A few Einscans - Just showing off

[curious aardvark]

I think the biggest issue witht eh ciclops is the lasers. the lines are thick and blurred, maiing any kind of precision difficult at best. Was wondering if lasers with better prisms would improve things.

[scobo]

Apparently, green or blue lasers give better results.

[Dudemeister]

Apparently, green or blue lasers give better results.

Not really, I've been trying to scan really small stuff, and for that, I changed the lasers on my Atlas 3D from the original ones to focusing type, and then even got green versions of the focus type, and it really didn't make much difference.

It really comes down to the software as you said, but it also comes down to the technology behind it. And by technology, I don't mean the hardware specs, rather the scanning technology (laser, cameras, 3D cameras, structured light, mechanical, etc.).

On the laser scanning field, I found that the most important aspect, which can affect the quality of the scan, is not so much the quality of the camera, or the laser, but lighting. If you can control the ambient light to produce nice, even lighting, with little or no shadows, and if you can repeat that from scan to scan, you can probably do a credible job.

Another approach is the stereo camera setup, like the Fuel 3D. That does a really good job of capturing a lot of detail, in one pass, so scanning bas-relief, sculptures, carvings or faces is it's forte, but not so much when it comes to scanning an entire object 360°

Then you have structured light devices like the Einscan or the David scanners, which do a fantastic job, even though they work a little different from each other.

An alternative to this, is photogrammetry, which can produce really good and detailed 3D models, but requires hundreds of photos from every possible angle, taken with a good camera with a lens free (or nearly free) of aberrations and distortion, and also makes use of very powerful software to stitch those images together into a 3D mesh. Some of this software is free, but the really good ones can cost thousands of dollars for a license.

Then you find yourself in the realm of $10K+ professional scanners. Some are designed to capture small objects, others can capture entire scenes with high detail.

For small sized models in extremely high detail you have the tactile or contact scanners. Those are scanners that employ a camera, as well as a pressure sensitive pen/sensor, on a free moving arm on gimbals, which is used to "brush" the surface to obtain highly detailed information of the surface.

Anyway, I think that short of spending $10K+ for a scanner, and as long as you don't need to scan very large objects, the Einscan-S is probably the best all around solution. The David SLS scanners cost about $5K, but I don't think the output justifies the extra money.

For those wanting to dip their toes in the hobby, laser scanners are a real, and possibly inexpensive solution. If all you want is to scan people's heads, and don't need high detail, a Kinect or the new RealSense equipped laptops and tablets will do the job for very little money.

[scobo]

Anyway, I think that short of spending $10K+ for a scanner, the Einscan-S is probably the best all around solution. The David SLS scanners cost about $5K, but I don't think the output justifies the extra money.

I would certainly agree with that.
I tried several laser scanners and the trial version of David with both laser and SLS scanning before settling on the Eiscan which gives the best "bang for your buck", imho.

[curious aardvark]

well looking around the einscan comes in at around the £1000 mark in the uk.
A lot more than I can afford to pay for something I have no real commercial use for.

Just have to wait for the new batch of scanners to clear kickstarter and see if any of them are any good :-)

Anyone tried a matter&form scanner ?

[scobo]

Tried the Matter & Form for a couple of weeks then returned it.
It's about the best laser scanner around but I just wasn't seeing the results I was hoping for and certainly couldn't justify keeping it at £450.
I just don't think they've got it right yet with the cheaper laser scanners.
You're right about the Einscan-S, it is a lot of cash and if I'm being honest, I probably don't use it enough to justify the cost but the performance is there when I do need to use it.
Possibly the best budget solution would be David Laserscanner with a 2nd hand DLP projector and cheap webcam. You should be able to put that sort of setup together for about £450 so about the same as the M&F but with far better results.
David isn't quite as automated and requires a bit of post scan work but the end results will be similar to the Einscan-S.

[curious aardvark]

lol I've just got itchy fingers.
Friend gave me a 128gb ipad air that was dead (would not charge) to dismember. Turns out there is nothing wrong with it - well apart from being an ipad air (both speakers are together at one end - it actually has stereo mono sound).
So I'm looking at isense - can pick one up for around £70 plus whatever the customs would sting me for.

But reviews don't look great for small stuff and I don't want to print people - well until I can afford a full colour printer anyway, at which point there would probably be money in it.

Ah well I'll just have to keep my hands firmly in my pocket till the technology improves and gets cheaper.

[scobo]

Have you tried 123D Catch ?
It's free and the results from it are pretty good, especially if you have a good quality camera.

[curious aardvark]

yes - unless you take the pictures outside at noon on a cloudy day. The results are bloody awful.
Tried it on pc and tablet.
Until you can have afixed camera and rotate the model, it's utterly useless for small models.

last time I ended up with a tripod in the middle of the dining room and walked round it with the camera.
Unless you use flash, the lighting is too inconsistent and if you use flash, you need to be further away and zoom in, but you need a pretty big room.
I have no idea why you can't have astatic camera and rotate the thing you scan. That can be easily done on a table top. the lighting remains constant, the focus, distance and zoom of the camera remains constant.
So, yeah, 123dcatch and I did not get on :-)

[khaity]

Tried the Matter & Form for a couple of weeks then returned it.
It's about the best laser scanner around but I just wasn't seeing the results I was hoping for and certainly couldn't justify keeping it at £450.
I just don't think they've got it right yet with the cheaper laser scanners.
You're right about the Einscan-S, it is a lot of cash and if I'm being honest, I probably don't use it enough to justify the cost but the performance is there when I do need to use it.
Possibly the best budget solution would be David Laserscanner with a 2nd hand DLP projector and cheap webcam. You should be able to put that sort of setup together for about £450 so about the same as the M&F but with far better results.
David isn't quite as automated and requires a bit of post scan work but the end results will be similar to the Einscan-S.


The result well?