Science Fiction
Dictionary
A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z
 |
DAVID Freeware Laser Range Scanning
DAVID is a freeware program that allows anyone with a PC, a webcam, a background corner and a laser to create three-dimensional scan of an object.
(DAVID 3D scanning set-up)
Start by calibrating the corner background; then put your object in front of it. One great money-saver with DAVID is that you can just hold the laser source in your hand.
The special thing about our solution is that you freely hold the laser in your hand, "brushing" the laser line over the object. Meanwhile the computer automatically calculates 3D coordinates of the scanned object surface.
The system shows your "brush strokes" with the laser (see screen shot below after 15 seconds of scanning). (Note that this is not the bust of Beethoven shown above.)
(DAVID 3D scan results)
After post-filtering, you see something a bit clearer.
(DAVID 3D scanning set-up)
The finished image can be rotated and is complete, if you succeeded in brushing the entire object with the laser. I'm assuming that you may need to turn the object around and repeat the process and combine the images to get a complete 360 degree view.
(DAVID 3D scan post-filtered)
I was fascinated by the description of the process as "brushing" the object with a laser. In Jack Vance's 1964 novel The Houses of Iszm, the paranoid Iszic would put every visitor to their planet through an exacting biometric identification system.
"On the gray disk, Farr Sainh - palms forward, eyes wide."He stood rigid as feeler-planes brushed down his body. In a glass dome a three-dimensional simulacrum of himself six inches high took form. Farr inspected it sourly.
(Read more about feeler-planes)
The feeler-planes were capable of producing a three-dimensional model detailed right down to the fingerprints - the tri-type record.
Read more about the DAVID Laserscanner 3D image software via VCTB.
Scroll down for more stories in the same category. (Story submitted 1/25/2007)
Follow this kind of news @Technovelgy.| Email | RSS | Blog It | Stumble | del.icio.us | Digg | Reddit |
Would
you like to contribute a story tip?
It's easy:
Get the URL of the story, and the related sf author, and add
it here.
Comment/Join discussion ( 2 )
Related News Stories - (" Input Device ")
MIT Headset Lets You Communicate Without Speaking
'The subvocal read nerve signals, letting her enter words by just beginning to will them...' - David Brin, 1990.
Tongue Mouse Created By Valve Engineer
'He pressed hard with his tongue against his right upper first molar.'- Alfred Bester, 1956.
Skinput Uses Your Skin As An Input Device
Nifty input technology takes advantage of your biggest organ to provide you with easy input.
AcceleGlove Open-Source Data Glove
This device was developed at great expense by your government, and now you can have one at a very reasonable price; developers use Java to program it.
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!) is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for the Invention Category that interests you, the Glossary, the Invention Timeline, or see what's New.
Science Fiction
Timeline
1600-1899
1900-1939
1940's 1950's
1960's 1970's
1980's 1990's
2000's 2010's
Current News
Don't Want To Wear A TIght Shiny Bodysuit?
'He looked a good bit like an elderly, fat beetle.'
Light Society: Simulates Earth-Scale Society With A Billion AI Agents
'The king, an old hand in the running of tyrannies, instantly grasped the directions...'
Satyress Centaur Robot Horror Reminds Everyone Of Something
'Fess was very dutiful'
When Colds Threaten You Can't Do This - Or Can You?
'...a hemispherical force field enclosing his head.'
Beautiful Visualization of Dawn Spacecraft
'Then he became aware of a gentle pressure pushing him away from the ship.'
Biological War: A Scenario
'And now they wre busily transforming all their companions, and so on, and so on...'
Pole-Dancing Stripperbot Robot
'Why, a clockwork dancer, or, better still, one that would go by electricity and never run down...'
Collective Superintelligence Is At Hand!
'Maybe the individual intelligence of each Cubic pools into a group intelligence...'
Instant Journalists: Ordinary People With Cell Phones
'We'll show them whose planet this is!'
Health Kiosk Has No Human Doctor
'The electronic body analyzer had been developed...'
Meta's Horizon Studio's Unique Avatars From Text Prompts
'Looks like she has bought the Avatar Construction Set and put together her own...'
VaMEx Biomimetic Mars Robot Inspired By Skink
'Across the ground something small and metallic came, flashing in the dull sunlight of midday.'
NEO Brain Computer Interface (BCI)
'The remains of the lace took on the rough shape of a brain...'
Did Frank Herbert Predict Bistable Displays Like E-Ink?
'A broken circle with arrows pointing to a right-hand flow appeared in the chalf.'
Monolith One Giant Industrial Metal 3D-printer
'The object seemed melted together like wax — nothing was distinguishable.'
'Mooncrete' Lunar Regolith Concrete (LRC)
'And here they began to build...'
