3D Scanner: The Structure Sensor on Kickstarter

[Eddie]

They have already blown away their $100,000 goal within 24 hours. Seems like this thing is going to become a reality. You can basically turn your iPad into a 3D scanner. Here is the Kickstarter url:
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/...he-world-in-3d

The Structure Sensor gives mobile devices the ability to capture and understand the world in three dimensions.
With the Structure Sensor attached to your mobile device, you can walk around the world and instantly capture it in a digital form. This means you can capture 3D maps of indoor spaces and have every measurement in your pocket. You can instantly capture 3D models of objects and people for import into CAD and for 3D printing. You can play mind blowing augmented reality games where the real world is your game world.
If you’re a developer, Structure gives you the ability to build mobile applications that interact with the three dimensional geometry of the real world for the very first time. You can even launch your app on the App Store!

[Riskerbus]

Wow, this is really crazy. So you basically scan, import and print. This should definitely help 3D printing catch on!

[redrick]

Yep, the second shoe to drop in this industry is scanning. If you were to tell me 5 or 10 years ago that we would be able to put an object in a machine and duplicate it within minutes I would tell you that you were crazy. Makerbot is also releasing a pretty high tech scanner as well called the Digitizer. We are in the middle of a revolution in manufacturing, that's for certain!

[TeddyYan]

I contributed to this one. Awesome idea, which allows almost anyone to get a rather inexpensive 3D scanner. This is the future, right here. Who else contributed to this one?

Ted

[Riskerbus]

Ww, they are now approaching $1 million with 18 days to go! Pretty impressive idea if you ask me. I haven't backed it yet but am considering it.

[3dman]

Just a bit of an update for those who are considering or have already purchased a New iPhone or new iPad. Structure has announced that the scanner WILL work with all the new models:

http://3dprintingindustry.com/2013/1...air-ipad-mini/

[crowbar]

There's only a day and half left to back this.

Is this going to be a legit scanner for 3d printing purposes or should we look elsewhere?

[RedSox2013]

Wow, $1.29 million total they brought in. They only needed $100k. Wonder if they have any additional plans to use some of that money for.

[Brian_Krassenstein]

Structure Sensor Update:
Occipital, the creators of the Structure Sensor 3D scanner, say new users of scanner devices and apps have found it difficult to capture useful results. They say the fact that previous systems have required “extensive practice and careful selection of scanning subjects for reliable performance” and the unsophisticated tracking capabilities of most 3D scanners fail when they attempt to capture uniformly shaped or textured objects such as balls or cans. But now the latest Structure SDK 0.4 update includes a brand new tracker which locks onto both the geometry of objects being scanned - and the color data from both the object being scanned and the environment around it -- by using data about the object’s shape from both the Structure Sensor’s 3D depth camera and data about the object’s colors from the iPad’s color camera. You can read the whole story here: http://3dprint.com/53404/structure-sensor-update/


Below is a look at the new tracking feature:

[curious aardvark]

I like the line: 'this attaches to the lightning adaptor for devices like ipads.'
So JUST ipads. God I hate ipads.

So 2 years down the line - does this do what it initially claimed or not ?