TechTol Imaging is building a business based on a faster, less expensive way to create 360-degree rotational and 3D imaging.
TechTol claims a patent-pending system which it calls "the first -- and only -- in the world that instantly captures and then creates 3D rotational images for use with any computer-based system."
TechTol's imaging studio and software can turn out 360-degree or 3D images in a matter of minutes or seconds, says Phil Cox, managing member and founder. More typical industry methods can take hours at best and weeks at worst because of time needed to edit, he says.
Rather than taking a series of photos as an object spins on a turntable -- the industry's standard aproach -- TechTol captures simultaneous images of a stationary object from multiple angles. Because all the photos are from the same moment in time, changes in expression or movement of limbs do not affect the quality of the final image -- thus vastly reducing the need for editing.
The company, which is headquartered on the
Owens Community College's Toledo campus, recently rolled out
3DTOAD.com, an online image database designed to provide educational institutions with a vast number of 3D images when schools don't have the real thing on hand.
"Think of an example like a skull rotating that the instructor has control over in the classroom and can turn the skull around and point to different attributes and can teach from that," Cox says. "It also can be viewed by the student at home, so there's a variety of applications there that can be employed, and you can generate CDs that can be compatible with the course syllabus."
While education is the company's main focus -- it has been providing Owens with images and says it is nearing an agreement with Bowling Green State University -- it also provides 360-degree rotational and 3D web imaging for consumer products.
The company was formed in 2008 and was assisted early on by a $50,000 Ignite Grant from the Regional Growth Partnership's
Rocket Ventures . The company, an LLC, has 13 partners who all contribute to the operations in some way, Cox says.
Sources: Phil Cox, managing member and Zak Ward, VP of visual operations, TechTol
Writer: Gene Monteith