Re: 3d scanner with milk

--- In CAD_CAM_EDM_DRO@yahoogroups.com, "Frank de Beer" <f.debeer@...>
wrote:

>
>
> Guys:
>
> This is fun. Scanning 3D objects with milk.
>
>
> http://www.hackaday.com/2007/06/05/milkscanner/
>
>
> Frank
>

Its a really neat little project, the lego makes it look more complex
than it is, its just a spoon and a webcam really.

As mentioned in the blog it could be improved by the use of a
constantly overflowing tank to maintain a level while incrementally
lowering the object in to the tank.

I bought a webcam recently for about 30 pounds and it has 1.2M pixels
and a capture button, it would be no problem at all to intergrate
motion and capture. Its not actually that hard to do in software
either, Mach3 has some camera support, that may include capture.

As far as the software goes I allready have it in matlab as it is
virtually the same as I use to analyse CT scan data. You threshold
the image to produce binary bitmaps then trace the islands of stuff
and finally convert the vertex lists into a file of some sort. I
output SLC which can be imported into Rhino as a set of countours,
then you just loft your surface.

I also reckon you could do better than milk as a fluid but I'm stumped
at the moment.

The only problem is with undercuts but I guess you can scan anything
you could mill using 3-axis. The other issue is the surface tension,
I think you probably want to remove any.

Why do I have the sinking feeling of another project comming on. And
me with hair already full of plaster of paris.

Graham