Photo opportunity: 6pm, Tuesday 4 November, Kestrel suite, DJCAD, University of Dundee.
Preventing art fraud, designing individually-tailored prosthetic limbs and developing new surgery techniques in orthopaedics are just some of the possible applications of a new £700,000 facility at the University of Dundee.
The scanning centre at Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design (DJCAD) promises to revolutionise the research process and bring the very latest laser technology to the fingertips of our world-class researchers in science and the creative industries.
On Tuesday 4 November Sir Alan Langlands, the Principal of the University of Dundee, will officially open the newly-refurbished premises which houses Kestrel 3D Ltd's 3D Colour Laser Scanning and Imaging Research Centre. The facility is a collaborative project between the University, UK-based company Kestrel 3D Ltd and Scottish Enterprise.
Kestrel 3D Ltd's laser scanner - costing £500,000 and weighing in at five tonnes - uses cutting-edge technology to scan objects enabling researchers to then examine and manipulate them using computer software. Kestrel 3D Ltd scanners are the only machines in the world that can simultaneously capture geometry and colour, resulting in an image of superb quality. When an object is scanned, the system collects and records the colour, texture and precise geometric details. The data is then transformed into a high quality, three-dimensional colour image - as good as life-like but in a virtual context - which can be stored in a range of file sizes and formats to suit various computer software applications.
The quality of the images will change the way in which products and artefacts are marketed, studied and stored. It will also create a host of opportunities across the engineering, museum and heritage, education and training, creative and medical sectors, to name but a few.
Already there are a number of exploratory projects underway including the scanning of a scale model of a German battleship scuttled at Scapa Flow during the First World War for a NESTA-funded project in collaboration with Creative Scotland Award winning photographer Wendy McMurdo. Wendy is producing large-scale digital prints that will recreate elements of the scuttling based on her research in Orkney. The artworks link technology, scientific imaging and the visual arts, illustrating the benefit of cross-disciplinary alliances that the Kestrel Centre will facilitate.
Another project will see a University researcher based at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, using the machine to scan shoulder bones in order to create exact artificial replicas. Up until now, artificial shoulder joints have not been exactly accurate - this technology will help change that.
Indeed, Kestrel 3D Ltd chose the University of Dundee as partners in this project because it has such an enviable reputation in life sciences, medicine and the visual arts. The institution boasts facilities such as the School of Medicine at Ninewells Hospital, Dundee, and the Visual Research Centre at DCA (with a ThermoJet solid object printer for making product prototypes from digital images), as well as the £17 million Centre for Interdisciplinary Research due to open in spring 2005.
Professor Stephen Partridge, Associate Dean of Research and Enterprise at DJCAD, said, "This is a great coup for the University. This Centre will offer research time across the University's many disciplines, particularly in the creative industries, design, engineering, and life sciences.
The technology is truly ground-breaking and the likely applications are extending week by week as colleagues and partners are consulted. Commercial projects and proof of concept studies will be undertaken alongside pure research."
Chris Rowland, Senior Lecturer in Digital Imaging at DJCAD, said, "The opening of the Kestrel Centre at DJCAD highlights the development of 3D imaging in multidisciplinary research based at the School of Television and Imaging. The facility benefits from its direct link to the School’s Centre for Digital Imaging which houses the Maya 3D research and production suites.
Students and staff researchers now have an unrivalled opportunity to explore the use of high resolution laser scanning with full colour in their research projects. The potential applications for this technology are still being discovered. This joint venture will lead research and development in the application of 3D imaging worldwide."
Jerry Connolly, Chief Executive of Kestrel 3D Limited said, "This opening marks a significant milestone in our unique partnership with the University. Dundee is Kestrel 3D's third scanning centre and one which has huge academic and commercial potential.
We are particularly looking forward to seeing how this centre of excellence will be able to fully exploit our technology and its applications. We believe that the coming together of Kestrel 3D's technology and design package with the University of Dundee's academic expertise in a fertile commercial environment will offer all parties a strong platform for growth."
Scottish Enterprise Tayside Chief Executive Shona Cormack said, "This is great news for Tayside, further boosting the area's reputation as a centre of excellence in life sciences and the creative industries. This follows a number of similar positive announcements over the last year such as Scotland's Life Science Intermediary Technology Institute to be located in Dundee, and the news that preliminary work has started on the Dundee Digital Park.
I'm delighted that Kestrel 3D Ltd have decided to open a facility in Tayside, bringing ground-breaking technology which will benefit a vast number of people and industries."
Editors' notes
The opening of the 3D Colour Laser Scanning and Imaging Research Centre will begin at 5.30pm on Tuesday 4 November. The centre is in the Matthew Building and the entrance is located just off the Perth Road.
NESTA stands for the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts. Please see attachment for more information on Kestrel 3D Ltd projects across the UK or contact Andrew Rastall on 0121 355 3446.
Kestrel 3D is a service bureau that delivers real objects into the virtual world using unique laser scanning technology powered by Arius3D. Supported by The Multimedia Team this unique technology-creative interface offers customers in engineering, medicine, education and the interpretive industries the opportunity to exploit their visual content to the full at lower cost, with exceptional quality and significantly reduced lead times.
By Esther Black, Press Officer 01382 344768 e.z.black@dundee.ac.uk