I finally caught up with the Autodesk #3DRV in beautiful Moab Utah and TJ and his lovely wife and smart young energetic son. Here is a brief post made from a cold early Fall Moab Utah morning of yesterday’s adventures.
Yesterday we had an action packed day starting with me driving 4 hours from Salt Lake to Moab then immediately with TJ and his family taking the Autodesk 3DRV to Arches National Park to meet with National Park employees Mary and Karen.
I presented the awesome park employees with highly detailed 3D prints of the Delicate Arch that I had laser scanned with FARO about 2 years ago and took a great deal of work to combine all the billions of laser points and photogrammetry using ReCap Photo data to build a solid and accurate model and ultimately 3D print. The 3D prints will be used in educational programs at the visitor center and the arch itself. The staff of the Arches National Park were awesome and loved the 3D prints.
The 3D prints and digital model are the most accurate representation of Delicate Arch and represent a slice in time as the sandstone arch is always changing. I would love to scan again soon and compare the changes like what the bush on top and puddle of water on top of the arch are doing in erosion and changes to the structure.
We hiked up to the real Delicate Arch. I took time to educate TJ’s son Josh about the plans, geology, and of course fun stories and getting him to overcome his fear of standing on the edge of cliffs made of sandstone and appreciating the natural formations in Southern Utah. I even showed ancient petroglyphs in the sandstones hard mineral patina exterior from the Native Americans hundreds of years ago in the case of the Ute Indian which you can spot as they had horses which only existed in North America a couple hundred years ago from Spain and he sometimes odd petroglyphs of the ancestral pueblans from a thousand years ago in Arches National Park and in the Colorado River Parkway.
We flew my UAV quad copters in the Colorado River Parkway and enjoyed the views.
I just slept a couple hours in the 3DRV and am headed for my next event about 4 and a half hours away to the North wh
ile the 3DRV makes its way towards the South and the Grand Canyon and ultimately Autodesk University 2014 in Las Vegas December 2nd, 2014 at the Mandalay Bay. With only a couple hours of sleep in the 3DRV and no playing with the FARO scanner and Stratasys 3D printer in there as I was tired I have to hit the next event a few hours away.
I really enjoyed my time with TJ an his family and the Autodesk 3DRV and can’t help but think we need to do this again.
I will write more and post more edited photos once I get back home next week!
Thank you #3DRV and crew!
Cheers,
Shaan
