Making Things See

Scan and Print: Rapid Prototyping Objects

Scan and Print: Rapid Prototyping Objects

The process is reminiscent of the workflow for importing paper documents into the digital domain. We start with the original piece of paper and capture an image of it using a scanner. Then we can manipulate that image using digital tools such as Adobe Photoshop. We alter the original, combine it with other scans, and add purely digital design elements until we’ve created what we want. Then we output the final result onto paper using a printer. With different printers, we can print with different inks on different papers at a variety of scales.

This digital workflow for documents has been around since the late 1960s and has been a staple of the modern office since ...