Have you ever thought that photographs just aren’t enough? Are you looking for a wedding cake topper that actually looks like you and your spouse? Do you just want a miniaturized statue of your dog, child, or loved one? Have you never even considered this before, but it sounds really cool? Luckily, 3D Bean, a studio producing 3D true-to-life photo figurines, is coming to Boston in January 2015.

Yifei Zhang, a local entrepreneur, engineering school graduate, and photographer, graduated from Northeastern’s mechanical engineering program in 2012. A year ago, he started working on research and development for his 3D printing system full-time.

Zhang said in an email interview that he started getting interested in creating the studio …

because of the recent boom in 3D printing industry – it attracted me to look into this field when I was graduating from school. Plus the 3D modeling method called photogrammetry is something I learned during undergraduate study. It made me very excited to think about the possibility of developing a lightning-fast 3D scanning system to make lifelike 3D printed photo figurines of real people. I am a self-taught photographer myself; I think this could become the future of photography.

On Sept. 23, he launched a Kickstarter to help fund the creation of a website and online scheduling service, packaging design, and the employment of additional team members.

So far, the project has raised $1,470 of its $20,000 goal, with about a month left to go. Backers of over $299 receive figurines of themselves or their loved ones, size depending on the amount donated. The campaign ends on Nov. 22.

So what exactly is a 3D printed figurine? Well according to the Kickstarter,

We create the true-to-life miniature of you in a 3D-printed figurine. It is full-colored, hyper-realistic and marvelously detailed, from facial expressions and poses, down to hairstyles and creases in clothing.

How does this work? The production process usually takes two weeks from photography session to having the finished product. First, a client books an appointment online – Zhang hopes to use the Kickstarter money to create a user-friendly online booking system. The actual photography takes place in a studio, so far operated out of temporary space, but Zhang is shopping around for larger retail spots to move the equipment to before the January grand opening.

At the studio, there’s a 360-degree multi-camera system set up. The photo session is just like any other: You pose, the cameras flash, and pretty soon, there’s plenty of shots to choose from.

After that, it’s time for the client to choose what size figurine they want. Size choices aren’t in inches, they’re in proportions: 1:6, 1:8, 1:10, 1:12, or 1:18. This means for someone 6 feet tall, the final results would be 1 foot, 9 inches, 7.2 inches, 6 inches, or 4 inches, respectively. The 1:12 option is the most popular, while the 1:18 option is, apparently, perfect wedding cake topper size.

Prices are a little hefty. Without the discount from donating to the Kickstarter, costs range from $319 for the smallest option to $1,299 for the largest.

These prices are pretty understandable once you examine how the figurines are made. Besides the high-cost camera equipment necessary for 3D photography, the final products are created on a 3D printer and made out of heavy sandstone.

The studio isn’t open to the public yet, but during the research and development process, Zhang tested the technology on about 30 models – and the results are pretty impressive. The detail in the figurines is exquisite, from the colors to the wrinkles and textures of the fabrics.

3D Bean would be the first studio of its kind in the Greater Boston area, and one of the first in the U.S. There’s been a portrait studio at Coney Island for a while, producing single-color, low-definition figures. There’s also a studio similar to what 3D Bean will be in Texas. While the concept is relatively unexplored in the U.S., the method has been used in Japan since 2012. 

Here’s a video produced by 3D Bean that gives a great overview of the process and shows off some of the figurines!

Photos and Video used with permission from Yifei Zhang.