3D printed urn of loved ones head

Strange 3D-printed cremation urns of the deceased's head to hold their ashes

Cremation Solutions offers 3D-printed busts of the deceased's head to hold their ashes. The prices range from $600 to $2,600 depending on the size. Think of it as having your ashes scattered in the Uncanny Valley. From Print Media Centr:

The Vermont-based company informs customers on its website that the urn does not come with hair although it can be digitally added or wigs can be used. It writes: "Personal urns can be designed to look like anyone. We just need good pictures. We prefer one picture from the front and one from the side. Complexions can be adjusted in the final stages and customers get a chance to proof the results."

Prices range from $600 (£389) for the smaller cremation urn to $2,600 (£679) for a larger one. Bizarrely, the company illustrates the service with an urn made in the shape of President Barack Obama's head, explaining that you can also have the urn designed in the image of your hero.

(Thanks, Charles Pescovitz and Terry Donald!)

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3D printers can copy your loved one's head - as a cremation urn

Printers

Published November 3, 2015 2:26pm EST

By | Fox News

The 3D printer has been used in many surprising, strange ways, from “printing” cars to shoe burgers. The technology has even been used to create a three-dimensional replica of a fetus. Now, you can add cremation urns that possess the shape and features of your loved one’s head to that list. Yes, you read that correctly – cremation urns. Vermont-based Cremation Solutions now offers special customized, 3D printer-produced urns that can be made in “the image of your loved one or your favorite celebrity or hero, even President Obama,” according to the company’s website.

While traditional wooden or metal urns might be the gold standard for storing a loved one’s ashes, Cremation Solutions' new product promises a more memorable way to commemorate those who have passed away.

The company writes on its website that the “latest technology” is used to create the urns, building the closest likeness possible to the deceased using photographs and facial recognition software that “can transform your favorite two-dimensional image into a three-dimensional sculpture that captures the finest details.” To represent a loved one in the best possible light, the company offers to “erase blemishes” so that those who have passed “will look their best for all eternity.”

The urns come in two sizes – an 11-inch “full-size personal urn” that will hold all the ashes of an adult, as well as a “keepsake sized personal urn,” standing at 6 inches and only holding a portion of the remains. The urns aren’t cheap. The larger size is listed at $2,600, while the smaller version is priced at $600. Hair is not automatically included. That being said, the company can “digitally add hair” onto personal urns that depict those with short hair, while a wig can be added for those sporting a longer style.

While a strange use for 3D printing, the cremation urns represent the growing ubiquity of the three-dimensional technology. According to a 2013 Harvard Business Review article titled “3-D Printing Will Change the World,” the rise of 3D printing is leading to an emphasis on customization of goods to suit consumers’ specific needs and tastes.

For Cremations Solutions, customization is key. The company stresses on its website that not only can customers purchase these items for those who are long-since gone, but they can also customize urns for themselves. Planning on cremation down the line? The company’s website states that a customer can select a picture that shows him or her at the peak of youth.

“Whether you are planning your own funeral to take the burden off your family, or planning one after a death, these urns are a great way to hold onto a crisp and perfect image,” the product description reads. “They are the perfect way to secure and store the ashes of any loved one.”

Scientists 3D-printed a skull and saved a child's life

Any surgical operation requires extreme caution from doctors - one wrong move can cause the patient's death. You have to be especially careful with newborn children, because their bones are not formed, and their internal organs are very poorly protected from external influences. In February 2022, in one of the maternity hospitals in the Polish city of Rzeszow, a girl was born, the fifth lobe of the bone part of the head of which was not formed. Due to the fact that one of the areas of the child's skull was practically absent, her brain tissue remained partially exposed - if damaged, the girl was at risk of acquiring many health problems. Fortunately, the company Sygnis came to the rescue, which printed on a 3D printer an exact copy of her skull based on photographs. The layout literally saved the girl's life, but how? Is the skull of a child half made of plastic? nine0003

A 3D-printed skull saved the life of a newborn girl

A child with an underdeveloped skull

A newborn girl from Poland did not have an occipital bone formed. It is located below, on the back of the head, and is needed to protect many parts of the brain - for example, under the occipital bone is the cerebellum. This part of the brain is responsible for coordinating body movements, regulating balance and muscle tone. The volume of the cerebellum is only 10% of the volume of the entire brain, but it contains most of all cells of the nervous system. nine0003

Location of the bones of the skull

Based on the above, it turns out that a girl without an occipital bone could easily damage the cerebellum and in the future have problems with coordination of movements. The defect was not diagnosed during the mother's pregnancy - they learned about it only closer to the birth. The child was born, but was in a very dangerous position, so he was quickly transferred to a hospital in Krakow.

Related article: Scientists have found that appetite is controlled by the cerebellum

3D printed skull

Polish hospital specialists already knew that bone reconstruction was needed to save the girl's life. As noted at the beginning of the article, operations on children require careful care - surgeons needed to know exactly what shape the patient's brain has to within millimeters. Pictures cannot provide such accurate data, so the specialists turned to Sygnis, which has been engaged in 3D printing for a long time. It is reported that the firm has abandoned all its activities to make a model of the girl's head and help doctors save her life. nine0003

3D-printed skull helped save a girl's life

Sygnis said they started printing as soon as they received scan data from a newborn baby's head. To avoid mistakes, they created two models at once on two 3D printers using two different materials. The best option turned out to be polyamide, which has great strength and is not damaged by contact with surgical instruments. All this took them only 24 hours - speed in this matter was very important, because in order to save the girl's life, the operation had to be carried out as soon as possible. nine0003

Surgeons have inserted a 3D-printed eye for the first time in history. Here are the details

How doctors saved a girl's life

A 3D printed model of the girl's skull showed the surgeons what they would have to deal with. Needless to say, she did not become part of the child's head, because with age, her skull will grow. On the created model, the surgeons conducted preoperative testing and, so to speak, "knocked their hand." Thanks to this training, the specialists successfully performed a bone reconstruction operation. More than six months have already passed since then, and it is known that everything is fine with the girl. This is another case where technology was able to save a person's life. nine0003

3D printing technology has long been used in medicine and saves lives

The skull model used for preoperative testing has been archived and will be used by students in the future. It is reported that after this incident, Sygnis produced another model - it helped with the treatment of a child with a hernia and scoliosis.

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3D printing equipment has been actively used in medicine for a long time. Sometimes it is capable of seemingly impossible things. At the end of 2021, we talked about how scientists used human blood to heal wounds using a 3D printer. If you are interested in how it works, welcome to this material. nine0003

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print your photos in 3D! - qbed

3D printed lithophane from kraftly.com

Modern 3D printers allow you to create many original and unique things, and one of them is 3D photo-lithophanes, which are gaining more and more popularity as a customized gift for loved ones or just an original product for sale. Let's take a look at what linophane is and how to print it. nine0003

Article content:

What is lithophane?
Designing a lithophane
Selecting a photo
Converting a photo into a 3D model
Creating and printing a 3D model of a lithophane in Photoshop
How to slice a lithophane?
Seal of lithophane

What is lithophane?

Classic lithophane is a three-dimensional image on thin translucent porcelain that can only be seen when illuminated from behind by a bright light source (for example, the sun or an ordinary light bulb). The image will appear in gray tones. Traditionally, lithophanes were created in several stages: first, the image was cut out of wax, then, based on the wax model, a mold was created from plaster, into which porcelain was cast, after which the image was fired. nine0003

German lithophane of the 19th century, on the left - without illumination, on the right - with illumination. Photo — Diego Verger

The first lithophanes appeared almost simultaneously in several cities of Europe — France, Germany, Prussia and England — at the end of 1820s and their three-dimensionality was strikingly different from the two-dimensional engravings popular at that time and daguerreotypes . The fact is that the quality and quantity of light interacting with lithophane significantly changes the characteristics of the image itself - such dynamism arouses great interest in the viewer. For example, lithophane inserts in windows change their appearance throughout the day depending on the quality and intensity of the sun's rays.

Modern 3D printers allow you to print lithophane from any high contrast photo. How? Varying the thickness of different sections of the 3D model to render different shades of gray when the lithophane is backlit: thin sections let in more light and look brighter, while dense parts of the print let in little light and create dark details in the image. Don't panic, you don't have to manually calculate the thickness of various sections of the digital model - there are many programs that create 3D models for lithophanes automatically and for free! Let's get down to business! nine0003

Back to Contents

Designing the Lithophane

First we need to create a digital model of the lithophane.

Choosing a photo

The first step towards a great printout is choosing a suitable photo , because not all images will look good in the form of a lithophane.

• Firstly, the finished lithophane will be displayed in grayscale, so images where color plays an important role or where there is a lot of color detail will not work. nine0017 You can try converting the photo to b / w in Photoshop or any other program to make sure that you like the picture even if there are no colors.
  

• Secondly, it is better to give preference to contrasting photos - so the printed linofan will look more interesting (unlike the image, where adjacent details will merge due to lack of contrast). Again, you can add contrast to the selected photo in Photoshop or any other program. nine0003