The New York Times Agency Photos
CIR 3 D SCANS 2
(NYT47) BALTIMORE -- April 4, 2007 -- CIR-3-D-SCANS-2 -- A NextEngine 3-D scanner, top, uses laser beams to scan objects on a turntable in Baltimore in March 2007. Over the last few decades, the electronics industry has worked magic with documents by building gadgets that copy, e-mail, print or fax flat images. Now it is building boxes that do something similar with three-dimensional objects. These tools are not news to the industrial designers of the world, who have been able to buy 3-D printers and scanners with prices in the tens of thousands of dollars. But now hobbyists and small businesses are starting to benefit from low-cost versions of the tools. (Marty Katz/The New York Times)