Digitally manipulated point cloud image. Copyright Ian Upton 2006.
Early Experiments
The Leica Scanner emits a laser beam. When this beam hits an object the relflection is used to calculate where that 'point' is in space. The laser traverses up and down and rotates to scan a sphere. A full scan can take between 60 and 90 minutes to complete.
Potentially millions of points can be identified by the scanner. This point cloud can be later examined on the computer as a three dimentional model. You can zoom in and around and see the view from anywhere in the cloud.
Normally this equipment is used for scanning buildings. The Vista Centre uses it to scan archeological sites. Normally people are kept well out of the scan. The transient traces of moving forms cause unwanted artifacts.
As an artist I was facinated by the potentials for this transience. So we set about seeing what happened when we let the people in :-)