Case Study: Digital Design & Imaging Service achieves high-precision aerial camera mounts for accurate crowd-size measurement with Xometry

How this company uses giant balloons to measure crowd sizes

Digital Design & Imaging Service, a Northern Virginia aerial imaging company founded by Curt Westergard, mounts high‑quality cameras to SUV‑sized balloons to capture photos for crowd counting, urban planning and visual impact studies. They needed precise, reliable camera mounts and faster, cost‑transparent fabrication than consumer desktop printers could deliver, so they turned to Xometry for professional 3D printing and manufacturing services.

Xometry supplied high‑precision 3D printing plus design guidance and instant pricing, letting DDIS iterate mounts that avoided the fatal two‑millimeter shifts from desktop prints and reduce parts costs (for example, a design that could be tweaked from $500 down to $400). With Xometry’s parts and support, DDIS improved mount reliability, sped development cycles, and produced stable aerial imagery used at major events and in peer‑reviewed crowd‑counting work, strengthening its reputation as an unbiased, scientifically grounded provider.

Digital Design & Imaging Service

Ryan Shuler

Project Manager and Lead Photographer