Let’s face it, of all the amazing possibilities opened up by 3D printing (quick and affordable prototyping, delocalized and sustainable manufacturing, process and supply chain optimization, and many more…) that of getting yourself cloned in a miniature statuette is perhaps one of the more “frivolous” ones and yet, as is often the case, it is the one that is taking off fast in the consumer space.
That is because getting yourself cloned (or getting your 3D-selfie, or your mini-me) is actually the beginning of two very important trends in the future of consumer 3D printing. Possibly the most important ones: personalization of manufacturing and physical photography. The first means your are going to use your own body shape to get products made just for you; the second is about getting 3D representations of the important moments in your life.
I have been dreaming about getting an action figure of myself ever since I was in grade school, when, with my friend Luca we played with Masters of the Universe and dreamt of having one that looked like us. That is why I have been paying close attention to the phenomenon ever since I first discovered The Clone Factory, back in 2012. Now finally, thanks to the Alterego3D store, conveniently located right in the very center of Milan’s most tourist centric area, I finally got an action figure of myself.
Paolo Polidori, one of the three partners who cofounded Alterego3D’s parent company 3DHiQS, invited me to try the experience and I immediately took advantage. On a beautiful fall day I went to the store in the Brera area of Milan, a few hundred meters from the central Castello Sforzesco. What immediately struck me is that the store is literally filled by “mini-me’s”. They are copies of copies of their customers but the message is clear: there are a lot of people getting their 3D selfie done here.
“We mostly get businessmen who work in the area and tourists but the interest is extremely high,” Polidori tells me. “Once they see what we can do, everybody wants one and what actually surprised us even more is that some people want a lot of copies of themselves. With different partners or in different poses and with different objects”.
Polidori and his two partners, Fabio Pietribiasi and Dr. Mario Zerini created this shop as a base for a franchise project and have already been contacted by many applicants. They are not the only ones in Italy, and globally a lot of companies are moving in this direction. Now is the time to start and the stronger ones will survive and thrive once physical photography becomes mainstream.
The Alterego founders are certain they have what it takes. They are all experienced entrepreneurs and have invested a substantial amount of money to open the shop in one of the most visited parts of the city, to purchase the Projet x60 (Polidori did not disclose which one), the Artec EVA 3D scanner and software, and to set up the rotating platform supported by two Kinect systems for the best 3D data acquisition.
The result is that the shop looks very inviting and fresh, while the quality of the 3D prints is high. “We had no previous experience with 3D, prototyping or reverse engineering but we studied the technology accurately and spent months doing tests. We invested thousands of euros just on the material necessary to test and optimize the process; now we can offer very high quality, full color 3D prints,” Polidori reveals.
After a quick tour of the shop I walk into the 3D scanning booth. It is not a photogrammetric system, meaning it requires the subject (me) to stay still for a few minutes (under ten) while a shop technician held up the Artec EVA scanner so as to catch every detail in full color 3D. The advantage of the handheld EVA is that it is easily transportable anywhere (and that it costs around €10.000) while photogrammetric systems allow instant 3D scans (which means you can use it to capture pets and small children as well) but are much more expensive and generally less transportable.
This means that Alterego3D can actually contain the prices (that are certainly going to come down considerably within the next couple of years). The entry level statuette, at a 1:20 scale and about 9 cm tall, costs €99 for the first print of an adult and €59 for a reprint (meaning the 3D scanning part is valued about €40). There are ten different sizes available, with the largest one, at a 1:3.5 scale for about 34 cm, costing €789.
Alterego delivered myself to me in less than a week, and the most fun part began after I picked myself up. Everyone I showed myself too had something really fun to say about me and my clone and generally was really jealous. The truth, I think, is that we all have a mini-me inside us that just wants to come out. The time has come for it.
