A crowd-puller: Artec Shapify Booth

Artec Group, a manufacturer and developer of professional 3D hardware and software, has announced the Artec Shapify Booth, touted as the world’s first high speed 3D full body scanner. The scanning booth is capable of producing high-quality 3D model of a figurine of a person within three minutes.

The Artec scanning booth comes equipped with wide-view high-resolution 3D scanners and a rotation rig, andtakes just 12 seconds to scan a person. It is a portable solution, hence the booth can fit everywhere without the need for any specific setup.

The Artec algorithms automatically fuse 700 captured surfaces into a detailed printable file in three to five minutes and no post processing is needed. The digital model is then sent to a 3D printing centre to be made into an 8-inch mini-statue in full colour which can be delivered within a week. Each print costs around US$45.

Artec said the Shapify Booth is ideal for installation in venues with heavy foot traffic, such as shopping malls, theme parks, outdoor and indoor attractions and is perfect on capitalising on existing customer flows and attracting new ones. 3D “shapies” can be taken of customers in wedding attire, graduation robes and other significant moments in life and captured for posterity or family gifts.

“Over the last five years Artec has been providing 3D technologies to professionals in industries from space and automotive to medical and movie special effects, but we have always been looking for the chance to do something for the public. Shapify allows us to do just that,” said Alexey Steblev, Artec Group’s worldwide head of channel development.

“We see a huge market potential for Shapify in Asia, where people are quick to adapt to the latest trends and technologies and where pop culture is a big driver,” he said.

Steblev revealed that Asda, the chain store in the UK, first introduced 3D scanning and 3D printing of customer’s figurines six months ago, using Artec handheld scanners. Driven by the immediate success of the venture, Artec Group tailored its professional scanning equipment to spec and created the Shapify Booth, a high speed full body scanner that Asda is now making available to all.