Well, UK-based Asda is taking this concept to a new dimension. Asda has become the first supermarket in the UK to offer customers the ability to get a 3D printed miniature of themselves right in the store.

“We’re trialling an exciting new service — offering you the chance to pick up a detailed 3D printed miniature version of you and your family while you’re doing your weekly shop!” said Asda in an announcement. “The technology produces highly realistic ‘mini me’ figurines at whatever scale you like!”

Starting this week, Asda is pioneering its 3D printing offering in its York store.

How to get a 3D printed portrait at Asda

Asda has setup a small studio in its store where a customer stands motionless and a store employee 3D scans the customer with a handheld scanner. From the scan a model is built and Asda then 3D prints the model in ceramic offsite.

3D printed miniatures cost £40 and up, and can be printed in white, bronze, or full color.

Asda is inviting customers to scan anything, including people, pets and even cars. “Good luck scanning pets…” wrote one customer on an Asda forum. To get the scan, a subject does need to remain still for a few minutes which might make capturing pets and children a challenge.

Watch this video to see a woman being 3D scanned and her likeness created on a 3D printer.

Earlier this month, we wrote about Fuel3D, a handheld 3D scanner for less than $1,000 that had been growing on Kickstarter.

The company achieved its initial campaign goal in 2 days. With 4 days left to go, the project has raised nearly $300,000.

Fuel3D is an affordable handheld 3D scanner that delivers high resolution shape and color capture for a range of 3D modeling applications, such as 3D printing, 3D art and 3D game development. At an expected final market price of $1,500, its imminent arrival heralds a new price point in handheld 3D scanning technology, which typically sees products retail for $15,000 and above. Kickstarter backers still have up to 3:00pm EDT on Sunday September 1st, to purchase the Fuel3D scanner from $990.

“We have been delighted by the reaction to our Kickstarter campaign, which has been a huge validation of our vision for bringing a lower-cost 3D scanning option to the masses,” said Stuart Mead, CEO, Fuel3D. “We have vastly surpassed our initial goal and have received many orders from our core US and UK markets and beyond – as far afield as Australia and Japan. We have been inundated by approaches from distribution partners and technical collaborators, and the interest from venture capital companies and even national defense organizations tells me that we’re really on to something.”

“Thanks to Kickstarter feedback, we think that offering automated stitching of multiple scans to create 360 degree models is the most useful feature that we could add into the product bundle,” added Mead.

Fuel3D: A handheld 3D scanner for less than $1000

In a recent development, Fuel3D and Uformia will aim to develop automatic stitching of multiple scans as a standard feature in Uformia’s MeshUp software in time for the launch of the Fuel3D scanner. This capability will allow users to take multiple shots of a subject and then the software will automate “stitching” them together to create a complete 360 degree 3D model.

After achieving its stretch goal of $250,000, the company has now committed to adding a tripod mount to its final design, as well as the ability to trigger the camera direct from the laptop or computer, both of which have been suggested by pledgers.

For more information, visit www.fuel-3D.com

3D Printing News

A roundup of the top 3D printing news from August 5 to August 11:

Monday, August 5

• World’s First Crowdsourced 3D Printed Sculpture to Debut in Calgary

Tuesday, August 6

• 3D Printing Brings Classic Patents Back to Life

Thursday, August 8

• MIT Students Use 3D Printing to Duplicate Secure Schlage Keys

Friday, August 9

• 3D Scanning for 3D Printing: How Kickstarter is Changing the Game

Sunday, August 11

• 3D Printed Robot Moves Like an Inch Worm on Power Lines

3D Scanning Makes 3D Printing Possible

Last week, two 3D scanning projects were launched on Kickstarter, looking to raise crowdfunding.

• Fuel3D, which bills itself as “a handheld 3D scanner for less than $1000″ rocketed past its target of $75,000 and is now over $200,000 raised with 23 days to go.
• Volumental’s 3D Scan-to-Print Web App, on the other hand, is still short of its $20,000 goal (they’ve raised about $12,000 so far).

Let’s take a deeper look.

First, why is 3D scanning important?

While the popularity around 3D printing continues to rise, sourcing good designs to print remains a challenge. Sure, you can buy a MakerBot 3D printer and download some 3D designs from Thingiverse, but what if you wanted to capture something in your home or office? That’s where 3D scanning technology comes in.

New entrants to 3D scanning

On the high end, there is expensive software and equipment used by professionals. Fuel3D is directly competing in this area of the market with a much more affordable solution.

Hardware innovation blog HackThings wrote, “Fuel3D is a handheld 3D scanner that’s capable of capturing extremely high resolution mesh (250 microns) and color information of objects in 3D, for around $1000.  According to the creators, that’s an order of magnitude less than today’s commercial solutions of comparable resolution.”

On the low end, there is free software such as Autodesk 123D Catch. And MakerBot has announced plans for real-world copy and paste technology. This is the area that Volumental is competing. The web-based software connects to a depth camera, like a Kinect, and builds a model on the fly.

HackThings wrote about this solution, “It works as a combination of inexpensive sensor hardware and sophisticated cloud-based software.  Log in to their web service, plug in a $300 depth sensor via USB, walk around the object you want to scan, wait for processing and then click “print” to get a clone either via an online printing service or on your own 3D printer.”

Kickstarter campaigns comparison

It might seem surprising that the higher priced solution has raised more money to date on Kickstarter, but this side-by-side comparison gives us some insight into the mentality of crowdfunding. Supporters don’t want to fund things that are perceived to be free; instead, they want to pledge to campaigns that are changing the market. Fuel3D is reducing the cost of high end 3D scanners by an order of magnitude, while Volumental is competing with free.

If you want to back either campaign, or both, here are videos and links to each project.

Fuel3D: A handheld 3D scanner for less than $1000

The 3D Scan-to-Print Web App by Volumental

“It is the best time to get into hardware.” – Bre Pettis, CEO of MakerBot.

At the annual SXSW conference in Austin, Texas, MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis kicked off the show with a big announcement: the unveiling of the MakerBot Digitizer. Though only a prototype, Pettis promises that the Digitizer will enable copy and paste for the physical world. “It’s like Tron,” he told the audience. You can scan an object in 3 minutes and then print out a copy.

Pettis continued, “The MakerBot Digitizer is a great tool for archiving, prototyping, replicating, and digitizing prototypes, models, parts, artifacts, artwork, sculptures, clay figures, jewelry, etc. If something gets broken, you can print it again.”

MakerBot has setup a website where you can sign up to learn more about the Digitizer.

In addition, Pettis announced that MakerBot will be partnering with Autodesk, the makers of iPad app 123D Catch, the current leading consumer 3D scanning tool.