Case Study

Sora Technology Corporation

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Tokyo firm transforms photos into highly accurate landscape models with 3D Systems 3D printer

Sora Technology Corporation – creator of precision 3D images, animations and physical land- and city-scapes based on aerial and satellite stereographic photography. Challenge – transforming virtual 3D images into physical three dimensional models for maximum impact on the viewer. Strategy – 3D printing with the Spectrum Z®510 full-color 3D printer. Results –

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• The company has grown its business significantly by offering 3D printing services. • 3D printed landscapes cost one-third that of handcrafted models and take hours instead of weeks to create. • 3D printed models increase impact and comprehension by providing an interactive, versus passive, viewing experience. • Combining 3D printing with satellite photography enables viewers to see and understand inaccessible locations.

1/1,000 scale 3D printed model of Kawagoe, Japan in 24 pieces

As powerful as Google Earth is, when you try to reach out and touch a location, your hand bumps up against the glass of a flat computer screen. You’re still in 2D. A Tokyo firm is stepping through the glass and into the third dimension by creating highly accurate 3D physical maps of virtually any location on the planet. When you reach out and touch a Sora Technology Corporation landscape, not only are you seeing the precise contours of the land, building or waterway itself, you’re feeling them as well.

A 3D printer converts 3D data into physical objects in much the same way that a document printer converts word-processing data into a business letter.

Strategy

3D Printing With Spectrum Z510

A demonstration of 3D Systems Spectrum Z® 510 3D printer by Tokyo dealer DICO Inc. revealed to Sora 3D printing’s power to communicate the full third dimension in all its dramatic impact. The Spectrum Z510’s multicolor 3D printing capabilities distinguished 3D Systems from any other...