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Asda 3d printing


ASDA Supermarket Brings 3D Printed Mini-Mes to 10 Stores in the UK - 3DPrint.com

Dr. Evil is no longer the only one who has a mini-me and now you can do it even if you don’t have access to his movie star budget. The Asda Supermarket chain in the UK is now offering, instead of the traditional studio portrait, the opportunity to walk into a full body scanner and walk away with a perfect replica of yourself in a much smaller scale.

Narcissistic?

Maybe. But also pretty darn cool.

Also, you can always pretend that you are creating the mini-me to give to the grandparents…because why wouldn’t they want a sculpture of you?

When we covered this possibility last year, the machine was making rounds to different stores but it has now become a permanent feature of each of the 10 ASDA supermarkets around the UK. The process of scanning take approximately 12 seconds and requires that the person being scanned be as still as possible. If you’re nervous about going in on your own, the machine can also scan family groups at the same time. The printing is done off site and the 1/8th scale model is created in full color.

The uses for such a personalized memento are limitless and the creation is available for less than $100. People have used them to create wedding cake toppers, as dolls for their children, as a unique form for popping the big question, or just because it’s cool. Obviously, the next step is the development of some sort of selfie stick for 3D printing so that people can begin to flood the world with not only photos of themselves at famous things or doing fun stuff, but actual copies of themselves.

Okay, maybe I’m getting ahead of myself, but ASDA’s Head of Innovation and Technology, Phil Stout described the excitement he has seen in their customer base:

“Our customers are always looking for the next big innovation and Asda was the first to bring affordable 3D printing to the market and during the trial customers were queuing round the block to try it out. The possibilities with 3D printing are endless and I’m pleased that we’re ahead of the game in making this truly transformational technology an everyday reality for our customers. ”

However, if you are looking for something more along the lines of glamour shots, you might not be ready for the realistic 3D statue that this process creates. It’s one thing to be aware of how much space your body takes up and in what form, it’s another one completely to see it from the outside.

Nonetheless, it is hard to resist the allure of becoming immortalized in ceramics and if you’re already in the store to get some milk and eggs, why not take an extra 12 seconds to be captured forever?

Just make sure you always go shopping looking your best…

Will you add a mini-me to your grocery list? Let us know if you hope to see one of these booths at a grocery store near you in the ASDA 3DMe forum thread over at 3DPB.com.

 

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Tagged with: 3d portrait • 3d print portrait • 3d printed selfies • 3D+me • asda • Asda Supermarket • full body scanner • portraiture • uk

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Asda supermarket launches 3D printing service

Rose Etherington | 11 comments

News: Asda is to become the first UK supermarket to offer an in-store 3D scanning and 3D printing service, allowing customers to capture and print scale models of their possessions or even themselves.

From Tuesday, customers at one Asda store in York will be able to have anything up to the size of a car scanned and reproduced as a 20-centimetre model, though the brand expects people will mostly order figurines of themselves.

The scanning process will take two minutes, using a hand-held scanner, then the digital files will be sent away to be printed ready for collection one week later. Prices will start from £40 and the models will be available in white, bronze or painted in full colour.

The service will be trialled at the York store of the Walmart subsidiary.

Printing and packaging firm The UPS Store became the first mainstream American retailer to offer in-store 3D printing in August.

Meanwhile Microsoft has partnered with MakerBot and office-supplies chain Staples has teamed up with 3D Systems to sell desktop 3D printers for the consumer market on their shop floors.

Japanese creative agency Party set up a 3D-printing photo booth in Tokyo last year and MakerBot introduced a photo booth to print 3D models of customers' faces at its New York store last November.

We had the Dezeen team scanned and 3D-printed as part of our Print Shift magazine all about additive manufacturing earlier this year.

See more 3D printing news »

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Asda supermarket has a full-length 3D scanning booth

Archive

their customers with 3D printing technology. She installed Artec Shapify Booth, a full-length high-speed 3D scanning booth, in her store near Trafford Park. Customers can scan themselves and take home a miniature copy of themselves within a week.

Artec Shapify Booth

The Artec booth is equipped with professional high resolution 3D scanners and a rotating platform. The scanning procedure takes only 12 seconds. Artec algorithms automatically combine 700 obtained surfaces into one detailed 3D model that does not require additional processing. After that, she is sent to the Asda 3D printing center, where a realistic 20 cm high figurine is printed on a full-color ZPrinter 650 3D printer. The client will be able to pick up the finished figurine from the store in a week. New 3D printing technologies allow you to process a huge number of high-quality figures at the same time, but this pleasure is not cheap. Each figurine costs £60 ($102).


Artec claims this full-length 3D scanner is unrivaled in the world. The low-cost 3D scanning and printing service became available to Asda customers at the end of 2013. Previously, Asda supermarkets located in York or Edinburgh used Artec handheld 3D scanners. Then each scan took about 5 minutes.

Customers can scan in a tracksuit, bridal gown, prom gown or fabulous dress and then take home a completely unique item - their own small 3D printed copy.

Article prepared for 3DToday.ru

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3D printing as a marketing tool / Sudo Null IT News

Although the history of 3D printing dates back to the 1980s, it is only in the current decade that 3D printers have become a widely available technology. They opened up new opportunities for small and large companies operating in various industries.

Over the past five years, people have tried to print buildings, prototype cars, medical implants, musical instruments, clothes, shoes, and even jewelry. For example, in the Netherlands, a bridge across one of the canals in Amsterdam is being prepared for printing. 3D printing is also being used by brands to promote their products. This is not at all surprising, since technological innovations of this caliber are able to interest a large audience. Here are some examples of the use of 3D printing in the promotional activities of brands in various fields.

Print yourself and your family (Coca-Cola, ASICS and ASDA)

The most common use of 3D printing in promotional activities is at events where attendees can print miniature copies of themselves after being scanned. An example would be a 2013 Coca-Cola promotion in Israel promoting a new small bottle. The company held a competition in which participants had to create a mini-copy of themselves using a special mobile application. The winners were invited to the Coca-Cola plant, where real miniature copies of them were created (after a full scan of their bodies).
The same idea was used by ASICS to attract attention and promote the brand at the New York City Marathon in 2014. Previously, she invited registered participants to send their photo via e-mail (using a special website for this). The company then converted the first 500 images received into 3D models and printed them out. Athletes could pick up miniature versions of themselves at the ASICS booth. The marathon also featured a Twitter contest in which the 50 runners with the most tweets containing the #minimarathoner hashtag won miniatures of themselves.

For British supermarket chain ASDA, 3D printing became a standard service in 2015 at more than 50 of the brand's locations in the UK. This is the result of a successful experiment conducted in 2013 at selected locations (including York, Edinburgh and Manchester) and a nationwide 'tour' with a mobile scanner and printing equipment. The interest of visitors of ASDA supermarkets to the novelty was huge: the action attracted a large number of customers.

Thus, the decision was made to include scanning and 3D printing in the list of permanent services of photo studios located in the stores of this brand. The new service is being advertised in the same way as it was done for ordinary photography in the 19th century: customers are encouraged to immortalize important moments of their lives through unusual (at least for the target group) technology.

Huggies

The Huggies diaper brand also used 3D printing in its latest Brazilian campaign, doing so in a more humanistic manner than the examples above. An action was held on social media under the hashtag #CountingTheDays. Its main part was an Internet video showing the real story of a blind pregnant woman who, thanks to ultrasound scanning and 3D printing, was able to touch the face of her child even before his birth.
Obviously, this is an image campaign and an isolated case, but one can easily imagine that in the future such actions will be carried out on a larger scale. The promotion was very successful, with over 10 million views on YouTube within 2 months. In the case of Huggies, 3D printing has served as a key tool to evoke mother joy and audience emotion. Thus, the brand used modern technology to achieve its goals.

Volkswagen

Back in 2012, Volkswagen used 3D printing technology as the main focus of the Polo Principle campaign in Denmark. The company emphasized the use of VW 3D printers in the prototyping phase, encouraging the audience to design their own vehicles using tools on a dedicated website or pre-made graphics software templates. Among the projects submitted by users, the jury selected the best 40 and printed them especially for the fair at the Danish Design Center. The winner received a real car for use for two summer months (with a design developed by him personally). The action was carried out in social networks, as well as through commercials and Internet videos.

In the Polish campaign (April 2015) for the Volkswagen Passat, 3D printing technology also dominates. The protagonist of the video is a car advertising designer. He explains the benefits of using 3D printers (saving time and materials), praising their creativity and calling them "the technology of the future. " By referring to innovation, Volkswagen creates a visible connection between its brand and 3D printing: if the company uses such “futuristic” solutions, it must be modern and innovative itself (although the use of this technology to create car prototypes has already become the standard).

Barnardo and Home for Christmas

Barnardo is a charity that helps children and young people in difficult circumstances. On the occasion of the Christmas holidays in 2012, Barnardo organized a fundraiser to support the homeless youth, encouraging people to donate money by organizing a contest, the prizes of which were miniature 3D models of philanthropists' houses placed in glass balls. To take part in this competition, it was enough to transfer any amount using a special website. Winners were chosen daily throughout the promotion.

The organization contacted them to confirm the details of the address and then used photos from the Google Maps platform to create 3D models of the houses. The lucky winners could send additional pictures to improve the accuracy of the match between the printed prototype and the original building.
The main idea of ​​the campaign was to remind people what a joy it is to be at home for Christmas, pointing out that more than 75,000 young people were left homeless for the holiday. Using these messages, the organizers counted on the emotional reaction of the audience. At the same time, the use of personalized 3D printing was more pragmatic: a real reward was supposed to be an enticing motivator for donors.
3D printing alone made it possible to create so many different models in such a short amount of time, and the media's mention of the use of innovative technology for charitable purposes only increased the success of this great initiative.

DVV insurance agency and digital key backup

In September 2013, the Belgian insurance agency DVV launched a new service specializing in creating digital key models. The usefulness of such a solution is obvious: instead of having to call a locksmith, you just need to download and print the key using 3D technology. Files are stored in the cloud, which is not associated with personal data, so you don't have to worry about "leaks". Each time you download, you should also answer a personalized question. This is a good example of using modern technologies for the benefit of customers.


source: blog.netpeak.ua

Summary

3D printing is a relatively young technology, but modern advances can already be used to create quality products. Also, 3D printing today is of great interest from the public and therefore will serve as an effective tool for promoting and attracting attention to the brand. In addition, it is much easier to create personalized things with this technology, which makes a 3D printed product more attractive than a mass-produced one. As we saw from the examples in the text, it is an individual approach that makes the experience of participating in an advertising campaign unique and therefore important for its participant, who subsequently becomes a loyal client and buyer.

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