Dubai Technology has made leaps and bounds in capturing human experiences and precious moments — from photographs to videos to three-dimensional (3D) pictures.
But how about a scaled lifelike 3D model of an individual — called TIM.
An acronym for This Is Me, TIM made its world debut on Wednesday in its TIM Studio in Al Barsha after years of study.
A brainchild of Lothar Hohmann, Managing Director of Precise, TIM is currently available only in the UAE. But Hohmann said his company was ready to ship its products abroad.
TIM is a combination of the latest 3D scanning technology that captures a 360-degree image of a person in full colour, plus the latest generation of rapid prototyping technology.
Unrelated concepts
"Five years ago, when I wanted to introduce it first, the technology was not there. That means the printer or the cameras couldn't take the kind of pictures that I needed. And the printing technology was not there," Hohmann told Gulf News.
"However, these are two completely unrelated concepts and our task was to basically bring them together," Hohmann added.
Like pictures, a TIM figurine immortalises a precious moment, except that with a TIM the experience is different altogether.
"From a photograph you cannot really get the idea when, for example, somebody's pregnant and you know, the big belly, which is obviously something very very unique in itself."
Powerful medium
TIM offers a powerful medium to capture a moment in a way never possible before.
"More than a photo or a video, it is a scale likeness of the individual that is so lifelike it creates excitement across generations," Hohmann said.
The smallest TIM could be 10 per cent of a person's height. Other 3D representations of a person are also available in the market such as the MiniYou.
But Hohmann said that TIM was different in a sense that it was an actual scale version of a real person whereas MiniYou is a caricature developed from a photograph.
