Scanning Cones Cone_01 Three cones have been scanned, each representing a different challenge with regards to the lighting and the processing of the scanned sections. Specifically, the highly articulated surface structure of all three cones has made it difficult to capture the whole model or parts of it in complete form.

The initial problem was the lighting: in this first example 45 degree rotations were used to register the cone. Even though this surely allowed for the scanning of all surfaces (with a degree of overlap of course which needed to be catered for by cutting off the replicated data), many holes appeared. This is due to the relatively long measure of the scales themselves. Modifying the light to show better those “dark areas” assisted in achieving a better scan but there was much more work to be done as post-processing.

Cone_02 The second cone was easier to scan in that the surface articulation presents a much smoother face. The problem in this case was essentially the trade-off made by reducing noise and decimating the mesh vs. losing 3D data describing the surface itself.

Cone_03 The final example has been scanned and sent to the 3D ZCorp printer for physical modeling. This cone has the qualities of both presenting a highly-articulated surface articulation but not too dark so as not to get to many “dark holes” (as the relative depth of the scales is indeed manageable).

STRATASYS: In this example a 3D object was modeled and then printed in the STRATESYS printer: A perforated sphere within a sphere which do no touch each other allows for the incorporation of dynamic behavioral parameters (such as full rotation of the inner spheres) to be integrated into the model upon printing.