Welcome to the February edition of our 3D Scanning e-Newsletter. It feels not long ago we were concerned with the Y2K and now it has been 10 years since! Hope you are having a wonderful start to your new year. Our goal this year is to continue to deliver more valuable resources for your 3D scanning projects. Our newsletter will be published every two months to keep you informed on the latest 3D scanning news.

In this edition, we will showcase more computer applications to help you process and edit 3D scan data.

NEWS

FlexScan3D version 2.6 Free Upgrade
We recently released FlexScan3D version 2.6 and is available as a free upgrade for customers who purchased FlexScan3D version 2.5.

Upgrades include:

• Compatibility with Windows 7 64bit
• 3D viewer improvements
• Improved rotary table support
• Bug fixes and improved camera calibration

Please send your request for free upgrades to pauline.tang@3d3solutions.com if you qualify.

3D3 Solutions to Present at 3D Imaging Conference (co-located with RAPID 2010)
May 18-20, 2010 - Anaheim, CA, USA
Rapid 2010 combines the latest technical information on reverse engineering and 3D imaging technologies for design, analysis or inspection. The conference focuses on using non-contact imaging technology to capture and process high-resolution 3D spatial geometries.

3D3 Solutions will be exhibiting again this year. Our President, Thomas Tong, will be co-presenting with Nasir Mannan from Connecticut Center for Advanced Technology (CCAT) on the topic Low Cost Automated 3D Scanning. In the upcoming months there will be more information on free registration to the event so stay tuned.

3D SCAN GALLERY

We've added some recent 3D scans from our customers in the gallery section. Please visit the following link to access the gallery: http://www.3d3solutions.com/gallery/index.php

ARTICLES

Below are interesting articles related to 3D scanning:

White Light Structured Scanning vs. Laser Scanning 
Daniel Ferguson of BlueGalaxy Design has written a great blog post on white light structured 3D scanning. While experimenting with different 3D scanning systems, he found that white light structured scanning is faster, more efficient, and produces better quality data when compared with laser scanning. Here is his blog post here.

A Primer on 3D Scanning in Forensics
As 3D scanning is penetrating into various industries including manufacturing, arts, archaeology, and medicine, 3D scanners are becoming more common for capturing and preserving evidence to help solve criminal cases. The following article provides an introduction into the ever growing application of 3D scanners in the forensics industry.

RESOURCES

Below are some data processing tools to help you with your 3D scanning projects: 




TopMod
http://www.topmod3d.org/
TopMod3d is a free, open source, portable, platform independent topological mesh modeling system that allows users to create high genus 2-manifold (watertight) meshes.

Trimesh
http://www.cs.princeton.edu/gfx/proj/trimesh2/
Sometimes we find the need for simple mesh processing tools without user interfaces so we can batch process data. For that the trimesh toolset is great solution. Warning for non-technical users: Commandline tools are more complicated to use and are suitable for technically sophisticated users.

QUESTIONS ON 3D SCANNING?

Got 3D scanning questions you would like to ask? Please email them to Pauline at pauline.tang@3d3solutions.com and we will answer them in future editions of our e-newsletter.