Karl DD of Interactive Fabrication is describing how Microsoft's Kinnect has been hooked up to a 3D printer:
1. Get Kinnect to capture 3D poses.
2. Convert the 3D data to mesh data for display.
3. Convert the mesh data to STL files for printing.
4. Send the STL files to a 3D printer.
The output is quite small (just 3x3cm) in order to capture quickly (1/4 of Kinnect resolution) and print (relatively) quickly -- 25 at a time, so the software was programmed to add interlocking tabs. In this way, three scans could produce a full figure.
Karl notes that attendees of the conference where this system was demo'd returned frequently to see if their scan was printed. But 3D printing doesn't have the speed of a Polaroid yet, he remarked. "Unfortunately, for 3D printing it seems we are still some way off this reality."
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