Hong Kong Fair Report: EinScan-S Lets Users Create their Own 3D Models

For all the excitement that 3D printers have caused, one question remained: how will you get the initial designs to print the models and parts? Buying/downloading them from modelers or buying and learning to use a CAD program were two answers. Shining 3D, an exhibitor at the Hong Kong Electronics Fair (Autumn Edition) taking place now through Oct. 16, has come up with another solution with the EinScan-S, a 3D scanner and turntable that uses white light to quickly create a computer simulation of real-world objects.

It’s a remarkably simple process. You place the object on the turntable and click “scan” on the desktop software. The 1.3-megapixel camera bounces white light off the object. One rotation takes only three minutes and after it’s done, you have a print-ready 3D model ready to send to print. The image is accurate to < 0.1mm, according to Shining, and can accommodate an object up to 20x20x20 cm in Automatic Mode or 70x70x70 cm in the Free Scan mode, where the user adjust them image themselves.

I witnessed a demo of the scanner using the ever-present Buddha statue you see at 3D printer demos here, and the scanner worked like a dream. There was no need for a “clean” backdrop for the scan; the camera just hit it with harmless white light (no need to fear a laser around your eyes), and in the time it took to explain all the specs of the device, the modeling was done.