May 11, 2016 Artec Spider 3D Scanner & Microsoft Hololens

Greetings readers! I have a few interesting tid-bits to share with this blog post.

First, I’ve been spending time developing a realistic report on our 3D scanning capabilities. Recently we were awarded grant funding to purchase a brand new Artec Spider 3D scanner, which has some really fantastic capabilities. Able to detect features as small as 0.3mm, this scanner is great for scanning things like fossils, mechanical components, artistic works, and more. While we already had some scanners (namely a NextEngine 3D scanner and an iSense Structure Scanner), the Artec Spider represents a huge step forward in terms of our ability to capture objects in three dimensions. The new scanner has been used by faculty and student researchers in paleontology, sculpture, computer science, architecture, business, and medicine. I’ve been scanning a ship and lighthouse models to demonstrate the utility of each of our scanner types. You can see some images of my progress below.

The next fun piece of info I have to share is that we now house and have access to a zPrint 450 3D printer! This is a full-color powder printer which uses binder jetting technology to build models which require no support material. The printer itself belongs to the EAE department, but as they have moved to a new space they needed to find a home for their printer. While the EAE department still retains ownership of the equipment, we are fortunate to be able to incorporate the printer into our existing 3D print services. Some of the details are still bieng worked out, but we will soon be able to print in full color for all students, faculty, and staff of the University of Utah!

Finally, another exciting addition to our equipment family is a Microsoft Hololens! One of our developers, Seth Walsh, had put in a bid with Microsoft to purchase a Hololens development kit, and was approved for a first-round purchase. Working with the User Support and Computing Services department we were able to find funding for the kit. Now we find ourselves in augmented reality land! If you haven’t heard of the Hololens, you’re not alone. While Virtual Reality (VR) has been in the news a fair amount as of late, with the release of several major products, the Augmented Reality (AR) scene is still very much under the radar. The gist of the Hololens is that it adds holographic representations of 3D objects into the real world, creating an opportunity to interact with content and spaces in a whole new way. We’re already working with student and faculty collaborators on a number of projects using this exciting technology. If you’d like to take it for a spin, please feel free to reach out to me at thomas.ferrill@utah.edu.

Have a great week,

TJ

View the original article on the Creativity and Innovation Services Blog