3D Scanner

To compliment our 3D printer that we are creating it would be great if we had our very own affordable and accurate 3D scanner. This would allow us to only model and print objects but also replicate objects we already have.

Method

To get us started we can build a rotational base that we'll place the scanable object on so it can rotate slowly. We'll acquire a web cam and laser level. And then install the David 3D scanner software to do a scan of a small object.

Then we'll move towards commercial methods of doing multi-scans at the same time and combine the results after processing to ensure that we have the least amount of noise possible.

Budget

Goal is to have the ultimate cost for this project to be less than commercially available products. The lowest that I've found was:

NextEngine - $2,995

Trials

First Scan Setup

Tried my first scan using the following materials:

• Free Version of David LaserScanner Software
• MacBook Pro Intel Core 2 Duo 2.6GHz
• Built-in iSight - USB 2.0, Plastic Lense, Fixed Focus, CMOS Active pixel sensor instead of a CCD(Apple has moved to using a sensor capable of 1280x1024 pixels, but when accessed using provided APIs, the image is re-sampled to 640x480 pixels.) Frame Rate?
• Black and Decker Laser Level - http://www.blackanddecker.com/ProductGuide/Product-Details.aspx?ProductID=10968 (Class II Red Laser - Maximum Output <1mW at 630nm-670nm)
• 90 degree calibration corner using the .pdf printout included with David Laser Scanner and a Poster Board

Links

Commercial Models

NextEngine:
https://www.nextengine.com/indexSecure.htm

Current News

http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2010/03/letters_from_the_fab_academy_part_4.html

Forums

Primary Forums for David 3D Scanning Software:
http://www.david-laserscanner.com/forum/

A lot of people have tried different combinations of camera, laser, and software to improve upon the scans. Saves time by cutting out things you don't have to try.

Instructables

http://www.instructables.com/id/3-D-Laser-Scanner/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Make-your-own-3d-scanner/
http://www.instructables.com/id/Structured-Light-3D-Scanning/
http://www.instructables.com/id/David-3D-scanner/

Software

The actual scanning software(David 3D):
http://www.david-laserscanner.com/

A point cloud can be brought into MeshLab as a PLY file, a simple ASCII format for 3D object description:
http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/

From here you can merge scans together. The merging process is sometimes easier if you mark certain areas of the object with sharpy so you can align the dots from different scans.

Videos

systm Covered Cheap 3D Scanning in this Episode:
http://revision3.com/systm/laserscan