The Sense handheld 3D scanner by 3D systems is possibly the best 3D scanner you will find on the 3D printing market. Unlike Makerbots Digitizer and Rubicon the Sense is a handheld device where you aim at the object within a certain distance to capture the 3D image. This gives a big benefit for scanning large objects.
The Sense has a similar resemblance to a staple gun, Its roughly about the same size and you would hold it as if it were one. It can capture 2 3 meters of volume with a resolution polycount of 20,000 – 400,000 triangles every scan.
Sense is very similar to the Mircosoft Kinect as it uses a Class l laser from a company Prime Sense – these are the same people that produced Kinect.
The device is plastic and coated with black soft rubber on the out side and the inner handle is made out of white plastic. The soft rubber allows the scanner to have some grip if it is placed down on a table.
Funny enough the first time i held a scanner up to a person i felt as if i am holding them hostage lol. If you are scanning a person you have to tell them to stay very still.
Load up the the software currently only on Windows and select the corresponding option (Person or Object etc) you will see a white screen this is where your scanned image will be.
Next hit the start scan button from the software and hold up the scanner, it does not matter if you start at the head or the body. You will start to see flash going off but just this just means its working. Slowly move your arm up and down and around the object to capture the whole object remembering to keep your distance to about a half a meter to a meter.
The Sense is connect via USB so just beware how and where you are moving around.
As you scan the person or object whatever you have captured will show up on the screen, usually this is where most of your attention will be as you have to make sure you get all the detail otherwise, the other attention will be moving around the object or person. So good hand eye coordination will be a benefit. Otherwise give it a few goes and you will be alright.
The software has the ability to mesh multiple scans easily together, this is a big benefit as you can just add certain details to the original scan.
Cubify has a few value packages that bundles a Cube 3D printer, a choose of 4 filaments and the handheld 3D scanner for £1149. A Cube X Duo is also available for £2099
