EVER fancied taking your favourite possessions with you into the virtual world? Spiral Scratch, a start-up company in Liverpool, UK, has come up with a cheap device that generates three-dimensional computer representation of any object it scans.
The design industry already uses 3D scanners, but these machines cost thousands of pounds and are bulky and complex to operate. They typically use an array of cameras to scan an object and then recreate it in three dimensions on a computer.
Spiral Scratch’s system is far simpler. A projector beams light through a grating that projects a pattern of horizontal lines across an object placed on a rotating…
