@ Fab Lab Wgtn, New Zealand
5.3D Scanning & Printing
For this lesson we were to 3D scan and print something so I chose a Manekineko, or waving cat statue. I have an idea to make this scan into a 3D printable kit that can contain an electromagnetic mechanism that makes the arm wave when powered by battery.
I have tried using 123D catch before but with messy results! Fab Lab Wgtn has a Roland PICZA LPX-600 3D laser scanner so I used that.
I had a Japanese waving cat statue already, so proceeded to scan it:
1. Switch on power on scanner, it takes a few seconds to start up
2. Taped moving arm to body so it would not move during scanning, also double sided tape on base to hold it to plate
3. Open LPXEZ studio, click Preview Scan
4. Select User Options - this is where you can alter resolution and speed of scan.
5. For the 1st scan, the settings were Num plane 20 Width pitch 0.5 Height pitch
0.5
6. Click scan button and wait many hours for cat scan.
Result - pretty good but the scanner didnt pick up the top of the ears or paw, and there is some chunks missing around one side of the neck and under the waving arm.
For my next attempt I separated the arm and body to scan separately, with lower width and height pitch values - 0.2 this time. I also painted over the cat with matte white paint to see if this would help the scanner see the details better.