/by Speedmaster Bing
One of the fun things about virtual words is the possibility of having a avatar, that is completely made up.
You can be a strange creature, robot or something else. But what if you need to represent yourself as you look in the real world? Or you want a copy of a real object in a virtual world, or 3D shape in an animated movie?
There are several way to accomplish this, like modelling it with the tools provided in the virtual world, use a 3D creation progam, or use a 3D scanner.
3D scanners is rather expensive, for most people, but many already have cheaper “tools” at home.
Like a web camera and a fluid with colour. Or even a powder like substance like sugar.
Add an open-source computer programme and you have your own InkScanViewer.
“The basic idea behind this process is that you can capture the silhouette of an object easily when it is surrounded by a high contrast fluid, such as milk or ink.
When lowering the object into the fluid, the silhouette changes gradually, as the fluid obstructs more and more of the objects shape. By capturing the silhouette of an object at different stages of submersion, one can generate slices, that, if properly stacked together, can be interpreted as 3D data.”.
Head over to Milkscanner and see how you can have your own 3D scanner
That’s a very interesting idea, still I doubt you will be able to get very good quality when you start scanning objects with sugar coat and try to transform them into a 3D model. Still there is need for better tools and a more easy way to generate objects which can be used inside of a virtual world. The current software isn’t very easy to learn and understand and this forms a barrier for many people.