No wonder they demand a bit of initial investment, 3D scanners are gaining prominence leaps and bounds. And again, no surprises, one of these might be lingering in your mind too, planning to emerge in reality from the imaginations.
Are you too planning to get a 3D scanner? If yes, do you plan to get anything less than the best? None, whatsoever!
The best 3D printers deserve the best 3D scanners too, and to get a good 3D scanner, here are a few important concepts that you always need to bear in your mind:
Bust The Popular Myths On Resolutions:
You consult a lot of people and search the internet too. There’s a very common term that you would always get to hear- the Resolution.
And when you are informed about 5-megapixel scanners efficient to fulfill all your needs, you might think for once, comparing it with the 20-megapixel mobile cameras that you always wanted to possess.
However, 3D scanner resolution is a lot different than mobile-camera resolutions and even a 5-megapixel 3D scanner is enough to fulfill your needs. This usually means recording five points in a millimeter-wide region, which is more than what is needed to reconstruct it on 3D printers.
Therefore, do not mind the popular myths of resolutions in a 3D scanner and get only what is best suited to your needs.
Promotional Brags Might Hurt You A Lot:
Every captured pixel by a 3D scanner has a trio of coordinates- the X, the Y and the Z axis. While the X and the Y points are merely reliant on their sensor positions, the Z distance is formulated by a 3D scanner using triangulation process.
No wonder, you could have heard of various manufacturing brags on how close these points tend to lie, which is made possible only by the efficiency of their scanners’ resolutions.
Brags aside, this is a popular promotional concept and far ahead, you could end up with a whopping amount of data; sometimes enough to bring your device to a standstill.
In reality, you might not need this vast amount of data but could get lured to the promotional boasts on resolutions. Manufacturers would always love you to have their 10-megapixel chip instead of 5, but importantly, they forget an important issue of accuracy in this.
You might consider resolution and accuracy to be the same, but in reality they are different.
- Resolution:
- Accuracy:
Count On The Accuracy Of The 3D Scanner:
Consider an aspect of 3D printer scanners. When even a small object is scanned, a single pass is enough to grab a few million points and when you take about 8 full shots, do not mind getting more than 10 million points with each X, Y and Z coordinates.
Would the ones, who perform the scanning process, keep all the data they have collected? They cannot, as it becomes absolutely unmanageable. To get it workable, around 90 percent or more data is ditched by a process known as decimation.
Also, the software that is used could signify the curvature and easily preserve data of high curvature areas.
For instance, when you scan an object such as a flat tabletop, which is very less complex than the other objects, it could be represented with the least amount of data. And even though the scanner captures a few million points for the same, the decimation process with the help of the software would keep only the most desirable data points for reference.
Thus, instead of minding the resolution of a 3D scanner, do focus on getting the one that has a trustworthy accuracy.
While you wish to get a proficient 3D scanner, you could always seek the services of various efficient 3D printer stores. Not only they help you to get the best 3D printers, but also deliver great 3D scanners and other accessories of your needs.
However, never forget to mind all the considerations and always assess your requirements before getting an accurate and reliable 3D scanner.