Just as Cyberware revolutionized computer graphics by allowing you to work with true human faces, now we bring you true human forms. In as little as 17 seconds, Cyberware's Whole Body scanners-the WB2 and WB4-scan the entire human body in color and 3D. The WB scanners are based on proven Cyberware technology, so you can use these new instruments as easily as you can our other scanners.
The ability to scan the whole body quickly means an end to inaccurate models based on over-simplified or stylized body forms. Now animators, anthropologists, designers and others can work with real human shapes. The WB scanners have been carefully designed to suit a wide application range, making them universal tools for capturing the shape and color of the entire human form. Both the WB2 and WB4 scan a cylindrical volume 2 meters (79 inches) high, with a diameter of 1.2 meters (47 inches).
To capture the intricacies of the human body in one pass, the whole body scanners use two or four scanning instruments mounted on vertical towers (for the WB2 and WB4, respectively). The WB4's use of four instruments improves accuracy on the sides of the body and in difficult-to-reach areas, such as under a person'' arms. A person stands on the scanner's platform, and the instruments start at the person's head and move down to scan the entire body.
As with Cyberware's other scanners, workstation software controls all scanning and motion operations. Within seconds after completing a scan, graphics tools on the workstation let users view the results. Cyberware's CyZip software then combines the models from the multiple scanning instruments into one smooth, complete 3D model of the human body.
Design and research based on the human body can finally enter the age of automation with Cyberware's WB scanners.
The Computerized Anthropometric Research and Design Group (CARD) at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has big plans for Cyberware's largest human scanner. The group will use the first production-model WB4 to help create anon-line database of human forms.
The CARD group has already used a Cyberware 3030PS scanner to make more than 1500 scans of the human face and head since 1987. That data has contributed to better design and evaluation methods for close-fitting protective gear such as helmets and oxygen masks.
Now biomedical engineer Jennifer Whitestone reports that the group will use the first whole body scanner to collect similar data on the entire human body. That data should prove useful in improving gear such as g-suits, she says, as well as designing and evaluating environments such as cockpits and crew stations.
Whitestone notes that the 3D body data will also have far-reaching benefits for commercial and medical applications. Most of the human body forms in use today consist of geometric shapes, because more accurate models have not been readily available.
By creating a database of body shapes in electronic form, the Wright-Patterson group will offer new insights about the human body to people who previously relied on tape measures as data-input devices. "We will be using the scanner to do a survey of people in all NATO countries," she says. "Much of the resulting database will be available on-line eventually, with an expert system to guide users." The database will also include demographic and other support data.
3D designers and researchers who use Cyberware scans can eliminate a lot of busywork from their lives with the new ShapeAnalysis software from Beecher Research. ShapeAnalysis automates many of the 3D-model manipulation and measurement tasks that could otherwise take hours with manual tools.
The software provides point-and-click methods for operations such as picking landmarks, drawing contours, segmenting surfaces, and measuring distances, angles, contour lengths, surface areas, and object volumes. For product designers, ShapeAnalysis enhances the CAD/CAM process by quickly manipulating irregular surfaces in large Cyberware data sets. The software takes you from initial product design through the prototype-testing phase.
Accommodation testing visually displays clearances between objects, as ShapeAnalysis automatically adjusts their surfaces to test fit. During the process, the software continuously computes measurements and statistical analyses. You can use these capabilities to see where surfaces would experience compression, shear and tension.
ShapeAnalysis' data-sampling functions allow you to compare as many as 100 objects at any resolution. You can then create new shapes that represent average or extreme cases.
ShapeAnalysis incorporates capabilities that Beecher Research developed for applications such as designing children's bicycle helmets, comparing fossilized human-ancestor skulls, designing astronaut gloves, simulating chewing with resolution and 3D morphing to compare pre-and post-operative facial surgical reconstructions. The Dayton, Ohio based Beecher Research also offers custom software and consulting services. For information, call 513-298-5202; fax 513-299-8648; e-mail rbeecher@dayton.fsp.com.
Glitz and glad rags met high tech for an evening of celebrity fundraising at Macy's "Passport '94 FiberOptic" fashion show in December. Cyberware donated the use of a 3030/RGB/PS to scan an actor, who then interacted with patrons at the fashion show as a virtual character. Cyberware's George Dabrowski collaborated with Silicon Graphics to help engineer the high-tech aspects of the event, which raised $430,000 for AIDS research, care and direct services.
The show's organizing committee told Cyberware, "Without your efforts, the project and the significant funds we raised in hopes of ending the AIDS pandemic would not have been possible. Thank you for uniting with us in this common cause." Cyberware is proud to have played a part in the show's success.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences Board of Governors has voted to present a Technical Achievement Award to Cyberware's Lloyd and David Addleman for developing the 3030 3D color scanner. The Academy annually recognized technical achievements that have made a special contribution to the motion picture industry. The Cyberware scanner has been instrumental in creating some of Hollywood's most spectacular special effect in recent years. The Addlemans received their Academy Certificate as part of an awards dinner at the Regent Beverly Wilshire Hotel on March 4.
If you need assistance with a scanning-related application, Western Data Technologies might be able to help. This company has created software for a wide range of applications-ergonomics research, prosthetics, injection molds for boots, dinosaur-bone modeling and user-friendly milling applications. Western's development team works closely with several major universities and specializes in software for the PC/Windows and SGI/UNIX environments. For information, contact the Utah-based company at 801-226-5330; fax 801-226-5382.
Sony Entertainment will soon up the ante in electronic-game realism with a 3D game system that renders and manipulates 3D images in real time-reportedly faster than an SGI workstation. To help create software for the new system, Sony is using the Cyberware 3030 RGB HIREZ MM scanner to capture the shape of artistic clay models. According to Sony's Rob Neve, "The best way I know of to get smooth and ‘real' humanoid models is to sculpt them in clay, then scan them with a Cyberware scanner." The game system was introduced to the Japanese market in December and will have its US debut later this year.
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