“We thought it would be popular with the hacker/maker crowd,” said Brandejs, “but the applications are much broader than that. We’ve had interest from designers, artists, archeologists, dentists and even parents who want to scan their kids’ artwork.”
At the heart of the Matterform’s technology is a high-definition camera that produces accurate, detailed color scans at resolution qualities that match or top what the more expensive scanners can achieve. Artists, inventors and hobbyists will be able to upload their scanned images to Matterform’s community platform to showcase and share with a growing collective of 3D designers, artists and makers.
“I love working in real clay to sculpt characters,” said Jonathan Paine, a sculptor and character modeler on films like Pixar’s The Incredibles and Ratatouille, “but it’s been prohibitively expensive for me to use a 3D scanner at my home office. The Matterform lets me scan my pieces with ease and be pleased with the quality of the scan. It’s as simple as turning it on and pressing a button, making it easy for me to sculpt, scan, and model.”
The Matterform’s $579 retail price makes it significantly more affordable than its commercial counterparts. This could have profound implications on the 3D printing industry.
While 3D printing has been available at the industrial/commercial level for several years, the transition to personal use has been hampered by the fact that even the most affordable printers require high-resolution scanning. And while some 3D printers were priced affordably, the Matterform is the first high-resolution 3D scanner available in its price range.
Compact, portable and fully assembled, the Matterform 3D Scanner is available through www.matterform.net. The Matterform 3D Scanner will be available for viewing and demos at the Matterform CES booth (booth 31929).
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NOTE TO EDITOR: B-roll, Art available
For more information or to arrange interviews, please call:
Susan McLennan
(416) 568-5974 (CES onsite number)
(416) 699-1846
susan@babbleoncom.com
You can catch up with some of their media hits on the Matterform News page including this most recent article by Matthew Braga in The Financial Post. Please visit Matterform.net for additional information.