With the rise of desktop 3D printing, I became completely obsessed with the possibilities of turning digital data into physical objects. When software emerged that enabled 3D capture with an Xbox Kinect, I pushed it further—inventing a full-body scanning system that paired a rotating turntable with a vertically traveling Kinect camera. In under a minute, I could capture highly detailed scans of individuals or small groups. This became the foundation of the Scan-A-Rama 3D Portrait Studio, a portable setup that allowed me to create custom 3D portraits for anyone willing to step onto the turntable.

Based in an old fortune-teller’s booth in Coney Island, Scan-A-Rama also traveled widely—popping up at the Mermaid Parade, Detroit’s Theatre Bizarre, Maker Faires, cosplay conventions, ballroom dance competitions, and Halloween gatherings—capturing the wonderfully eclectic characters who make these communities vibrant. Each portrait became a tiny sculpture, a physical snapshot of a moment in someone’s life. Many of these scans ultimately found their way into my large-scale 3D-printed reconstruction of Luna Park, populating the miniature city with real people from today. The Scan-A-Rama motto said it best: If a picture’s worth a thousand words, a sculpture’s worth a thousand pictures!