Computer-aided design made it easy to design a part in a virtual environment before building a physical version. But what about in reverse? Historically, creating drawings of a physical part involved carefully recording measurements and dimensions. Manually rebuilding a part in CAD is time consuming and prone to human error. For reverse engineering or building a virtual inventory of parts or tools, this process is essential.
3D laser scanning gathers 3D point cloud data by passing a laser over a physical part. In this demonstration, a portable measurement arm was used to scan the part. This point cloud can then be used to create a mesh or as reference for building an accurate CAD model of the part. However, turning scan data into a CAD model can be challenging. This software, called Geomagic Design X, is designed to simplify the process of scanning physical parts into feature-based CAD.
Design X can automatically or semi-automatically extract features from the scan data. It can then transfer this feature information to another popular CAD software, automatically rebuilding the model inside that software. This tool provides a much faster time to CAD than other processes.
For more on 3D scanning to create CAD models, check out the article 12 Microns of Accuracy in a 2-Kilogram 3D Scanner.