We spoke with Dr. Alastair Buchanan, the man behind the Cubik full-color tabletop 3D scanner at the London 2013 3D Printshow.
The device is a tabletop unit, meaning you can only scan items that will fit into its scan chamber. It’s also a sealed chamber, meaning that you can operate the scanner in a variety of light conditions without worry – some other scanners are “open air” and thus subject to lighting effects.
The Cubik does not use lasers. Instead it uses a proprietary form of structured light processing to capture scans. If you’re not familiar with “structured light”, it simply means projecting a known patter of light, say a checkerboard pattern, on an object and then observing how the pattern shifts while the object is rotated.
Even better, the Cubik does not use a triangulation approach. Instead it uses a “phase shift” process that eliminates occlusion, meaning you get better scans. And they’re in color, too.
The device processes the capture to produce printable STL or PLY (for color) files, typically in up to 50-150 micron resolution.
The Cubik was offered on Kickstarter previously, where it gained £97,200 (USD$156,000) as some 150 units were sold. Today the device goes for £699 (USD$1124).
We’re told the device could be shipping by end of November.
Via CAD-Scan
