Different Types of 3D Scanners at uCreate

The Einscan Pro is a structured light scanner. It’s a very mobile and versatile system. Capable of capturing high-quality scan data for objects up to 4mx4mx4m in size. It can be operated in hand scanning mode or used with turntable.

A pattern of light is projected on to the object we are scanning and 2 cameras record how the geometry of the object causes the pattern to wrap. This information is then used to build a point cloud. A third camera captures colour detail of the object and maps it to the geometry.

For smaller objects, you can use the turntable and fixed scan mode to scan very quickly, a single 360 scan will take under 5 minutes. For larger objects, you can use hand scanning mode. When doing so, it’s useful to treat the scanner as if you are spray painting the object, trying to get a smooth coverage of paint across the whole of the objects to surface. The Einscan Pro works with Einscan’s proprietary software, available on most of the Studio laptops. 

Fixed Scanning Mode

Hand Scanning Mode

The scanner uses flashing visible light and so has a potential epilepsy risk. Before using the Einscan, please ask users in the room if this is ok and put the sign on the outside of the door warning about flashing lights/ epilepsy risk.

Einscan Pro 2x Plus Scanner

Einscan Pro Scanner

LIDAR or ‘Light Detection And Ranging’ is a similar process to RADAR that makes use of laser light instead of radio waves. The scanner emits a laser point, timing how long it takes to bounce off a surface and return to the scanner, this time value is used calculate the position of the point the laser bounced off of in relation to the scanner. The scanner repeats this process 150,000 times a second as the scanner rotates 360 degrees horizontally and the laser emitter rotates 360 degrees vertically, capturing a bubble of data, 120 metres across, with the scanner in the centre. After scanning, the scanner is moved to another position and the process is repeated, this is carried out several times from various positions to build up a point cloud if the whole subject.

The BLK360 is highly mobile LIDAR system that is capable of scanning whole buildings or locations, with a range of 60m. We scan from several positions within a location and combine the scans to get the 3D model of the whole site. The range of the scanner makes it ideal for digitizing whole buildings and larger locations.

The scanner is operated with an iPad Pro and a tripod, both provided with the scanner. Recap Pro is the software to match, edit, and export scans. It is available on all the studio laptops and as a member of the University of Edinburgh, you are entitled to a free 3-year license for Recap Pro of your own.

The laser light is low powered and eye-safe.

The NextEngine is a laser triangulation scanner. Perfect for scanning small objects to an extremely high resolution and level of accuracy.

We place an object on the turntable and an array of laser lines are fired at the object. A camera picks up the laser lines bouncing off of the surface of the object. As we know the position and orientation of both the laser line generator and the camera we can use triangulation to work out the position of the reflected laser line and so build a point cloud of the surface it is bouncing off. A second camera is used to capture texture information.

The NextEngine is by far the highest resolution scanner we have, capable of capturing up to 57000 points per square inch (approximately 13000 points per square centimetre) and extremely accurate (up to 0.005 inches).

It’s only suitable for small objects (up to roughly the size of a shoebox) and is a slow process (a single 360 scan can take upwards of an hour and a single object can take a whole day to scan and process).

The scanner works with the software called ScanStudio available in most of the studio laptops. The laser scanner use is eye-safe, but it is not recommended to look into the laser array if it can be avoided.

The Structure Sensor is a consumer-grade structured light 3D Scanner, following the same principles as the Einscan Proo but a lower resolution and using infrared of instead of visible light. Operated with an iPad mini (provided in the studio) the Structure Sensor captures medium resolution data of objects up to 10mx 10m. The Structure Sensor is often used to scan people and so we have a turntable available to make this as easy as possible. The scanner can be used standalone with iPad or connected to the Mac to take advantage of a more advanced scan processing software: Skanect.


We have a similar scanner connected directly to the Studio Computer here in the studio which works well with the turntable for scanning of people.

Photogrammetry is the process of generating 3D Scans from 2D images captured with a normal DSLR camera. By passing several images (100 or more) of an object, taken from a range of angles into special software, we can generate a 3D model of the object we have photographed. This process is especially good if we are scanning objects for digital display as we can take advantage of the high-resolution photographs to create high- quality texture detail.

Photogrammetry can be a slow process due to the number of photographs required. We have a light tent and automatic turntable in the studio which speeds this process up. The turntable rotates automatically, firing off an IR remote in the camera at each position, automating the image capture process.

Scanning with Automated Photogrammetry (link will be provided soon)