Jeff Nissen places tortoises in a TechTol Imaging studio that produced three-dimensional images of the reptiles within seconds. The company plans educational and security uses for its technology. ( THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT )

By LARRY P. VELLEQUETTE
BLADE BUSINESS WRITER

A Sylvania Township start-up company with imaging technology has dreams of one day adding depth to an economic picture in metro Toledo now drawn largely in two dimensions – automotive and solar.

TechTol Imaging LLC – which received a $50,000 grant from local development officials two years ago – will publicly introduce a nearly instantaneous, 360-degree photography system next month at Owens Community College.

The company, which has just a handful of employees, has developed a scalable photo studio that simultaneously photographs a subject with 16 specialty cameras.

Within seconds, the images are electronically sewn together, and the product, when displayed on a computer or on the Internet, is a seamless 360-degree image that can be manipulated in a circle with the click of a mouse.

Zak Ward photographs the tortoises in the TechTol studio. The firm received a $50,000 development grant two years ago. ( THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT )

“We started out trying to do three-dimensional [computer-aided design], and we just took the geometry out of it,” said Phil Cox, a former chemical engineer and real estate developer who is TechTol’s managing partner.

The images have a broad range of potential uses – for instance, online retailers displaying clothing from all sides, artists showing off sculpture, auction houses allowing online shoppers to closely examine goods. Mr. Cox said the company has been in contact with the U.S. Army and the Smithsonian Institution about licensing or using its technology.

Yesterday, Jeff Nissen used TechTol’s studios to photograph three rare African tortoises he raised. Within seconds of placing the animals in the studio and closing the door, Mr. Nissen had crystal clear, 360-degree images of his three white-shelled reptiles.

Jeff Nissen arranges the rare tortoises for their three-dimensional close-up. He raised the white-shelled reptiles. ( THE BLADE/AMY E. VOIGT )

Three-dimensional imagery isn’t new – the first stereoscopic images date back almost a century – and developers have been experimenting nearly nonstop with technologies to produce lifelike images.

But unlike digital mapping technologies, which use computer-generated triangles to accurately determine the angles and depth of a three-dimensional image, TechTol’s technology bypasses much of the math to stitch together a solid image from 16 two-dimensional photos.

“It’s what we love to see, because it’s so unusual,” said Greg Knudson, director of the Regional Growth Partnership’s Rocket Ventures Fund, which awarded TechTol a $50,000 grant in April, 2008.

“All people have to do is look at it and they can think of uses for this technology. It’s new. It’s novel. It’s great stuff.”

There are so many different uses for TechTol’s imagery system that the company’s three-person team has found it difficult not to get pulled apart chasing one project after another, Mr. Cox said.

“There are a number of businesses that could start off of this. Frankly, we don’t have the time to develop six or seven different businesses, so we’re focusing on just two uses: education and security,” Mr. Cox said.

Mr. Cox cited, as an example of what the company’s technology could do in an educational setting, a box of bones in the library at Owens Community College. As part of their studies, nursing students at the school are required to examine the skeletal remains, but can do so only one at a time. By photographing the bones and making the images available online, the school’s “box of bones” becomes accessible to all, including those who aren’t on campus.

“A femur is a femur,” Mr. Cox said. “This allows the user to move the image around, to zoom in and examine it in detail, without having it physically in their hands.”

Michael Bankey, vice president for work force and community services at Owens, said that in exchange for using its technology, the college is providing TechTol with a classroom near the campus bookstore where its portable studio will be built.

“It’s really going to greatly enhance what we can do in online learning and helping students study,” Mr. Bankey said.

Zak Ward, a web developer and designer who is also a partner in the company and has helped develop TechTol’s technology, said the images when compiled can be displayed using common flash or Java applications online.

The finished files vary in size but are no larger than most high-definition photographs and can load in a few seconds over any broadband Internet connection.

Contact Larry P. Vellequette at:
lvellequette@theblade.com
or 419-724-6091.

Hold down left mouse button over image and drag across

TechTol brings 3-D images to Owens

Written by Kristen Rapin | | krapin@toledofreepress.com

TechTol Imaging LLC, a local business, has paired with Owens Community College to offer its rotational 3-D technology in an educational setting.

Through a collaborative agreement with Owens, TechTol will create a library of images that includes bones, computer components, insects, people, molecule models and other educational subjects.

“The technology’s potential is huge,” said Michael Bankey, vice president for work force and community services at Owens.

The rotational 3-D images would allow hybrid classes, in-person and online classes because of labs, go all online, he said. Previously a student would have it check out a box of bones at the library and sit there studying them. With the imaging, students can study bone structure on their own computer. The imaging could also be used to supplement in class instruction, Bankey said.

TechTol ® Image: Raccoon Skull

Hold down left mouse button and drag across to rotate image and use upper right tool bar to zoom

The college hopes to use the technology in its health science, computer technology, business and public safety curriculums. Bankey sees huge potential for the imaging within Owens’ Center for Emergency Preparedness.

“There is quite a variety you can use with the Center for Emergency Preparedness. We’ve already taken an image of a SWAT gentlemen for how to properly wear a uniform. [Other uses]  can show different types of stances or how to hold your a weapon,” he said. “We can take pictures of equipment and we can send information to a student to look over before they even come to a class or follow up after a class.”

Bankey also noted the possibility of using the technology with facial recognition software, which could play a role in terrorist identification.

The collaboration between Owens and TechTol allows the company to expand in the educational market and security market without having to set up at multiple locations or leave Toledo, said Phil Cox, CEO of TechTol.

“There are a variety of uses [for the technology] and that is one of the things that’s plagued us. We’ve been chasing down different avenues over the last couple of years; educational, museum, e-sales, safety. We made the decision to concentrate on educational things and military type applications that Owens would be doing,” he said.

The company will move an imaging unit to Owens in the next two to three weeks, Cox said.

Cox first came up with a similar idea for rotational 3-D busts in 1982, he said. Work on the current imaging units began in 2006 and TechTol was founded in 2008.

In 2008, the company received a $50,000 grant from the Regional Growth Partnership program Rocket Ventures.

TechTol imaging units utilize 16 cameras simultaneously take a photo. The photos then download and process in less than a minute, said Zachary Ward, vice president of visual applications.

The company has spoken with cell phone companies, a car manufacturer, a computer chip manufacturer and the Smithsonian about uses for the rotational 3-D imaging.

“It was just an honor [to speak to the Smithsonian]…To even be able to talk with these guys and have them be interested. Same with the Army guys and  a lot of people  that have come through. We’re just lucky,” Ward said.

Chris Adams, TechTol programmer, also developed a Facebook application for the 3-D images to be displayed on someone’s page. The programming didn’t originally work on the site, but Facebook rewrote its coding so the application would function, Ward said.

The applications of the imaging technology are endless, Cox said.

“It could be absolutely huge. A multi-billion dollar industry…I see with the advent of 3-D movies and television and with the move to online learning, the sky’s the limit. Who knows where it’s going to go. It’s going to go, the question is  whether Toledo is going to be a part of it or not,” he said.

TechTol Imaging, LLC, based in Sylvania, has invented a new process to acquire and display
rotational 3D digital images for the Internet. Its patented Imaging Capturing System can take an
image of any object and create a 360-degree view.

TechTol Imaging’s patented image acquisition systems can acquire, process, and produce digital
rotational images of objects ranging in size from the head of a pin to an entire basketball team.
According to the company, the systems have the capability of producing z-axis rotational images
quickly and cheaply and are not encumbered by the requirement for the subject(s) to remain
motionless during the process.

In less than a minute, TechTol’s technology allows users to capture and fully rotate (on the z-axis) an image of a person or thing. Viewers can also zoom in to see the smallest detail and even read the fine print of a product warning.

Images of both stationary objects (such as a museum sculpture) and moving objects can be captured. Anniversary couples, grandchildren, pets, bowling teams, the bracelets in a jewelry store, or frogs in a biology lab can all be viewed, rotated, and zoomed (VRZ) online.

“It’s a 3D imaging system where you walk into a specially-designed photo booth and instantaneously get your picture taken by a series of cameras,” stated Julie Myers, Regional Growth Partnership (RGP) marketing manager. “Then there is an algorithm that takes those camera images and makes them into a rotational 3D image.”

Myers explained that the company is currently researching the paths it wants to go down in order to market the company. It is also completing market research to see what customers to target.

According to Myers, the system could possibly be targeted to retailers who want to showcase their products or to universities who want to use it to teach anatomy.

VisionLocker.com, a free hosting website provided by TechTol Imaging, has been created to host TechTol Imaging’s 3D objects. With software created by TechTol, 3D rotational objects can be uploaded to the site; the reference code can then be pasted anywhere online to share the image. Much like other image / file hosting websites, VisionLocker will provide free user accounts. Future plans for VisionLocker will include photo and video hosting and internal social networking capabilities.

TechTol Imaging recently received a $50,000 Ignite! grant from Rocket Ventures, a program of the RGP. The company has been working with Rocket Ventures and Launch, also an RGP program, which have been assisting the company with business development, marketing plans, and growth initiatives.

“Rocket Ventures worked very closely with [TechTol],” Myers stated. “We have two people that are really engaged with [the project]: myself from marketing and Joanne Poe Abbott, who is working on its business development.”

In mid-December, TechTol Imaging was featured on the WGTE Public Media program Plugged-In. The monthly series explores the latest innovations in technology and research in northwest Ohio and southeast Michigan.

“The TechTol team’s entrepreneurial spirit and drive is awe-inspiring,” added Abbott, Rocket Ventures business development manager. “It’s amazing to see their dream of providing Internet viewers with a high quality, low-cost 3D image come to fruition.”

TechTol Imaging, LLC has developed proprietary software and an imaging studio that can
capture a 3D rotational image of any object in seconds. TechTol can produce 3D images of
items such as shoes, watches, and clothing featuring live models if desired. The
technology stands to revolutionize presentations by a multitude of industries including :
Distance learning
Clothing retail
Social Networks
Medical fields
Museum archiving
Their website http:// www.techtol.com features a video demonstrating the process.

SwampBubbles

TOLEDO — More than 200 people committed to accelerating the region’s tech-based business growth gathered recently for an opportunity to learn more about recent advancements and successes in the local community.
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Tech-minded professionals met Jan. 21 at the Navy Bistro for Tech Connect, a quarterly networking event hosted by the Regional Growth Partnership’s Launch and Rocket Ventures technology programs.

“Our purpose for Tech Connect is to provide entrepreneurs and small technology companies an opportunity to network and interact with investors, the business community and academic institutions,” said Tasha Hussain Black, director of Launch.

Attendees heard from two new start-up companies who described their business plans, strategies and paths to success. Tech Tol Imaging CEO Phil Cox explained his company’s revolutionary technology as the only business offering instantaneous capture and viewing of 3D rotational images on the Internet.

Rick Wasserman, co-founder and CEO of PhysioSim, discussed his company’s creation of a patient assessment training mannequin, which allows medical students to perform real-world assessments and track results; better preparing them for field work.

“These two technology companies are a testament to the competence and innovation already existing in our region,” said Steve Weathers, president and CEO of the RGP. “Our goal will be to draw out more of these potential start-up through Tech Connect, provide the necessary services through Launch and Rocket Ventures, and continue developing a tech-based economy.”

Other sponsors of Tech Connect include the Toledo Regional Chamber of Commerce, the University of Toledo, Bowling Green State University and Gorillas and Gazelles. Launch is a tech-based business incubation programs of the Regional Growth Partnership.

Launch provides comprehensive business assistance for entrepreneurs and start-up companies that are commercializing revolutionary, world-class technologies, to accelerate company growth and time to market entry.

Rocket Ventures, a division of the Regional Growth Partnership, is a pre-seed, early stage venture fund for technology-based entities/companies operating within the state of Ohio.

It consists of $15 million in state funding and $7.5 million in private sector investment and is supported through the Ohio Department of Development.

The Regional Growth Partnership is a private non-profit development corporation dedicated to fostering local, national and international economic growth opportunities for Northwest Ohio.