3D scanning: Media and Maker Commons

 Regular hours: Monday 1 - 5 pm; Tuesday - Friday 10am - 5pm; closed on holidays

The Media and Maker Commons has two EinScan SP desktop 3D scanners available for use.

3d scanners

Training and getting started

Before using the 3D scanners, you will need to complete two levels of training: online (via Canvas) and in-person.

Online training in Canvas

The online training covers:

  • orientation to the Media and Maker Commons
  • safety guidelines that you need to follow
  • basic operation principles and software for 3D scanning.

Hands-on training with Media and Maker Commons staff

After you finished the online training, just come to the Media and Maker Commons. The scanners are available on a first-come, first-served basis, and a member of our staff will guide you through the basic working principles.

After you finish the hands-on training YOU ARE READY TO WORK!

3D scanning equipment

Two EinScan SP desktop 3D scanners are available. The scanners are capable of scanning 3D objects either with or without color. They also come equipped with easy-to-use EinScan software that acts as a simplified editing program for 3D scans and also exports the scans as mesh files that are compatible with 3D printing, such as STL files.

These scanners have a scan accuracy of up to 0.1 mm and can detect a vast range of colors and textures. Using the automatic scan setting, you can capture objects measuring up to 200 mm3. Using the fixed scan feature, you can scan larger objects up to 700 mm3.

A mesh-only fixed scan can be performed in 10 seconds, and if you want to capture color as well, the process will take around 30 seconds. The performance time of the 360° automatic scan is fully dependent on the number of steps selected for a full rotation. The step size of a full rotation can be set from 8 to 180. The more steps you choose, the longer the scan will take, but the more detail will be captured. This ultimately adds up to about 1.25 min for 8 steps and 11.45 min for 32 steps.

Examples

Here are a few examples of 3D scanning projects.

3D scanning basics

3D scanning artworks

How structured-light 3D scanners work