Don’t have US$60,000 for a super accurate color 3D scanner? We don’t either, so instead we recommend you try Cubify’s latest app: Cubify Capture. It’s a terrifically simple method to produce a quality 3D scan of objects around you.
Capture uses an approach that’s been used by others: a series of images taken of a given object from various angles are interpolated into a 3D model. What’s the difference between Cubify Capture and alternatives? Two big things:
Video input. Capture permits you to simply walk around an object, taking a video with whatever recorder you have, including phone apps. Then you upload the video and they’ll figure out the rest. This should be much easier for those uncomfortable with taking dozens of images.
Guaranteed printable results. As anyone who’s tried to get a 3D capture with a Kinect or similar approach, there is typically about an hour of work afterwards with various free software tools to “fix” the model to make it printable. You need to make it solid, fill holes, apply a base, trim off backgrounds and floor, etc. Cubify Capture does most of this automatically, and we understand they’ll be soon adding more features to make this even more capable.
3D Systems intends on implementing a number of Capture “optimizations”, special versions that are able to handle specific scan situations. The first one to arrive is face scans. We can envision others appearing shortly, such as body scans, automobiles, buildings, etc.
How well does the scan work? We thought it was great, as you can see in these images. Above is 3D Systems’ Ash Martin in real life, and below you’ll see his scan printed on a color 3D printer.
One more thing: we were told that the models generated will be exportable as STL or OBJ format (OBJ containing color texture info) so that you can use these 3D models on ANY 3D printer, even if it isn’t a cube! Well done, 3D Systems!
