3D Scanners - Which is the best?

[JacobysOne]

Does anyone have any opinions on 3D Scanners. There is so much information out there about 3D printers, but very little for Scanners. If I wanted to purchase a 3D scanner, where would I ever start?

[CreativeCoPilot]

Agreed. Different scanners for different applications. I have a Kinect that I use with ReconstructMe, and it's great for larger objects, such as people. You'll never get super-detailed scans with it though, but if you want a selfie, it's a good start.

Have you tried David Laserscanner? With a little dedication you can get some really quality scans of smaller objects. Their structured light package is fantastic too.

If you want to drop some serious coin, you could get an Artec S. http://www.artec3d.com/hardware/artec-s/.

I would not suggest the NextEngine scanner though. Haven't had good experiences with it. That was some time ago, but to my knowledge they haven't updated it.

[Lucy1906]

I'd like to have a home scanner option I could send to customers to scan an item that I can then print for them. I've tried the 123d Catch app but just not high enough quality yet. Any of the scanners out there good quality, sturdy but light, and inexpensive? I know...hoping for a lot!

[CreativeCoPilot]

Yeah, the problem is that if they're technically inclined enough to scan it themselves, they'll probably find a way to cut you out from the printing process too, you know? Hahah...

Umm.. just trying to think. Moedis Lite is a free app for the iPhone that is kind of like David Laserscanner. You might be able to pull decent geometry off that, but again, there's some setup involved.
If you do try it out though, let me know! I'd be interested in finding out what the results are like!

[Kevin]

Agreed. Different scanners for different applications. I have a Kinect that I use with ReconstructMe, and it's great for larger objects, such as people. You'll never get super-detailed scans with it though, but if you want a selfie, it's a good start.

Have you tried David Laserscanner? With a little dedication you can get some really quality scans of smaller objects. Their structured light package is fantastic too.

If you want to drop some serious coin, you could get an Artec S. http://www.artec3d.com/hardware/artec-s/.

I would not suggest the NextEngine scanner though. Haven't had good experiences with it. That was some time ago, but to my knowledge they haven't updated it.

I'd be interested in hearing about which scanners people are using for specific applications. CreativeCoPilot, are you routinely scanning larger objects and, if so, why'd you go with Kinect & ReconstructMe instead of something like KScan3D?

[CreativeCoPilot]

@Kevin- Good questions. Actually, I will typically model stuff free-hand, but when it's something small, David Laserscanner works great. If it's a person, yeah, I'll totally use the Kinect.

The reason I use ReconstructMe is for two reasons. 1) It's free. 2) It scans in a continuous path, so that I can travel around the object, and it will stitch everything together, rather than taking individual "photos."
Now, those two points being said, KScan COULD actually output a better model. When I went to try it sometime back though, I couldn't get it to recognize my scanner, so I eventually tried some other programs, and ReconstructMe was my next best option.

[CreativeCoPilot]

BTW, I'm using the older version of ReconstructMe (which uses command prompts). I haven't had a chance to play around with the version that's currently up on the site. http://reconstructme.net/

[Kevin]

@CreativeCoPilot - Thanks for the responses. Have you had any issues with the David LaserScanner? I've only tried it once and the mesh required a significant amount of cleanup to be usable.

[CreativeCoPilot]

The Pro version has tools to automate a lot of it. So when you're done, you should have a completely closed mesh. If you have outlier data, there are tools to cut all of that away. Also, just bump up the resolution to like 1k before fusing everything together, and your model should have a lot of detail.

What you "can" do... and I really don't suggest doing this, but if you have the free version of DLScanner, and a ton of outlier data, and nothing is working for you at all, you can align your scans using Meshlab. Trim everything away using Meshlab's tools, and then bring everything into ZBrush as either one subtool or separate merged subtools, and then dynamesh them all together as one object. I'd suggest keeping the resolution above 400 (but then again, it depends on how large your object is).

If you hit Subtool ->Split ->Split to Parts, the outlier information should become separate groupings that you can just delete out really easily. This is all to say that you DON'T have the Pro version of DLScanner (but do have ZBrush). So, that's a work-around. A bit of a headache, but at least one method of maintaining the quality of your geometry.

I'm not sure what software you're using to edit your models though, so this is all just guesswork....

[vandborg]

Try to have a look on this project in Germany. It is very cheap and a open project. http://hci.rwth-aachen.de/fabscan