Digitizing the Statues of Xavier University

After the whirlwind of a spring semester, I wanted to kick summer off with some fun pet projects that have been sitting on my “someday/maybe” list for too long. Part digital initiative, part preservation project, I decided to start with scanning (and 3d printing) the statues around campus.

After a bit of research, I installed Regard3D, checked out a DSLR from our Digital Media Lab, and started shooting statues (many thanks to student employees Ben and Julian for their help shooting and editing the resulting models). We then used Meshmixer for some simple cleanup. The process was surprisingly simple as the software handled most of the heavy lifting. My long-term goal is to fire up the drone and start capturing buildings…

Stitching Loyola in Regard3D
Completed 3d Print of Loyola

Feel free to print your own. All of the .stl files can be found in my portfolio.

Published by Christian Sheehy

Nerd generalist, fountain pen and green tea enthusiast, librarian. #LeaveItBetter