Best scanner for making Busts of People?

[catlover]

What would be the best sub-$6,000 scanner to make scans of people to print out busts of them. I plan on using shapeways to print out the busts but I need a really good accurate scanner to do this with. Anyone have a suggestion? Is the Sense scanner by cubify capable of this or is it too low quality?

[JSenior]

I don't believe there are a lot of scanners in your price range. You're in the middle ground between the diy level scanners and professional.

If you are looking for an accurate scan the sense isn't it. You can probably work out who it is meant to be, but there is very little definition and the accuracy is not good.

If it doesn't need to be portable, your best option for the money would probably be to set up a rig of DSLR's and use photogrammetry.

For portable, if you can increase your price a bit (possibly under $10k second hand) then have a look at artec scanners.

Maybe the Fuel 3D will be an option whenever it is released.

[My Thing in 3D]

I use a Sense scanner and print the busts myself on my Form 1,
BUT busts are the only thing I've had any success scanning with it at all
and I have to do extensive cleanup and repair to the file prior to printing.
And if your looking to preserve the color I loose that during processing.

[JSenior]

I use a Sense scanner and print the busts myself on my Form 1,
BUT busts are the only thing I've had any success scanning with it at all
and I have to do extensive cleanup and repair to the file prior to printing.
And if your looking to preserve the color I loose that during processing.

You can certainly keep the colour, it's just down to the the softwares capabilities which you're using to mesh the scans.

I did these two with a kinect scanner (same basic technology but less refined) a year or so ago. The scans were truly horrible and they probably took a day or more to remove the noisy data, merge together and colour balance (and the results are far from good!) I wouldn't have dreamt doing it without proper software however (Geomagic Wrap/Studio in that case.)






This is a quick 5 minutes scan and merge with a Faro Edge. No Colour but you can hopefully see the quality difference.

Face S-CAN.jpg

[catlover]

JSenior, where can I get the Faro Edge and how much is it? That is definitely a lot better that your kinect scans.

[JSenior]

JSenior, where can I get the Faro Edge and how much is it? That is definitely a lot better that your kinect scans.

The Faro is way over your budget and not really the right scanner for people either.

You want something that can collects the data with an instant flash, or at least has a large field of view, so you can afford slight movements by the subject.

I really think a photogrammetry system may be best.