3DPrinting
3DPrinting is a place where makers of all skill levels and walks of life can learn about and discuss 3D printing and development of 3D printed parts and devices.
The r/functionalprint community is now located at: [email protected] or [email protected]
There are CAD communities available at: [email protected] or [email protected]
Rules
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No bigotry - including racism, sexism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, or xenophobia. Code of Conduct.
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Be respectful, especially when disagreeing. Everyone should feel welcome here.
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No porn (NSFW prints are acceptable but must be marked NSFW)
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Do not create links to reddit
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If you see an issue please flag it
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No guns
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No injury gore posts
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I've had pretty good results with photogrammetry, although the software I use is Meshroom, which isn't available for Mac. There are alternatives like Regard 3D and Agisoft Metashape, but I haven't tried them.
I do find it's pretty important to get a good surface for scanning, though. The technique that's worked best for me is to apply a thin layer of white tempera paint, and then flick on tiny spatters of blue tempera for texture. Tempera is nice because it washes off with water even after it's dried, and it has a nice matte quality that's useful for getting even lighting, which is important for the scan. If you've got an object where this is an unacceptable thing to apply to the surface, there are self-evaporating surface treatments you can get specifically for scanning, but they're crazy expensive, so I rely on tempera whenever I can get away with it.
I've looked at several of the scanners that are available, but for the price I'm not satisfied that they're enough better to make it worth it. Surface prep is still important, and the scanning software itself seems like a weak point for a lot of them. Meshroom is kinda slow, especially if you don't have an nvidia gpu, but it's free, which is hard to beat, and it's pretty surprisingly usable.
If you look on YouTube there are a bunch of folks who have made reviews of the Revopoint and Creality scanners. They seem alright, but not good enough to be worth hundreds of dollars to me.