Is 3D scanning efficent?

[coppertj]

So I'm curious on what others think about 3d scanning. I honestly love 3d scanning and I use it alot when messing around in source engine or unity. It's seriously a powerful form of modeling which takes very quick for it to render a 3d image. Now, I am aware of there being tons of ways to 3d scanning. From professional grade 3d scanners to tinkers 3d scanners and even to economic 3d scanning.

 

Examples of each of these are:

Professional 3d Scanner- http://store.makerbot.com/digitizer.html?&utm_campaign=&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&keyword=&placement=&device=c&utm_creative=&gclid=CjwKEAjwmZWvBRCCqrDK_8atgBUSJACnib3luAjhd_Gl38PjCY2utzlfup6mnswv0jv4yIGRvoUuIhoCViDw_wcB

 

Tinkers- https://store.structure.io/

 

Economic- Using a xbox 360 kinect

 

Out of these selected examples I used the xbox 360 kinect with a vinyl record player to spin the object on a plate and the results for it are pretty impressive seeing how you can pick these up for 10-20 dollars now.

 

Results:

 

I also scanned my brother but after the spongebob one and setting it up he was pretty unhappy and wanted to stop for the night which you can see in the scan him being pissed off

 

The results may not look that impressive but for a kinect it's pretty damn good. For scanning a person I used a office chair but I know a bar stool would be 1000x better since I wouldn't need to cut out the back of the chair. The spongebob one still has the base from the turn table on it because I got lazy. Other than removing the office chair from the picture of my brother, I did not edit these at all and the program exported the colors out of it.

 

A downside to the kinect scanning though is the fact that it can be messy and can't scan small objects such as an action figure. I tried testing these out on a godzilla figurine and a teenage mutant ninja turtle but to no avail. The tmnt wouldn't even scan properly and the godzilla figure's head was missing. This is when a professional grade 3d scanner would come into play because the cameras on those are a hella' lot better than a 20 dollar kinect camera.

 

An upside with a kinect though is scanning huge 3d objects like a couch or a table. It's completely possible and tomorrow I plan to try it out on furniture for the first time.

 

 

The program I use for the kinect scanning is called Skanect (http://skanect.occipital.com/) and there is a free and paid version. The difference is the free can't export colors/textures and can only export 2000 faces. The 2000 faces export is what my brother looks like in the scan.

 

So let me know in the comments what your thoughts are about the concept of 3d scanning.

[Aytex]

ur bro looks baked af

 

this is pretty cool though.

TEH FUTURE IS NEAR

[coppertj]

ur bro looks baked af

 

this is pretty cool though.

TEH FUTURE IS NEAR

 

Ha he only wishes

[TheGeeker]

The makerbot one honest sucks. My buddy has it along with a replicator 5th gen and they both really suck. I have a makerbot mini and it clogs and sucks.

[coppertj]

The makerbot one honest sucks. My buddy has it along with a replicator 5th gen and they both really suck. I have a makerbot mini and it clogs and sucks.

 

I honestly plan on getting a 3d printer "soon" I'm gonna get a 1000-2000 dollar quality one but for now just saving up paychecks slowly

[bob345]

I still think consumer level 3d scanning still has a long way to go before it becomes remotely practical

[coppertj]

I still think consumer level 3d scanning still has a long way to go before it becomes remotely practical

 

True but we sure are damn close. The color accuracy of the kinect is not so good but compare it to the Structure Sensor that Luke reviewed and it's not too different. When we can get professional grade scanners down to like 100-200 we are in the consumer level

[trag1c]

The makerbot one honest sucks. My buddy has it along with a replicator 5th gen and they both really suck. I have a makerbot mini and it clogs and sucks.

I have used the makerbot replicator 2x at school (as well as mentoring a robotics team there after I graduated) and I've never had any issues with it. 

 

 

I honestly plan on getting a 3d printer "soon" I'm gonna get a 1000-2000 dollar quality one but for now just saving up paychecks slowly

I looked at the price tags of some of them and I nearly fainted so I've decided to make my own. I just finished what I think should be the final design and now I have ordered 1 of each part that I need so that I can begin modelling the parts and system in AutoCAD. I think I should be able to build it for no more that $400 CAD. 

[LukaP]

scanning in its current form is a gimmick. it takes more work to fix the model after its scanned than to just sculpt it. also its useless for anything but a highdetail mesh to be baked into a normal map. 

its topology is crap

the polycount is over the top 

the accuracy hasnt been satisfactory in my experience.

 

When algorithms that can do retopology well automatically are developed and the scanners get more accurate, i can see it as being something useful in a production environment. though by then what is the point of a 3d artist anyway anymore

[79 Potatoes]

WTF more poligons than GTA:SA... That means... you'd add yourself to that game and the difference would be minimal (Except the lulz)