Free 3D Scans Of Famous Sculptures?

By on June 10th, 2013 in Usage

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Cosmo Wenman is well-known for his incredibly realistic and large-size 3D prints of ancient sculptures. How does he do it? He visits museums to capture 3D scans later offered online at no charge. Now he’s taking the concept to a much higher level: a Kickstarter project hopes to raise funds for him to scan numerous notable sculptures: 
 
I will 3D scan a selection of plaster casts of important, archetypal sculptures at the Skulpturhalle and publish the scans and 3D printable files into the public domain, copyright-free, so that anyone, anywhere, can download, alter, adapt, or 3D print them for themselves.
 
The Skulpturhalle in Basel, Switzerland, holds over 2,200 casts. This is a very strategic move; scanning original works would require travel to many museums. Scans of plaster casts result in the same 3D scans. 
 
The funds permit Wenman to not only travel to the Swiss museum, but also to spend many days processing the scans. The goal is to produce many freely available 3D scans to the public via Thingiverse. 
 
If successful, this project will save everyone the time to produce museum scans, which are often difficult to obtain. It’s possible, but only if you wait until the security guard isn’t looking. 
 
Please support this project. 
  

By Kerry Stevenson

Kerry Stevenson, aka "General Fabb" has written over 8,000 stories on 3D printing at Fabbaloo since he launched the venture in 2007, with an intention to promote and grow the incredible technology of 3D printing across the world. So far, it seems to be working!