3D scanning: black plastic or metal utilitarian objects?

#1

Formlabs seems to be getting into 3D scanning and presented a recent webinar. I can think of a million uses for this.

I purchased an Einscan-s Scanner, and tried everything from talc to painting the objects surfaces and have had 0% successful scans for numerous attempts and objects. Looking over the examples, you can see that the manufacturer’s examples of good scans are people, dental casts, or painted figurines. They also mention that scanning of very reflective or absorptive surfaces is challenging. Well, 100% of the utilitarian objects I use and would be interested in copying or getting CAD models of are black plastic or finished, somewhat shiny metal. I never scan people or figurines.

Anybody have any success scanning these types of objects, and what did you do?

It would be great if we, as a community, could advance 3D scanning beyond figurines to more common and utilitarian objects. (No offense to figurines.)

-Pirate

#2

I have an Artec Eva and a Spider and use them for product development (no figurines!).

On black, transparent and shiny objects I use Helling 3-D Laserscanning Entspiegelungsspray. It works very well.

I bought it here:

https://www.mydental.de/material-geraete-blanks-rohlinge-ronden-zubehoer-entspiegelungsspray-fuer-dentale-fraesanlagen-in-der-zahntechnischen-cad-cam-fertigung/helling-3d-laserscanning-entspiegelungsspray-400-ml-119-990-001.html

#3

I have a eniscan-s and find it very time intensive setting up for a scan and getting the timing and lighting and all settings correct for the object I am scanning. Even then the scans are marginally acceptable for my use. Hope you have better luck.

#4

I’ve just spent the past year working part-time for a reverse engineering company that had a Faro Edge ScanArm HD. A lot of what we scanned was quite reflective so we used Athletes Foot Spray to reduce the reflections to get a better scan. It might not be as good as the proper stuff but it’s a lot cheaper! It’s pretty easy to remove from the part afterwards with just a wipe.

#5

Thank you everyone who answered - really useful stuff here. I wanted to share with you two things I have learned:

  1. The Einscan site has some tips and hints, one of them being add tiny balls of clay to difficult to scan surfaces, randomly not regularly placed.

  1. Someone here recommended athlete’s foot spray, and someone recommended a german product that seems to be extremely expensive in the US. I would like to add one more, apparently $USD15, Magnaflux Spotcheck Developer.

  2. Exposure is important (but how do you combine scans???)
    Exposure is somehow important. I’m getting the feeling that there must be a way to combine scans with different exposures to get the ensemble at the right exposure.
    In this demo,
    https://gomeasure3d.com/blog/scan-dark-shiny-clear-surfaces-3d-scanner-video-demo/
    this guy scans a shiny metal part, and shows you that the scan looks like sh__. Then he says, "well, you have to adjust the exposure, which I’ve done. Well, dang, show us more about that!!! How did you combine the scans at different lighting values (exposure values)?

I hope this is helpful.

-TP

#6

I use Artec Studio 13 Professional. It is from Artec, but one of their license modes allows you to use other 3d scanners. The software is very very good and will combine the scanned maps and adjust the exposure automatically.

https://www.artec3d.com/3d-software/artec-studio

Scan with 3D sensors
A great way to start exploring the world of 3D scanning: the Artec Studio Ultimate edition is also compatible with 3D sensors, such as Kinect for Windows, so you can learn all the skills you need to be a true 3D scanning professional.

a german product that seems to be extremely expensive in the US. I would like to add one more, apparently $USD15, Magnaflux Spotcheck Developer.

It costs EUR 13.45… maybe if you buy a box, the shipping is not so expensive. Ask them.

we used Athletes Foot Spray to reduce the reflections to get a better scan. It might not be as good as the proper stuff but it’s a lot cheaper! It’s pretty easy to remove from the part afterwards with just a wipe.

Th one I use is like a talk. You can also remove it with a wipe.

Cheers!

-nico