As nearly unforeseen progress and innovation in electronics and 3D printing have brought incredible transformations to the world and industry, we see quite a fascinating trickle-down effect, with numerous processes either becoming obsolete altogether, or morphing into something else.
Obviously, the smartphone is taking a pretty big chunk of business from some industries that used to have to do everything for us, as many of us become self-sufficient and mobile in everything possible. 3D printing in many ways, while transforming a multitude of high-level sectors in manufacturing, has been able to meld in with so many of the conveniences offered by smartphone technology–and that’s coming into play more and more with 3D scanning and the resulting 3D printing options and services.
We’ve been following the New Orleans-based Scandy since they emerged on the scene with their 3D printing service that gives you a pretty good look at where the direction of the now nearly obsolete photo lab has gone. Their goal is to take advantage of all the benefits of 3D printing and meld them with traditional photography and selfies, enjoying all the added features, high quality, speed, and affordability. The Scandy team wants to see 3D scanning and custom ordering of 3D prints become just as popular and easy as ordering traditional prints once was.
Scandy is about having fun with the journey of remembering through 3D images and selfies–it’s far more than the utilitarian venture of just taking the photo one step further. They are allowing users to take the practical applications of the smartphone and 3D scanning and printing, and really reap the rewards of their visual creativity. And with the launch of their new product on Kickstarter, the Scandy Sphere, they are taking that up a notch further–as well as offering something completely unique for their users to try.
“We have been working very hard these past couple of months to bring a product to market that has never been done before,” Trey Richoux, Chief Operating Officer of Scandy, told 3DPrint.com. “In addition, we have been accepted to participate in Web Summit‘s beta program in Dublin next week where we will be showing the world something they have never seen before.”
Far more than just a photo, the Scandy Sphere offers a new way to create panoramas–always one of the coolest photographic forms–and they do it in 3D print. Allowing you to bring the world of 360° to life, Scandy will be offering a new mobile app, Scandy 1.0, on either iOS or Android so that you can scan your all-around images and then preserve them in full-color 3D printed panoramas.
While the current Scandy processes require an attached 3D scanner, the Scandy 1.0 app, still in production, will not. You won’t need anything but your smartphone to scan–and preserve–your images into an amazing sphere.
“Making panoramas with your phone isn’t exactly new,” they say on Kickstarter. “Chances are you probably have one sitting in your camera roll right now. That’s the problem though, all those awesome shots are just sitting there in virtual purgatory. Not a problem. You can upload them from your camera roll to the Scandy app or to Scandy and our magical servers take care of the rest.”
In hopes to raise $25,000 by November 26, Scandy has just launched a Kickstarter campaign which they foresee assisting in production costs, helping to ‘grow the product’ further, as well as offering funds toward their purchase of a new 3D Systems ProJet 660.
“We are not one of those pie in the sky Kickstarter campaigns with a project that is not real. Scandy is real and we have a team behind this cool new technology,” says the team on their Kickstarter page. “We are scanning and 3D printing today, and backing us gets you early access to Scandy. You will be one of the first to own a 3D printed sphere of a photo that you have taken.”
Those who get in early and pledge amounts as low as $30 can look forward to a small Scandy Sphere that can be made with one of their pre-loaded designs or your custom image. There are only 50 early bird Spheres available, and then the price jumps to $40 for a small sphere. As supporters pledge upward of $50, they receive a medium-sized Sphere, or a custom model at $65. Prices ascend with size and volume, even to include a trip to New Orleans for a mere $5K.
As the team points out, they are not a ‘pie in the sky’ campaign. This is a real team, with real technology behind them, and they are already very much in business already 3D scanning and printing. With this campaign, you can be one of the first to own one of these cool spheres that also shows off your own photographic prowess. Will you be backing this Kickstarter project? Let us know in the Scandy Sphere forum thread on 3DPB.com.
Check out the Kickstarter campaign video below:
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