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Scanning Results Keep Getting Better

We have  steadily improved our scanning results over the last 6 weeks by modifying hardware, writing new software, and tuning over a dozen variables.  The video below demonstrates the effect of our enhanced noise reduction: Low noise in 3D models is important for two reasons: Low noise 3D looks better.   Low noise 3D models…

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9 Months of Software Enhancements Have Cut Errors in Half Again

This year’s enhancements to the image processing routines in our stereo scanning software has improved processing speed and 3D model accuracy. Comparisons between our current results and those from 9 months ago show that we have reduced the magnitude of one type of geometric error in our 3D scans by a factor of 2 to…

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Progress Report: Sub-Pixel Upgrade Cuts Errors in Half

This post compares our latest 3D results with results from November 2012 (3 months ago). Our 3D models are generated by processing pairs of 2D images, and the same 2D images that were processed in the November post have been processed again. The only difference between the two 3D models is that new version was…

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Results from Summer 2012

We spent the summer of 2012 enhancing our 3D scanner. The 3D scan below with 3.5 million points shows that the system can now produce high-resolution 3D models. Some improvement was the result of integrating code from the open source projects Point Cloud Library & OpenCV, but the largest improvement came from camera recalibration. Why…

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Making Good Photorealistic 3D Models from 2D Pictures

Making 3D models is time consuming. Recent programs like Google’s SketchUp (it’s free) have simplified the process of making digital 3D models, but SketchUp is definitely not automatic. To make a 3D model look photorealistic, real world pictures can be “projected” onto a SketchUp model. While this technique can add realism, SketchUp is still a…