Re: [CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO] Re: poor mans digitizing gizmo

I saw something at a mall, the other day.

There was a booth making 3D photos laser etched (bubble etched) in
glass. (Like the 3D "ghost" images of the world trade center in the
crystal paperweights) In fact, they had a 3D portrait studio at the
mall! Yes, you and your family could have your picture made, and a week
later have it delivered in glass...in 3D. An absolutely beautiful
result, too, though it only shows the "front" of your head.

From what I can gather, it was essentially 2 digital cameras, set about
a foot apart. This should allow them to get enough separation of the
images, to calculate depth information. They did some touchup on the
portraits, and then sent it to a program that generated a 3D dot map
portrait. An ingenious technology. Of course, they weren't concerned
with faithful reproduction of the size...only the form.

All this type of system should require is 2 digital cameras, a way to
synchronize the shutters, and a decent amount of processing power to
calculate the depth information. But, don't ask me how to do the
math...it'd probably take me a year to figure out the algorithm.

Regardless, it seems to have a significant amount of promise in the
recording of 3D data.

-- Chuck Knight