One of the projects with enormous potential is to print working body parts that could get around the problems of finding organ donors. Other uses that are already a reality are industrial components, bicycles and even whole houses.
So I guess the 3D selfie, although of more questionable value, was inevitable.
One company, DOOB 3D, will take your picture and create a detailed figurine that is an exact likeness of you.
To manufacture the figurine in your likeness, DOOB 3D uses a room size scanning booth containing 54 DSLRs, 54 lenses, a complex 3D modelling system and an $80,000 colour 3D printer.
Each booth, called a DOOB-LOCATOR, has the cameras arranged in nine columns of six cameras each.
After getting in their pose, all the cameras fire at once and the result is a full-body scan in only a matter of seconds.
Options range from US$85 for a 10-ceentimetre figurine to $695 for a 35-centimetre likeness. There’s even an option of a life-size model for around $75,000.
Just one problem – you will have to take control of any body sculpting as the company will not Photoshop away those extra kilograms. That’s up to you.
Originally published by Cosmos as The 3D selfie – yes that’s now a thing
Bill Condie
Bill Condie is a science journalist based in Adelaide, Australia.
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