How to 3D Scan an object...

[Tengu]

...with 3D printing in mind.

(But that is another, future issue.)

Anyhow, Tutors bangining on about Serious Gaming and all that Hi tech junk he adores.

(I still have faith in him but rest of class are rapidly losing their Latin...)

He likes 3D

(Wretch has no printer of course...)

I want to know how to 3D scan an artefact. (Serious poodoos aside, This has much real use in Archaeology.)

He suggests I get a machine, or an X box Kinetect. (Whatever that is and I bet it is expensive.)

(Guess who is a keen advocate on gaming spec machines rather than the regular PCs we might use? But of course he can afford them...)

I said I wanted the cheap option and he suggested putting artefact on a turntable and photoing it and then doing again from a different angle??? There are programmes that can turn the point cloud data into a proper 3D and printer compatible file?

Is this true? I for one am blinded by science today.

What would you do?

Tengu. (Who dreams that one day she will go into class and be taught some real actual ARCHAEOLOGY like she signed up for?)

 

[Toddy]

Lasers.
Seriously have a look for laser measuring. They'll do 3D, computerise the data, and it's transferable to a 3D printer.
Masses of information out there, even on-line.
It's used to record everything from carved stones to waterlogged wooden timbers.

e.g.
http://www.int-arch-photogramm-remo...2011/isprsarchives-XXXVIII-5-W16-413-2011.pdf

 

[pysen78]

For really accurate models where the millimetres count, laser is the way to go.
What your tutor talks about is photogrammetry. I've seen it produce fairly accurate models for geo surveying purposes. For smaller objects theres even an app.
123D its called. Never tried it but it's made by autodesk which is a reputable software company in the CAD business.