3D Scanner

One last post from FETC.

3d printers have become popular. One of the issues for classroom applications is generating the data representing the object to be printed. The approach followed likely depends on what educators expect students to learn from the experience. A 3D scanner is likely most appropriate when the product is the goal and not the process of generating the representation that will eventually be printed.

We saw an inexpensive 3d scanner from Structure.io at FETC. The device is attached to the back of an iPad (the weird pink thing is an iPad stand and not part of the scanner). It appears you can purchase the device alone, but the sales rep suggested that you purchase a combination on an iPad with the device installed because calibration takes some time and it makes most sense to have this task completed by the company. You would then use this iPad just for 3d scanning and pass it from classroom to classroom.

Here is a quick scan the rep generated of me. It looks great with the exception of the weird hair it attached to the top of my head (it was a quick scan). The rep tried to send me the raw file, but it did not show up. It sometimes difficult to get a good cell signal from the exhibit hall floor so I had to resort to this photo.

So, I guess there will be no printing of mini-me.