Looking on Internet I try to find the easiest way to make a 3D scanner.
How many options did you find?
Mainly I found two ways for making a homeade 3D scanner:
- The first one is to print a rotative platform, and use the cell phone in order to take photos while the platform is rotating. For do that, I found this model, and I started to printing it. The problem is the size of some of the parts, that are bigger than I can print. In addtion to that, you must use a software that merge the photos in order to obtain the 3D model like Autodesk 123D Catch. Another disadvantage is that you can only use this kind of scanner with small pieces.
- After digging more deeply, I found two programs that allow you to use Xbox 360 Kinect in order to scan 3D models. I am going to explain this option on the lines below.
What I need to make a 3D scanner with Kinect?
- First of all, you need one PC with a graphic card that has Cuda cores on its GPU. The two programs that I found need this kind of graphic card in order to get good results. My PC is quite old, so I take this need as an opportunity to upgrade it and I bought this one.
- Of course you need XboX 360 Kinect sensor, because the new one is not compatible with the software.
- Another thing you need is an adapter to plug the Kinect sensor to a PC by USB, I found it here.
- Lastly, you need the proper scanner software. I have tried two different: Skanect and ReconstructMe
What is the best scanner software for you?
For me, the results are better with Skannect, because the resolution is better and I recognise me better on the scanner results.
To make my mini-me I used a tripod, in which I put the Kinec sensor and I did a couple of attempts.
The frst one is with my old graphic card, and here you can see the result:
And finally, you can see the result with my PC updated:
In conclussion, I recognise me better on the second attempt, I look funnier that in teh first one :).
