3D scanners

[Chaotic Mike]

Hello, I just got access to a 4k Elegoo Mars, the quality is amazing. 

Does anyone have any experience with 3D scanning, eg hardware, how good/bad are the results, etc? 

 

Mike

[Schwarz-Brot]

Can be done, but the results usually require lots of cleanup. Some professional software as well as hardware is out there that helps a lot and costs a lot as well. There are open source options, but the overhead of cleaning up the files always let me go back to draw the parts right away. Cheapish consumer options I have not tried.

 

One thing one must understand is that you can only scan what your camera(s) can see in a straight line. So any overhang kills all the information that lies underneath and the software cannot correct for that, so assumes closed surfaces.

 

[Chaotic Mike]

I'm a bit of a believer in the 'You don't get anything for free' school of thought, so that doesn't surprise me. The options on my radar are either (1) get a cheapish bit of kit to do the basics, then remodel in Fusion or similar using the scan as a backdrop, or (2) get a bureau service to do scan and cleanup ready for printing. 

 

This thread is targeting option (1). I have quite a lot of experience in 2D digitisation and clean up with Inkscape and Canvas (that takes me back 30 years!), partly I am interested in seeing how the principles move into 3 virtual dimensions. 

 

Mike 

[Stu_davros]

I bought a Shining 3D SE a few months ago, it's OK for larger scans (above 30-40mm) but for small parts it's not great.

The quality of the scans is OK but not really what I wanted for detail levels and you do get a degradation of detail because it's a copy. (Some of this may be where I need to learn to use the scanner better)

I would probably say that learning Fusion 360 would be the way to go for ultimate detail (and cost).

 

Cheers,

Stuart