3Dcopysystems Introduces Its Big ALICE Full Body 3D Scanner to the New York Fashion Industry

There are some companies, like Twindom, that believe every person in the world will someday have a 3D model of themselves that they can use as part of a digital identity. Full body 3D scanning as a service is continuing to grow, with applications in gaming, health and fitness, and online shopping.

3D scanning specialist 3Dcopysystems, based in Austria, rapidly digitizes people and large, organic objects with its patented ALICE line of full body 3D scanning systems, including the Big ALICE and the Little ALICE, at an accuracy of 1 mm or even less.

“We believe in the potential to copy the world as it is,” 3Dcopysystems declares on its homepage.

Recently, the company, a brand of 3D Studios, attended the Fashion Institute of Technology’s (FIT) Annual Awards Gala in New York City, and brought its Big ALICE 3D scanner to the event in order to show off how the system can be used for personalized textile production.

“The extraordinary quality of our high-resolution 3D scans and the associated texture surprised and inspired the fashion experts at FIT and introduced them to new possibilities for the individualisation of fashion products,” said Christof Kirschner, Managing Director of 3Dcopysystems. “In the medium term it could revolutionise personalised textile production and the online shopping experience. Partnerships with shopping centres and fashion shows are in the cards, and a few international US companies have expressed their interest in cooperating with us. We are proud to announce that our US business will be led by our distributor, Barton Hetrick from Looking Glass Arts.”

The event was great for 3Dcopysystems, as the company has now been successfully introduced in the US. Celebrities, models, and designers from international clothing brands were able to experience the Big ALICE full body 3D scanner for themselves at the June gala, and the system was a great inspiration for both faculty and students during its time set up in the FIT Design and Tech Lab.

Big ALICE is the company’s largest photogrammetric scanning studio: at 5 x 4 x 2.5 m, it has enough room for six people to be 3D scanned from head to toe by a total of 64 high resolution DSLR cameras. These cameras, each boasting a resolution of 18 MPx and adjustable focal lengths, then capture the subject, whether it’s moving or static, from 64 different angles with 2,400W of white light.

According to 3Dcopysystems, “Resolution is not only a driving factor for reconstructing an object‘s mesh but also for the quality of the accompanying texture (surface colour). So whenever texture plays a crucial role for your application a DSLR studio is what you are looking for.”

In addition to the resulting 3D model, the Big ALICE 3D scanning system also delivers a high-resolution texture map, which is an important factor for multiple digital 3D applications in gaming, fashion, advertising, and even healthcare.

The Big ALICE and the 3.3 x 2.7 x 2.3 m Little ALICE, which features 38 high-resolution DSLR cameras, have now begun their tour of the US, and are moving on from New York to be seen and tested in Miami and Philadelphia. 3Dcopysystems, which also developed a photogrammetric room scanning device called the Gryphon, is also hard at work on its next innovation of 4D scanning, which can realistically digitize whole movements – perfect for the fashion industry as a way to study how fabrics behave as they move.

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[Source: Fibre2Fashion / Images: 3Dcopysystems unless otherwise noted]