AIR FORCE SEES POTENTIAL FOR 3-D SCANNER.

Byline: Alex Hulankicki Monterey County Herald

It took Michelangelo years of divine inspiration to chisel his creation of the biblical David at the beginning of the 16th century.

At Cyberware in Monterey, essentially the same job takes 17 seconds with a 3-D whole body scanner - a $410,000 laser and computer work station.

Actor-hunk Arnold Schwarzenegger found that out a couple of weeks ago when he posed in the flesh for Cyberware.

Marlon Brando also has dropped by the laboratory. And television's ``ER'' star George Clooney stood, albeit briefly, for the laser for a fitting for a new Batman movie costume.

Hollywood has often discovered Cyberware for the sake of art. The laboratory's founders, Lloyd Addleman and his son, David, collected an Academy Award for scientific and technical merit in 1995 for their contributions to special effects in such films as ``Jurassic Park,'' ``Terminator II'' and ``Death Becomes Her.''

But the Air Force has now come calling because the body scanner can help avoid death in the cockpits of aircraft and in various work spaces as better uniforms, oxygen masks and work stations are designed.

The Computerized Anthropometric Research and Design Group at Wright-Patterson Air Force Base has big plans for Cyberware's largest human scanner.

According to Jennifer Whitestone and Kathleen Robinette, biomedical engineers at Wright-Patterson, the body scanner will help the Air Force:

Improve the fit of uniforms, anti-gravity suits and other equipment.

Redesign the layout of aircraft cockpits and crew stations.

``Flesh out'' human body models used in aircraft design.

``We will be using the scanner to do a survey of people in all NATO countries,'' Whitestone said. ``Much of the resulting database will be available on-line eventually, with an expert system to guide users.''

Cyberware President David Addleman said he hopes the use of the body scanner can be expanded for more commercial uses - like fitting Levi Strauss jeans or suits at clothing stores.

Cyberware has built five of the whole body scanners using computers from Silicon Valley and fabricated machinery from Salinas companies. Three have been sold and two are in stock.

Of the Air Force and the Army, which also has a scanner, Addleman said Cyberware is ``building the tape measures for them, I guess.''

Smaller body scanners have been used to create head sculptures. When first conceived, the idea seemed like a marketing winner, Addleman said, but the demand was low, and only 200 busts were created for American customers.

``There was no market for that,'' he said.