Print Ready 3D Scanner?

I've been doing research for awhile into the possibility of buying a 3D scanner of some sort. But with so many on the market, and typically a limited number of highly bipolar reviews online, it's been a little hard to get a good sense of different scanners capabilities.

What I'm wondering is if there's such a thing at this point in time as an affordable (let's say a few thousand dollars or less) 3D scanner that can produce print ready models without the operator having to go in and clean up the mesh by hand.
Makerbot seems to be promoting it's digitizer as capable of that, promising print ready models in 2 clicks. But I'm a little skeptical, and I've read some mixed reviews.

Please assume I have good lighting and don't try anything with transparent or reflective surfaces. Is it possible?

Thanks for any advice!

i used sense 3D for people faces and body and was very easy, never had to clean up any mesh. just scan 4 clicks and print.

I dont have a scanner, but when I see stuff posted on thingiverse, it seems as though those that use the Sense scanner have been getting more detailed prints than those that use the Makerbot Digitizer. I'm not sure if there are any other affordable scanners out there or not. Those are the two most popular.

Thanks for the advice! I've heard some good stuff about the Sense and will look into it further! :)

Both the Sense and the Digitizer are good scanners. Neither will get a ton of details, but you can make some nice scans of some things. I think if we give it a few years we will see better scanners.

I don't think any scanners out there on the market right now are so called "Print Ready". All of them will require some degree of touching up.

what about Fuel 3D scanner? is it out and does it work better than Sense?

yes, scanners are out from the market,.,

I pre-ordered a Fuel3d about a year ago, and still haven't got a firm date by which it will be delivered, so I'd have to say it's still not really available at this point. From the images they post, it seems like it would get better detail than the Sense, but the Sense is out now.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com