For this week assignment we will have to laser scan a small object. which we load the scan into meshmixer or use addition CAD software to project curves onto the scanned mesh to create a tidy CAD geometry/ repair it, and save it as an .stl file for 3D printing.
For this week assignment I will be using my Mouse in DP401, for my object of choice for 3D scanning. For the scanning process i will be using a Ipad which has a camera attachment that connect to the Ipad which allows me to scan my mouse as well as create a mesh of the mouse which is will then use later on in the process.
During the scanning process I had to take couple of attempts to get a decent scan of my mouse. This is because I had to keep the Ipad steady as much as possible, and make sure the lighting of the room consistent throughout. If not the outcome of the scan will display a lot of imperfections and the surface of the scan is inconsistent.
After a few attempts and was pleased with one, I went and saved that scan and emailed to myself and downloaded meshmixer. Here the link to that: http://www.meshmixer.com/download.html
Here is the Scanned mouse where I uploaded it onto meshmixer. As you can see the when doing the scan it not only picked up the mouse but also the surface it was on. Making the overall mesh of the scan to be hollow.
To comeback this I went and used a tool in meshmixer called “Make Solid” which is located under “Edit”. What this does it will make the hollow part into a solid part by removing the surface where the mouse was placed during the scan.
Here the Front side and back side of the mouse after making it as a solid:
Front Side
Back Side
However when you zoom closely it will display a lot of imperfection of the scans:
As you can see when making the scan into a solid part. The edges of the mouse shows many bumps and the scroll wheel was not able to be picked up was well. So using the tools provided in meshmixer I went and edit the mouse to make it more better and more consistent.
Here are tools I used during the process:
and Here is the outcome:
Front Side
Back Side
Scroll Wheel
Overall I am very pleased with the outcome the edges are much more smoother and consistent. As well as the Scroll Wheel is more noticeable and defined, where as before it was hard to see where it was. By doing this week task i was able gain more of an understanding how laser scanning works and how accurate the scans can be and what software can be used to help modify/ fix the 3D scan.
Once I was pleased with the outcome I went and saved/exported it as a “.stl” file ready for 3D printing:
Leave a Reply