This Big, Weird Sculpture Can 3D Scan Your Face

Would you stick your face into this sculpture? That is the intended use of Maker Face, built by Scott VanKampen and a team at the Staten Island Makerspace. You place your face inside the giant contraption and seven Raspberry Pi cameras snap a picture. The images are all combined and converted into a 3D model of your face.  They then took things a bit further and they’ve been morphing all the faces together to show what the average face of a Maker Faire goer looks like.

The sculpture is a mix of mechanical structures with a pervasive organic element that comes from the curves used in the design. The use of a flexible wooden material called “Wiggle board” allowed Scott to create the organically inspired area which envelopes your face. A layer of paper over that closes everything up to ensure an evenly diffused light for the 3D scanning.

I stuck my face in it and I can attest that the experience was odd. There is this hulking sculpture with a tiny hole and you’re asked to place your face… inside. You feel incredibly vulnerable, but the paper and the curves are somehow relaxing, at least more relaxing than some industrial angles and welds would have been. I can’t wait to see the results when they publish them on the SI Makerspace website.