3d scanning and one cool shop

[cabnet636]

went to nc this week to pick up a scanner (Next engine) that i purchased, the cool treat was the shop i went to had 15+ multi head cnc machines and 3d carvers, it was way to cool for me and i wish i had more time to spend with them.

the 3d scanner is working well and i can see why many get frustrated with them, i am glad i had been using asoire a while before i began to tackle this yet i am well pleased with the scans so far

[cabnet636]

here are the pics from the 3d shop

[cabnet636]

this was done after the install ove the pro upgrade of the next engine software

raw data - .stl - aspire machined

i will rerun the king later today

[dr_when]

James,

Thanks for the Next Engine info. Please keep us up to date on your progress and the things you like/dislike with the scanner. I have been playing with the David Laser Scanning system that one puts together piecemeal and have not gotten great results yet. I know Joe of JoesCNC has had great results. It all depends on the quality of the hardware you put together. The Next Engine scanner is pretty reasonably priced for a turn-key setup.

[jam1962]

Thanks for sharing, looking foward to see how the scaner works out.

[cabnet636]

i met joe of joes cnc in dallas finding out he is an engineer and the cnc is a hobby to him it does not surprise me at all he has figured out the davids scanner !! unfortunantly i did not so i took this step, i will eventually spend the 20-30 k on the plohemus (possibly) but felt this was a good step up and i am pleased, more later today!

[Gerry Perrault]

Hi
Before investing in a 30k scanner,you should have a look at www.creaform3D.com.
It is a canadian company and they do great products. Gerry

[cabnet636]

thanks i have looked at these, once i master this one i will look to the next step

[GraClay]

James, I will be fortunate enough to be attending the ISA (international sign asssociation) show in Las Vegas end April & was intending to detour into Next Engine at Santa Monica with regards to purchasing their scanner. Would you be so kind as to pass to me some of your experience & opinion of the Next Engine scanner so that I can be better prepared for that purchase. My intent is to scan & create 3D files, import into Aspire & machine the components. Components could vary from coin size to a human body.
The cost at around $3,000 USD sounds reasonable to me, is there additional costs not mentioned in their advertising?
Anyone else who may contribute to this discussion would be welcomed.

regards, Graham

[cabnet636]

at the out set i can tell you the pro software is necesarry $995.00 this has made a difference

[cabnet636]

i would also add that i have seen the polhemus up close and in action, while this will be a lot of fun and with some skill intervention a good little scanner it is no substitute for the hand helds and polhemus type scanners especially if i wanted to do human bodys!

[ScopeGuard]

3D scanning opens up a whole new world but it is not as easy as 1-2-3 as stated on the Plohemus website. There is a learning curve associated but not a steep curve. As the owner of a Techno LC4896 I came across a laser scanner offered by Tecnho, bottom of the page

http://www.technocnc.com/cnc-router-acc ... itizer.htm

This unit is built by Optimet and I've had excellent results with this system and Aspire. I tried 3 or 4 trial versions of software, none were user friendly, before finding out that Aspire is what I needed. We've scanned and reproduced numerous items, all with near perfect results. The Techno/Optimet scanner has up to seven interchangable lens for varying degrees of depth of field. We usually run a 250mm focal length lens with a depth of field of 180mm. This laser is tied to the CNCs X-Y axis so if you are scanning you are not routing, a drawback as compared to the NextEngine type of unit. The Optimet scanner runs about $15K. With a few more items in the portfolio we plan to soon launch our new website for scanning services.

Regardless of the type of laser scanner they are a kick to use, to see it reproduce the scanned object in an *.stl file imported into Aspire is amazing.

James, great initial results. I'm sure we will see more amazing work from your shop.

Don

[Gippetto]

Hello all,

As you may already know, i am also owner of a 3d Next Engine scanner, my project last week was
a gnome for a theme/leisureparc, wich i scanned and milled from 4 sides.
ofcourse al with the help of Aspire.
Till now i dont need expensive 3d scanners, maybe in future

the gnome can be found in here.
http://www.gippetto-3dworld.com/english/E_pictures/
if you are interested.

Kind Regards,
Ruud
Gippetto

[cabnet636]

thanks gipetto! i ran a lot of scans this weekend and got a much better feel for the scanner as well, some are pretty good.

do you have the multidrive?

[Gippetto]

Hello James,

I dont use the multidrive, imho its to small for my work and you need to
fasten the object somewhere, and that fastening needs to be removed from the scans, so i prefer to turn
it manually and to prevent scanning the fasteners. (and i think is to expensive)
Also the 360degree scan i am not using, everytime i used it it auto aligns and somehow
you cannot seperate it again. could be my system but i always use single scan.
That auto-aligns is not really a great option, in some cases it doesnt work properly.
My experience, use as less scans to get the model and align manually.
Always looking for points you can recognize, otherwise put a mark on it if possible.
Measure the distance precisely it will help enormously, prevents holes.
Object from abs/plastic/glancy i spray them with a kind of grounding paint.. very matt
(see the hummer on my picture tab)
I do have rapidworks also, this to re-engineer the scans to a cad-model, however i assumed
i need that, but till now i never used the re-engineering function of it. (hopefully for future projects)
But i use that for aligning, smoothing, brushing, cleaning and make the solid.
As with the gnome when i convert to STL, then i used Netfabb, the remove the legs, nose and the point of the hat.
Very usefull program.
So for the gnome i milled the seperately and glued them together lateron.

Regards,
Ruud
Gippetto