A very cool video has been posted to the Jay Leno Big Dog Garage website. We got to work with not only some of the coolest cars and people in Hollywood, but also the coolest in Engineering Technology.
“Holy cow! American ingenuity is alive, kicking, and awesome. Now you can combine the products of three homegrown tech companies, FARO, Autodesk, and Geomagic to create pretty much whatever you want under your own roof. Watch while Jay scans and reproduces his face!”
See Autodesk Inventor, Geomagic, & FARO 3D Laser Scanning at Jay Leno's Garage http://bit.ly/9oHhDH
Making appearances in this video are Jay Leno, Jim Hall of Big Dog Garage, Autodesk’s own strategic research director Gonzalo Martinez, Geomagic’s amazing CEO Ping Fu, FARO’s laser firing duo David Morse and Jeff Squibbs. Not shown in this video were the geometry taming Kevin Scofield of Geomagic, Bernard of Big Dog Garage, the Tabasco hot sauce loving Autodesk CTO Jeff Kowalski, and Lil’ ol’ me.
Left to right: Jeff Kowalski, CTO (Autodesk); David Morse, VP (FARO); Kevin Scofield (Geomagic); Jay Leno; Ping Fu, CEO (Geomagic); Shaan Hurley, Evangelist (Autodesk); Gonzalo Martinez, Director of Strategic Research (Autodesk); Jeff Squibbs, Western Region Director (FARO)
From my colleague Dan Ahern describing the process:
With Jay Leno's rapt attention, the team demonstrated our combined technologies to scan original parts and create 3D models. They then began to print 3D prototypes, showing Jay how fabricating a replacement part for his cherished cars has taken a tremendous leap forward. Since Jay's garage began using 3D modeling with AutoCAD and Inventor, they have fabricated many parts including intake manifolds for a 1945 Rolls Royce engine. In addition to fabricating replacement parts, the garage team uses Inventor to redesign components based on the mechanics' learning and new engineering methods like fatigue analysis.
It is always amazing when multiple technologies work together so perfectly to make something so challenging appear so easy. This would not have been possible without the great people and technology of FARO, Geomagic, and our own Autodesk family.
A few years ago I mentioned this concept to some people, and they looked at me like I was really crazy or watching too much Star Trek. 
One person back then pointed out the most complex prototype I had scanned, meshed, and 3D printed was the infamous Matt Murphy Clay Head Sculpture. The Matt Murphy Clay Head did make an appearance with Jay Leno a few years back after it toured the world with me but that is another long sorted tale. I felt back then the infamous Murphy's head was the beginning of not only some fun geeky time with clay, a laser scanner, cool software, and a 3D printer, but something much much bigger.
Who knew it would all come down to 3 technology leading companies in Jay’s shop scanning a part in 3D, meshing the part and modifying the part digitally in Autodesk Inventor then printing to a Stratasys 3D Printer. Once the prototype is verified it is easy to take the digital model to the next step in the machine shop. We also 3D scanned Jay Leno’s head. Perhaps we could market a line of Jay Leno rubber chins.
My next wishful project mating technology with fun might be a trip out to the natural sand arches here in Utah and scanning them in all their beauty in 3D using a FARO 100M scanner with the cool name of “Photon”. Why, because we can. I also think there is value to preserving a digital representations of buildings, structures, but also natural landmarks as they can change with time or be destroyed. A painting, photo, or text story can never be as grand and bring back each subtle geometric detail. It is like bringing the dinosaurs back to life in the future to study or preserve. Imagine a digital recipe for a large structure on file in the Smithsonian. Who knows maybe we will print a full size Delicate Arch out of a 3D printer someday but I am not sure 3D Printing technology is quite ready for that, but wouldn’t that be so cool to have a full or half scale of Utah’s Delicate Arch in your front yard to impress your neighbors? That would be far more cool and stylish than those pink flamingoes or garden gnomes.
If you are still reading this, you may be wondering whatever happened to that Matt Murphy Clay Head, well it is in a hermetically sealed container somewhere near Boston and cherished by none other than the real Matt Murphy, and an exact 3D Print in ABS material of the Matt Murphy head is on a shelf in my office, how “Wicked Cool” is that?
Another recent blog post of 3D Scanning, Autodesk, and Jay Leno:
Awesome Technology Makes Greater Horsepower
Technology, Innovation, and fun keep moving ahead at high speed!
Cheers,
Shaan