( ♪♪♪ ) hey, this is next upbaltimore county. i'm will anderson. manufacturing -- it's atradition in baltimore county. we have our powerhouses.
3d printing changing the world, we have mccormick, bd,lockheed martin, and many more. but we also haveadvanced manufacturing and that's whatwe're looking at today. advanced manufacturingis bringing new jobs,
it's changing lives,it's actually saving lives. so in a minute we're going tomeet with michael raphael and his company is a geometricmeasuring technology company. they're doing someamazing things. and when we meet with michael,he'll tell you all about it from the inside. but first, let's take a lookinside his studio and see the workthat's actually being done. - my name is michael raphael. i am the founder and ceoof direct dimensions.
we're a 20-year-old3d scanning firm. so we work with technologythat comes from all over the world that captures objectsand buildings and airplanes and sculpture and art and peoplein 3d -- very accurately. so for many years we've beenworking with the technology to capture people's facesvery accurately. we use this in hollywood movies,we use it for lots of different applications. but probably the most rewardingis when we use it for medical applicationswhere we actually capture --
for example, an earthat might be lost on one side and we can capture itand move it over to the other side, leveraging the technologyof 3d scanning, 3d design, and 3d printing. we work with this technology,we work with surgeons, we work with doctorsover at johns hopkins hospital and other institutions,including walter reed. we capture the ear, for example,scan it; it's in the computer. we can collaborate with the doctors,the plastic surgeons and whatnot
to interface and understandhow it needs to connect and clip into the head. so this is, again,a very rewarding capability that we havewith this technology. it's a great deal of artistic skill,there's medical skill, technical skill. and it's all enabled bywhat we're talking about: 3d scanning, 3d design,and 3d printing. yeah, i mean, these are all--this is a case study. these are case studiesof people that are--
have been through our processof prosthetics, facial prosthetics. each of these peoplewere brought into our clinic. we work with themwith the technology. we've put their faceback together in a way that they can now present themselvesin public with confidence. they can live their lives--i can't tell you how rewarding this is. - hey, welcome to next upbaltimore county. we are talking about advancedmanufacturing in the county. we've got exciting things.we're talking about changing lives.
i'm with a very busy guyfrom direct dimensions. the president, michael raphael,who's going to talk to us about what direct dimensions does. michael, thank you for joining us. - thanks, will.it's a pleasure to be here. - what are you guys doingout at direct dimensions? i know you've been therefor decades now and you're working onall kind of fields. what are you guys doing?
- right. so, at direct dimensionswe work with technology that puts the real world --physical things in the real world -- i brought a few things here to see. - okay.- we put them into the computer. we put physical things --people, airplanes, buildings, movie studio sets,things like that - into the computer in 3d so that theycan be manipulated in the computer for downstream applications,including manufacturing. - give me an example,like on the medical side.
- so, here's a few thingsright here right now. we've been doing thisfor a long time. we work with hospitals like johns hopkinsand walter reed in the area, where we'll see patients -- and sometimesliterally in our office in owings mills -- and we'll work with these patientswith digital technology to image areas of their bodythat may be affected by issues, where we can reproduce these to makecosmetically accurate prosthetics. - okay. - such as you're holdingin your hand right now.
- that's amazing stuff. and it's incredible whatyou guys are doing here. what are the other industries? so medical is obviouslyhaving a huge impact. what are the other industriesthat direct dimensions...? - it is, and it's growingtremendously right now. johns hopkins,as a matter of fact, is getting very interestedin these applications, as well as the federalgovernment and areas in d.c.
we work with-- this type oftechnology has led us into, for example, hollywood. - okay.- how cool is that? - very cool.- we're working with movies -- and big movies. movies with major special effects. the idea is that we take physical thingsthat we all see in movies that are filmed normallyand we scan them using lasers and camerasand imaging tools.
we put them from a physical sensevirtually into the computer in 3d. we completely model these up. they're very accurate,very lifelike, full color often. we're talking actors, sets,props, locations, vehicles, cosmetics, prosthetics, costumes,all these types of things. - what are we talking about? are these big?are these big movies? - some of them are tremendous. - give me an example.- i'll give you an example.
for men in black 3...- all right. - we scanned the coney islandferris wheel up in new york. - that's a big scan. - put that into the computer,and if you remember that movie, there are some sceneson that movie where they're walking aroundon the coney island ferris wheel, except they never actually walk aroundon the coney island ferris wheel. - so what are youworking on now? what film are we going to see?
- recently, we're pretty proudof a movie that came out that's hitting box office records:captain america: civil war. - captain america!you guys did that? - we were all over that movielast summer. - what are you guys doing? - yep. so in that movie, we scannedall kinds of actors, props, sets, locations. and all of that information comes backto our office in owings mills where we process that information. it takes months actually.
- so you've gota replica of the actors... - we don't actually create-- - are digital.- digitally. yes. we don't physically needto create them, although we have done that for somemovie props as a matter of fact. but in this case,most of this stays virtual and is used in the computerfor the amazing special effect scenes that we see in those movies, are alldone in the computer these days. - so your guys,back at direct dimensions,
when you're doing this work, who areyour people that are doing this work? - right. we have digital sculptors, modelers,cad engineers, these types of folks. that's what we employee.that's the folks that we have. the engineers and designersand computer sculptors, digital designers, those types ofskill sets that we're looking for. that is actually very strongin our commun-- in our area. with hopkins, with all themedical that's going on. architecture is adopting thistechnology in a tremendous way. the idea of scanning buildingsfor retrofitting and repurposing
these buildingsfor new applications, right, which is a very common thingthese days -- to convert buildingsand repurpose them. - i remember the day you and iwere at the fablab advisory board. it was you and maybe four other ceosin digital fabrication kind of spaces. and something came upthat kind of blew me away, where ccbc was buildinga new digital fabrication program... - yeah, at the school. - and you and severalof the other ceos said,
"i'll hire everybody that you cantake through this digital fabrication." what are you seeing as the jobsthat are coming in the future here, if we can get them trained? - there is no question, will,this is a burgeoning field -- the idea of digitizing the worldaround us, the reality, and converting that and usingthat accurately in virtual ways. the idea of virtual reality,augmented reality, and what's coming soonis mixed reality -- is a growing and tremendouslyinteresting field.
the idea of what we're seeingin the news -- headsets and things like that -- wherewe can virtually visit places or see things; training and simulation, which has alwaysbeen a bedrock of the baltimore area, training and modelingand simulation in the area. video game companies,for example. - yeah, so what are the jobsthat people will be doing to create these products? - we're looking for folks with 3d cad skills,strong computer skills... - digital skills, animators, animationsoftware programming people --
these types of thingsare what we're looking for, which the d-fab programat ccbc is creating. we're thrilled to see that. - so what do you see as--we're going to wrap up soon. i want to hear what you-- you've beena champion at this for a long time. i mean, you really have beenout in the front, michael, for a long time. but looking forward forbaltimore county, greater baltimore, what's the big opportunityin the advanced manufacturing space? - that's the key.it really is the key.
there's so much opportunityin manufacturing. there is so much going onin the area of 3d printing, for example, and digital fabrication,these types of things. the idea of on-shoring andre-shoring these types of operations. there are companies in this areathat are looking at this right now, things you would not believeare going on. there are, to name a few,an apparel company that's in the area that is very interestedin bringing this technology to their operationshere in baltimore.
- well, we love that you're out therein owings mills with us in the county
and that you're driving this, michael. we really appreciate it. so, thank you for taking the timeto be out here with us. - my pleasure.thanks for having us.
