I am in the market for a professional 3D scanner, I am looking for something that can scan small objects under 100mm x 100mm x 100mm, vacuum form moulds that are about 500mm x 500mm x 400mm, as well as doing a full body scans in the future, so its need to be multi purpose. The scan will have to have the quality and resolution so I edit and export the data to in CAD/CAM to create 3D printable & final product machinable scalable versions to high ish tolerances…
I have contacted some 3D scanning companies but due to the volume of scans required (over 200) the price is very high, so would prefer to invest new equipment for the future…
I want to spend as little as I can get away with, but looking at £2k -£20k range
Sorry the SCANIFY 3D SCANNER is a great product, but will not do the work I need it for, talked to them at the 3D print show and its sadly not suitable for my needs…
If I remember correctly @Arnoldas made a post about the experience of the 3d Hubs team with different 3d scanners. Maybe he can dig the thread out for you, I sadly don’t have the Internet connection and time to do so. Cheers, Marius Breuer
We’re the US distributor for a company called SMARTTECH 3D 52 and I think you should check them out. One issue you will find is that there is a big difference in the scanner that you will need for a 100mm measurement volume verses a 500mm measurement volume. Details will not show up on small objects with a 500mm measurement volume scanner and there will be considerable deviations when trying to piece together 100mm scans from a 500mm part. In house, we personally use the Scan3D Universe 18 with a 400mm volume, which would be a good fit for your vacuum forming molds. If you get in touch with SMARTTECH, they can probably find a compromise that works for what you are trying to do.
Also, consider the fact that you will need additional software to process the scan data into a CAD surface that you can cut parts off of. The best option I am aware of in your price range would be Leios 2 which can go from a point cloud, polygonal mesh, and finally a NURBS CAD surface that you can load into your CAM package.
I’d be happy to lend some advice if would like to discuss your project in greater detail, so feel free to send me an email. I’m not going to try to sell you anything, as being in Europe puts you outside of my sales territory.
Following this…looking for the same kind of criteria and price range. The ability to scan small, blind holes and their depths would be nice but I haven’t found anything under $100k that can do that reliably. Handheld would also be better for my application too vs. a rotating pedestal style setup.
Have you looked at structured light scanners? There are a number of options out there for less than $100k. For OP’s budget, we have systems that have rated single-scan accuracy down to 60 microns.
For the OP, maybe this list can help you out some. Here are a few I’ve been looking at. I really need something that can capture very small features and holes accurately, which I’m not sure any of these can do well enough for me.
Interesting application. I’d like to talk with you a bit more about what you’re doing and see if I can either help you directly or point you in the right direction (if you aren’t in the US). I always enjoy being a resource for others in the community. Send me an email at hartigs@into3dllc.com and we can talk about what your needs are. Thanks, Steve Hartig
Agreed, the HandyScan 700 looks good but it is a little expensive. There are a lot of 3D Scanner companies that charge a lot extra to add the software to be able to use the machine. Considering the 700 comes bundled with the software, it makes the price a little easier to handle, depending on how much you plan to use it and what your budget is. One of the biggest selling points to me is the fact it is a handheld unit and doesn’t require a tripod and rotating base to do the scans.
Well, guys, that was an interesting read. About the only name that didn’t come up was the Einscan-S…
…but, as some people have already said, scanners tend to be optimised for specific tasks and scanning volumes. If you want to scan everything from the size of your fist to a whole body, it’s a big ask for any technology. The Einscan looks to be the best bang for the buck while covering the widest range of scan volumes. There’s bound to be a down-side and it’ll probably be resolution but at that price it’s definitely worth a look.
Another option worth considering would be photogrammetry as it’s size-agnostic. A couple of grand for great software ( Don’t take 123D Catch as a good example ), a gaming PC and a good DSLR. Take a look on Sketchfab to see what can be done…
Check this ( Decimated!! ) photogrammetry scan
If that’s peaked your interest, here’s a link to a discussion about the various software packages…
I have looked into this before, and played with the technology (3D product images for a website)
I think photogrammetry makes 3D look amazing and I think for web site product images its probably going to be the future, but have you ever looked at the 3D file without the lovely texture image? I don’t know if its the software I used, but raw 3D image is quite rough & basic in comparison to how good it looks when rendered out…
For example with that beautiful jet engine, which is truly amazing. If you select the wire frame or metcap view you can see the 3D file is less impressive…
100% agree. While the rendered picture looks good, the wireframe tends to be very rough. For instance, if you go to the downloadable items on the Artec site, you’ll see a nice looking picture of a PCB with Ethernet port. Doesn’t look too bad in the rendered view, but when I opened it in SolidWorks, the .STL image looked very rough in comparison. Granted, it did capture the exposed pins decently, but the Ethernet port isn’t shown very well for internal features or the depth of the plug socket.
Oh! I’m with ya there, dude. That’s why I pointed out that the mesh has been decimated. Can’t remember how many polys it was originally but it was in the millions. Gerpho had to decimate it quite dramatically to get the Sketchfab load time down and response up. I know it’s kinda counter-intuitive that photogrammetry can offer results as good as multi thousand dollar scanners but the tech is developing really fast. You only need to look at 5 year old scanners to see how many are totally obsolete now.
All things considered, if I were you, and had a pocket with 20K in it to spend on scanning anything from 100mm to 2 Metres, it’d be an Einscan, a Scanify, a Structure Sensor and a photogrammetry set-up. Put them together with a good gaming PC running David, Meshlab, Netfabb, Acute3D, Smart3DCapture, Skanect or similar and you’re good to go. Of course you can get similar results with more costly set-ups but, mainly what you’re paying for is the convenience ( and trade-offs ) of having everything in one easy to use package. And, in 5 years time, you won’t have a single item that won’t run on the current version of Windows and can’t connect to a PC anyway because the interface is obsolete. Ya pays ya money. Ya takes ya choice.
Go ahead and take the HandyScan 700 out of the list. I got a response back from them basically saying their machine is not really intended for small parts. I’m waiting to hear back from Nikon about the MMDx or MMCx models.
Yes, that machine offers a lot of nice features and looks to capture items pretty well…but apparently just not small items. I was very disappointed when I got the e-mail saying that. I’m going to look into the Artec more and see if the scanned items for download are run at the max resolution. I’ll let you know if I hear anything back.
While I think the technology works with SMARTTECH as far as accuracy and detail, but my biggest issue is convenience with the equipment use. It’s a real shame the HandyScan 700 isn’t meant for smaller parts because that kind of ease-of-use. I’ll keep looking and post anything that looks promising.
I’m still looking into things. I got a really nice looking scan from the Artec Space Spider that was done in only around 50 seconds that shows really good detail on a part that’s not even 12" long. I’m trying to get something similar from the HandyScan 700 people also so I can compare things a little bit.
