President Obama, now in 3D thanks to printer

Tourists flocking to Washington, D.C., hoping to get a glimpse of President Barack Obama might not get the chance to see him in person -- but they can now get pretty close thanks to the Smithsonian Institution.

The first-ever 3D-printed bust of a U.S. President -- a life-size replica of Obama -- is now on display at the Smithsonian Castle after a project that was inspired by the life masks of President Abraham Lincoln.

But unlike Lincoln, Obama didn't have to get plastered up. Instead, he took a seat as 50 LED lights, eight high-resolution sports cameras and six wide-angle cameras sparked off for about a second.

"This isn't an artistic likeness of the President, this is actually millions upon millions of measurements that create a 3D likeness of the President," 3D digitization program officer at the Smithsonian Adam Metallo says in a White House video released Tuesday.