--- title: "3D Modeling Scanner Notes" description: "An introduction to the characteristics, scanning process, and application scenarios of optical and laser 3D scanners, suitable for businesses evaluating the implementation of a Web 3D showroom." canonical_url: "https://blog.markkulab.net/en/post/3d-scanner" author: "Mark Ku" author_url: "https://blog.markkulab.net/en/author/mark-ku" site: "Mark Ku's Tech Notes" date_published: "2023-03-12 01:01:35 +0800" category: "Infra" tags: ["3d", "scanner", "3d-modeling", "hardware", "web3d"] language: "en" license: "CC BY 4.0" license_url: "https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/" attribution: "when reusing or quoting, credit the author and link back to the original" --- # 3D Modeling Scanner Notes ## Introduction My company is looking to create a Web 3D Show Room, and we needed to figure out a fast way to acquire 3D model files. Our PM invited a vendor to give a presentation, and I jotted down some notes. ## Optical Scanner (Handheld) - Artec 3D SPACE SPIDER | Suggested price around 1.2 million (Scanning a graphics card: 0.5 to 1+ hours) ### Characteristics * Can scan colors, but saturation is poor. * Black and shiny surfaces affect the scan imaging, causing noise. * Transparent and glossy surfaces can be sprayed with a powder to aid imaging. ### Use Cases * Medical aesthetics industry: for scanning faces, pre-op/post-op comparisons. * For toys: can produce very complete scans, requiring almost no post-processing. ### Scanning Process (Somewhat time-consuming) * Scanning * Rescanning unclear areas. * Using software to align features and quickly merge multiple scanned models. * Exporting the 3D model (Requires a high-end graphics card). * Post-processing. ### Photos and Results #### Multiple 3D Scan Files ![Projector screen displaying 3D modeling software with a scanned object](https://blog.markkulab.net/content/markku/posts/3d-scanner/images/SXqV4es.jpg)![3D modeling setup with laptop, desktop computers, graphics card, and scanner](https://blog.markkulab.net/content/markku/posts/3d-scanner/images/uF69FYo.jpg) #### Merging Based on Features ![3D point cloud scans of graphics cards aligning by features](https://blog.markkulab.net/content/markku/posts/3d-scanner/images/BsKuuT3.jpg) #### Merge Complete ![3D model of EVGA graphics card in Artec Studio software](https://blog.markkulab.net/content/markku/posts/3d-scanner/images/pVyT5w2.png) ## Laser 3D Scanner (Handheld) - HandyScan Black | Suggested price around 1.28 million (Scanning a graphics card: ~10-20 minutes) ### Characteristics * Fast and precise, but cannot scan colors or human bodies. * Accuracy can reach 0.01 mm. * The turntable requires positioning targets; each target costs 3-4 TWD (consumable). * By the way, I asked a designer about this. They said applying textures isn't the hard part; what's really labor-intensive is preparing the model's surfaces for texturing (i.e., UV unwrapping). ### Use Cases * National Palace Museum collection * Video games, movies * Factory product inspection (checking for deformation, tolerance) * Automotive parts inspection ### Scanning Process (Very fast) * Pairing with (scanning) the positioning targets on the turntable. * Scanning * Exporting * Post-processing ### Photos and Results ### Scanning Targets ![User calibrating handheld 3D scanner with a glowing calibration plate](https://blog.markkulab.net/content/markku/posts/3d-scanner/images/fXdrnnY.jpg) ### Scanning the Product ![Handheld 3D scanner capturing an object on a marked turntable](https://blog.markkulab.net/content/markku/posts/3d-scanner/images/OKpvKHj.jpg) ## Vendor's Success Story - National Palace Museum Collection https://theme.npm.edu.tw/3d/Content.aspx?sno=04001039&l=1&q=&cat=&p=1&fromCnt=0 ## Training On-site training to get us up and running. Awaiting a quote. ## Conclusion The vendor suggested that because we need to display products online and require high color saturation, a laser scanner combined with texturing would better suit our needs. --- ## About this article and its author Originally published on [Mark Ku's Tech Notes](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/post/3d-scanner) License: [CC BY 4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) — when reusing or quoting, credit the author and link back to the original ### About the author **[Mark Ku](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/author/mark-ku)** — Software Solution Provider - 10+ years senior software engineer, now an AI Builder - Focused on large-platform architecture — North-American e-commerce, AI SaaS subscription billing - Combining AI Agents and automation to build evolvable product foundations ### Free tools built by the author All of these are free to use: - [Free PDF Sign Tool](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/pdf-sign): Online PDF sign tool — draw, type, or upload a signature, then drag, resize, and download. Everything runs in your browser; nothing is uploaded. - [VS Code Refactory](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/refactory): Refactory is a VS Code refactoring extension: 34 actions plus a 37-rule code-smell inspection layer with a Code Health dashboard, across 18 languages, backed by 534 tests. It learns your repo's conventions: where interfaces live, where DI is registered, whether 'use client' belongs. It ranks files by git churn × complexity so you know what to fix first, and hands any smell to the Claude Code already on your machine. Free to use, and your source never leaves your computer. - [DB-Kit Database Manager](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/db-kit): DB-Kit is a lightweight, cross-platform database manager built with Tauri + Rust + React. Manage MySQL, MariaDB, PostgreSQL, SQL Server, Oracle, SQLite, MongoDB, Redis, Kafka, Elasticsearch and RabbitMQ from one consistent interface: passwords encrypted in the OS keychain, SSH tunnels, full CRUD, a visual query builder, stacked multi-statement result sets, cross-connection data transfer and compare/sync, Excel / CSV import & export, visualized execution plans, ER diagrams, scheduled backups, SQL stress testing with p50–p99 latency percentiles, a 15-rule SQL review engine, Kafka message browsing with monitoring & alerts, a bilingual UI (Traditional Chinese / English), a built-in AI assistant (natural-language SQL, AI review and tuning advice) and the dbk CLI. Free and open source (MIT), with installers for Windows, macOS and Linux. - [VS Code Super Mermaid](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/super-mermaid): Super Mermaid is a VS Code extension for beautiful Mermaid diagrams out of the box: auto-colored live preview, mouse pan & zoom, high-res PNG / SVG export, 21 templates and multiple themes. Free and open source (MIT). - [React Super Mermaid](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/react-super-mermaid): react-super-mermaid is an open-source React component library: render beautiful Mermaid diagrams with a single , with built-in colorful / sketch themes, pan & zoom, in-diagram search, and high-res SVG / PNG export. Lightweight, SSR-safe, fully typed. Free and open source (MIT). - [Jira / Confluence Super Mermaid](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/jira-super-mermaid): An Atlassian Forge app: write Mermaid syntax directly inside a Jira issue or a Confluence page and get flowcharts, sequence diagrams, state machines and Gantt charts. 11 diagram types, SVG / PNG export, light and dark themes, full CJK support. Runs on Atlassian: your diagrams live in your own site and the app calls no third-party service. Free, coming soon to the Atlassian Marketplace. - [Mermaid Live Preview](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/mermaid-preview): Write Mermaid in your browser, see it render instantly, and share the whole diagram as a single link. No sign-up, nothing uploaded to a server, and mermaid.live share links work as-is. - [React Intl Phone Number](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/react-intl-phone-number): react-intl-phone-number is an open-source React component: framework-agnostic and antd-free, with E.164 in/out, a searchable flag / country-code dropdown, configurable validation levels (strict / mobile-strict / loose), themeable CSS, and i18n — phone logic powered by google-libphonenumber. Lightweight and fully typed. Free and open source (MIT). - [Uptime Kuma Cluster](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/tools/uptime-kuma-cluster): Turn single-node Uptime Kuma into a highly available cluster: OpenResty + Lua smart load balancing, shared MariaDB state, health checks and automatic failover, plus cluster-management REST APIs. One Docker Compose command to start. Free and open source (MIT). - [Special Education](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/education): Learning materials crafted for special education students ### Daily podcasts - [Mark's Tech Insights — Daily AI News](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/category/tech-news): Daily curated AI and tech trends. Catch the latest developments via audio summaries — covering AI applications, software architecture, DevOps, and engineering practice. — RSS: https://blog.markkulab.net/feed.xml - [AI股市蝦聊](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/category/ai-stock-chat): Every trading day, an AI-analyzed take on the Taiwan stock market, delivered as a two-host conversation covering the session and the next-day outlook. — RSS: https://blog.markkulab.net/ai-stock-chat/feed.xml - [開源好物週報](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/category/open-source-weekly): A weekly two-host pick of free open-source tools surfaced from real Hacker News, GitHub, and Reddit buzz — what pain they solve and the fastest way to get started. — RSS: https://blog.markkulab.net/open-source-weekly/feed.xml ### Newsletter [Subscribe to the newsletter](https://blog.markkulab.net/en/subscribe) — Be the first to know about new posts. No spam, unsubscribe anytime.