Feed Your Head...With Your Head
UK startup Candy Mechanics is introducing the first 3D consumable product that can be created directly from any smartphone and tablet – it's your own head made in chocolate. Aptly named Lolpops, this fun product brings 3D scanning and product personalization to a mass audience.
How it works
The creation process is straightforward. Following simple photogrammetry tricks using your smartphone or tablet (and a friend to hold the device), customers take a video of their head that is then rendered as a 3D model using Autodesk ReMake.
Woah, wait. A video? Yes! Candy Mechanics suggests that a user takes a 30-40 second video and then a program pulls 100 stills from that video to feed into ReMake. Why this method? The answer: It is much much quicker to take a video and the resulting images are high quality. Win Win.
Once a user approves the 3D version of themselves, this is carved into the Lolpop using the company’s Candy Carve - a customized CNC mill. The end result; a perfectly formed (and delicious) chocolate version of your head.
CNC (Completely Nommy Chocolate)
As a food tech startup, Candy Mechanics brings together new technology, engineering and traditional chocolate making techniques to create wonderfully unique candy products. In collaboration with Autodesk and their Forge Developer platform, Candy Mechanics has been able to develop a process that puts the 3D capture technology from Autodesk Remake in the hands of anyone who owns a smartphone or tablet.
Co-founder Sam Part has this to say about ReMake, Forge, and entrepreneurship, “Without ReMake we wouldn't be able to scale our business. This has allowed us to introduce our Lolpop product to a mass audience, to anyone owning a smartphone or tablet.
The ability to create 3D files from a mobile device at the quality we have achieved using the Forge API is quite incredible. I'm super excited to be one of the first to market with a customized 3D consumable made using your smart phone.
The technology is fantastic but the success lies in how flexible the product is. The team at Autodesk have been very helpful in responding to our needs and have helped us develop and refine our own process. This means we are able to achieve the optimum product possible from this technology right now.
As an entrepreneur, I see the combination of this idea and technology as one of the first of its kind. We have built a business that creates completely custom products and we can do it at scale using a mixture of old and new technologies. ReMake is the link that has made this all possible.”
When asked how ReMake will factor into his longer term business model, Part explains, “Lolpops will always be a lead product for Candy Mechanics. Right now, without ReMake it isn’t possible to achieve the scale of production we want to achieve. The capture process and creation of a 3D mesh opens up a whole world of new ideas for products and we hope to be using it and bringing it to our customers for many years to come.”
About Candy Mechanics
Founded by Sam Part and Ben Redford in 2015, the food tech startup collaborated with confectionery developer William Leigh, former chief taster at Green & Blacks, to produce their range of chocolate products. Developing the technology with engineer Chris Tait, the team have created a completely unique process to create incredible customized candy products. In their own words, ‘It's pretty rad’.
How to buy
Priced at £20, the Lolpops come in a box of 3 with one to eat, one to keep and one to share. Lolpops currently come in a selection of white or milk chocolate and are dusted with edible gold. These are currently limited edition and only available for a lucky 500 in the run up
Autodesk ReMake is available for both Mac and Windows. Download a free trial at remake.autodesk.com. to Christmas. To create your own head on over to www.candymechanics.com