Nov 23, 2015 | By Alec
With their increasing popularity, drones are also becoming more controversial. Obviously, there are the military applications that not everyone agrees on, but then there are also the privacy concerns surrounding drone-made footage. That's why it's a good moment to remind everyone that a drone is as positive as the user's intention, and Swedish startup Spotscale has been using it for a very positive purpose. Through their Spotnik campaign, Spotscale's Ludvig Emgård are showing people that drones can be highly effective imaging tools for 3D printing too.
To explain, Spotscale is a technology startup born in 2012, just as large multirotor drones were getting more accessible. Combining the expertise of specialists in drones, 3D reconstruction and large scale visualization, the Swedish team is ambitious. 'Ludvig Emgård has gathered a group of highly skilled engineers that have been working hard to bring the latest research into a novel, modern code-base of 3D reconstruction processing and visualization tools, tailored to execute on built environments from close range sensor data,' the team explains. [We are] specialized in transforming drone captured building images into accurate and natural models of the real thing. To be used in your computer, tablet, mobile or in a 3D-print.'
For, as the team explains to 3ders.org, 2D sketches are only limited in their functionality. 'A 3D fly-trough or virtual tour of a future neighbourhood is an infinitely more expressive communication tool. Interactive 3D models that are based on real world scans of the environment enable a whole new level of understanding, dialog and experimentation to occur in your projects.' This is personified in this Spotnik campaign, a competition for cool places in which the Spotscale team will travel to the winner in a bus with a cool drone on the roof, sending it up to scanning the home or interesting building or location. The resultant 3D renderings are subsequently 3D printed on the bus, providing you with a fantastic and highly accurate replica of their house – all for free.
But the Spotnik campaign is about more than just 3D printing and imaging. It's also about influencing public opinion on drones and giving people another perspective. 'The goal with this campaign is to tell the world that drones can do good and to get the privacy discussion going. In a future, where the air is full of drones, who takes responsibility for people's privacy? How does this differ from google streetview? Also, we like to tell people that it's technically possible to do this. To come with a droning bus full of servers to anybody's house and create a 3D print of the place,' they explain. 'In reality the processing will take a bit more time but it is practically doable and Spotscale have a great passion for it. Of course you might ask how these products are relevant to you, and normally we don't come to peoples private homes but rather help real estate developers and architects with excellent models to visualize their projects.'
In part, this is enabled by the very liberal attitude towards drones that is prevailing in Sweden. 'Thus Sweden has been a great playground for us where we have been developing technology and methods for capturing buildings from a close distance and use advanced algorithms to get the best quality 3D. Of course, we hope that this will be reality in all countries and that the common understanding will be that drone data is much more useful and valuable than it is dangerous for your privacy,' they say. In theory, at least, the Spotnik campaign is also open to people all over the world, for which the Swedes will team up with local drone experts.
So how does the drone imaging process actually work? As the team explains, they collect thousands of high res images from all angles of a building. 'The images are then processed into a 3D model and that processing is what Spotscale is all about. To get a building to look realistic in 3D is tricky. If you zoom in on Google or Apple Maps and get close to the buildings you start to see how they "melt",' they say. 'Getting the algorithms right so that the processed building looks like the real one is our core. We can also arrange the capturing and deliver the 3D-model for various platforms such as webGL, CAD, iPad, touch table or 3D-print.'
The subsequent models are then 3D printed on a ProJet 4500 in plastic filament, though an under-development 3D printer by Wematter is featured in the clips. All that 3D printing is financed by Moor Capital and other what they call 'business angels', and they definitely need that help as these projects can cost anywhere from $2000 to $20,000. If you're interested in participating and know exactly the right spot for a 3D model, contact Spotscale through their website here. 'We'd love to send Spotnik and our team to your place and produce it in 3D, free of charge! Send us your idea, and if we believe it's brilliant this crazy team will come home to you and make you a 3D model for free.'
Posted in 3D Printing Application
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I want to give my husband a 3D replica of our house. Can you do it Mmcke77980@aol.com
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