American presidents have sat for portraits, had sculptures made and had their image captured in other ways but President Barack Obama is the first to have a complete and accurate 3D model of his visage made for posterity.
This historic, even in you’re not a resident of the States, event took place at the recent White House Maker Faire and involved a team from the Smithsonian, as well as 3D printing and scanning experts from Autodesk and 3D Systems who set up the fearsomely complicated scanning array which captured President Obama’s image for recreation via printer.
[youtube url=”https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4GiLAOtjHNo”]
The video released by the White House covered the entire process used to recreate the current American president from start to finish and the results are a lot more impressive than you’d think. Whether the tech involved will be used to create busts for notable people in future is uncertain but we’re willing to bet that a few other people are going to want in on this.
Source: White House via Engadget