There are actually quite a few different scanners out there, but few of them are as inexpensive as the Sense. I've been experimenting with it, and having pretty good luck with larger objects, like full-body scans of people. It works less well with smaller objects, although I'm working on a modification that might help with that. If you want a scanner that captures high levels of detail, though, this isn't the scanner for you. I'm not sure the Makerbot digitizer would be either; it looks like its resolution is pretty poor (+/- 2mm), and it can only deal with small objects that fit on its turntable.

I've also been using the Capture scanner from 3D systems, and I've decided to start reselling it. It does a really excellent job of recording small details - I just scanned a grapefruit, for instance, and it faithfully captured the small pores in the skin. It's also quite fast, although it isn't the kind of scanner that continuously records data as you move around. It wants to be set up on a tripod, spend a minute or so recording surface data with patterns of blue light, then capture more data from a different viewpoint etc, until it's got views of the whole object. Then the software it comes with lets you align and merge all the scans into one. These scanners list for between $15k and $25k, depending on the software one gets to use with it (there's a choice of 6 different programs for reverse-engineering, part inspection, etc.) but I'll be discounting it a little.

Andrew Werby
www.computersculpture.com