Long Range 3D Scanning Demonstrated

3D scanning is a tricky business. Whether you're using a USD$50,000 unit or a USD$100 Microsoft Kinect, none will meet all possible scanning requirements. You might require super-fine detail of a small object, or perhaps you're scanning a building, or simply just grabbing a scan of your girlfriend's face for a quick 3D print. 

 

But what happens if you need to 3D scan an object that's over a kilometer away? None of the usual 3D scanning options can do this. 

 

Until now. A team of researchers in the UK and The Netherlands has demonstrated a method of long-range 3D scanning using "a free-running, low noise superconducting nanowire single-photon detector." 

 

The specifications for this experiment are a bit scary: 

 

• One centimeter resolution at a distance of one kilometer
• "Relatively" eye-safe laser scan wavelengths of 1560nm
• Millisecond-level exposure times per pixel

 

This sounds to us like an incredible tool for spies, armies, explorers, hobbyists or Bigfoot hunters. Where ever you need a rough 3D scan but cannot get close to the subject, this is the technology you need. 

 

The image above shows experimental results of a scan, showing original optical image and corresponding pixel depth image, where the darker pixels are slightly farther away from the scanner. The amazing part? These dudes are 910 meters distant! 

 

One issue we see with this approach is that the 3D image for only a single view of the subject. To truly capture a full 3D image, the subjects would have to cooperatively rotate smoothly in 360 degrees in front of the scanner. This is perhaps unlikely in the usage scenarios we envision. Another approach would be to  somehow take the scanner around the subject in a full or partial 360 circle at a fixed radius. That's even more unlikely to happen. 

 

Via Optics Infobase

The Photon 3D Scanner

Tired of designing your own 3D CAD models? Worn out from endless searching 3D repositories for that specific 3D design? If so, why not scan your own physical objects and replicate them? Usually you can't because 3D scanning is frequently an expensive proposition. 

 

But that could change with the introduction of the Photon 3D Scanner from Matterform, a Toronto-based startup that's developed a slick custom-designed tabletop 3D scanner, the Photon. How affordable is it? It's CA$399 affordable (USD$399ish), which is far less than many other 3D scanning options. In fact, had you been one of the first takers on their campaign, you could have gotten this unit for only CA$349. But units at that price level are all gone now. 

 

We noticed several very interesting features on the Photon: 

 

• Collapsible: You can neatly fold it up when not in use, so it need only take up desktop space when you require a scan
• Volume: Objects up to 190 x 190 x 250mm can be scanned in 360 degrees
• Integrated: All components of the Photon seem to be custom designed, right down to the circuit boards. This means the Photon could be less likely to have issues in the future
• Lasers: The Photon has twin lasers to perform the scan. Anything with lasers is cool
• Software: Custom software accompanies the Photon, capable of producing point clouds or meshes

 

We're not quite sure of the Photon's scanning resolution, as the device is still undergoing testing, according to Matterform. However, they say it will be "high resolution". 

 

The Photon seems to have the correct combination of key features: Fantastic industrial design, Integrated functions and a Deadly low price. You'd better check them out. 

  

Via Matterform and Indiegogo

3D Captured Tattoos

We're looking at an unusual 3D scanning project on Kickstarter: the "3d tattoo body art scanner" by UK artist Lee Wagstaff. Wagstaff is notable as he was the first person to use his own body art as presentation material during his Master's degree defense. 

 

Having such an incredible array of intricate tattoos poses a problem: how to archive this artwork? Tattoos may need to be reproduced on others, or - and this is why we're interested - 3D printed on figurines to display the tattoo without the associated body. 

 

Essentially this is a 3D color and texture capture problem, but it is complicated by the need to scan actual humans. We've encountered that problem - humans tend to muck up the scan by moving ever so slightly while they are being scanned; only dead people can remain sufficiently motionless. Tiny tattoo details would be catastrophically ruined with such movements, while low-res human shapes can tolerate a bit of movement. 

 

Wagstaff has created a small Kickstarter project to fund the development of a rudimentary (and therefore inexpensive) device to capture tattoos and 3D shapes. Perhaps this could be done by enhancing existing scanning solutions, but any Kinect-based solution simply wouldn't have the resolution to do what Wagstaff proposes. 

 

Via Kickstarter

The MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner

MakerBot announced, but did not release, a personal 3D scanner at SXSW yesterday that could dramatically change how personal 3D printers are used and accepted by the general public.

 

Perhaps the biggest problem facing home 3D printer owners today is finding the right 3D models to print. Unless one is a designer equipped with potentially expensive 3D modeling software, you're left with picking models from seemingly endless online repositories. 

 

But those repositories generally don't have the model you're looking for. You want a model of your jewelry, or of that clip that keeps breaking, or a second copy of that unusual bookend in your living room. None of these can be found online, nor are you capable of reproducing them with even free 3D modeling tools. 

 

MakerBot's newly announced 3D scanner, the "MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner", directly addresses these scenarios. With the device you'll be able to capture reasonably accurate 3D scans of any small item you can fit into the scanner. Once scanned, you can produce as many copies as possible on your 3D printer. No more endless searching for models!

 

How good is this scanner? We just don't know yet. At the SXSW unveiling, MakerBot CEO Bre Pettis showed a prototype of the device and did not reveal numerical specifications or costs. We speculate that it might have a resolution of around 1mm and should cost less than a MakerBot Replicator. 

 

The MakerBot Digitizer uses twin lasers to triangulate the 3D shape of the scanned object, which sits upon a slowly spinning plate. Scans will be quick - taking "as little as 3 minutes" to complete. And the associated software will automatically fill holes in the scan to produce ready-to-print 3D models.  

 

The device has a webcam to interpret the lasers shining off the object, but it's unclear whether any color information is captured, which means you're likely capturing only the shape, not the textures. Could a "color digitizing" feature be a future upgrade in the Digitizer 2? 

 

The MakerBot Digitizer shown at SXSW was a wooden prototype. We expect that the released version will be transformed into an attractive industrial design, likely similar in style to the current crop of MakerBot Replicators - sleek black plastic. 

 

While you can already easily start 3D scanning with a Microsoft Kinect and software (like Skanect or ReconstructMe) at a price probably far below the MakerBot Digitizer, these solutions are limited by the Kinect's rather poor resolution and are not suitable for scanning details of small items. That's where the MakerBot Digitizer comes in. It's scan volume appears to be able to scan small objects of perhaps 8 inches in size to an accuracy that should come close to the resolution of MakerBot's Replicator 2 3D printer. 

 

Reverse engineering of a scanned part into a manipulatable 3D CAD model is quite another issue. This can be done, but it requires some pretty expensive software and associated expertise. That will come later, but for now, enjoy scanning with your MakerBot Digitizer - when it's released this fall.

 

Via MakerBot

Image Credit: Engadget

3D Systems Teams with Creaform

If you're considering a portable 3D scanner such as Creaform's new Go!SCAN, you might want to consider the software you need to use the captured scans. Scans are not useful unless you can edit, trace, repair and convert them. 

 

Creaform has solved this problem by teaming with 3D Systems, who now provide a "simple and powerful 3D reverse engineering and design tool" named "Go!MODEL". It appears that 3D Systems has based the new tool on their ultra-powerful RapidForm reverse engineering tool. What does it do? This: 

 

• Mesh Optimization : Do more with your scans! Fill holes, smooth, enhance shapes and perfect meshes to use in downstream apps.
• Automated : Use Go!MODEL’s wizards to complete frequently used processing steps with just a few clicks.
• Intelligent : From decimation that reduces file size by half with almost no loss of accuracy to curvature-based hole filling, Go!MODEL is packed with intelligent tools.
• Automatic NURBS Surfacing : 2 clicks are all you need to generate highly accurate NURBS surfaces of anything you scan with the Go!SCAN. Use surfaces in applications like CAD and CAM that cannot handle high definition meshes.
• Powerful : No matter what you scan, Go!MODEL has the tools to turn it into the format and with the properties you need.

 

We don't know the price of the new software, but we suspect it is lower than the pricey Rapidform to match the lower price of the Go!SCAN hardware. Here's how we think it plays out: for rapid, reasonable and low cost scanning, you'd use Go!SCAN and Go!MODEL. For highly detailed scanning you'd use Creaform's HandyScan line of scanners with 3D Systems' RapidForm. 

 

Via 3D Systems and Creaform

Point And Shoot 3D Scanning

The folks at Lynx Lab have launched a Kickstarter campaign to raise funds for the initial units of their "Lynx A Camera". It's  designed to be a point and shoot 3D camera, capable of capturing 3D shapes as well as motion. 

 

The Lynx A tries to put all the elements of 3D scanning in a single box: camera, sensors, heavy-duty data processing, software and interface. This is quite different from all other 3D scanning solutions we've seen, which typically involve multiple devices and software tools. 

 

Pricing is variable, depending on the features included, at least during their Kickstarter campaign. The basic model, which includes the "Object Modeling Feature" goes for USD$1,999. A "3D Artists" version adds "Scene Modeling" for USD$2,699, while the ultimate "Hacker" version also includes motion capture for USD$3,499.  

 

For 3D printer aficionados, we suspect the 3D modeling feature is the one of interest. 

 

But this leads to a slight dilemma: if inexpensive 3D scanning is your only goal, why not use one of the several Microsoft Kinect-based solutions, which can produce comparable results at a price far lower than USD$1,999? There are two advantages provided by the Lynx A Camera over Kinect solutions: you don't need a high-powered graphics card to process the scan in real time because it's included in the Lynx A. Secondly, the Lynx A is totally portable. It's a six pound unit that is easily toted around and thus ready for almost-instant scanning operations. 

 

Lynx Lab's Kickstarter campaign has already met their funding goal, so they are proceeding to manufacture. If you're interested in portable 3D scanning, you might want to check them out. 

 

Via Lynx Lab and Kickstarter

Questions About Skanect

Manctl's new version of Skanect should permit easy 3D scanning by anyone with a Microsoft Kinect and a computer. However, we wondered about several aspects. We asked Manctl's Nicolas Burrus a few questions about the new version. 

 

Fabbaloo: The new release seems to be Windows only. Any hope of a Mac or Linux version in the future?

 

Nicolas Burrus: Definitely, at least Mac should come soon. We actually use Linux and Mac for our daily development, so we know Skanect can run on it.

 

The main issue with Mac is that we currently heavily depend on a top-end NVidia graphics card to get the nicer live reconstruction. And almost no Mac has such graphics card at the moment (only the latest macbook pro). But our top priority is to remove the requirement of having such a gamer graphics card, and this will enable Mac at the same time.

 

Regarding Linux, it's just a matter of dedicating time to maintain it and handle the distribution issues. If there is enough demand, then we'll support it. Our team is still very small, so we had to make choices.

 

Fabbaloo: Does the model fixing capability include the ability to add primitives like cylinders, cubes, etc? (For completing statues, busts, and the like)

 

Nicolas Burrus: Not yet. We plan to keep adding more postprocessing tools to create ready-to-print 3d objects without leaving Skanect, but at the moment it is mostly limited to filling holes and missing colors to create a fully colored watertight mesh. We also encourage interaction with MeshMixer through the External Edit tools, which lets the user go back and forth to another program.

 

Also, note that some online printing services such as Sculpteo have some postprocessing tools to add custom text or transform an existing model into a key ring, etc.

 

Fabbaloo: What is the minimum effective size of a scan with the configuration? Can you, for example, scan jewelry?

 

Nicolas Burrus: The minimal object size at this stage is about 5cm. We depend on the sensor precision here, so there is not much we can do about it. Current cameras based on Primesense chipset (such as Kinect) cannot really offer more details, but things are changing. The Carmine 1.09 is said to have sub-millimeter precision at 50cm. We should have one in the next few days, and will support it ASAP. Kinect 2 is also rumored to be able to detect fingers at several meters, so let's see what precision it will have.

 

More generally, we'll support upcoming sensors as long as their price point remains consumer-friendly, i.e a few hundred dollars.

 

Via Manctl 

A New Version of Skanect

Readers may recall Skanect, a software tool that uses an inexpensive Microsoft Kinect to produce 3D scans of room-sized areas. Now creator Manctl has released a new version of Skanect that's much more powerful. 

 

The new version is capable of taking 3D scans of objects instead of rooms. They've re-engineered the program to include specialized modes for particular scanning scenarios: 

 

• Body: This is the ideal setup to scan the bust of a person, with a bounding box of more of less 1x1x1m. You can increase the bounding box size to scan the whole body. It also performs well for mid-sized furniture.
• Object: This mode is best for smaller objects, with a default bounding box of 0.6×0.6×0.6m. It can capture finer details, at the risk of loosing camera tracking more easily.
• Room: This mode is designed to capture a 360º small room. The initial sensor position will be it the center of the bounding box.
• Half Room: This mode is better for scanning only a part of a room, with an initial sensor position near the back of the bounding box.
• Open Space: In this mode there is no predefined bounding box. 

 

We'll be testing the new version soon, but in the meantime you can try it out yourself by downloading it from their site. It's offered in two packages: 

• A free version for non-commercial use and has limited model resolution. You can only export to the Sculpteo 3D printing service. 
• A paid €99 (USD$133) version with no restrictions on usage, resolution or export. And it includes support, too. 

Professional scanning equipment typically costs several tens of thousands of dollars and is well beyond the means of hobbyists. However, by leveraging the Kinect that's likely already in your home you can get yourself a fairly sophisticated 3D scanning capablility simply by using Manctl's Skanect.  

Via Manctl