Poor Mans 3d Scanner

Don’t have $4000 + to purchase a high end 3d scanner? Using a simple web cam, a free (as in beer) piece of windows software and a laser line level you too can achieve the same stunning results. The David Laserscanner does just that. Here’s what you’ll need to get started:

- A camera (e.g. web cam)
- A hand-held line laser
- Two plain boards in the background
- A Windows PC
- DAVID-Laserscanner software (free)

Once you’ve got your equipment together, print off the calibration sheets that are included with the David Laserscanner software and apply them to you 2 plain boards.

Your two boards must form a perfect 90 deg right angle, this is key to the scanning process.

Next, point your webcam at your calibration boards and turn off any image enhancements that your camera might have (i.e., ambient light boot, auto exposure, etc).

Next we fire up the David Laserscanner software and auto calibrate our calibration boards. You must have as bright a room as you can get for this step, you almost want a complete washed out look for perfect calibration.

Once your done grab your line laser and turn all of the lights off, you want to make sure that the room is a pitch black as possible, all we want the camera to do is see the laser. Then, at a high angle, slowly pass your line laser over the object from top down, repeat the scan until you have a solid mesh form of your object.

Export your scan into an .obj format and load it up into your favorite 3d modeling program and enjoy.

Although it does take a while to get a decent scan out of the thing it sure is cheaper than some of the solutions out there. If you have the interest and some free time, it is a definite check out item.

Frank's the editor in chief of tech.nocr.at. He can be found surfing the internet and playing with gadgets. Follow him on twitter @franklinhares