Question for the 3D guys... Scanners?

[Brian Ski]

I have messed with a 3D printer for a couple years... I have a statue I want to copy. It is concrete and unpainted. About 20 inches tall. I have absolutely no idea about 3D scanners. I have done some reading a while back about taking a bunch of pictures and sending them to a place online and they can make an STL file from them. Now I found 3D scanners are getting cheaper, but not sure if I would use it again. (Or at least before the technology gets much better.) Any ideas??

I am also going to have to print this in several pieces so I can fit them in the printer. (That is getting a bit beyond me.)

 

[Leadeye]

I've always wanted to see if people could scan unobtanium old gun parts and reproduce them in engineered plastic, Internal parts were made of steel in the past, but I think a rigid solvent resistant plastic would work just as well.

 

[Brian Ski]

I've always wanted to see if people could scan unobtanium old gun parts and reproduce them in engineered plastic

If they were not a high tolerance or high wear item, it should not be a problem. You could design them from scratch or scan. Just looking some cheap scanners had a tolerance of .1 mm

 

[russc2542]

The problem with the ones that don't cost an arm and a leg is the software: it's usually crap because it's chinesium stealing existing code and changing it enough to avoid legal action or writing it from scratch/near scratch based on open source stuff. Better stuff comes with better software but there's still a learning curve. The scanner might have a resolution of .1mm but doesn't mean it can generate a clean, usable, printable model.

My $.02 is unless you plan on making a habit of it, find someone that has one and knows how to use it and pay them to scan the statue. Shouldn't be close but even if it costs as much as the scanner, you don't have to learn it or fight with it.

 

[Brian Ski]

My $.02 is unless you plan on making a habit of it, find someone that has one and knows how to use it and pay them to scan the statue.

I am pretty good with that... So far I have not found anyone. So giving it a shout out on here. I tried looking at a couple forums, and can't find much. Creality seems to only show their own stuff. Very little. Almost all printers. I must be overlooking good 3d forums.

 

[russc2542]

I am pretty good with that... So far I have not found anyone. So giving it a shout out on here. I tried looking at a couple forums, and can't find much. Creality seems to only show their own stuff. Very little. Almost all printers. I must be overlooking good 3d forums.

The kids these days are on facebook (or whatever came after that). Lots of semi-local groups. I love forums but this is one of the few that's geographic.

Also, the 3d printing/scanning as a field is a lot more fractured and argumentative so there are about 6 million forums... multiples for each brand and model because someone said something mean and they got butthurt and went and started a new one.

There are a couple guys on here with scanners, maybe some are up your way? I have one but I'm on the wrong end of the state (and not real sure how to use it lol).

 

[ZurokSlayer7X9]

I have messed with a 3D printer for a couple years... I have a statue I want to copy. It is concrete and unpainted. About 20 inches tall. I have absolutely no idea about 3D scanners. I have done some reading a while back about taking a bunch of pictures and sending them to a place online and they can make an STL file from them. Now I found 3D scanners are getting cheaper, but not sure if I would use it again. (Or at least before the technology gets much better.) Any ideas??

I am also going to have to print this in several pieces so I can fit them in the printer. (That is getting a bit beyond me.)

So the "bunch of pictures" method is what is known as "photogrammetry", or otherwise known as "photo scanning". It has been used extensively in many 3D applications, especially the visual effects and animation realms. The software will take the images and/or video and create what is known as a point cloud based on the many angles of the images. Software like Agisoft Metashape can do this, however the manifold (3D mesh: vertices, edges, and faces) created will be very dense and not optimized for 3D printing.

It will likely need to be re-topologized for better edge flow and cleaned. Digital sculpting software would almost be a necessity for this step. ZBrush or 3D Coat would likely be the best contenders here. Since we would be working with manifold geometry (rather than NURBS or Vector geometry), a 3D animation program may be a better choice for editing rather than a more conventional CAD program. Blender is free, though will require a learning curve.

Of the scans that I have seen, scans are rarely ever optimized and will typically require some level of editing and work to make it viable for printing.

 

[OneBadV8]

If you have an iPhone (w/LiDAR) you can give some of these a try

https://www.sketchfab.com/blogs/community/3d-scanning-with-the-iphone-12-pro-lidar/

 

[Brian Ski]

If you have an iPhone (w/LiDAR) you can give some of these a try

No Iphone for me...

 

[Brian Ski]

So the "bunch of pictures" method is what is known as "photogrammetry", or otherwise known as "photo scanning".

I seen a video or article about a college scanned in a couple thousand pictures of their campus and made a 3d model of it. Helps to have a good camera too. Not in a hurry and checking if someone has been down the road a few times. Appreciate the help.

 

[HHollow]

Check with the local 3d printing nerd community. Scanning technology is no longer expensive. 20” is pretty tall but I had some small parts scanned like pistol grips, triggers, sling holders. The scanner used a turntable to get a continuous view from all sides. A few repopulate parts were made by CNC.

At least a statue is not a precision item. In the olden days one would make a silicone mold and just cast another statue from concrete.

 

[Brian Ski]

At least a statue is not a precision item. In the olden days one would make a silicone mine and just cast another statue from concrete.

That is what I want to do... But I need to scale it up. Almost double.

 

[dprimm]

If you have an iPhone (w/LiDAR) you can give some of these a try

https://www.sketchfab.com/blogs/community/3d-scanning-with-the-iphone-12-pro-lidar/

This!!

 

[Cameramonkey]

On a related note, if you need a tooth crown, find a dentist with a Cerec machine. Holy crap those things are cool.

They scan the tooth before and after prep with a handheld 3D camera.
They put a blank in the cerec machine, and it mills a copy of your old tooth.
Stick it in the autoclave for 20 minutes to harden it.
fit the new CNC tooth and you walk out.

No temporary crowns, no molds, no waiting for the lab to make one, maybe having to come back a 3rd time.

Last time I had it done I was in and out in 2 1/2 hours in a single trip start to finish.