Sophie Drache is an undergraduate Research Fellow of the XLab
The THREE scanner from Matter and Form
The Basics
What’s in the case?
- Wired turntable (which can turn up to 20lbs)
- Multi-regional power adapter plugs
- A large and small calibration card with a holder
- Power brick with cable (10ft)
- Mini tripod
- The 3D scanner itself
Getting Started
The THREE 3D scanner by Matter and Form is intuitive and quick to set up. You do not need to install any software or worry about having a powerful enough computer, THREE can be used with virtually any device that can run a web browser (Chrome, Firefox, Safari, etc.). Because the product is fully self-contained with its software built in, it can be set up quickly so there is more time for scanning!
Setting up the scanner is very straightforward. Once you remove the contents from the case and have them out in front of you, you just need to select the power adapter that works for your region and get started. The most fussing you will have to do is just for this general assembly montage:
- Attach the scanner to the tripod
- Attach the wireless antenna to the scanner (you can skip that step if you have an ethernet cable to attach instead)
- Place the turntable in front of the scanner and plug it in to the back of the scanner
- Plug the scanner into an outlet
There is (thankfully) not much room for error here, all two of the cables (three if you have an ethernet connection) can only connect in one spot. You can set up the calibration card behind the turntable (there will be calibrating instructions when starting a new project). Once this set up is complete, you are ready to move on.
As mentioned previously, there is no need to install any software. THREE will connect to your network (through Wi-Fi or ethernet) and can work with most operating systems and browsers. You run it locally.
When you’re ready to start, hit the big red on/off button and THREE will power up. It will automatically check for updates as it comes to life. Having the calibration card in front of the scanner is helpful here because there will be projected instructions from the scanner on how to connect to it and open up the software. It is hosted locally, so you need to connect to it from a device running on the same network.
If you have the scanner hooked up to an ethernet cable, the projected instructions will give you the link-local address to connect with it. Once you access that address through a browser on your device, it will open the scanning software, and you’ll be prompted to either complete a tutorial or open/start a new project.
If you are connecting over Wi-Fi, it will provide you with instructions on how to connect the scanner to it through your device. This involves connecting to the scanner’s hotspot and then accessing the link-local address. From here, you will be asked if you want to continue scanning offline or if you want to reconnect your device to the internet.
Ultimately, you are connecting your device (PC, laptop, tablet) to the scanner through your locally hosted IP address. The steps are slightly different depending on your connection method, but they all get you to the same place. At this point, you should have the scanner pointing at the turntable with the calibration card behind it, and the scanning program open in a browser on your device.
Scanning
Once you have a new project opened and your first object of choice on the turntable, you can select “Add Scan”. If this is the first scan of the session, you will be prompted to calibrate the turntable. You will also have to re-calibrate the turntable anytime you adjust the camera focus on an object (which you do during the scanning process).
Follow the instructions on screen to go through the calibration. It is a fairly quick process but one you will encounter often as you begin scanning different objects in one session.
Camera, Capture, and Turntable Settings
The general rule of thumb with THREE, is that you want to try and get the best results with the lowest settings. This saves on processing and operating times and system memory. This means typically leaving the scan density at medium and opting for less scans in the turntable settings, but here are the ways you can adjust your scan.
With camera settings, start with the exposure and gain sliders all the way to the left and the projector brightness all the way to the right. Red appearing on your object/background means that the object is overexposed for scanning. Try adjusting the exposure slider slowly to the right until you see red. If it’s red already with the exposure on the lowest setting (all the way to the left), adjust the projector brightness by lowering it until the red goes away.
Gain can help with dark objects, but because it adds noise, it’s best to try and keep it at its lowest setting.
Next are the capture settings. This is where you can adjust the scan density, capture texture, and noise reduction.
Selecting your scan density mostly depends on the distance of your object to the scanner. Generally, Matter and Form recommend that you use the High setting sparingly and for close-up scans with small, very detailed objects, Medium for mid-distance and general scanning, and Low for the maximum distance scans/larger objects. Objects with small surface details and texture are best captured when close to the scanner using the medium or high-density setting. Smooth objects that don’t require a high degree of detail will be best captured using low density settings.
Medium density will be selected by default and will typically get the job done with all the details you need, while saving on processing time and file size.
Capture texture is usually on by default, and noise reduction at zero. Smooth objects will benefit from an increase in noise reduction; this will lessen any unwanted textures being added through the scanning process. When scanning an object with fine details or texture that you want to pick up, keeping the noise reduction as low as possible or at zero is ideal to preserve all the details.
You can try adjusting these settings and doing a single-shot scan to test them out. To do a single-shot scan, you will open the turntable settings and press the on/off button to turn it off. Turning off the turntable means that the object won’t be rotated and there will only be a single scan taken of it, making it a much quicker process so you can ensure you’ve chosen the best settings for your object.
The turntable settings will also enable you to adjust sweep (the degree/angle of rotation for the turntable) and scans (the number of scans made for layering), as well as prompt calibration. Keeping the calibration card behind your object after the calibration process is complete can help increase the quality of your scan.
All these settings ultimately depend on what your object is. Try to devote some time to tinkering with the settings and adjusting them on an object-to-object basis to yield the best results possible.
Scanned on medium density with noise reduction at 31
Scanned on high density with noise reduction at 0
Less is often more!
Add Scan, Align, and Merge
Once you go through the steps of calibrating the turntable and adjusting the camera and capture settings, you will finally produce a scan. The first scan will allow you to see how you might need to adjust your settings for the next pass.
You can repeat the process as many times as you need until you’re satisfied with what you captured. This includes adjusting the object to capture it from a different angle. Every time you scan, the results will be kept in a group containing layers. Each layer is an image taken during a scan, so if you selected six scans in your turntable settings, there should be six layers per group. You can delete these layers, turn on/off their visibility, and rename them for organization purposes.
You can be content with a single scan, but if you need to produce a number of scans for your object, you’ll have to align them. In the “align scans” box, you’ll see there is an auto or a point pick option. Point picking will offer more control and bring you to a new page that allows you to put number markers onto your scans to refine the alignment. The auto setting will do this for you, and you will only have to select your “base scan” which will be the alignment reference point, and the “aligning scan” that will be aligned to the reference.
The next step is to merge your scan. This turns your multiple layers and scans into a single object that is ready to be exported. You will have three options to select the scans you want to merge (merge all scans, merge only visible scans, merge only selected scans).
Once you have selected which scans you want, you will click the “merge” button.
Merge settings are something else you can play around with to try and yield the best results. All of the settings are optional except for the first step: mesh quality. This step sets the resolution of your mesh, and corresponds to the amount of surface detail, scan sizes, etc.
Steps two and three are optional but can help improve the overall quality of your final product. Simplifying involves adjusting the polygon count– higher counts provide more detail but are more costly for rendering processes. Texturizing adds colour back to your scan (provided you did the initial scan with texture on). Lower polygon counts produce a better texture result.
Once merged, you can add the mesh back to your project and/or export it.
The complete bunny bonhomme with textures added