From 3D Scan to Moai (think Easter Island)

Here is a combination of several projects in one.  I started with my recent experiments with 3D laser scanning, and the portable rig I built. (Based on a design from the David 3D scanner web site.)

For more detailed picture of the setup and assembly see my YouTube video.

I was inspired to take a scan of my face and morph it into a Moai after seeing some of the Moai Madness going on in the lab (over at Open3DP).

Here is the initial scan of my face:

Using AccuTrans 3D to re-orient and scale (stretch lengthwise) gives this result:

The important thing to note here is that I tilted the surface up (notice the axis in the lower left corner).  This was for two things.  First it minimized stretching the underside of my nose and second it gives the final Moai the right shape.

MeshLab was then used to clean the edges:

Then back to AccuTrans 3D to extrude:

Back to MeshLab to smooth (Laplacian Smooth, several times in different areas until it looked nice and even):

Finally some "mesh aging and chipping" in MeshLab:

Here is a 3D print of the final model: