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3d_consumer_scanner.jpg

Anyone who has ever stayed late in a lab perfecting a 3D model in SolidWorks (or AutoCAD, or Pro-E,) will tell you that a high-res 3D scanner with the user-friendliness of a copier is great news for business.

The NextEngine Desktop Scanner, the latest and greatest product in 3D scanning to hit the consumer market, comes in the shape of a sporty aluminium cereal box. It has an additional bonus of near-matching color input and extremely fast scan times. After the 90-second scan is completed, import tools allow files to be saved and edited as a professional project in Solidworks or exported to a commercial rendering application.

This type of high-powered, compact gadget works great for home cinematic animations and 3D artworks. Unlike previous, bulky inventions, this scanner is now available on the Web for sale to the general public, for $2,495. 3D artists in training will find it almost as exciting as Maya 3D offered free from Autodesk for non-commercial, academic use.

Post by Melody Chamlee



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Posted by: Dave
April 2, 2007 8:31 PM

This Melody Chamlee does not know what she is talking about. I am a user of the NextEngine and it is a piece of garbage. 90 seconds of scanning doesn't get you anything. Thanks for republishing the NextEngine brochure Melody, great job, hope you come to your senses and actually use a product before you get a company or god forbid, an individual, to waste their money on this.


Posted by: Phillip
April 3, 2007 9:45 PM

Dave, I use the next engine scanner regularly, and I believe it it nothing less than amazing. I use many high-end scanners and this one outperforms most of them, including the $40k HandyScan and the $90k Minolta. About the closest thing to the Next Engine (performance wise) in our arsenal is the GOM ATOS, which is accurate, but you certainly have to pay for it. And of course, you don't get any texture data with the GOM.

In our tests, the Next Engine system actually captured more data per scan due to having a smaller angular difference between the laser and imager.

From what I've gathered online, Next Engine's biggest problem is the fact thar their price-point makes the technology available to lots of scanner noobies, who don't know a good thing when they see it!

Comments like yours, Dave, anen't so much against the Next Engine scanner, as much as 3D scanners in general, since their's is one of the best on the market (at any price).


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