Creepy-crawly haters, look away – Macroscans is using Mimaki 3D printers to create lifelike, highly detailed model insects, Emilie Eisenberg learns
For Macroscans founder Felix Dodd, scanning hyperrealistic minibeasts into virtual worlds was nothing new, but physical real models presented a new challenge.
Macroscans was born out of an idea that came to Dodd during lockdown in 2020. He had previously worked across the construction and video game sectors, creating Virtual Reality (VR) software which allows users to immerse themselves in highly detailed virtual worlds.
He maintained a strict minimum of 1:1 texture fidelity in virtual scans, ensuring that textures remained crisp from up to a metre away with no movement blurring. During the pandemic, Dodd began experimenting with enhancing real-world scans to the same degree that his virtual scans boasted.
Dodd started by experimenting with focus-stacking, which allowed him to capture subjects with a macro lens in high detail regardless of typical shallow depth of field allowed by macro lenses. Through this technique, Dodd could preserve every detail of his scans, including complex surface textures that could then be 3D printed.
By using a Mimaki 3DUJ-553 full-colour 3D printer, scans of insects could be transformed into physical models. Dodd had previously used the technology to enlarge scans of insects and place them into a virtual world, making creating physical models a natural next step.
In virtual settings, Dodd experimented with blowing bugs up until they were 12 metres long, placing them into different scenarios, and creating video footage so that they can be viewed walking and flying.
A VR platform, Macroworlds VR, allows users to walk around amongst macro creatures and environments, in an effort to provide education about insects – Honey, I Shrunk The Kids style.
“I saw how my children reacted to the huge insects in a VR environment, with much more interest and regard for the creature, which suggested there’s an educational dimension to the project as well,” Dodd says.
“I was keen to take things on another step by creating the physical models to interact with.”
Dodd approached Hybrid Services, Mimaki’s distributor for the UK and Ireland, and found the Mimaki 3DUJ-533 to be the best solution.
The 3DUJ-553 3D printer can print in 10 million colours and reproduce detailed textures, and is intended for printing complex models including product prototypes, gaming avatars and medical models.
It offers the ability to mix clear materials with coloured materials to customise levels of transparency, making the wings and eyes of insects as realistic as possible.
Macroscans was able to 3D print the scans in a variety of different sizes depending on the requirements, creating model insects that can be touched and examined, something that is impossible in a virtual setting.
Dodd hopes to teach children about creatures and environments too small for them to normally ever see or touch using these models. “The micro world is currently perceived through macro photography or microscope imagery only,” he said.
“We now have a way of bringing this part of our world to life in an immersive experience.”
