3D Scanning and Inspection Blog

LMI Technologies will be exhibiting at Siggraph 2013 for the first time with the recent acquisition of 3D3 Solutions by the company. With an anticipated 20,000 attendees from across the globe, Siggraph is the year's largest, most comprehensive exhibition of products and services for the computer graphics and interactive techniques industry. It will be held at the Anaheim Convention Center from July 21 to 25. The exhibition portion of the event is on July 23-25. The LMI team will be at the exhibition to demonstrate the latest developments in 3D scanning technology at booth #819.

See Yourself in 3D!

At the LMI booth, attendees will get the opportunity to get their body scanned in 3D! The body scanning station is powered by KScan3D software. With KScan3D, you can easily scan real-world objects into digital 3D models in seconds using a Microsoft Kinect or Asus Xtion sensors. Visit us and see yourself in 3D!

The Rapid 2013 Conference and Exposition focuses on additive manufacturing and 3D imaging solutions held on June 10-13 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. Rapid's show exhibition will be held on June 11-12. GoMeasure3D, reseller of the HDI 3D Scanners, will be featuring the new systems that are launching this year. Come to booth 307 for a live 3D scanner demonstration. If you would like to get in touch before the conference, please contact GoMeasure3D at sales@gomeasure3d.com or call (434) 946 9125.

• Acquisition of 100 percent of the shares
• Expansion into rapidly growing 3D scanning markets such as 3D printing
• Access to fast 3D visualization and mesh processing algorithms
• Addition of FlexScan3D PC software as future platform for 2D and 3D image processing

VANCOUVER, CANADA, May 1, 2013 -- LMI Technologies Inc. has signed an agreement to acquire 100 percent of the shares of 3D3 Solutions (“3D3”, www.3d3solutions.com) – a leading supplier of 3D scanning software and hardware products based in Burnaby, Canada. The takeover deal will result in the integration of 3D3 by LMI Technologies under the LMI brand to create a powerhouse in 3D scanning, visualization, and measurement solutions for both inline factory automation and offline 3D scanning markets such as reverse engineering and 3D printing.

Interactive Photo Imaging is an interactive textbook for students of photography and interactive media published by Moshe Caine from the Hadassah Academic College Jerusalem. It provides a comprehensive yet simple overview of the transition of the digital photographic and imaging technologies from a passive medium to one where the creator and user alike may interact with the visual content and extract a richer comprehension of the content and context.

With Easter coming up, our team continued the tradition of scanning holiday objects into 3D models. Last year we scanned a pumpkin for Halloween and Christmas tree ornaments for the Holidays. For Easter and in celebration of spring, we scanned an art piece that included two sock dolls (a cat and a bunny) placed on a piece of wood.

In February, an independent study was published in the IEEE Sensors Journal titled "An Automatic Evaluation Procedure for 3-D Scanners in Robotics Application". The IEEE Sensors Journal is a peer-reviewed, monthly online, bimonthly print journal devoted to sensors and sensing phenomena. A non-profit organization, IEEE is the world's largest professional association for the advancement of technology.

The article states that since several different 3D scanner technologies exist, selecting the optimal 3D scanner for a specific application is not an easy task. The article evaluated different 3D scanners, including the HDI Advance 3D Scanner, for Robotics Applications where high quality data of stationary scenes are required. Various 3D sensors with highly varying properties exist. Using a portable test plate, eight scanners have been tested using standardized procedures. The 3D scanners were compared both qualitatively and quantitatively.

This week’s blog post is contributed by 3D3 Solutions’ distributor in India, Aman Bir Singh, from Rasco Automotive Systems Private Limited

PHOTO: Digital 3D model of a physical prototype produced using a white-light 3D scanner (also known as structured-light 3D scanner)

Designers need an efficient workflow to convert their design prototype into a mold for mass production. Rasco Automotive Systems recently collaborated with a commercial automotive manufacturer to achieve this goal using a process called Scan to CAD.

In this project, the design prototype is a seat that was designed by hand. The Scan to CAD process involves using a 3D scanner to capture digital 3D scans of the prototype. The 3D scans have the prototype measurements which are used to create a Computer-Aided Design (CAD) model. The CAD model is then used to create a mold of the prototype for final production. In this project, Rasco Automotive Systems scanned the prototype using the HDI Advance R1 scanning system.

In this project, Rasco Automotive Systems encountered three challenges they were able to solve successfully:

In the past, capturing hair was an exercise in futility. For a head scan, the facial features would look great, but the person's hair would barely be visible or it would not show up at all. Scanning hair can be a challenge for many types of 3D scanners including structured-light systems. Hair consists of very fine and partially translucent filaments which scatter the light and are often interpreted as noise during 3D reconstruction. As a result, these areas are usually removed from typical scan data. With the release of the latest version of FlexScan3D software (version 3.1.7) that powers the HDI 3D Scanners, we introduced a new High Sensitivity mode to address this shortcoming.

This article provides an overview on acquiring usable hair scans specifically for FlexScan3D. While it is mainly targeted at scanning human hair, it also applies to scanning other objects, such as fuzzy clothing, stuffed animals, or dense vegetation.

As we welcome the start of 2013, here are some 3D scanning technology trends we saw in 2012 that will continue into the 2013 year.

Structured-Light Based 3D Scanning Technology is Gaining in Popularity

In the past, a majority of the 3D scanners in the market uses laser dot or laser line technology. As structured-light 3D scanning technology started to emerge, there wasn't a lot of customer product knowledge surrounding the differences between a laser 3D scanner versus a structured-light 3D scanner. Today, almost half of the products now being introduced are based on different forms of structured light technology. With options at the high end, mobile and entry level market, full-field structured light scanning is seeing more market adoption.

With the launch of KScan3D in August, there is a low cost option for people to create innovative 3D scanning projects as the technology becomes more affordable. With KScan3D, Kinect hardware, and a PC or Mac running Windows OS, users can capture 3D scans with a click of a button. Here are a few KScan3D customers that use the 3D scanning software for innovative applications:

The Process of Creating 3D Sculptures of Pregnant Women by Get Babied

The 3D scanner is built on using multiple Kinects connected to KScan3D software. A pregnant woman can be scanned in 360 degrees using a slowly moving pedestal. Once the data is captured and processed, the information is sent to a 3D printer where a plastic cast is printed of the pregnant belly. Other personalized keepsake such as charms for bracelets and necklaces and ceramic busts can also be created using this technology.