- There were only 4 sessions in the morning of the last day. Thanks to all for making this a great event.
- Everyone can and should pressure their vendors to support the creation of standards via ASTM E 57.
- Rapid prototyping and 3D printing produces the equivalent visualization benefits to holographic displays.
The last day was a bit anticlimactic. There were only 4 sessions scheduled, plus 2 workshops. I participated in the ASTM E57 3D Imaging session which was attended by about 45 people. Alan Lytle, Chair of the Committee provided a high level overview of the committee as well as 3 of the subcommittee reports.
The Terminology subcommittee is the only one to have published an actual ASTM standard to date, but Best Practices is nearing completion of their recommendations on safety, and the Data Interoperability subcommittee, which I chair is hopefully approaching a draft of the data exchange standard by the next meeting, scheduled for Vancouver, BC in June. Test Methods is making progress on a range protocol standard.
As I have noted in the past, the laser scanning industry is being held back by a lack of standards. Even if you cannot take the time to participate on one of the subcommittees, everyone can and should do their own personal lobbying for standards with their vendors and service providers. This kind of pressure will encourage the vendors to become more proactive on the subcommittees, and lead to a much more transparent industry. Government agencies can play a lead role in creating these mandates.
Unfortunately I was only able to attend the very end of the rapid prototyping session which included Michael Raphael from Direct Dimensions and Rick Moore from the US Army who brought along a number of examples of what can be done with 3D printers. In many ways this technology produces similar user benefits to Zebra Imaging, except one produces virtual 3D objects and the other the 3D objects themselves. This is why we need more information exchange between the short and long range scanning worlds.
Thanks to Spar for hosting a great conference, and to all the attendees and vendors for making it a great event.
