3D Scanning Yourself! (in funny hats)
I have been playing around with using an Xbox 360 kinect and the program Skanect to do 3D scans. It was easy to scan other people, but I didn’t always have someone around to coerce into scanning myself. I then wondered, is it possible to scan yourself?
The Problem
With 3D scanning, the subject needs to remain perfectly still. I would need to move the kinect completely around me, including above my head, without physically moving any part of my body that the kinect is scanning. This is certainly a tough order to fill.
The Solution…?
Tape and an old tripod? Sounds strange, I know, but I needed to create a sort of selfie stick for my kinect. I ended up using some mashing tape and taping the kinect to the top of the tripod. The aluminum tripod is strong enough to hold the kinect, yet light weight enough that I could move it around by hand without needing too much force. This is important, because remember, I need to remain perfectly still while the scan commences.
The Results!
The results turned out better than I expected. I tried out a variety of different hats to test out both my self scanning, and how Skanect deals with some more oddly shaped objects. Most of the hats scanned just fine, however the fine hair of the wig was just too much for Skanect. It could not differentiate between all the individual hairs and ended up just giving up. The “3D Selfie” concept worked just fine, however. If you are in a pinch and need to scan yourself, a roll of masking tape and a tripod is all you need to get good results!
