At CSI I have often laughed when I saw which utopian technologies are sometimes used there. They shot the bird with a mobile handheld version of a 3D scanner and so I decided to do a little research on the internet. And what can I say, the laughter stuck in my throat when I discovered that reality has long since caught up with science fiction!
The student of Cambridge University, Qi Pan, has written software that can create 3D images with a standard low-pixel camera that practically everyone has lying around on their desk. The program was named «Pro forma» (Probabilistic Feature-based On-line Rapid Model Acquisition). ProFORMA scans objects as they are rotated and does so quite reliably. Hands and other restless image elements are automatically removed; the routine only records fixed points that move within a rigid grid. Very impressive!
ProFORMA is not yet fully developed and therefore not yet available. But Qi Pan offers up his website a newsletter to and as soon as a Linux version is available (for Windows there will also be one later), you will be informed. By the way, Wired has already found uses for this, for example you could let your own body take over the main role in Wii games. Or you can connect the camera to a 3D printer and reproduce everything that falls into your hands!
Very, very cool thing. In the following clip you can see ProFORMA in practice and I lost my breath a little ...
Ingenious thing, you should pursue it: =)