Scottish Company Introduces New 3D Scanning Technology

Virtual Clones Ltd has announced the availability of its Virtual Clones 3D character digitizing service and in the U.S. Unlike other 3D digitizing systems that rely on laser scanning or structured light, Virtual Clones’ technology uses two or more stereo image pairs and computes the 3D model by matching pixels. Because very high resolution cameras can be used, the resolution of the model is not compromised by the limits of structured light, and the images can be captured far more quickly than with laser scanning—making the capture process more efficient and eliminating the requirement for the models to pose for extended periods as if in front of a 19th-century camera. Another key part of the Virtual Clones process is that the resulting high-resolution model is morphed to a customer-supplied model, allowing the artist to achieve both realism and good linkage with templates already structured for animation. Virtual Clones is currently available as an on-site scanning service, but the company also offers virtual extras that can be used in games.