DAVID software turns your webcam into a 3D laser scanner

Those snazzy laser-based scanners that just have to make at least one appearance in every science-fiction film worth its salt are now available for your home, and it'll cost you quite a bit less than what Hollywood presumably shelled out for theirs. Thanks to folks who see value in "free," a few clever programmers have crafted the DAVID Laserscanner software, which turns your webcam into an ultra-sensative laser recorder and then reconstructs the object on-screen based on the breaks in the beam. Reportedly, all your need is a PC, a halfway decent webcam, a perfect 90-degree angle in the corner of your wall, some foreign object(s), and a street-corner laser pointer to go along with the software. DAVID computes the beam length as you "brush over the object with the laser" in order to render the object on your display, and while it can't quite do 360-degree renditions just yet, the developers hope to add that functionality soon enough. So, if you're the proud owner of all the above prerequisites, be sure to hit the read link and get your laser scanning on.

[Via hack a day]

[Daniel @ Dec 22nd 2006 5:33PM]

I am a spamming troll, please spam me back: [e-mail]

[tiuk @ Dec 22nd 2006 10:10PM]

You can do that in Rainbow Six: Vegas with the Live Vision Cam.

[Pal @ Dec 23rd 2006 1:57AM]

Wow...this is amazing! Comes with an exporter as well, awesome! I'm a CG art college student, so this excited me more than it should. Oh man...I can't wait to try this!

Thanks Engadget for reporting, for this has made my day :)

[tsnake @ Dec 23rd 2006 10:28PM]

I just installed and played with it a little bit. When they say have good lighting, they mean it. :)

I set it up in a completely crappy situation, calibration on a brown cardboard backing, yellowy light (incandescent) really crappy webcam and the laser level has a licker line than I think will produce good results on a detailed object.

I got the general (blobby) shape of my objects - one a plushy cat toy, the other a bottle of wood glue - but it proves to me that this could work pretty well under optimum settings, which I intend on doing, using the same laser, but a white light, DV cam and a better background.

I can't wait to give it a real go.

[Isaac @ Dec 25th 2006 3:53PM]

Ooooo, this looks like potential fun. I wonder how it measures the length of the laser... does the laser pointer have to be USB-capable? Or do you have to be pretty precise where you place the laser in relation to the webcam and the software assumes the length of the laser based on that? Well I guess I'll have to go play with it and find out. :)

[AJ @ Jan 4th 2007 10:00AM]

this is really very cool. I've been playing with it ever since the post went up, and under the right conditions, it's extremely accurate and impressive. All done with pixel processing by the way, no need for laser depth readings per se.