German RepRap, developer and manufacturer of the PRotos and the X400 3D printers, is now offering a versatile 3D scanner to complement its 3D printer range.
The FabliTec 3D scanner, like the German RepRap printers, have been developed and made in Germany by the company FabliTec UG in cooperation with the TU Munich (Chair for image processing by Prof. Dr. Daniel Cremers). The Chair for image processing at the institute for informatics of the Technical University Munich is one of the world leading research departments for image processing and pattern recognition. German RepRap is taking responsibility for the marketing and worldwide sales exclusively and will market the FabliTec 3D scanner directly as well as via interested sales partners.
The FabliTec 3D scanner in conjunction with an Xbox 360 Kinect or Asus Xtion ProLive sensor can produce a printable 3D image of a person or object at the touch of a button – reportedly without time-consuming post processing. Such easy operability was key to this deal, and according to German RepRap is the distinguishing feature of the FabliTec 3D scanner. The ease of use is facilitated by a special process developed by FabliTec, which calculates the camera posture directly on the surface of the person or object to be scanned meaning that more data is available and resulting in a more precise digital image. Moreover, the software works with the merchantable Xbox 360 Kinect sensor, which is already available in many households.
If the scans are to be output on a personal 3D printer, the file can be saved in STL format. For multi colored printouts via print services such as Alphaform.de, Shapeways.com or i.materialize.com, it may be saved in OBJ or WRML format with the necessary colour information. And another feature of the FabliTec scanner is that the software automatically inserts a socket, to hollow out the model. This saves printing costs and makes it easier to handle the printed objects.
For Florian Bautz, Managing Director of German RepRap GmbH, it was the easy operability of the FabliTec 3D scanner and the high quality of the created 3D models that he appreciated: “3D scanners expand the possibilities for using our 3D printers, as real objects may be copied and replicated easily. This creates new opportunities for photographers, for instance, to advance to the third dimension and to provide something special to their customers. This is also very interesting for hobby users and handicrafts. In that user group it is important that a 3D scanner is not only to be operated by CAD specialists. We considered several 3D scanners, but the FabliTec 3D scanner is the best product. We couldn’t find a solution that easy to operate supplying such high quality.“
The FabliTec 3D scanner software is available for €295 (incl. VAT). A demo version is available here, where all functions are unlocked except for the possibility of saving the data in a format for further processing.
You can see how the scanner works in the video below:
