3D Model of Lincoln's face included in "Lincoln, Life-Size"

Last summer we had the opportunity to scan an amazing piece of history: an original life mask of Abraham Lincoln cast in 1860 by Leonard Volk. The life mask is owned by the Kunhardt family, who are 5th generation Lincoln scholars, and was scanned for research purposes for a documentary they were making. You can read about the original Lincoln lifemask project here.

High quality renderings of the digital model made for the documentary have subsequently been used by Philip B. Kunhardt and Peter W. Kunhardt in their book Lincoln, Life-Size.



The book examines images of Lincoln's face, each page containing various portraits (including our 3D model) at life size. As the owners of one of the largest 19th century photo collections, the authors have a specific interest in comparing how Lincoln’s actual appearance fares against artistic renderings of the man, as well as the often-distorted daguerreotypes and photographic media of the mid-1800s.

Lincoln, Life-Size is being released today and can be purchased on-line or at a bookseller near you. If you want to see some incredible images, photographic and digital renderings, make sure to check out this book.

Additional 3D Lincoln reading:

Lincoln Memorial: Digitally Preserving America's National Monuments
Bringing Lincoln To Life in Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian

3D Scanning Newsletter - October

October's newsletter has been sent out and is also posted on our website. This month we have some great case studies about scanning for documentation and visualization as well as some Halloween treats.

Case studies this month include:

Documenting Ancient Sculptures - Direct Dimensions traveled to University of Pennsylvania's Museum of Archaeology and Anthropology to document sculptures from their Ancient Egyptian Collection.

Archival Scan of Meteorite - The Digital Modeling team at Direct Dimensions 3D Laser Scanned the largest "oriented pallasite" meteorite ever found for archival and visualization purposes.

High-Res Human Skeleton - 3D imaging of a human skeleton helps a renowned medical illustrator create more accurate medical illustrations.

Click here to read the full newsletter.

If you have not subscribed to our newsletter yet, you can subscribe here.

Trick or Treat! Free 3D Model for Halloween

To provide our customers with a better understanding of our various model outputs, we have made sample downloadable models available on our website for a while. This year we decided it would be a fun treat to offer a Halloween model for your enjoyment.

Visit our Model Example Page to download our Skull Mask Model in various formats. Feel free to download the other example models too.



If you feel like showing us, we would love to know what you did with your model.

We're also planning on making more free sample models available in the future, so let us know what sort of models you would like to see.
Happy Halloween!

3D Scanning Methods & Equipment for Reverse Engineering Airplane OMLs

In case you weren't able to make it to SME's Aerospace Measurement, Inspection & Analysis Conference in Baltimore last month to hear Michael Raphael's presentation "3D Scanning Methods and Equipment for Reverse Engineering Airplane OMLS," we've posted it below for you to view:

DDI Aircraft OML Scanning and Modeling Presentation Oct 2009

View more presentations from dirdim.

Michael and Pete Kennedy, our production manager, also co-presented on software and tips for Dense Point Cloud processing at the same conference. We'll post that soon, so stay tuned!

Facility Tour with the Upper Falls Retired Activities Club

If you've talked to anyone at Direct Dimensions then you know that we are very excited about what we do and love to share stories about our latest technologies, capabilities, or projects with anyone that is interested in hearing about them. Over the years that has led to some wonderful guests and facility tours with everyone from artists associations to historic preservation groups to mechanical engineering groups, and many tours for college and high school classes.

A few weeks ago we had a wonderful tour group in to visit with us and we want to share that experience with you now.



The Upper Falls Retired Activities Club (UFRAC) started in the 1980’s when a group of recently retired gentlemen would get together periodically to hike or canoe. Eventually some women joined the club and the activities became more varied, including lunches and tours. The club is a diverse group from different backgrounds and different Maryland towns.

On selected Thursdays of the year they all get together to enjoy each others company and learn about a variety of things. UFRAC has toured Under Armour's headquarters in downtown Baltimore, NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, and most recently a prosthetics limb fabrication lab.

Back in 2006, Peg Walters, a UFRAC member, read a newspaper article that mentioned Direct Dimensions’ 3D scan of the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. She clipped it out thinking it might be an interesting tour. Unfortunately daily life and scheduling got in the way for a while, but she finally contact us and scheduled the tour date.

Last month on September 24th, a group of about 25 UFRAC retirees visited Direct Dimensions and quickly became quite excited to hear about our many interesting projects and see our various 3D scanning and imaging technologies. Our founder and president Michael Raphael provided a thorough overview of the ways in which 3D imaging can be utilized for capturing real world objects into 3D digital forms for medical applications, museum art & sculpture, architecture, and various industrial applications.

While most of the retirees only casually use computers, it was surprisingly refreshing to hear their comments suggesting a good understanding of how these technologies work and why we perform these projects. As members of a demographic who are supposedly reluctant to embrace cutting edge technologies, we were really interested in how they would react to what we showed them.

We are happy to say that they loved the tour. In fact many even said it was the best tour they’d been on. And since many of us here at DDI are familiar with how amazing NASA Goddard is – that means a lot to us! More than enjoying the tour, the UFRAC group seemed to really “get” what we do and how it can be so beneficial in everything from scanning the famous Liberty Bell to measuring some greasy industrial gear.



The tour concluded with the attendees each getting their faces imaged in 3D with our fantastic new camera-based imaging system. We were particularly interested in seeing their reactions to this new and very exciting technology for reasons we’ll discuss in future postings – so stay tuned.



It was a great morning and we loved hosting them!

If you know of any groups that might be interested in touring Direct Dimensions, feel free to contact us at info@dirdim.com.

DI3D Open House October 1st in Los Angeles!

If you have an interest in face scanning and are going to be in the LA area October 1st, we encourage you to attend our DI3D and DI4D open house. Please call us at 410-998-0880 or email mraphael@dirdim.com for additional information.

3D Scanning and Modeling Processes for Reverse Engineering Airplane OMLs

In addition to a presentation on working with large sets of scan data, Michael Raphael will also be giving a talk on 3D scanning and modeling Airplane OMLs. If you are in the area, make sure to catch this presentation Wednesday afternoon (September 30).



3D Scanning and Modeling Processes for Reverse Engineering Airplane OMLs

Michael Raphael, Direct Dimensions
There are many reasons why firms need to model the exterior contour of existing aircraft OMLs (Outer Mold Lines). Most aircraft flying today were not designed in a modern 3D CAD program. Even with a current 3D digital design, the actual as-built contour deviates from the intended shape, at least at some level.

A wide variety of 3D measurement technologies and modeling software tools have been used for nearly 15 years to accurately capture and model these shapes for many different applications and purposes. This presentation will focus on the evolution of 3D scanning methods and processes through many examples, with emphasis on practical application, costs, schedules, deliverables, etc.

Having real-world customers who demand higher quality and lower price over time for this application, Direct Dimensions has continually searched for the best tools and methods for performing these projects. This experience and perspective will be freely shared with the audience in order to develop an appreciation for the selection of such tools for these projects.

For a full schedule of presentations click here.

Aerospace Measurement, Inspection & Analysis Conference Presentation

As we mentioned previously, Direct Dimensions will be presenting twice at the Aerospace Measurement, Inspection & Analysis Conference.

The first presentation will take place Wednesday, September 30 and will talk about tips for processing massive data sets. See below for a description of the presentation:



Dense 3D Scan Point Cloud Processing Software Review
Michael Raphael, Direct Dimensions
With the advent of higher powered 3D scanners comes the challenge of dealing with the dense point cloud data sets. Direct Dimensions uses a wide variety of 3D scanning equipment to capture the as-built shape of existing objects. The common problem with all of these projects is the need to process the point cloud data. While applications fall generally into either reverse engineering and inspection, both directions present challenges for processing the large data sets efficiently, quickly, and properly. This presentation will focus on an overview of the software tools available commercially that address these problems with a comparison of the various workflows, strategies, and results that one can expect from the various solutions.

Mark Your Calendars!

We are reaching out to regional aerospace related companies with an opportunity that we believe you should strongly consider. September 29 to October 01, 2009 the Aerospace Measurement, Inspection & Analysis conference, presented by SME is being held right here in Baltimore alongside the Aero & Defense TEST 2009 show. We attended Aero & Defense TEST in Ft. Worth last year and it was a great experience. We are thrilled that it is being held in Baltimore this year, a very convenient location for us and many of our customers.

This year Aero & Defense TEST is being held in conjunction with the Aerospace Measurement, Inspection & Analysis conference; three days of technical presentations geared specifically to inspection and reverse engineering solutions in the aerospace industry.

Direct Dimensions will be giving two presentations: Dense 3D Point Cloud Processing Solutions and Reverse Engineering Airplane OMLs but there will also be presentations on automating the inspection process, additional reverse engineering case studies, ultrasonic composite inspections and more. Presenters are industry experts that are using this technology everyday and come from Northrop Grumman, NASA Goddard, Boeing, and National Institute for Aviation Research, just to name a few (you can see the full presentation schedule here ).

We found that Aero & Defense TEST was well worth our time last year and now that they pairing up with the Aerospace Measurement, Inspection & Analysis conference, we consider it a “can’t miss”. Especially if you are in the Mid-Atlantic area and you have the time, we think this is a great opportunity to hear some really informative presentations and see a great show at the same time.


Please visit the Aerospace Measurement, Inspection & Analysis and Aero & Defense TEST websites for more information or feel free to call us if you have any questions..

Direct Dimensions in 3D Artist Magazine

At Direct Dimensions we have an extensive toolbox of hardware, software and skill sets that we are constantly adding to. One of our top digital modelers, Dan Haga, has been exploring the functionality of Rhino 4.0 with the Pointools plug in to make a model of a Lamborghini Reventon.

The Lamborghini Reventon project caught the eye of the staff at 3D Artist Magazine and they featured the project and Dan in the "Work in Progress" section of their most recent issue.

Click Here to read the article.