Weekly Project: A Handheld 3-D Camera: Without Using a Camera

In Burning with Desire: The Conception of Photography (The MIT Press, 1999; ISBN 0-262-52259-4), author Geoffrey Batchen explores the passions of early photographers to record latent images. The initial work of Nicephore Niepce, Louis Daguerre, and William Henry Fox Talbot are each examined in a discussion that is bounded by the philosophical and scientific definitions surrounding the discovery of photography.

Along with this conception of a new form of visualization, the art community was challenged with the birth of a new definition--what exactly is photography?

Fast forward to today. The art community now has another challenge. Just like the declaration attributed to Paul Delaroche upon learning about photography ("From today, painting is dead") so too has photography been read its epitaph with the advent of digital imaging. One thing that Batchen points out very clearly, however, is that such dogma is anathema to artists.

Photographers have long embraced digital technology as a medium for expression. Even oddball offshoots like scanner photography have been appreciated by the artist as photographer.

Andrew Davidhazy, Mike Golembewski, Kurt Novak, and Lieve Prins have each used the scanner as a creative platform. The handheld 3D camera explores a similar tack; in this case, using a scanner to create high resolution 3D images.

Following some careful scanner dissection and software calibration, the handheld 3D camera can be used for printing detailed images of any object that you can touch--an effect that could leave you burning with desire.

Step 1 Make a Handheld 3D Camera

Time: 3 hours
Cost: $49.76
Difficulty: Moderate

Parts List

• Canon CanoScan LiDE 25 Color Image Scanner (#0307B001; $49.76; Amazon.com)
• Scanner Access Now Easy (SANE) (FREE; SANE Project)
• Notebook computer equipped with USB port
• Small flat-blade screwdriver

Comments

[mirlen101]

For 360 degree flattened images ( like taking a cans label and flattening it out ).I just place the objects on the scanner and rotate them as the light goes by ! Even did most of my head ! ;-) And my images were pretty hi resolution . Up to about 1200 x 1200 . For straight forward images simply place the object on the scanner like you would a document, with the lid open ! I've even done small melons ! Here's some old images http://entertainment.webshots.com/album/562675198AQuMNr

[sunshiine]

This picture is amazing! Thanks for sharing.

[mirlen101]

Thanks ! ;-) A similar image of mine from my flatbed scanner work got 25,000 hits in one week on webshots.com when they posted it front page . Funny my 15 minutes of fame was a broke open squash ;-/

[sunshiine]

Kewl! You know you made something awesome when you get that much interest! Congrats!
Sunshiine

[mirlen101]

Thanks , I think it had a lot to do with being faddish, an out of the ordinary method ;-) I found out recently there is a flatbed photography group on redbubble.com . Never thought there were enough of us to make a group ;-/ Found a few on google+ also . Some of them are amazingly good and creative .

[sunshiine]

Thanks when I have a little more time I will take a peek!

[europanorama]

its a turntable panorama. nothing 3D. you would need two lenses at the same time looking straight forward. at www.roundshot.ch check roundshot super 220vr-manual. if you like to see real 3dpanorama go to www.3dreal.ch 3dstereoaeropanorama/marspanoramas. more to come in the next weeks. check also www.europanorama.tk all the same but unique. freeviewing. yes, the 3dstereo-aeropanorama is made by me.

[ELF]

That scanner type has a CIS chip (opposed to a CCD) which generally just means the lens is right on the chip.... This means the DOF (Depth of Field, distance from the nearest to the furthest point in focus) is extremely narrow, hence the name (CIS stands for Contact Image Sensor). A CCD-based scanner would be better, and you could even tinker with the lenses to shift the focus further away from the scanner head, which would also increase DOF (DOF depends on aperture/iris size, focus distance, and focal length, and DAMN I love these parentheses :P ) To get anything out of the improved image quality, you'd also have to mount the head or subject to an arm or base, driven by a stepper- or servo- based motor... Which should then be connected to the scanner's circuits to sync with the scanning process... :S

[ELF]

And... CCD scanners were more common in the "old days" so should be easy to find old ones. They often don't interface with newer systems (SCSI and such) or don't have any drivers for newer OS's though :(... And buying a new one is a bit more expensive than buying a CIS one :(

[TheMadScientist]

i'm guessing that you could use this to make 3d height maps if you illuminated the objects in only one color. reminds me of that face mapping tutorial.

[gsentineld]

hi, it's very creative method for using a scanner. what situation would this method be applied to? when would you use a 3d camera? it doesn't seem like any 3-dimensional data is 'scanned' and formed into 3d-objects.. somewhat confused...

[royalestel]

It's practically automatic texture-mapping!

[eviloverlord]

Interesting idea - results are less impressive than I expected though. Might be better to build some kind of suspended cylyndrical area and rotate the scanner head around that via its own stepper motor. Focussing would be an issue but a strip of bendy fresnel lens at some fixed distance between object and scanner might help. I suspect it may still look rubbish in the end though - most scanners have too narrow a focussing distance. Older scanners may be better - you could take a picture of your face easily on one of those with not much distortion.

[eric1000]

did some similar with a camera and a turntable...
http://klospuelen.de/bildertest/

maybe you like this pictures more..

anyone need a instructable about it?
that would be my first.. ;-)

[dbubd]

I would be curious to see how you made these pictures eric1000.

[eric1000]

link to the instructable

[royalestel]

And I definitely think you should do an instructable on the turntable method.

[eric1000]

done...
http://www.instructables.com/id/E92H7MGF1B3RD1B/

[royalestel]

I was just going to suggest this. It's a lot easier than hacking a scanner, isn't it? :)

[eric1000]

its a different approach... a scanner could do cool things too, but i think you need to add a objectiv to it... but then its not very different to a camera where you only process one pixel row... like i did... as i said... just a different approach...

[ich bin ein pyro]

if you need an instructable to do, do it before someone else does

[killerjackalope]

what is needed is a large well lit cylinder that the scanner head can move round one revolution, down to the next unscanned area and around until the bject in question is complete, creating a strange picture of all around the object. It would need to have diiferent firmware to make the programming possible. If that was done it would creat a really interesting effect of seeing every angle of the item in a flat format.

[VIRON]

This is 360 degree panoramic, I don't see anything 3D about it.

[Taotaoba]

Probably it should be called 3D scanner. And I don't think the photos are adorable. Nice instructable though. Thanks.

[rimar2000]

I coincide totally in the three statements.