Stanford Bunny

The Stanford Bunny is a computer graphics test model consisting of a scanned digital image known as a range scan. In a range scan, the color or shade of each pixel represents a specific radial distance, technically known as range, from the observer's point of view. The original model for the Bunny was a clay rabbit figure. The range scan technique used to create the digital image was developed by Greg Turk of Georgia Institute of Technology and Marc Levoy of Stanford University.

In a range scan, radial distances can be portrayed as colors of the spectrum in a red-green-blue ( RGB ) image or as levels of brightness in a grayscale image. In a color range scan, for example, the shortest ranges might be rendered as white, progressing through the colors of the spectrum according to decreasing wavelength -- red, orange, yellow, green, blue, indigo and violet -- as the range increases, with maximum or infinite range represented as a black background. A grayscale range scan might portray the shortest ranges as white, with increasing ranges as progressively darker shades of gray until the background, at infinite range, is rendered as black. When a real-world three-dimensional ( 3D ) solid object is scanned in this way, the resulting image resembles a false-color or false-grayscale photograph.

See videos:
Stanford bunny: Linear elastic model
Stanford bunny: Neohookean elastic model

Range scanning can be used to generate test images for computer display s and video equipment. The technology also has applications in diverse fields such as industrial inspection, medical diagnostics, position sensing, proximity sensing, projectile tracking, missile guidance and aircraft navigation.

The Stanford Bunny is the oldest and best-known of a collection of models in the Stanford 3D Scanning Repository. Other models include a drill bit, an armadillo, an angel, a dragon and a Buddha.

Read more about it at: > Greg Turk describes the origin and purpose of the Stanford Bunny and explains how range scans are done. > The Digital Michelangelo Project is a collaboration among graphics experts to publish high-resolution digital images of diverse physical objects. > ScanView is a free program that facilitates viewing of 3D images including the Stanford Bunny. > Related information and links can be found at the Stanford 3D Scanning Repository.

Last updated on: Apr 03, 2007

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