So, what is the first thing you do when you hear something like this? You go online and you try it! Well guess what? If you type: “Creaform 3d scanner” 7 out of the first 10 results point to www.creaform3d.com! Does this mean Google considers Creaform as big of a brand as Apple? Possibly… I’ll let you be the judge of that!

Creaform considered as big as Apple by Google?

In the meantime, if you wish to learn more about Creaform, please visit our website!

The 3D heat wave then soon wild spread to customer electronics, and entertainment industry. Even though the 3D format is yet to be common to all the consumers, the war has quietly begun between all the electronic giants such as Sony, Panasonic, and Samsung. The major players in consumer electronics are beginning to show off their latest 3D TV, 3D Blu-Ray player with their own proprietary eyewear and 3D ready cameras (which will be compatible with their 3D TV). As a key player with his feet crossing into multiple industries, Sony is planning big for 3D and ready for the battle this year.  Sony might not be the first manufacturer getting their 3D gears out on the market, but Sony is slowly but firmly getting its own 3D gene into all their product lines. As promised, there will be around 20 3D titles for Playstation 3 before March 2011; all gamers will be able to enjoy the jaw dropping gaming experience at home with its own 3D TV. Better yet, Sony promised to update its Playstation 3 console to be 3D ready at September.  Sony’s newly invention in its Alpha DSLR line (NEX) will also be able to capture 3D panoramic pictures to be display onto their own 3D TV.

Moreover, the biggest news announced at 2010’s E3 is Nintendo 3DS. According to engadgets editors who have attained the show, the result is absolutely amazing on its own 3.53” high resolution LCD. The 3D effect is astonishing and the screen could allow user to adjust how deep the 3D effect looks. This portable gaming device is also capable of taking 3D pictures with the equipped duo cameras on the cover. This will be the cheapest consumer grade 3D camera which will enable user to take 3D ready pictures and view it or licensed 3D photo frames.

To wrap up, 3D is surely getting itself into our daily life like a storm. I believe we are all exciting ready for this change, and it will for sure make our live more exciting.

BTW: At Creaform Montreal office we also have a 3D laptop made by Sharp lying in house! It is by far the first consumer grade3D laptop that is equipped with a 15” color 3D display. No glasses required!

Benefits of MOCAP:

• Faster than traditional animation (Key frame-based animation)
• Complex movement and realistic physical interaction, it is easy to capture
• Movement precision
• Cost reduction for movies or video games work flow

The MOCAP methods started with a photogrammetric analysis tool. When you use Motion Capture, the person has to wear markers near each joint of his body to identify the movement by angles or positions between the targets. The markers are the acoustics, the inertial, the light-emitting diode (LED), the magnetic or the reflective markers, or combination of all of theses.

I think with the new technologies you can achieve perfect details to make video games and movies more realistic. Let’s check a video to better understand the impact of motion capture!

This new ground breaking technology is brining the traditional rapid prototyping (RP) to a whole new level and the current practical applications of this project include commercial (outdoor) and industrial part modeling (guess the ice hotel in Quebec will be greatly interested in this project!). In fact, according to the official site this new environmental friendly method will improve the labour intensive ice construction industry with today’s computer technology.

BEHIND THE SCENE

The project was originally done by retrofitting the FAB@HOME model 1 desktop robot and then replaced with Adept Cobra 600 robot (also modified to suit the project requirements) which offers faster and more accurate result.

FAB@HOME Model 1 desktop robot                          Adept Cobra 600 robot

See the robots in action and more pictures
In fact, the future scope of the project will be expanded to the architectural level which means by using bigger robots and artificial snow delivering system; it is possible to construct buildings, and large structures from a simple computerized 3D model!

This project stemmed from a fascinating archaeological finding of a thousand year old Viking belt buckle. Andreas Johansson from Länsmuseet Halmstad lent us the magnificent artifact that had been found in Kungälv close to Gothenburg in Sweden.

They decided to evaluate a method of duplicating archaeological artifacts and create copies that would be as accurate as possible – down to surface color and texture.

In VxScan 3.1, we introduced geometrical entities, which could be created directly from the scanned surface or based on other entities. These entities are mainly designed for alignment with external coordinate systems, but also provide basic inspection results, as we can see below.

VxScan 4.0 introduces a new construction method for these entities: probing. If there is a HandyPROBE system installed on this machine, the probing button will appear in the toolbar.

When the Probing mode is active, the default construction mode becomes probing and the HandyPROBE system can be controlled directly from VxScan. Both systems will share the same coordinate system, it will be possible to probe directly planes, lines, circles, spheres, points and polylines aligned with the scan data.

As you can see, we can also get basic inspection results that will allow to complete simple inspection routines. The goal is not to replace a fully fledged metrology software but rather to allow the HandyPROBE system collaborate better with our other systems.

VxScan 4.0 is available for all customers with an active maintenance contract and can be downloaded directly from the support zone of Creaform’s website.

Check this out! Louis-Philippe Gendron, Computer Graphics Artist at Creaform, has produced a short animated film featuring a full-size 3D scan model of the Inukshuk that served as inspiration to the creator of the logo for the 2010 Olympic Winter Games in Vancouver.

This reproduction of an Inuit landmark, which is quite impressive (18 ft. or 6 meters tall) , was scanned on site last December. This is a good example of how real-life objects can be easily and perfectly “virtualized” and used in a wide variety of multimedia productions.

ACCURACY AND RESOLUTION IMPROVEMENT

When we think of future laser scanning, first thing that comes in mind is an accuracy and resolution improvement. But this is not the big deal…

 First parameters to consider are from an engineering point of view and are limited by price and engineering capabilities. Structural rigidity of the scanner itself has virtually no limitations if we consider new materials (ceramics) and new geometries (thermo stablility, stiffness etc). Cameras are getting more and more pixels and optics gets very high quality (price will surely lower with time).

 When talking about accuracy the real problem comes from physics limitations. This is what will ultimately stop accuracy improvement. Since surface geometry is acquire from laser light, first physical limitation to consider is wavelength of laser. Actually there is a physic theorem that states it is impossible to observe details smaller than wavelength used. Right now lasers used in 3D scanning are all visible light (between 400 and 700 nm). Maybe future laser scanners will use shorter wavelength such as UV?

 Another limitation comes from light interaction with matter. When light passes close to a sharp edge it is diffracted making the laser line to split into diffraction patterns. Light is not always reflected on the first layer of atoms of the material (what is the physical boundary between an object and space surrounding it anyway?). These considerations make it really hard to estimate the maximum accuracy achievable. Moreover when entering the physical considerations, it seems that material composition could affect precision itself.

 FORESEEN IMPROVEMENTS FOR 3D LASER SCANNING

 For 3D scanning used in Reverse Engineering (RE) and Inspection, we can foresee that the real next major evolution step will be live features recognition. Intelligent software improvement would permit to recognize, in real time, the actual geometry that is scanned. This could permit automatic reconstruction for RE, automatic alignment with CAD when inspecting and moreover it could eliminate needs for targeting! Imagine that the software recognize the parts it is scanning as a solid object: it would make it possible for the software to know where measurement is actually being taken on the part. This is truly artificial intelligence, but new development in this area (3D object reconstruction from pictures) forecast real developments right on the corner.

 Who will be first to release such technology?

TOOLS

Leica C10 long range scanner combine with Handyscan 3D Technology makes the perfect tool for boat reverse engineering, repairs, modifications and more… We recently developed a simple process that now permits to import data from scanners to a ShipConstructor compatible file format.

PROCESS

1. Scan – Long range scanning is used to acquire general outlines at large scale. One scan can get data as far as 300 meters! Handyscan 3D is used to acquire detailed in specific areas with higher accuracy

2. Post treatment – Long range scanners output point clouds that must be converted into an .stl. Handyscan 3D technology output an stl right away, a valuable feature that saves time.

 3. Cross sectioning – Once alignment of scans from long range and Handyscan 3D is performed using references it is then possible to slice stl data into cross sections. Reverse Engineering with help of NavWare based in Old Quebec City, we demonstrated Ship Constructor allow importing .dwg, .iges or .step cross sections and use them as references or sketches to create CAD data. Number and positions of different cross sections can be modified and new cross sections can be generated at any time during the reverse engineering process.

 Moreover unique capability for Creaform to merge Handyscan 3D data to long range scanner point cloud can provide a solution to any projects involving complex geometry.