Einscan-S initial review

[RonnieW]

Thanks Neil51 and Hugues. Actually after a few emails back and forth with Alfred from Shining3D they sent me a new PLE file. That was the problem. Alfred was very responsive, even suggested a video chat if that would not work. But the new PLE file did the trick for me! It also took some fiddling on my part to get the stripes to project on the right screen... The software does not look for a projector or even for an 800x600 display. On my configuration it was looking for the first display on my second video card... The software definitely crashes when the cameras do not see the striped images from the projector...

[24c]

The software definitely crashes when the cameras do not see the striped images from the projector...

That's interesting, I can't get to the striped images either, as I just get to the white square projected screen with "PC" and "CVBS" text in the top right, and the software hangs.
I have the right PLE file too, as I can calibrate
Here's hoping hugues replies, because he has a similar set up as mine.

[Alfred_technical_support]

"PC" and "CVBS" text in the top right
That means the VGA cable has not been connect correctly.
Or you didn't set the screen resolution rightly.
If you still have this situation, contact me ( yangjianlong@shining3d.com) .

[24c]

Just seen this thread response Alfred, or yangjianlong, looks like this is another comment to go in your FAQs, as my problem was the VGA cable wasn't seated properly at the scanner end.
Thanks for the input though, but I'd fixed my issue by then. Sorry for posting in the wrong thread.
Mike

[Alfred_technical_support]

It's nothing.
If you have any advice, please tell me.
Thank you.

[3dprintau]

Here is a new video on the Einscan, also know as ScanMaster Plus in Australia
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EesW5XToU94

[Nerv]

That video doesn't even come close to showing the true capability of this scanner.

[24c]

I was too busy playing with my scanner to read this thread properly, and it looks like most of you have already hit the major stumbling blocks with the software. I made a feature request thread, as I found it so frustrating, but before seeing this thread. My biggest gripe after doing 100+ free scans of an engine crankcase twice over, is I can't save the state of the 'project' up to that point, and if I press Complete my laptop locks up, program becomes unresponsive, and eventually all this effort is wasted. I also would like to access the scans as is, before they are meshed, so maybe then I could combine them in Meshlab. I did save some simple closed models on the turntable, by doing one pass in two different positions, and then aligning these completed scan files externally. It'd be nice to have an .obj export, but as Nerv says you can use Meshlab for that too.
Hughes did you get any further saving the point cloud scans (.asc??). I've seen the raw scan file as they are date and time stamped in the EinScan-S program files, but I've no idea how it works. presume they start at 0 and go to n number of scans increasing by 1.It looks like the software saves an edited version of the scan, and an alignment file, and then this is incrementally added too??
Also noted are the tripod comments, as I found the same issue doing a largish freescan. It's better to have a tripod or boom arm system to get the camera head at the right angles to illuminate the object better. The angles with taller objects are too shallow, and my first crankcase looked like it was dipped in dripping paint. As soon as I increased the height to look down on the object more, the quality went up, and the definition almost matched Nerv's gearbox scans...unfortunately I haven't managed to save one yet!
Overall opinion, great performing scanner with a great resolution per buck price point, and the only drawback is the clunky software. If EinScan/Shining 3D could improve this it would expand there user base. The software is fine for closed volumes, but things with holes and cavities show its flaws.

[Hugues]

.. I also would like to access the scans as is, before they are meshed, so maybe then I could combine them in Meshlab. I did save some simple closed models on the turntable, by doing one pass in two different positions, and then aligning these completed scan files externally. It'd be nice to have an .obj export, but as Nerv says you can use Meshlab for that too.
Hughes did you get any further saving the point cloud scans (.asc??). I've seen the raw scan file as they are date and time stamped in the EinScan-S program files, but I've no idea how it works. presume they start at 0 and go to n number of scans increasing by 1.It looks like the software saves an edited version of the scan, and an alignment file, and then this is incrementally added too?? ..

Hey Mike,

I did have to use Meshlab in the past few days as i was scanning the side of my bike and there was no way i could do a 360 scan. The meshed file of Einscan was ok but as i chose low detail initially some parts were too approximate (Note to Alfred: would be nice to have the option of meshing the scan in higher resolution after we saved it first in low res. I think you can do this because i assume your point cloud files are the same regardless of the resolution we choose). So coming back to Meshlab, here's my workflow, and it can surely be improved, comments welcomed:

- In Einscan software, at the end of your scan, save the file in ascii format instead of stl. It will create one file per scan with the XYZ coordinates of each scanned point. These files are already aligned to each other
- Start new project in Meshlab - Import all point cloud files, keep checkbox marked, then click ok for each file
- Select first file in layers window, right click, select Flatten Visible Layers, check last checkbox Keep... This will group all your scans into one file or layer.
- Make it visible on screen by clicking on its point cloud icon in the layer window, or else you don't see it
- Align camera to approximate position of scanner (i'm not sure if this is necessary, this is to help the system create normals)
- From the menu: Filters/Points Set/Compute Normals for Points set: Select 100 neighbours and check Flip Normals...Also enter 0, 0, 1000 in coord, then Apply . This step is necessary to tell the system which face of the scan is actually facing the scanner, or else, they are just points without any notion of top or bottom. This is where i'm struggling. At the end of this operation, i could still see some black regions on the scan, probably means some normals are inverted and this will be annoying for the next step
- Then Filters/Points Set / Surface Reconstruction Poisson: use default for a firts rough check, then redo with Octree Depth set at 10, and 8/1/1 for other params . This gives a pretty good detailed mesh. The only issue for me was with the normals calculated from the previous step.
- Then you can export your mesh in stl format, or other format too, i think obj, but i did not try.

[24c]

Bonjour? Hugues,

That's a really helpful post, and I'll be trying your workflow later.
Thanks again
Mike
PS Side of a bike...curious and curiouser!

Edit & update, just did a quick 12 or so scans, and tried to complete. A couple of minutes later, Einscan software just crashed/closed down, and left looking at desktop. No Save dialog box offered