheap, so in a  few years many in remote areas of our planet

will have access to world class cheap medical analysis.

Goodbye medical  establishments?

              

3 D printing: The price of the cheapest 3D  printer came down from  $18,000 to $400 within 10 years.

In the same time, it  became 100 times faster.

All major shoe companies have already started 3D printing  shoes.       

      

Some spare airplane parts  are already 3D printed in remote airports.

The space station now has a printer that eliminates the  need for the large amount of spare parts

they used to have in the past.             

              

At the end of this year, new  smart phones will have 3D scanning possibilities.

You can then 3D scan your feet and print  your perfect shoe at home.               

              

In China they have already 3D printed and built a complete 6 storey office building. 

By 2027 10% of everything that's being produced will be 3D printed.                      

              

Business  Opportunities: If you think of a niche you want to go in, first ask yourself,

"In the future, do I think we will have that?" If the answer is yes,

how can you make that happen sooner? If it doesn't work with your phone, forget the idea. 

And any idea designed for success in the 21st century

may be doomed to failure in the next century...or sooner.

 

Work:   It is estimated that 70-80 % of jobs will disappear in the next 20 years.

There will be a lot  of new jobs,

but it is not clear if there will be enough new  jobs in such a short time. 

This will require a rethink on wealth distribution.

Some communities and nations are already experimenting with guaranteed income "floors'.

 

Agriculture: There will be a $100  agricultural robot in the future. 

Farmers in 3rd world countries can then become managers of their field

instead of working all day on their  fields...many already use drones to detect diseases or dry areas,etc.

 

Aeroponics needs much less water.

The first Petri dish produced veal, is now available and soon will be cheaper than cow-produced veal.

Right now, 30 % of all agricultural surfaces is used for cows. 

Imagine if we don't need that space  anymore...to say nothing about methane gas emissions.

 

.. and, we can go on.

 

The Times They Are A Changing!

[Rusty_OToole]

I'm looking forward to the day we can scan a complete car and 3d print it in metal, paint, rubber, and chrome. Scan a car, correct for wear damage and missing parts and print out a replica. Wouldn't it be nice to be able to buy a brand new 57 Bel Air, 1918 Stutz Bearcat or 1931 Duesenberg for little more than  the cost of materials.

[Terry Bond]

They'll never be able to produce good single malt scotch!

[Walt G]

Terry , I love your comment, couldn't have said it better myself.

[Gary_Ash]

Perhaps no printing of good single malts (alas!), but I looked around on-line a little more for ways to scan a car.  Though it's a bit complicated and requires taking 50-200 photos from all angles, it can be done accurately and in color with several software packages.  One particularly strong and relatively easy contender is Remake from Autodesk, a maker of high-end CAD software.  It's recommended that a digital SLR be used because you can set equivalent ISO film speed (ISO 100-200) and the lens opening (f/11 to f/16), though photos from a smartphone or iPad can be used.  The Remake web site has a large number of examples, including the old GMC pickup at Mac's Sea Garden Restaurant at 208 Margret St in Key West.  I've been there and seen the decrepit truck, so the 3D model looked realistic to me.  You can see the truck on Google maps Streetview for comparison. 

 

See https://gallery.autodesk.com/remake/projects/46433/old-truck?searched

Click on the small button on the right below the picture on the web site (the one with a cube showing), then click and drag to turn the truck around and over.

 

I think I might download the free version of Remake to try it out on one of my cars.  Here's the Remake web site:  https://remake.autodesk.com/about

 

 

[MarrsCars]

@Gary_Ash You have sent me down the rabbit hole! I found this Austin Healey on the same site, some people have even scanned their entire property, homes, outbuildings and stables included!  https://gallery.autodesk.com/remake/projects/46324/austin-healey-3000-cast-model?searched=

[Gary_Ash]

I did download the free version of Remake and installed it on my PC - after Microsoft took an hour or three to do the latest update to Windows 10 Creator. I tried a couple of tests, see that I'll have to practice taking the photos in the right sequence and from the right angles.  The best time to take photos would be just as the sun is setting or on an overcast day to get uniform lighting without harsh shadows.  Remake then uploaded the pictures and processed them, but it takes a while, like 10-15 minutes.  Once I get the hang of this, I'll try a full size car. Here is one quick example of my go kart using about 35 photos taken with my iPhone 6.  The process needs more photos taken from the right positions to capture all the details, but it isn't too bad for a first try.  I had Remake export an .AVI video to show the 3D model from all sides, but that created a 55 MB file, so I turned that into a 3.5MB .MP4 file using Windows MovieMaker.  If this works right, you can click on the .MP4 file and see the model rotate.  One of the iPhone photos is included.

 

Here is the .MP4 video file:

gokart3.mp4

Edited June 15, 2017 by Gary_Ash (see edit history)

[MarrsCars]

3 hours ago, Gary_Ash said:

I did download the free version of Remake and installed it on my PC - after Microsoft took an hour or three to do the latest update to Windows 10 Creator. I tried a couple of tests, see that I'll have to practice taking the photos in the right sequence and from the right angles.  The best time to take photos would be just as the sun is setting or on an overcast day to get uniform lighting without harsh shadows.  Remake then uploaded the pictures and processed them, but it takes a while, like 10-15 minutes.  Once I get the hang of this, I'll try a full size car. Here is one quick example of my go kart using about 35 photos taken with my iPhone 6.  The process needs more photos taken from the right positions to capture all the details, but it isn't too bad for a first try.  I had Remake export an .AVI video to show the 3D model from all sides, but that created a 55 MB file, so I turned that into a 3.5MB .MP4 file using Windows MovieMaker.  If this works right, you can click on the .MP4 file and see the model rotate.  One of the iPhone photos is included.

 

Here is the .MP4 video file:

gokart3.mp4

 

Would you attribute the thinness of the body rails and steering wheel in your video file to light/shadows or how would you remedy that?  The Austin Healey I linked had odd spaces on the body, I can see how reflections could make this difficult to capture, and now that I say (type) that it reminds me that a friend who does 3D scanning for work explained that they often paint reflective items in order to get a good scan... so I may have answered my own question, but still interested in your opinion on your go-kart.   

[Gary_Ash]

That file of the Austin Healey was generated from a very small die cast model, not a life-size car.  That changes the spatial resolution and the way it is presented.  Also, there was more control over lighting than taking photos outdoors.  The results are also affected by how many photos are used and the quality level selected.  To see all of the thin tubes on the go kart, it would take many more photos and the higher quality resolution - which requires that I pay $5 per file.  That would be OK once I learn how to do this well. 

 

I did another practice session this evening just before sunset.  I parked my Jaguar XJ8 on the driveway and shot about 27 photos using a Canon PowerShot Elph 360 digital camera with ISO speed set to 200.  I should have shot more than 50 photos and edited them down to the 50 photos allowed for the free version of Remake.  I got a fair representation of the car, but there were holes, etc. that needed to be filled by manual work, though that was quick and easy in Remake.  There were also many distorted surfaces.  I think it would have been better if I had taken a sequence while standing on a ladder to capture the roof and hood surfaces better.  Remake does state that smooth, shiny surfaces are difficult to capture and render, so maybe no surprise.  I'm still on Day 1 of the learning curve, so I think I will get better eventually.  Here is a .png file of the 3D model.

 

My current PC is a pretty good one, though now 4 years old.  It has an Intel I7 processor, 16 GB of RAM, and an Nvidia GTX 660 video card with 1 GB VRAM.  Even so, it's not enough to generate Remake files offline, as the software requires a video card with >2GB VRAM.  I could buy a new video card for about $230, but what is really needed is a new $3500 PC with 64 GB RAM and a recent video card with 2-4 GB VRAM or more.  It's amazing how many problems are solved by the application of cubic dollars! 

 

  

[mike6024]

Fascinating, how it is done with 2D pictures from many angles, and no laser range measurement.

 

My dentist made a crown for my molar in-house, by taking photos of the ground down nub and the opposing teeth and feeding that into a CNC (Computerized milling machine). Crown was carved out of a block of porcelain by a diamond tipped bit and fit perfect the first time.

 

Surveying companies are going crazy with their laser scanners now. They are scanning all sorts of things that you would not think need to be scanned but there are customers willing to pay for it. The entirety of John Muir's house, a historical place, was scanned inside and out, in case it burns down they will have a record of all dimensions precisely. They are also scanning freeway abutments just to keep a record and scan at a later time to see what shifting has occurred. 

[Bill Stoneberg]

Hmm  I see it is a Windows only platform.  This may make me put Windows on my Mac to try this.

[emjay]

When you sit and think about the processing that is done, it's amazing.  Our 15 year old will shortly start mail order orthodontics.  Starting with a few photos of the current arrangement, they have modeled the entire progression of the teeth movement and then will produce a series of molds to move the teeth.  The process has been around a few years already.

[Restorer32]

So it follows then that your Son's "braces" will be extremely inexpensive, right?

[Rusty_OToole]

I want to print a complete driveable car. I think this has already been done with a simple dune buggy or go kart type design.

[Gary_Ash]

I got some more practice creating 3D models.  We went to the Collings Foundation museum on Saturday, June 17 for their Father's Day events.  This is the only weekend of the year that the museum is open to the public to see the cars, airplanes, and military vehicles.  I picked out a 1946 Studebaker midget racer that used the 170 cu in Champion 6 engine with a dual-carb setup.  There seems to be no way to post the 3D models themselves from Remake, but here is a link to a 15-second "video" of the model I exported as an .AVI file (115 MB) then downsized it to a 7 MB MP4 video at 640x480 pixels.  A photo of the real car is attached below.  There were about 48 photos at 5 MB each to create the model.  Unfortunately, I couldn't get behind the museum's ropes to capture the back of the car and the other angles, but the model isn't too bad.

 

Video:  http://www.studegarage.com/images/video/midget_racer3.mp4