Mt. Rushmore gets some 3D Scanning
3d scanning heads to the Black Hills
Where is the best place to go to see four famous guys look stone-faced? Any guesses? If you said “Mt. Rushmore”, then you rock! If your dad answered the same way, then you are truly a chip off the old block. If you aren’t laughing at my jokes by now, then you may be a little hard-headed, and someone needs to chisel away at your humor. I really take too much for granite. I should stop all this pomp and circumstance and get talking about the real topic, which is 3D scanning. 3D scanning services has been to the Black Hills to get a good look at one of our national heritages. And it took a few pictures if you know what I mean.
Digitize the Presidents
Now instead of just one good look at those presidents. (By the way, can you name them?? And you call yourself an American!?) Theodore Roosevelt, Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, and Abraham Lincoln are the guys to see when you get there, literally. Now that 3D scanning had made its way to Deadwood, people are getting a double-take, triple-take, or how ever many takes it takes of the four presidents to satisfy your block. They are going to be scanned into digital form for anyone and everyone to enjoy. Does that make you happy? Well, don’t expect a reaction out of them. They are as stone-faced as a poker player, and if any one of those guys cracks a smile, then the show is over until proper repairs can be made.
Who has the Scan Plan
So who the devil’s tower is doing all this scanning anyway? The group is called CyArk, and they are the guys who have digitally chiseled these stiff guys onto a computer hard drive. This was all made possible because of a guy named Ronald Real, who is a Professor at UC Berkley. Together this team made a scan of the monument into digital form. Once it was made into digital form and then reproduced as a concrete replica. That way there will be a lot more Rushmore going around to appreciate. Also having a digital copy of monuments like Mt.Rushmore is useful for preservation of it. If you want to check out what they are all about and how they are using 3D scanning services to capture cultural treasures, you can go to their website.
So the next time you see a 3D scanner with a bumper sticker on it that says “Where the heck is Wall Drug?” You just might be looking at the guy who did the scanning for Mt. Rushmore? If you do run into him, slap him in the back, give him a high-five, and say “Thanks for the scan, man! While most people just talk-the-talk, you-walk-the walk by scanning that rock so that we all could gawk.” Words like that are nothing to knock. I’m starting to ramble about that rock, so I’d better roll…