Friday, February 08, 2013
Lynx A Camera by Lynx Laboratories
Kickstarter: It's the world's first point-and-shoot 3D camera. It's not a conventional camera, but it's like a camera - particularly when it comes to learning curve and ease of use. If you can use a point-and-shoot Nikon, you'll find the Lynx even easier to use. Instead of outputting 2D images, it produces 3D models of whatever you point it at.
It's a light, plastic device shaped like a tablet. It has specialized, front-mounted optics including a 640x480 color camera and a 3D sensor. On the front, there's a large, 14" color LCD screen for an instant and accurate view of imaging results. You can navigate your captured models using joysticks, just like a videogame controller. The device has a powerful graphics card for capture/render and high-capacity storage. The battery is good for four hours. It fixes the annoying stuff (bad battery life, small screens, costly storage) of conventional cameras.
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4 comments:
Whoa, this is crazy! I havent had too much exposure to scene or object modeling or motion capture but I have seen other videos about them. Ive also watched some movie extras about motion capture and its amazing but seems like a huge amount of time and work. This makes all three seem so easy. Not to mention it seemed really easy to use. I bet we could do some pretty cool things with one of those here. I realize the video was an advertisement so they obviously only had good things to say about it, but it all seems pretty impressive. I thought it was really neat that we werent just listening to the CEO talk, but what appeared to be some of the guys that actually worked on it. And they were so young! They couldn't be much older than college age. I also liked hearing from people who worked at UT which personally gave the technology even more credit. I am interested to see how much this technology spreads and how quickly.
I have mixed feelings about the Lynx A. On one hand the images are not very polished looking, the device is rather large and the battery life is only three hours. On the other hand I can see a bunch of super useful uses for the Lynx A in the world of theatre. For example a props master could take a 3D image of an object that might make a good prop and send the file to a director. If the director has a few small problems with the prop the props master could edit the 3D model and then print out the new object on a 3D printer for use on stage. Props is just one of many great uses for the Lynx A.
These sorts of ideas are very exiting, but at the same time a lot of that technology is already available (like the 3D printing) and yet we don't use it. Maybe the Lynx A can change that, but right now we don't take advantage of what we have so why will we start because of the Lynx A. I think that the people making this technology are doing a great job and that in the next few years all my problems with it will be solved. The theatre community needs to start adopting this sort of technology more whole heatedly.
This is a very cool camera. It seems to be the fastest and easiest way to produce a 3D model and with perhaps some more tweaking it could be commercialized and mass produced. This could be very useful to the theatrical designing world. A set designer could build a model and then use this to convert it into a digital 3d model and then send use that to more accurately test different lighting scenarios and move things around more easily than rebuilding the model. I also like the idea that akiva had with its use in a prop shop. This device shows some real promise.
It's kind of terrifying how fast this technology is advancing. Google, AutoDesk, and countless other businesses big and small are all trying very hard to stay on the edge of what's possible in 3D modeling and imaging. It seems not implausible that within the next few years, with a camera like the Lynx and a 3D printer like this (http://www.robo3dprinter.com/ thanks issac), you will never buy another spatula, the Chinese economy will crumble, and the New World Order will lift Leroy Jenkins to the lifetime position of Master of the Universe.
Or maybe not. Right now it seems to me this technology is still only very useful for industry, streamlining the R and D and manufacutring processes, and for the relatively small DIY and crafts markets. But I don't think I will 3D printing a new liver for myself anytime soon (although that might be nice). For Technical Directors, aside from the afore mentioned liver reproduction, we might find a use for this device in capturing and then scaling up to full size the many amorphous design elements designers like to throw at us (like Spring Awakening's "Forest Mounds"). Taking 1/4" or 1/2" scale model pieces, that were carved as made objects in real time with no real references, and turning them into full scale set pieces has always a challenge. We have had to rely on a mixture of contouring, iso-mapping, and feel to achieve something close to the designer's intent. This camera could take a 3D photo of the model piece and, once imported to a 3D modeling environment, it might be an easy thing to accurately scale it up to full scale patterns or even CNC contour tool paths.
Or it might not be easy. We will have to wait and see. Right now, this camera looks like it suffers from its main claim to fame: it's "the first." I don't see enough resolution here yet. Once scaled up I would be surprised if most things wouldn't just look like a blob of some kind. It is coming, however. Without a doubt. Personally I'm going to start stockpiling everything I can find with "Made in China" stamped on it. Maybe someday it will be worth something.
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