3D Scanner Market Heats Up With 3D Systems’ “Sense”
For consumers, the 3D printing market is developing rapidly, and recently one of the vectors for growth has been on the 3D scanning side of things. Industry mainstay MakerBot and upstart Rubicon have both announced consumer-oriented 3D scanners in the last few months, and now 3D Systems (maker of the Cube 3D) has one, too.
The Sense 3D Scanner presents a totally different approach to 3D scanning than MakerBot and Rubicon; while the other two have users place an object on a rotating disc, the Sense is a handheld device that you can pass over just about anything, from a small object to a full-size person to really anything 10 feet by 10 feet in size.
3D Systems is spinning it as “physical photography”, which is a brilliant little stroke of PR lingo that actually suits what the device does. It features the ability to focus, zoom, crop, and track objects, and within seconds of completing a scan, the image should be ready to print on a 3D printer.
The Sense is designed to work with 3D Systems’ Cubify Sculpt software and Cube 3D printer, as well as the company’s cloud printing service avilable on the Cubify.com site.
The price tag is reasonable at $399--by comparison, MakerBot’s digitizer is $1,400 while the Rubicon 3D Scanner is $200--and it will available at Cubify.com or online and in-store at Staples starting on November 18th.
The Sense 3D Scanner presents a totally different approach to 3D scanning than MakerBot and Rubicon; while the other two have users place an object on a rotating disc, the Sense is a handheld device that you can pass over just about anything, from a small object to a full-size person to really anything 10 feet by 10 feet in size.
3D Systems is spinning it as “physical photography”, which is a brilliant little stroke of PR lingo that actually suits what the device does. It features the ability to focus, zoom, crop, and track objects, and within seconds of completing a scan, the image should be ready to print on a 3D printer.
The Sense is designed to work with 3D Systems’ Cubify Sculpt software and Cube 3D printer, as well as the company’s cloud printing service avilable on the Cubify.com site.
The price tag is reasonable at $399--by comparison, MakerBot’s digitizer is $1,400 while the Rubicon 3D Scanner is $200--and it will available at Cubify.com or online and in-store at Staples starting on November 18th.
