3D scanners
A scanner captures a real object and turns it into a digital model you can edit and print. You will find handheld and desktop 3D scanners here. Choose by accuracy, the size of the object being scanned and the software you will process the scan in.
3D scanners
A 3D scanner goes the other way round from a printer: instead of building an object, it captures one that already exists and turns it into a digital model. It earns its keep when you need a spare part with no drawing to work from, when you want to reshape something using a real reference, or when you want a physical object stored on your computer. What comes out is a triangle mesh, usually in STL or OBJ format, which you then work with like any other model.
Handheld scanners move around the object and suit larger or awkward-to-shift subjects — body panels, furniture, sculpture. Desktop scanners do the opposite and rotate the object on a turntable, which gives steadier conditions and therefore better accuracy, though the turntable caps the size you can handle. Most models work with structured light, projecting a pattern onto the object and calculating the shape from how that pattern distorts.
Accuracy is quoted in hundredths of a millimetre and is the figure everyone checks first — it matters enormously for parts that have to fit something, far less for figurines and decorations. Look at the resolution too, meaning how fine a detail the scanner picks up, and at the scan area, which decides how large an object you can capture in a single pass.
Software shapes the result as much as the hardware does. The scanner hands you a point cloud that has to be aligned, stitched together from several passes, cleaned up and have its holes closed. Check whether the software is included in the price, whether it runs offline, and what it asks of your computer — processing a larger scan leans on both the graphics card and memory.
Expect shiny, transparent and black surfaces to scan badly, because they either mirror the light or swallow it; matting spray or powder sorts this out. Even lighting without harsh sun helps as well, as do markers stuck on the object for the scanner to align the individual passes by.
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