We’ve had the selfie and even the belfie and now it’s the turn of the shapie – and I want one! Want to be like Britney or One Direction and have your own mini-me figure? Well now you can!
An Asda store in Manchester has become the first supermarket in the world to install a full body scanner enabling customers can create 3D miniature replicas of themselves for £60. Using similar technology to scanners used previously at Manchester Airport, the store’s bosses hope their prototype will be the start of a new craze.
To create their ‘shapie’, customers step into a booth where a camera takes thousands of snapshots from lots of different angles. The images are then processed by a computer, which tales 12 seconds to create a 3D model on-screen, with accurate geometric shaping and colouring, which then sent to a 3D printer. A week later, customers can return to the store to pick up their 8in exact replica of themselves in porcelain.
The technology was created by a company in Luxembourg called the Artec Group who uses similar technology to help NASA, architects, doctors and engineers to assess complicated structures and machines.
So, be quick, if you want a shapie, the trial prototype is in only Trafford’s Asda store this month and if it proves successful could lead to a roll-out across 10 other stores this summer.
