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The HandHeld scanner used by NVision can capture 60,000 separate spatial measurements per second with an accuracy of +\- 0.025 mm or 25 microns, which is +/- one-thousandth of an inch. (For comparison, the thickness of a human hair is about 70 microns.) This makes it the ideal method to collect data on the complex geometry of sculptural art. The scanner is attached to a mechanical arm that moves about the sculpture, freeing the engineer to capture the data rapidly and with a high degree of resolution and accuracy. As the laser sweeps the sculpture’s surface, the scanner generates a “point cloud” consisting of millions of points, each with x,y,z coordinates and i,j,k vectors. Every individual point represents a specific geospatial location on the sculpture’s surface. The final point cloud defines the object’s surface shapes and dimensions with an accuracy that outstrips other measurement technologies.
The scanner’s integrated software converts the point cloud to an STL (StereoLithography) polygonal file while intuitive software allows real-time rendering, full model editing, polygon reduction, and data output to all standard 3D packages. The STL file is used to create a 3D IGES/ STEP/Parasolid model, which is then converted into the required CAD format. “NVision created a rendering of The Freedman that is accurate to within a NVision’s scans provided Hayden with a 3D digital model of The fraction of a human hair, “ says Freedman’s detailed surface geometry, viewable from every Adler. “Mr. Hayden proceeded perspective and scale, which he digitally reworked to create his reimagined sculpture to alter the scans in ways that are meaningful to him to make the sculpture his own and 3D-printed “Those scans provide engineers with the results in white plastic.” 3D CAD files they can use to revise “This project was analogous to product designs. In this case, it allowed reverse engineering projects we do for a 21st-century artist to put his own the aerospace and other industries,” stamp on a sculpture originally created says Steve Kersen, president of NVision. 160 years ago.”
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