Feb 1, 2017 | By David
The work of 3D scanning expert Artec is something that we’ve reported on in the past with great excitement. The international company, based out of Luxembourg, Palo Alto, and Moscow, has been expanding the horizons of the 3D scanning market for a while now with both its hardware and software developments.
Now, however, Artec appears to be moving in a new direction, as one of its principal investors has announced his intention to sell his stake in the company and move on. Russian-born entrepreneur and inventor Andrei Klimov, who participated in the creation of some of Artec’s most popular and successful products, including the Artec Spider 3D scanner, as well as providing nearly half of the initial investment, will be selling his 29.5 percent share of the company, Artec Europe Sarl (AES), and his 29.5 percent share of its California-based distributors, Artec Group INC.
Artec has been an important developer and manufacturer of handheld 3D scanners for many years. The Artec Eva, launched in 2012, was designed to capture full colour 3D images of medium to large objects, and was succeeded in 2013 with the release of the Artec Spider, Klimov's own creation, which was able to produce 3D scans of smaller, more complex objects. Introduced to the market in 2015, the Space Spider was a modified version of the Spider that was initially designed to be used on the International Space Station, with an advanced temperature control system that could prevent the overheating problems tending to affect functioning of electronics in space.
Artec’s software packages, applications, and SDKs have all been received with enthusiasm in the 3D scanning industry, and in 2013 the company also drew a lot of attention for its development of an automated full-body 3D scanning system, Shapify.me. Imagined as a 3D equivalent to a photo booth, the system takes just 12 seconds to create a full 3D scan of someone’s body, which is intended to be printed off as a miniature figurine or "Shapie." As we previously reported, Artec’s CEO and President Artom Yukyhin hoped that this would be people’s first experience with 3D technology. He claimed that it was already being used by people to document their pregnancy as well as to create personalised wedding cake toppers. Described by Forbes magazine as ‘the ultimate selfie’, the system was later adapted to be compatible with Microsoft’s Kinect device.
Discussing his work on these and other Artec projects, Klimov describes the "privilege" of being part of such a "wonderful" company: ‘‘I, along with a group of talented engineers, frequently toiled into the night to achieve another breakthrough. I will always remember those times fondly.’’ He wishes the company great success with its latest 3D scanner, the Artec Leo, which will replace the Artec Eva that is currently on the market.
While Klimov has certainly been a key contributor to some of the most impressive products that Artec has released to date, he acknowledges the indispensability of the rest of the engineering team that he was part of. Because of this, we are positive that Artec will continue to stay ahead of the game and keep developing projects that change the way we think about the world of 3D scanning.
Posted in 3D Scanning
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