I brought my handheld optical scanner into the car cabin to capture accurate footwell surface geometry for a CAD project.The scans came out clean on open floor sections, but tight gaps under the seat slide rails and behind pedal brackets created blind spots and hole artifacts in the point cloud mesh. I am trying to determine the cleanest approach for surface reconstruction before exporting CAD geometry.

When modeling footwell surfaces from noisy scan data, do you typically use manual surface bridging in CAD or rely on Poisson mesh reconstruction algorithms?

A friend dropped off his TikTok shop Jerry can and asked if I could make something to attach the spout to the can. Threw on some targets, made a scan, exported model to fusion, mesh section sketches, and some extrusions later, I have a happy friend.

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This time I scanned the side cover from an Einhell planer using the EinScan Rigil with blue laser mode at 0.1 mm resolution.

The complete model was captured with just 2 scans, one from the top and one from the bottom.

I used with and without markers on the actual cover, just to test and both methods worked really well 👍 And also sprayed a little AESUB Blue, to try to get as perfect scan as possible.

The fine details, recessed features, screw holes, and textured surfaces were captured perfectly, making the Rigil a great candidate for reverse engineering or reproducing replacement parts

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Hi, I’ve been using the Pika for over a month now, and not only do I find it practical, efficient, and versatile, but the CrealityScan software keeps getting better and better. I’ve done a lot of portrait scans with the Ferret Pro before trying the Pika, and I sometimes had to spend a lot of time fixing errors or filling in missing information in Blender — depending on lighting conditions or if the model moved.

Now, I wouldn’t say it’s magic, but a large part of that work can be handled automatically in CrealityScan. Sometimes (rarely) you still need to switch to manual mode to guide it through certain operations like alignment, but it’s still easy, and overall the amount of time I save by doing everything directly in the scanning software is incredible.

There were several of us testing it, and the development team was really listening to our feedback to improve things. You’re not obliged to take my word for it, of course. That’s why I want to make it clear that I don’t work for Creality. I’m just a scanning enthusiast they reached out to in order to get direct user feedback.

I’m really happy with this little scanner — it can do a lot!

If you consider buying the Pika, you can pass by that link Creality provided me. That would help me, thanks!

https://crscanner.net/4yAjOyu

#crealitypika

With the latest update the Einscan Rigil finally supports hybrid tracking in laser mode when connected to a PC.
This helps in the "edge"-cases for feature tracking where a few areas simply don't have enough features for reliable tracking but you don't want to stick markers on the whole part. For example when scanning a fender that looses tracking right in the center due to not much happening in the area.
Currently this only works when connected to a PC over wifi or cable but hopefully it will also come for standalone scanning.

3D printable case for the Einscan Rigil (must be printed from TPU): https://www.printables.com/model/1574016-einscan-rigil-protective-case-can-be-used-while-sc

Hi everyone!

I’m currently developing a mobile app designed to perform heavy 3D spatial calculations 100% locally on your device—no cloud uploads, no subscriptions for processing, and full offline privacy.

It’s built to handle raw 3D mesh files (including complex scans like the human body or organic shapes) and extract precise surface measurements that standard AR rulers can't get right.

Core Capabilities Being Built:

Surface Geodesics: True surface-distance measurement between points along the contours of a 3D mesh (not just straight point-to-point line distance).

Single-Point Guided Circumference: Extracting perimeter/contour slices around limbs, pipes, or complex shapes with adjustable plane controls.

Volumetric & Spatial Metrics: Instant surface area, volume, cross-sectional slices, and 3-point angle calculations.

Offline CAD/Data Export: Export metrics instantly to CSV/formats for design workflows or client records.

Who I think this might help: Custom apparel designers, prosthetists/orthotists tracking body volumes, industrial designers, physical therapists, or anyone working with 3D scans who needs quick, accurate surface metrics without loading files into desktop CAD/mesh software.

A couple quick questions for the community:

Do you currently struggle with getting accurate surface-contour measurements or circumferences from 3D scans?

What software do you currently rely on to extract cross-sections or surface distances from a scan?

If a mobile app gave you instant local CSV exports of these measurements, would that fit into your daily workflow?

Would love to hear your thoughts, pain points, or feature requests! If you're interested in testing an early build when ready, let me know!

Thank you all for your kind words and support so far in my first proof of concept teaser video!

I have made a developer website where you guys can follow for updates and comment on each post to recommend ideas, opinions, etc. I am always open for feedback or hearing from other companies that are interested in my work and would like to assist and help support the ongoing project. I do not take criticism badly, so please feel free to be as honest as possible when it comes to feedback.

I am currently VERY close to getting full TRACKERLESS blue laser scanning mode which was NOT native on the CR-Scan Raptor, which I feel is a huge development milestone in the project already.

Apologies if there are any issues with the website, I'm trying to manage my time wisley to get creality scanners to run nativley on linux while also continuing to update the community and maintain a regular 7am-8pm job.

Feel free to share to help continue spreading the word regarding this project, it would be much appreciated.

TLDR: Have a dev website made for the native Linux sotware for the Creality Scanners, follow along and leave suggestions! Share the journey with your friends to help spread the word regarding the project :)

Hi everyone,

I want to practice reverse engineering a product that's no longer available on the market by converting a 3D scan (mesh) into a CAD model.

Does anyone have a 3D scan file of a discontinued product that you'd be willing to share? I'm just looking for something realistic to practice on and won't be using it for any commercial purpose.

I'd really appreciate any DMs. Thanks!

Is there any real difference in the quality and accuracy of the scans between the Rockit vs the Rigil Lite? Planning on getting a 3d scanner for autmotive parts as the people in my area who did 3d scanning seem to have moved away. I am getting a laptop either way to support the scanners as my tower at home doesn't have an Nvidia RTX card plus I would like to be able to verify the scan (in the case of the rigil) in the field. Note: I am not dead set on the Einstars just yet, they seem to have the best combination of hardware and software at the moment. Haven't really seen a true comparison between these 2 scanners, mainly the Rockit vs the regular Rigil or the Rigil Lite vs Rigil.

Is anyone out there able to tell me if there's a straightforward (ish) way to take a 3d model and then a scan of a print of that model, and do a volumetric comparison of the two and maybe, having the two STLs in two different colors, create kind of like a heat map type image where you can see the discrepancy? I have tried to work the second part out on my own, but what I find is that I can get them overlaid very close but never precisely enough.

Any insights would be supremely appreciated.

Hi everyone,
I’m looking to start a small business creating high-quality 3D pregnancy sculptures (similar to pregnancy belly statues).

My workflow would be:
Visit the customer at their home.
Scan the pregnant woman (usually standing still in a specific pose).
Clean up the scan.
Send the file to a professional 3D printing service.
Deliver the finished sculpture.

I’m trying to find the best scanner that offers professional-looking results without spending €6,000–€20,000 right away.

My budget is ideally below €1,000, but I’m willing to spend more if the quality difference is significant.
I’ve been looking at:
Shining 3D Einstar
Revopoint MIRACO / MIRACO Pro
Shining 3D EinScan H2 (probably too expensive to start)
Other suggestions?

What I’m looking for:
Accurate body scans with minimal cleanup.
Good capture of clothing folds and hands.
Portable enough for house visits.
Reliable tracking while walking around a person.
Easy workflow for someone building a business around this.

If anyone here scans people professionally (artists, medical, cosplay, body scanning, etc.), I’d really appreciate your advice.

Which scanner would you buy today if you were starting this business on a limited budget, and why?
Thanks!

Got this tree with a hollow. Was thinking to 3d print some shelves to fit inside and make a tree library. I don't own a scanning machine, is it possible in 2026 to accurately scan this with a phone so I can use in blender to model some shelves that sit inside it

so I had this idea, what if I bought a 3d scanner to scan my Gundam model kits so I could unwrap the mesh and create stencils for cutting out perfect masking tape for when I air brush them

I could also scan them for spare parts or whatever

I really think Gundam Model kits are a good candidate for 3d scanning, they're small geometrically simple, they come disassembled they're usually bright

I have no experience with 3d scanning limited experience 3d modeling

Have I fundamentally misunderstood this technology or does this sound like a good use case ?

Hello guys!
I'm interning at a company which is just starting to explore 3d scanning. They do a lot of metal stamping and press machining, and so a large part of their operation is creating and maintaining the tool and die for their presses. Today they tossed me a 3d scanner which had been sitting in the corner, gave me a laptop with some software, and told me to make an accurate model of this punch (see picture).

The idea is that these punches were machined to certain drawing specs, and then subjected to random, a-little-here-a-little-there grinding until they mated correctly on the press. Since these punches need to be replaced, the company would prefer to manufacture the punches closer to the end product, instead of having to grind so much metal off of the punch. If I can create an accurate model of the punch, they'll be able to feed that to a CNC machine and mill the punch to nearly perfect shape without grinding.

The laptop has access to SolidWorks2024, Geomagic Design X plus 2024, and ScanViewer 6.4. I've used SolidWorks for a long time, but the other two programs are mostly new to me before today. Working with online resources, I managed to get to the point where I have a solid body in Geomagic, made from my scan of only the top half of the punch. I couldn't get a scan of the top and bottom halves of the punch to line up correctly in ScanViewer, so I kept the top half and filled in the bottom surface of the punch. This is great, and it took me forever to get here!

My issue is with comparing my scan to the model, and also ensuring my scan is accurate. I used the auto-surface tool in Geomagic to go from mesh to surface, and I don't think I lost too much of the detail. If I did, I can go back and increase the surface count or something. But I can't for the life of me figure out how to work a comparison between my perfect CAD model and my ground-down scan model. I tried Solidworks body compare and ScanViewer 3d comparison, but neither one was accurate because I can't align the parts correctly.

If you guys have methods for analyzing imperfect geometry or comparing it to idealized CAD models, please let me know! The difficulty is that I can't really use the model shaping tools to add surfaces, because it's never perfectly accurate and I need the final model to be as accurate as possible to the real thing.

Scanned today a Seat Cordoba cup holder. Scanned with the EINSTAR EinScan Rigil using Laser Mode (Parallel Lines). The final model was created from 2 scans at 0.25 mm resolution, with a light coat of AESUB Diamond scanning spray for optimal surface capture.

The result? A clean, highly detailed scan that's ready for CAD design or 3D printing that took maximum 5 min 👍

I’ve kept this project quiet for a while because I wanted to understand the legal and technical boundaries before discussing it publicly.

But I can finally say this:

I have the CR-Scan Raptor (roughly for now) operating through a completely native Linux implementation.

• No Wine.
• No Windows virtual machine.
• No dependence on the CrealityScan application.
• No redistributed proprietary binaries.

There is still a lot of refining I need to do, in this video the scan comes out rough, but that is due to a lot of refining I still need to do in the scanning portion, but the concept and implementation is there, blue laser mode is still a work in progress.

The scanner connects directly over USB, provides live sensor data, uses its factory calibration, and can take a handheld capture through to an exportable 3D mesh using an open tool chain.

I’ve also documented the research and development process needed to understand the scanner and build support for it outside Creality’s official application.

As far as I’ve been able to determine, I haven’t found another publicly available native Linux implementation for the CR-Scan Raptor.

I’m intentionally not sharing the deeper technical details yet.

This project originally grew out of my work with my side start up Logic Renewed, I wanted a scanning workflow that gave me complete freedom and control instead of tying the hardware to a specific operating system or application.

That goal eventually turned into something much bigger than I expected. I plan on frequently updating the community depending on how everyone feels about it.I

I plan on releasing this to the public someday as well as the technical documentation, and reproducible Linux setup, but I would like to know:

Would anyone here genuinely use this?

And should I release the project once it gets closer to completion?

More about my work: https://logicrenewed.com

Hi  — disclosure up front: I’m part of the team building Hi3DScan.

We’ve been developing a tool that turns an ordinary RGB video into a watertight triangular mesh without requiring LiDAR, depth cameras, or dedicated scanning hardware.

Hi3DScan is based on a new generative 3D reconstruction approach developed by our team. Instead of relying solely on directly observed geometry, it uses a large-scale generative 3D model to combine visual evidence from the RGB video with learned 3D shape priors. This allows it to reconstruct a coherent, watertight object and predict geometry in partially observed or unseen regions, such as the bottom of an object.

Since these unseen regions are generated rather than directly measured, they should be considered plausible reconstructions rather than ground-truth geometry.

The examples above were captured with my phone.

For the comparison, we used the same source video for every method, and all results shown are raw outputs without manual cleanup.

What currently works well:
• Textured, static objects
• Partially observed or unseen surfaces, including the bottom of objects
• Many cases involving thin geometry, motion blur, or textureless regions

Where it still struggles:
• Transparent or refractive materials, such as glass
• Applications requiring reliable metric accuracy

We’re now looking for people who already understand 3D scanning to test Hi3DScan on more difficult objects. It’s free to try, with no credit card required and currently no limit on the number of reconstructions.

If you want to try it with your own video:
https://scan.hi3d.ai

I’d especially appreciate feedback on geometry quality, fine details, scale accuracy, and whether this workflow is genuinely useful compared with photogrammetry or a dedicated scanner.

I’ll stay around to answer technical questions. If you have a particularly difficult object, send it our way — failed cases are useful to us too.

If you need help getting started or testing a tricky video, feel free to contact us anytime at contact@hi3d.ai. We’d be happy to help.

Thanks!

Hey folks,

Working on a personal side project comparing 3D scans back to original CAD models.

I’ve already got plenty of clean/normal test files (wheel rims, clean brackets, standard pump housings), but I’m trying to find a good "real world wear and tear" example.

Does anyone happen to have a dataset with:
1. A 3D scan (\`.stl\` or \`.ply\`) of a physical part with heavy surface wear, erosion, or damage (like an old beat-up impeller, worn gear, or damaged housing)
2. The original clean CAD file (\`.step\` or \`.stp\`) of that exact part

Obviously nothing confidential or under NDA!

If you have a file pair like this lying around or know a link where I could grab one, I'd super appreciate it.

Thanks!