Inside Smithsonian’s 3D Digitization Lab | National Geographic

3d scanning tools is is one tool in our
toolbox to investigate an object in a
more specific way we don’t really make
copies of objects we’re essentially to
put it dryly collecting lots and lots of
measurements of an object we take
millions and millions of XYZ coordinates
along the surface of an object and then
from there we can make an extremely
accurate likeness I started off working
at the Smithsonian working as a sculptor
in the model shop so I was using very
traditional methods and often be making
replicas of objects and the problem is
that that involves pouring plaster or
rubber on a Smithsonian artifact exposes
risk to the object and anytime you do
that that you know the conservators you
know rule that out completely about six
years ago we wrote a grant for a laser
scanner and a 3d printer thinking this
could be a better process so we could
scan these objects using the laser
scanner and that would be a non-contact
method so minimal risk to the object and
then once we have that data we could
bring it back into the real world
through 3d printing we still do a lot of
scanning for exhibits production but
then we can also deliver that object
very easily digitally across the world
and disseminate it for research there
are a lot of exciting implications of
giving access to those 3d surrogates of
the objects to the world for education
or just people who are enthusiastic
about the collections at the Smithsonian
just give them a chance to investigate
our world in depth in a way that was
never before possible
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