Or, you could compare a 3D laser scanning to the taking of photographs with a camera. Indeed, the lens of the scanner unit looks much like a conventional camera lens—and has a similar field of view.

Explanation of 3D Laser Scanning

What makes 3D laser scanning technology unique in relation to flatbed scanning or photography is the distance factor. Any object with surface contours will require the laser light ray to travel farther or less far to reach a given point, depending on the point’s location along the height and width of the object. This is how the software picks up surface shape. Of course, in 3D laser scanning the operator is only dealing with a portion of the three-dimensional object at any given time. In other words, the scanner cannot see around corners. Therefore it is necessary to either rotate the object or reposition the scanner multiple times, each time oscillating the light beam across the object.

The real achievement in the development of 3D laser scanning took place when engineers came up with software capable of merging and aligning a collection of scan data. This data was gathered by rotating the object and capturing its dimensions and surface features in a total 360-degree composite. One popular use for this technology is called reverse-engineering. In this process, a valuable object that already exists but was constructed without the use of computer-aided design (CAD) will have its exterior volume and dimensions captured digitally as though it were originally designed using computer software. Once the software file is cleaned up and saved, the data gathered via 3D laser scanning can be used to replicate the object—or first modify its design and then produce copies.

Manufacturing with 3d Laser Scanning Technology

Manufacturing companies have been finding more ways to utilize and use a 3D laser scanner. Every step of manufacturing a new product can find aid in 3D imaging. Trying to start with a physical model for the creation of a new product or modification of an existing product just got easier.

Every user will have a bit different application for their 3D scanner. This is why 3D Digital Corporation works to offer clients customized laser scanning technology. The company also has the customer service and support to back up their award winning scanning products. With over fifty years of combined experience in the field of 3D laser scanning, 3D Digital Corporation has the experience and abilities to serve all your digital scanning needs. The easy to use software which accompanies your scanner will leave all users completely satisfied.

A three-dimensional laser scanner can also expedite fabrications that use more traditional or even artisan techniques. A craftsman, for example, could employ his 3D laser scanner to capture the entire surface area and all markings of a single, handmade object, so as to easily produce it in large quantities.

The Houston-based manufacturer Atlas Industrial serves customers in many industrial markets, from aerospace to automotive to utilities. A common problem for the company is working with products for which there are no drawings. One customer wanted to move valuable used parts and components on wooden pallets and insisted they be protected from contact with any firm or abrasive surface. This required foam linings that fit each component snugly. To create these linings, Atlas turned to 3D laser scanning, contacting 3D Digital Corp. in Connecticut and ordering its EScan unit, with which Atlas was able to create perfectly sized and contoured linings.

For a company in Montana, Y’s Engineering, 3D laser scanning became a superior way to build premium surfboards. It was possible, with the help of taped markings, for the 3D laser scanner to capture surface data of the surfboard blank’s extremely flat, polished surface. The next step is using 3D laser scanning software to align the sections and merge them. A sister company to Y’s Engineering, Blue Sky Aviation, used the 3D laser scanner to streamline its custom-assembly of small airplanes. The planes’ engine parts are quite complex, which puts a premium on the accuracy of the EScan system for 3D laser scanning.

Blue Rhino Studio, a specialty fabricator in Minnesota, has used 3D laser scanning to advance the world of arts and sciences. Its contract with the Field Museum in Chicago, one of America’s leading natural-history museums, required Blue Rhino to help create a traveling exhibit called “Mammoths and Mastodons: Titans of the Ice Age.” That meant building life-size replicas of the skeletons and casts in the museum’s permanent exhibit.

Prior to adoption of the 3D laser scanning technology, the company would create such replicas by hand-carving gray sculpture foam, working to scale. It turned to 3D laser scanning as a way to switch from the extremely expensive sculpture foam to an inexpensive material, extruded polystyrene. Because of 3D laser scanning Blue Rhino needed only to hand-sculpt small models for approval by the museum paleontologists. Once the OK is given the figures are divided into parts for 3D laser scanning, and each part is assembled from a cluster of CNC-milled strips or chunks.