3D scanners are devices that outline the geometry of physical objects through thousands or millions of measurements.
There are many devices that could be called 3D scanners. Any device that measures the physical world using a laser or x-rays and creates a cloud of fixed points or polygonal openings can be considered a 3D scanner.
These devices go by many names, including 3D touchscreens, laser scanners, white light scanners, industrial computed tomography, LiDar (a combination of light and radar, remote sensing technology, meaning it measures distance by shining a laser on an object and analyzing the reflected light) and similarly. Common to all these technologies is that they outline the geometry of physical objects through hundreds of thousands or millions of measures.
Imagine being able to capture anything in the physical world and turn it into a digital model in minutes... Actually, you don't have to imagine. Today, thousands of companies use 3D scanning and software on a daily basis to:
- Made CAD ( Computer Aided Design ) models of physical parts whose technical drawings were lost.
- Improved existing products and designed new ones.
- Tested product quality by comparing manufactured parts and CAD designs.
- Developed custom products for healthcare, dentistry and fashion.
- Scanned entire buildings and built accurate models of them.
- And for many, many other things...
It sounds like science fiction, but it's not. 3D scanning and related software are now available to many. Scanners are becoming faster, cheaper and more accurate. 3D software is automated, gives better results and is faster than ever.
Why do I need 3D scanner software?
Since scanners collect huge amounts of data, specialized software is needed to process the incoming data and transform it into a format that other software can use. Depending on what data the scan will use, the software can do a lot of different things with it. The most common applications of 3D scanning are in reverse engineering, inspection or digital archiving and 3D printing.
How do 3D scanners work?
There are many different approaches to 3D scanning depending on different principles of representation. Some technologies are intended for scanning at close range (short range) and some for medium and further distances (long range). For more details, visit the
What 3D scanners are there?
