Preserving the Washington Monument with 3D Scanning

 

Direct Dimensions is a Baltimore company and we feel strongly about contributing to our city and community. There is no shortage of important historic sites around the Baltimore area and, when able, we help preservation efforts by documenting them. So when renovations began on the Washington Monument in the Mount Vernon neighborhood we jumped at the chance to digitally document the first national monument in honor of George Washington.

 

Our crew ascended almost 200 feet of scaffolding to get to the top of the  monument at dawn and begin 3D scanning the sculpture of George Washington. Two different scanning technologies were employed , the Faro Focus and a handheld Artec EVA scanner.

The resulting data will be kept for the City of Baltimore. It is an accurate record of the monumental sculpture as it exists in 2014 and will allow for preservation, recreation, or replication should it ever be needed.

3D Fashion Adventure

Photographed by Beau Sam

You often read about fashion applications for 3D printing: a recent Miss America contestant wore 3D printed shoes, Dita Von Teese wore a 3D printed dress, and 3D printed Angel Wings featured heavily in a Victoria's Secret fashion show last year. There are other applications that are tantalizingly close to showing up in your nearest mall but don't necessarily receive as much press; these applications tend to revolve around the use of 3D scanners and garment personalization.

Photographed by Beau Sam

When Vogue.com launched it's new website this month they decided to do a piece that highlighted the future of 3D scanning and printing in fashion. Rather than just showing the usual 3D printed accessories they came up with an incredible photo shoot featuring dozens of 3D prints of supermodel Karlie Kloss.

But before you can have a 3D print, you have to have a 3D file. So Vogue contacted Direct Dimensions to scan Ms. Kloss with our 360 body scanner. After scanning the model in over a dozen ensembles, we modeled the data into files suitable for 3D printing. Those prints were then sent all over the world and photographed.

Visit Vogue.com to see the photographs and read the article:

Envisioning the Future of 3-D Fashion: Welcome to the Virtual Dressing Room

3D Laser Scanning for BIM

Last month we posted a case study about using 3D laser scanning for an MEP space renovation. We received great feedback and some questions about other general uses for 3D scanning and modeling for building and construction projects. Below is a quick (but comprehensive) video overview of the benefits of 3D laser scanning of buildings, facilities, sites, and structures for accurate documentation, analysis, and design.