3d scanners, what to buy

[jackseers3]

Hi guys, I’m looking into buying a 3D scanner. Something that makes it easier to model things that I want to print on my Ultimaker (or Shapeways). Currently I found these that look interesting (and that I can afford) :

* Matter and Form (matterandform.net)

* Rubicon (rubitech.org)

* makerbot digitizer (makerbot.com)

* einscan (shining3d)

* david scanner (david 3d)

Have you guys used any of these? What was your experience? I’ve seen models that came from some of the cheaper scanners and they looked really low resolution. Any recommendations?

Thanks a lot,

Jack

[Xeno]

Have a look at Einscan, affordable and great resolution.

3d Scanners, Professional 3D Scanners, Software and Support | EinScan

[Josh_Raples]

Found this the other day, hope it helps with your decision:

Surprising data on 3D scan quality.

[Jory]

Another I found that would probably be on the upper-end of this price range is this, but I’m not sure it’s worth the increase in price:

http://www.nextengine.com/

Edit: I found that the renders shown on the gallery are also heavily post-processed/smoothed/etc. to get them to look that way. I had gotten some native scan data from them and the scans definitely didn’t look as good. But…if their software is capable enough to clean up images to that degree, it might be worth it in the end.

[jackseers3]

Wow. $3000…wouldn’t one expect really mindboggling results from a device in that price range?

[jackseers3]

I did look at that one but haven’t seen a convincing scan result yet. Everything I saw looked a little blobby. Maybe too early days since it just came out?

[Josh_Raples]

Not really. It’s a smaller market with an expensive technology. The one I use at work is $30,000 and still is decent. It’s meant more for large scale things. Smaller objects have a hard time with detail.

[jackseers3]

Yeah, I get it. It makes sense that very expensive scanners produce outstanding results. But it’s for my hobby, which means I don’t get my money back from providing a service. I was kinda hoping the technology had become affordable enough to be viable for the DIY market and our discretionary income.

[Xeno]

I think Einscan gives impressive results, and is affordable, not many comparable scanners can scan at 0,1mm,

with a very simple setup and great software I have seen some great results

have a look at these images.

http://static.wixstatic.com/media/981f44_650edfb60aae44eca7eb76c1aa5c6866.jpg_256

http://cdn1.bigcommerce.com/n-ou1isn/y1xcm/product_images/uploaded_images/pic112.jpg?t=1438456410

http://cdn1.bigcommerce.com/n-ou1isn/y1xcm/product_images/uploaded_images/pic113.jpg?t=1438456429

[jackseers3]

Hey xeno, thanks for the examples. However, I’m not sure if those are great results. I mean you can clearly see what the object is but a lot of the small detail is lost. Eg the text of the lincoln memorial is completely gone. So is all the detail in the hair, no fingers etc. Can’t quite tell how large the figurines are but shouldn’t a 0.1mm resolution resolve those features?

[Xeno]

That Lincoln statue is tricky, because it has less detail then you think, it is weathered heavily to create the illusion of detail,

I found a thingverse page that has all the models that were scanned with Einscan.

Thingiverse - Digital Designs for Physical Objects

and here is an image from the STL, rendered in Rhino3D

[jackseers3]

oh, not bad. thanks for that.

[Alice_SHINING3D]

Hi,

You can see the EinScan-S review by Maker’s muse on YouTube. Hope it helps you understand more about this amazing scanner.

https://youtu.be/9GNG_yF_u3c

[JackLane]

Hi Jack, I know I’m late to the conversation but I’ve only just seen this! If you’re looking for something affordable, the SCANIFY scanner by Fuel3D is definitely worth a look at. It’s well under US $2,000 and produces really good results. This is a scan from their Sketchfab page:

https://sketchfab.com/models/32b4b773b8854ba6ab9dd418d3a43518

I think this was produced on the old version of their software, which they’ve now improved and updated so resolution and quality is probably now higher than this model shows. Their website is www.fuel-3d.com

Thanks, Jack