[MUSIC] Hi today, we're here at the Beckman Institute on the north end of University of Illinois campus. As you see, this is a large and impressive facility. >> The Beckman Institute was founded in 1985 by Arnold Beckman who donated over $40 million to the university. It's one of the first research centers to participate in interdisciplinary research and currently houses over 1,000 faculty members in over 40 departments. >> In addition, the institute has a number of cutting-edge labs and centers. Today we'll be visiting the visualization laboratory and talk with Travis Ross, the lab manager. Are you ready? >> Let's go. >> Let's get inside, it's cold out here. >> Yeah. [MUSIC] >> Here we are in the visualization lab. We're with Travis Ross, the lab manager. Travis, thanks for joining us today. >> Mm-hm. >> Can you tell us a bit about what happens here in this lab and the type of work that you and your colleagues engage in? >> Sure, yeah, so this is actually part of the Imaging Technology Group, which is a two group Department. We have a whole slew of visualization technologies. So typically for the scientific environment, but it's growing out into art and design and all of the humanities who need to in some sense do some type of advanced 3D visualization. >> Travis, I think some of our participants may not be familiar with the term- >> Yeah. >> Visualization. So what does that mean in every day language? >> Right, it means a lot. It means different things to different people always. But in this sense and what we're talking about here in the visualization lab is typically bringing some bit of information. Whether it's information from a scientific research project into an image that can be seen and displayed for better communication. When we see that manifesting itself in 3D simulations where someone might actually take a CT scan of an object or a microscopic component even or piece of some type of material. It could even be a component that they designed and invented right here on campus. They need to CT scan that after they've invented, and then maybe even test to verify the research results. So there's a lot of that going on. That may be one type of visualization that's happening. Another type could actually be someone who's doing design. They want to see more or feel more of what they're designing before they actually get to the point of marketing it, turning it into a product that can actually be marketed of commercialized. So they will bring us a prototype. And this is one example I'm going to show you here in a minute is that you have a prototype of something that you want to experiment with and see if it actually is working the way you think it is. There's almost no better way than to either 3D scan an existing object, prototype, physical model, sculpture, or something, design from that or take that design file and 3D print it. And so when I look at 3D printing technologies and 3D scanning, I don't see two separate things. A lot of times you see people talking about, okay, 3D scanning 3D printing and design, they're all these segmented things. I actually see that we use them as like this cyclical thing. They're all useful together, and that's typically what we're dealing with. This model, for example, someone designed as a calibration device. >> So this model here on the screen? >> Yep. >> So this is something that you're working on currently here in the lab? >> Right, this is a unique example of a group that's doing biological mechanics. So they're testing a system that can measure the mechanics of biological components. >> So this is a hollow cube with some spheres placed on different parts of it. >> Right, so what they did in this, this is actually 3D. I've scanned this, and I'm going to show how this works in a minute. But they designed the shape in probably a CAD system, printed it on a 3D printer in your facility actually. >> Okay, great, I actually saw this being printed. >> Assembled it, then a secondary process of adding the spheres and some important, they call these fiducials. They add these two very important points that they're going to use for measurement. Now this is not a typical commercialized type thing. But this is important because it's going to display the concept that you can take a CAD design, 3D print it, do something to it, whatever that might be. In this case it was they actually I think glued these two pieces together, added the spheres. And then we're going to scan it back into the computer and verify a process. This is actually extremely common in big industry. So you see aerospace companies, automotive companies. >> They do this workflow? >> Design studios doing this workflow all the time, all the time. >> So make sure we understand the process of this, you had a digital design on a design software package. >> Yeah. >> And then that design was 3D printed to a physical object. >> Yeah. >> That physical object was brought back to your lab to be scanned. >> Yeah. >> So moving from digital to physical to digital. >> Yeah. >> And then likely the scan will produce another physical product again. Are there some other examples you'd like to show us? You've got lots of toys here in the lab. >> Yeah, well, this is a simple example of something that I was going to show. This was a test that I did for an open house once. And actually you guys want to see this. >> This is like an artifact. >> It is, it's actually a clay model. I think I have it in my cabinet down here [LAUGH]. >> Okay, so you have the model and now this. And did you scan that with, great. So this is the actual- >> Yeah. >> Clay, looks like you may have fired this. >> So. >> And then you scanned it. Now how did you scan this? Which one of these tools did you use to? >> The one right behind you. >> So this thing here, and you have. >> Yeah, the maker of this is Steinbichler. It's a German company. They make structured light scanners. And the technology takes a light pattern, averified light pattern that is actually calibrated. >> So this is a 3D scanner. >> This is a scanner, and it integrates with this turntable. >> This is a turntable, so this clay model would sit on the turntable. >> Yep. >> And it would turn. And now how does the scanner work, does it take any pictures? >> It's taking pictures of a line pattern, and I'll show that here in just a minute. >> So it's taking lots and lots of pictures. >> Yeah. >> And so it's rendering this. >> So at each angle it's capturing- >> A different. >> Data. >> A different part of it. >> And as it does that multiple times around the model, it's filling in holes. You get this, and you can see it on this screen here. You actually get something that looks like individual pieces of data that is full of holes. But as it scans around, you will see that you're picking up more and more data, and it starts to fill in the gaps. And you have to do a few different scan passes, and each scanner works a little bit different way. Some of them are handheld, some of them mount to a stand like this. But this one we chose because it's actually fairly easy to use. >> So Travis, so if we can scan and manufacture broken parts, what does this mean for firms that are involved in supplying replacement parts? What does the future hold for them? >> Yeah, well that's an interesting market. There have been groups that have actually come to us to ask us, sort of interview us on how they might do this [LAUGH]. Because if you think about, one of the most expensive things for a company is inventory, to store all their inventory. And if you didn't have to start inventory, it means you would need to rent a smaller facility. So let's say your inventory's digital rather than physical, and a customer comes to you for a new part or a replacement. You could just print it on demand. Or the other growing side of this is put printers in people's garages, and they can print their own parts at home. A lot of times the technology now is handheld. So it's about even battery-powered devices that are handheld, so you can freely move around an object. Whereas this is, it's on the stand. It's a lot more rigid, it's a lot more difficult to move. I mean, that tower by itself weighs a couple hundred pounds. So it's hard to take that into the field, but I can put this onto a regular camera tripod and move around easily. We actually used this plus another one just like it, and we scanned the alma mater which is 13 feet tall when it was off the platform when it was being restored. So in a matter of three days, we scanned the entire alma mater sculpture. And so that was a big undertaking with two scanners like this, but totally doable. I mean, people are using scanners like this to scan entire aircraft inside and out. >> How much would this cost, this piece of equipment? >> Well, I would say industry price is somewhere like around $100,000 for the whole setup. Educational pricing is always way better, so around 60K for this. But you can get into the scanning market for 20,000 now, for an actual 3D scanner. Now the other technology that I want to talk briefly about, which is really becoming more hipster, is what they call 3D photo reconstruction, because you can actually do this for free. >> So 3D photo reconstruction, have you heard of this? >> No, I haven't. >> So you've probably heard of 123D software, right, by Autodesk, right? They have free versions of the scanning software, and it's technically not scanning. >> So this is 123D Catch, for people who don't know about this, this is a application for your smartphone. >> Yeah. >> That you can take out with you, and you can scan objects. >> Yeah. >> In everyday life. >> Yeah, it's really cool. And then companies like 3D Systems, they're catching on to this need for cheap not extremely accurate, but easy-to-use scanning devices. So they developed this device that mounts onto an iPad. And you just take your iPad walking around an object, and it will start to digitize it. And that's really inexpensive, I mean. >> We have one of those in our lab. >> Yeah, so they're inexpensive. >> The sense scanner. >> It gets you into scanning really cheaply. And for a lot of casual users, that's going to be fine. >> Is there anything else you'd like to tell us? >> I wish I could have shown you the dinosaur model. I don't have that one. Maybe I can find it later. >> We have some dinosaurs from Allen Craig. >> Okay, yeah. >> Joey, do you have any questions? >> No, thank you so much for answering all of our questions. >> Thank you, Travis, it's fascinating stuff. >> Yeah, thanks.
