Scanner suggestions

Scanner suggestions

Anonymous
Not applicable
452 Views
5 Replies
Message 1 of 6

Scanner suggestions

Anonymous
Not applicable

Hello

 

I am planning on setting up a desktop scanning operation for geometries

that will be brought into fusion.  It is going to be a lot of face masks and 

props for movies as well as mechanical components for robotic structures.

 

There will be all kinds of manufacturing proceses, that is why I will love to stick

with fusion and its amazing versatility....

 

I see there are a lot of new scanners in the market and don't know which

will offer the best cost benefit ratio to my investment.

 

any suggestion?

 

thank you

0 Likes
453 Views
5 Replies
Replies (5)
Message 2 of 6

TheCADWhisperer
Consultant
Consultant

Before you sink money into a scanner - do you have significant experience utilizing scanned data in Fusion (there are thousands of files available on the web for practice)?

0 Likes
Message 3 of 6

Anonymous
Not applicable

Hi

I am going to download and play with some geometries, that is a great suggestion.

 

What would be the best file format to work with?

 

do you have any link that you can recommend where I can find some

organic geometries ....?

 

thank you

 

 

0 Likes
Message 4 of 6

TrippyLighting
Consultant
Consultant

Scanned data is almost exclusively available in triangulated mesh format either .stl or .obj.

.obj can also contain other information (quad meshes, textures, UV maps etc) but .stl is a dumb triangulated mesh format.

 

Scanned meshes are usually very dense and for at least organic geometries cannot really directly be processed in Fusion 360. They will have to be re-topologized (or re-meshed) either manually or semi-automatically using other software and skills (there are many I could name here)  or you'll need a more capable reverse engineering CAD software such a Geomagic Design-X or Spaceclaim to create CAD surfaces directly from point cloud data.

 

Either way there is an amount of experience and skill involved to get from scanned data to usable CAD geometry.

 

For example for a client I recently had an exterior Automotiv A-Pillar finisher scanned. The scanners used are in a range over $8k. The scan has 3 million polygons. I used a  re-topology software to  recreate the main surface we were interested in with enough precision fo the intended purpose ( we did not need metrology-like precision). The resulting quad mesh was imported into Fusion 360 and converted into a T-Spline and then NURBS surface.

 

 

For Face masks and movie props that is a sensible and cost effective way to do things, but again it requires other software and skills.

There's no easy button here.

 

For prismatic mechanical part such as found in robotics applications I would still use a digital caliper and some engineering sense and experience to reverse engineer parts.


EESignature

Message 5 of 6

TheCADWhisperer
Consultant
Consultant

@TrippyLighting wrote:

... it requires other software and skills.

There's no easy button here.

 


@Anonymous

In other words, do you have 6-12 months (maybe more, much more) to learn how to use Fusion (and other tools) to get good results?  (not even considering the scanner yet, just considering the software editing of geometry for now)

Message 6 of 6

Anonymous
Not applicable

Has anyone used the XBOX Kinect camera as a scanner?

 

0 Likes