3D Laser Scanner & CNC Router Capabilities
of Blue Genie ArtIn October 2004 Blue Genie acquired a digital sculpting system. The system includes a 3D laser scanner, a host of software and a 3 axis CNC mill. We can carve foam, wood and plastic in blocks up to 4 ft. by 8 ft. by 8 in. with a wide variety of router bit styles depending on the application. Our system also includes a polyurea spray system for coating foam sculptures. Our digital scanner uses a laser and digital cameras to record the contours of a surface. The laser records with great accuracy to 1/100th of an inch. We can scan objects up to 4 ft. by 8 ft. by 8 in. thick. The laser does not record undercuts. Fully three dimensional objects are scanned rotationally or in sections. Three dimensional objects can be translated into relief effectively. The scanner can record most surfaces well, provided they are not transparent or reflective. Scanned data can be exported in a variety of file formats or saved in its native format for use with CARSO. CARSO is the main software we use for manipulating and toolpathing scanned data. Scanned images can be scaled in any dimension to any size and the software will split it into blocks that fit on our machine. Other possibilities include milling in reverse for waste mold casting or mirroring for exact opposites. Toolpathing is when we create the numeric file that the milling machine follows. With VisualMill we can toolpath CAD drawings as well as scans. We can import a wide variety of 3D data including DXF, STL, IGES, 3DM, OBJ and many more. We've even milled from a digital elevation model (DEM), which is earth data taken from a satellite. Our Computer Numeric Controlled (CNC) mill sports a powerful 5.5 HP motor. This motor spins router bits ranging in size from 1 in. down to 1/16th in. and the gantry moves the motor around on a 3-dimensional XYZ axis. Milling with the 1 in. bit is quick — great for roughing in large sculptures and cutting out simple shapes. Milling with the very small bits is very time consuming, but incredible details can be captured. Expanded Polystyrene (EPS, Styrofoam) is the most common material we mill since it is very cost effective. Once it is coated it makes very durable outdoor items. Urethane Foam is great for precision projects, but costs quite a bit more than EPS. Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) is the choice for interior architectural elements that need to be painted. For coating EPS we use polyurea. This is a sprayed on high-tech plastic that sets in 5 seconds and is incredibly impact resistant. Large castings can be made very quickly by spraying plastic into rubber molds. We paint the plastic within the first four hours and the paint bonds permanently to the coating. The potential for all of this technology in the realm of art is very exciting. Projects in advertising, architecture, landscape, signage, display and more could easily benefit from use of this equipment. Knowing how it works can help you think creatively about the possibilities. Let us know if you have questions about how we can help your project. Visit our Scale Up / Digital Sculpture Enlargement pages.
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