Oct 18, 2015 | By Alec
With an entire generation growing up with a selfie obsession, it’s hardly surprising that the 3D printing industry is eyeing that juicy market. Several initiatives have therefore already been started to open ‘selfie booths’, where you can make a 3D scan of yourself and let it be 3D printed at a high quality, and even Shapeways have just opened ten 3D scanning booths throughout the Netherlands. But the German cruisline organiser AIDA Cruises is taking an even more remarkable approach, having installed a 3D scanning booth for 3D printed selfies on board of major cruise ship AIDAbella.
This fascinating innovation is the result of an exclusive deal with Berlin-based scanning supplier Twinkind, and is – for as far as we know – the only 3D scanning booth on a cruise ship in the world. The 3D scanning booth has been set up in the ship’s photoshop, and is the real deal with a 200 sensor setup. These sensors capture a dataset of the subject, which can be used to 3D print a figurine of yourself. As the service is expected to be a big hit, AIDA requests users to book a portrait session online or in advance of the cruise at MyAIDA.
After 3D scanning, the data will be used to make 3D printed miniatures of yourself – though the 3D printing itself will take place over at Twinkind’s Berlin office. Options range from a 1:24 scale to 1:5, with the maximum size being around 35 centimeters (or 13 inches). Prices will start at €99 and steeply rise above it – the biggest figure at a scale of 1:5 costs €596. The result will be mailed to your home, and will be waiting for your return.
This fun innovation will doubtlessly catch on with the cruise ship’s clientele, though it is currently not known if the service will be expanded to AIDA’s other cruise liners. Those with a photoshop on board will start promoting the service, so if the initial booth is a hit an expansion can definitely be expected.
If you’re interested, good news: the AIDAbella, complete with scanning booth, will be sailing across Southeast Asia this winter, setting off from Bangkok.
Posted in 3D Scanning
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This 3D body scanner looks quite cumbersome and hard to assemble/keep calibrated. Looks to me like overkill too, as the quality is similar to an 89-camera system made by Twindom at http://web.twindom.com/twinstant/. Anyone try this one yet?