The shapie is like a selfie, but instead of taking a photographic self-portrait, you make a 3D model of yourself.
Here’s how it works. You go to an Artec Shapify Booth – there are currently ten in ASDA stores across the UK – pay £60 and stand inside the 3D scanner. Your scan is finished in just twelve seconds; three minutes later your 3D scan is ready to preview; fifteen minutes more and it’s ready to print.
At this point, you can use a 3D printer to print off a one tenth-scale, colour statue of yourself. If you don’t have access to one, Artec can do it for you. The Shapify all-inclusive printing and delivery service means all you have to do is come back to the booth a few days later and pick up your statue, or send Artec your address and it will be posted to you.
And in case you’re worried that getting a statue of yourself made is a little egotistical, you don’t have to do it alone. The scanner can accommodate up to two adults and a child.
Shapie ideas
There are so many shapie ideas – the only limit is your imagination. You could take scans of your children every year, capturing their changing features forever in a series of 3D figures. You could scan yourself and your fiancée to make models of yourselves for your wedding cake. Good at sport? Why not scan yourself with your trophies. Or keep in touch with grandma by sending her a 3D figure of yourself. You could even get a statue of you with a celebrity – if one happens to be passing a Shapify Booth and has 12 seconds to spare that is. (Good luck with that.)
The shapie craze has already taken off around the globe, with booths operating across the world and new Shapify Booth installations planned for Dubai, Luxembourg and Japan in the coming months.
But as well as being a lot of fun for the people scanning themselves, Shapify Booths are a serious, scalable and profitable business proposition.
If you own a venue or can rent space in one, Shapify Booths will generate income, in a similar way to vending machines. Perfect for anywhere with a large footfall – shopping centres, airports, train stations, sports stadiums, theme parks – Shapify Booths offer something new for your existing customers and ensure they make return visits (to pick up their 3D figures), as well as attract new people to your venue.
As well as being a lot of fun, Shapify Booths are a serious, scalable and profitable business proposition
Artec offers two business models. You can buy an Artec Shapify Booth outright for $180,000 and keep all the income you earn from it, or you can have the machine for free and give Artec a percentage of the earnings – $20 for every scan used to make a statue.
Shapify Booths can be moved easily to areas of maximum footfall, are low maintenance, fully automated and require no expertise to operate. The operator only has to press a button and a few minutes later the 3D model is ready.
Industry use
They are robust too, built using Artec’s proven, world-leading 3D-scanning technology, which is employed globally in various sectors, including medical, automotive and industrial. Artec scanners are used in a wide range of applications, everything from scanning astronaut spacesuits and helping create special effects in the film industry, to the manufacture of prosthetics and orthopedics, and the customising of cars.
Artec 3D scanners help create special effects in the film industry
To make it even easier to set up your own Shapify Booth business, Artec provides all the relevant software for customer relations management as well as order processing and tracking. It is the complete commercial package.
Artec is competitive too. There are other booths out there, but they are not as sophisticated or as automated and charge customers more – competitors’ prices for their 3D statues are typically four to five times more. Artec believes it offers the best-value, high-quality scanners, scans and 3D statues on the market.
It goes without saying that the Shapify Booths are 100 per cent safe – they use daylight to scan with, so there is no radiation. And, of course, data protection is of paramount importance. The customer owns their 3D scan and has the right to destroy it at any time should they not want to keep it for future applications.
Artec 3D scanning in action
Future applications
However, it’s these future applications that are the most exciting part of personalised 3D scanning and are why Shapify Booths don’t just represent a great business opportunity today, but will continue to do so in the future. Over the next five years there will be so many more ways for customers to use their 3D scans, including gaming where they could use them to create a character within the game, and online shopping where fashion retailers could use them to work out customers’ exact sizes and recommend clothes accordingly.
Given the demand for shapies already evident across the world, it seems likely that there will be at least one Artec Shapify Booth in every city with half a million inhabitants or more. It’s a phenomenon and business opportunity that’s going to keep on growing. Don’t miss out.
For more information please visit www.artec3d.com
