You know in Iron Man 2 when Tony Stark has JARVIS scan the diorama of Stark Expo and then manipulates a computerized version of the model with his hands?
HP today unveiled the peculiarly named Sprout, a PC that will let creative professionals do the same... more or less.
The all-in-one desktop PC has an integrated 3D scanner that can digitize physical objects and a projector with a 20-inch touch-sensitive mat. The 3D scanner uses Intel's RealSense 3D capture, which combines the images from multiple cameras to construct its 3D models; it can also capture 14 megapixel 2D images. Both the 3D scanner and the projector point at the touch mat, creating a workspace enabling the "physical" manipulation of digital objects.
Aside from its special scanner and touch mat, the Sprout is a regular Windows 8.1 PC with a Core i7-4790S processor, Nvidia GeForce GT 745A GPU, 8GB RAM, 23-inch 1920×1080 touchscreen, and 1TB hard disk with an 8GB SSD accelerator.
HP is calling this fusion of digital and physical "blended reality." Sprout, which HP styles as an "immersive computer," is one part of that, bringing physical objects into the digital world. HP also has eyes on the other half of the story: putting digital objects into the physical world with 3D printers.
HP is planning to produce 3D printers using a new HP-developed technology called Multi Jet Fusion. The company claims that this process will offer greater precision than common fused deposition printers (which build objects from small drops of plastic fused together) and lower prices and better performance than selective laser sintering printers (which use a laser to fuse metal powder).
Multi Jet Fusion 3D printers will use a multistep process that combines particles of a bulk material with a fusing agent, which makes the material fuse together, and a detailing agent, which prevents fusing. As with other 3D printing processes, objects are built up layer by layer; first the material, then the fusing agent, and then the detailing agent are applied. The final step is to heat the entire layer. When heated, only the parts exposed to the fusing agent will stick together. HP claims that this process, with these multiple steps and materials, enables high performance, fine detail, and good surface finishes.
The process will also be flexible, allowing additional agents to be introduced. For example, colored agents could be used to enable 3D printing of multicolor objects. HP says that other properties, such as elasticity, opacity, or even electrical conductivity, could in principle be controlled on a drop-by-drop basis.
The Sprout PC will be available in November, priced at $1,899.99. Multi Jet Fusion printers, however, won't be available until 2016.
67 Reader Comments
Its HP so it will work fine after you install the 8GB driver package that includes Real Player for some goddamn reason.
Hp stTed earlier this year, that in the fall they would announce a major new 3D printing technology. That what should be reported upon here.
It's called the "Multijet Fusion printing technology.
http://article.wn.com/view/2014/10/29/H ... n_Printer/
It's also on their site, along with two PDFs you can view.
It's like you didn't even bother reading the article before commenting on it.
3D scanner is cool, although what's shown here is only using it for 2D scanning. Can it actually scan in 3D with a camera only from one direction?
Large tablet input is nice. I'm using a Wacom Bamboo tablet myself, looks similar. Not new, but it is pretty great.
Projecting onto the tablet is definitely cool. That seems like the most novel component here. Image is kind of washed out and if you're going to include a touch display anyway, I don't know why you wouldn't just use the touch display, but ok.
Use of the tablet as a virtual keyboard in place of an actual keyboard, not so much. You may have pried my phone keyboard out of my clutches, darn you, but you'll never have my desktop keyboard!!!
Hp stTed earlier this year, that in the fall they would announce a major new 3D printing technology. That what should be reported upon here.
It's called the "Multijet Fusion printing technology.
http://article.wn.com/view/2014/10/29/H ... n_Printer/
It's also on their site, along with two PDFs you can view.
It's like you didn't even bother reading the article before commenting on it.
It's more like the melding of two press releases than an article.
Why are you dressing this up as more than what it is?
Why on earth would they even bother putting a crappy laptop gpu in there? That makes no sense whatsoever to me.
I guess marketing shenanigans or possibly something specifically related to that card, but yeesh. That's horrendous; it's probably worse than the integrated graphics.
Give this a try before you give up
http://www.123dapp.com/catch
It's a photo-to-3d model from autodesk
But it should be possible to scan say a toy gun, load it up in Blender, perhaps smooth it out if it's using too many polygons, and then use that model in say a Unity game?
Give this a try before you give up
http://www.123dapp.com/catch
It's a photo-to-3d model from autodesk
Very cool. Will definitely give it a look.
Give this a try before you give up
http://www.123dapp.com/catch
It's a photo-to-3d model from autodesk
Very cool. Will definitely give it a look.
Best of luck. I've not touched 3d animation in years, but I used to be quite proficient at it, so I keep up to a degree on emerging tech.
If you're having severe trouble manipulating 3d objects in a 2d space, you might also want to look into 3dConnexion's 3d HIDs. They're expensive, but you basically manipulate the object as though it were in your hand. Rotate the "controller" left to turn the object left, "lift" the controller to move it up along the Y axis, etc etc.
http://www.3dconnexion.com/
I had an oooooooooold spaceorb 360 which did this and it was the bee's knees for both FPS and 3d work
Who else remembers this thing?
Any digital artist worth their salt already has a wacom cintiq or intuos. This doesn't have pressure sensitivity either.
Touch is less accurate than 2048 levels of pressure sensitivity on a pen nib on a wacom
Give this a try before you give up
http://www.123dapp.com/catch
It's a photo-to-3d model from autodesk
Very cool. Will definitely give it a look.
Best of luck. I've not touched 3d animation in years, but I used to be quite proficient at it, so I keep up to a degree on emerging tech.
If you're having severe trouble manipulating 3d objects in a 2d space, you might also want to look into 3dConnexion's 3d HIDs. They're expensive, but you basically manipulate the object as though it were in your hand. Rotate the "controller" left to turn the object left, "lift" the controller to move it up along the Y axis, etc etc.
http://www.3dconnexion.com/
I have a 3dConnexion SpaceNavigator. I would recommend them.
It certainly makes 3D manipulation feel more intuitive. Pushing, pulling, rotating and zooming objects with your left hand while editing nodes with your mouse is much quicker than the 15-finger-keyboard-kung-fu many 3D apps require.
Give this a try before you give up
http://www.123dapp.com/catch
It's a photo-to-3d model from autodesk
Very cool. Will definitely give it a look.
Best of luck. I've not touched 3d animation in years, but I used to be quite proficient at it, so I keep up to a degree on emerging tech.
If you're having severe trouble manipulating 3d objects in a 2d space, you might also want to look into 3dConnexion's 3d HIDs. They're expensive, but you basically manipulate the object as though it were in your hand. Rotate the "controller" left to turn the object left, "lift" the controller to move it up along the Y axis, etc etc.
http://www.3dconnexion.com/
I have a 3dConnexion SpaceNavigator. I would recommend them.
It certainly makes 3D manipulation feel more intuitive. Pushing, pulling, rotating and zooming objects with your left hand while editing nodes with your mouse is much quicker than the 15-finger-keyboard-kung-fu many 3D apps require.
Awesome, I'm tempted to get one, but am torn. I don't know anyone who actually has one personally, but hearing good feedback is always appreciated.
Thanks!
Why are you dressing this up as more than what it is?
To use a pop culture reference that people will actually recognize and understand.
Hp stTed earlier this year, that in the fall they would announce a major new 3D printing technology. That what should be reported upon here.
It's called the "Multijet Fusion printing technology.
http://article.wn.com/view/2014/10/29/H ... n_Printer/
It's also on their site, along with two PDFs you can view.
It's like you didn't even bother reading the article before commenting on it.
I did did read the article. I'd like to see a more detailed report on this. What's wrong with that? The article has a nice pic, but far more on the computer than the printer. I felt as though it was just mentioned in an offhand manner.
Last edited by melgross on Wed Oct 29, 2014 2:44 pm
No. The quality of 3D objects scanned using this type of multi-camera technique is not yet up to what you need for a game. If you're uncomfortable with 3D modelling software, but know how to write code, check out OpenSCAD, which basically allows you to model 3D objects by writing simple code.
...and no Artificial Intelligence with a voice, which is what J.A.R.V.I.S. in the movies is.
until2016.There, fixed that for you, since this is, y'now, HP.
And also Windows 8.1,
Smiley bluescreens that you can interact with.
Sure, you just need to rotate the object.
But really, this is basically what, a stereo camera / Kinect + a PC? It's hardly groundbreaking. And projecting onto the mat seems like a bad idea, if they intend for your hands to be between the mat and the projector (e.g. any time you want to interact with the mat).
Call me a cynic, but I'm betting on less.
Its HP so it will work fine after you install the 8GB driver package that includes Real Player for some goddamn reason.
Plus after using it for one year, it will suddenly stop working for you in the hopes that you will upgrade. Once you give it to your mother, it will mysteriously work once again for her.
Just like 2 of their printers that I bought in the 1990s.
I have very hi hopes for consumer 3D scanning, but unless they show that crane do roll, pitch and yaw, I'm skeptical.
...and no Artificial Intelligence with a voice, which is what J.A.R.V.I.S. in the movies is.
Windows 10 will have Cortana.
I have very hi hopes for consumer 3D scanning, but unless they show that crane do roll, pitch and yaw, I'm skeptical.
HP has an app to create 3D scans, though apparently it's rather rudimentary, so I guess they didn't show it on video.
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