Bobbleheads, you remember them, small figures with a spring-mounted comically large head. They brought joy to millions of car drivers every day as at least 97.5% of all registered cars in the 1960’s had bobbleheads mounted to the dash. Years later bobblehead popularity has waned but [Luis] is trying to bring them back, this time not as your iconic sports hero but as YOU!
[Luis] uses software called Skanect along with his Kinect to scan a persons geometry. There is a free version of Skanect but it is limited to exporting STL files no larger than 5,000 faces. That means that 
scans of large objects (including people) come out looking noticeably faceted. [Luis] came up with a work-around that results in a much finer detailed scan. Instead of scanning an entire person with one scan, he would do 4 separate scans. Since each individual scan can support 5,000 faces, the resulting merged model can be up to 20,000 faces. Check out the comparison, the difference between the two scanning methods is quite noticeable. MeshMixer is the software used to merge the STL files of the 4 separate scans.
Once the full body is assembled in MeshMixer, it is time to separate the head from the body. A cylindrical hole is then made in the bottom of the head and the top of the body. This hole is just slightly larger than the spring used to support the head. The parts are then printed, painted and assembled. We have to say that the end result looks pretty darn good.
This needs more Fallout ;-)
Thank you HACKADAY :)
But actualy that is not the way I increase details of the mesh / scan with Skanect.
I use Skanect pro in both methods. Somehow, Skanect loses resolution if you scan the full body at once. I discovered if you scan smaller parts you will get a much higher resolution of that part.
Very creative way to do things. I’m impressed !
For some reason, I get the feeling the article author was watching Mulan when writing that headline.
Perhaps the Leap Motion might be better suited to scanning faces, scale and proximity wise.
Leap Motion can’t do scans.
Just because no one has turned it into a scanner yet doesn’t mean it can’t do scans
Leap Motion works quite different than the Microsoft Kinect. There are not depth images or point clouds with leap motion.
No no no. Your history is all wrong. In the 60s we didn’t have bobbleheads. We had the little dog figures where the head balanced from a tiny hanger and looked around as the car moved.