Scanning

3D scanning is different from the regular scanning most of us are familiar with. Instead of recording 2D information from a picture or object placed on the glass, such as text, grayscale images, or color photographs; 3D scanners pick up positional information from the surface of an object, registering the location of points in space so that a 3D model of a form can be reconstructed. The means used to do this range from hand-held digitizing arms which capture a point at a time, to automated touch…

Roland Digital produced a laser-scanner, the LPX-60, at a breakthrough price for this type of machine. It is capable of scanning objects which fit in a 12″ high by 8″ diameter cylindrical space quite quickly, and automatically registering the scans to produce a solid model. We’ve been impressed with its speed and ease of use, as well as the lack of surface “noise” incorporated. It uses planar scanning to capture single or multiple 3D views of a subject at up to 0.008 inches resolution in x…

Roland Digital Group made a series of machines for capturing surface data from objects and then carving them from solid material. This is the largest of these units which combine a touch-probe scanner and light-duty milling machine in one integrated package with a working envelope of 8″ × 6″ × 2⅜″ (for the MDX-20). On this machine, a fine and sensitive piezo-electric scanning needle records even delicate objects without damage or distortion and stores them as polygon mesh surface data which can…