A Portable Desktop Scanner for Makers and Educators

(Image courtesy of Matter & Form.)

Few examples demonstrate the pace of technological change in the modern world better than 3D printing. We’ve seen it go from invention, to commercialization, to the beginnings of industrial production in little more than a generation—and we’re only getting started.

The rise of the Maker Movement is due in no small part to the explosion of options for consumer-grade, desktop 3D printers, but the other side of the equation sometimes seems underserved. With all the ways we can take digital models and bring them into the physical world, the options for bringing physical objects into the digital world are comparatively limited.

Enter the V2 3D Scanner from Matter and Form, a desktop unit that’s aiming to serve hobbyists, educators and even professionals. Engineering.com had the opportunity to try one out.

Read on for our impressions.

The V2 3D Scanner – First Impressions

The most immediately striking thing about the V2 is its design. The scanner ships closed as an oblong box 3.5 x 13.5 x 8.25in. Pressing a button on the top allows it to swing open into an L shape (making it 13.5 x 13.5 x 8.25in), with the handle turning 90° and locking in place to form a support leg. The scanner itself is mounted on a ball screw that’s recessed into the case, running orthogonally to the turntable. This makes it much more portable than most desktop scanners, or at least easier to store if you’re not planning on carting it around.

(Image courtesy of Matter & Form.)

Also included are an AC power adapter with a set of four international plugs, a USB B cable, a demo part (a rubber duck), a calibration card and stand as well as a manual and the usual electronics documentation. The addition of the international plug set is a nice touch, though it’s not clear whether that’s for the sake of a wider market or to give the impression that the scanner is portable enough to be taken across time zones.

You can see the vital specifications for the scanner in the table below:

Accuracy	±0.1mm
Optics	HD CMOS sensor; 2x Class 1 eye-safe lasers
Max. Object Size/Weight	9.8in x 7.0in / 6.6lbs
Recommended Computer Specs	i5 CPU; 4GB RAM
File Export Support	Point Cloud: PLY, XYZ Mesh: STL, OBJ, DAE, PLY, glTF2

MFStudio & +Quickscan

As its name implies, the V2 isn’t Matter & Form’s first foray into 3D scanning. The company’s first product was an earlier version of the desktop scanner, funded through Indiegogo; its second was a clip-on laser scanner for smartphones called the bevel. All three pieces of hardware rely on MFStudio, the company’s 3D scanning software.

Simple and relatively intuitive to use, MFStudio enables users to scan objects, edit point clouds and export meshes, either locally or via the company’s bevelPix cloud service. Additionally, users have the option of purchasing +Quickscan, a “speed boost” algorithm that uses what the company describes as “an adaptive scanning technique” to check for missed areas and—where possible—add more geometry. Due to time constraints, engineering.com did not review +Quickscan.

Using the V2 3D Scanner

The first thing you have to do with MFStudio—once the scanner is connected and turned on—is start a new project, which somewhat unintuitively starts with creating a new save file. Once that’s done, you’ll need to calibrate the scanner using the included calibration box or card (we had a card). This involves conducting two scans, one with the board in the center of the turntable, and a second with the board slightly closer to the camera. (The manual states: “Don’t move it too much—about 2 centimeters will do.”) Once that’s done, you’re ready to start scanning.

The Regular Scan interface has five adjustable settings:

Base Laser Exposure
High-Contrast Exposure
Color Exposure
Scan Height
Scan Path Angle

Adjusting the first four settings is essentially a matter of trial and error using the camera display. The two laser lines are displayed via the camera, with the manual instructing users to “choose an exposure where the green overlay is a sharp line” in order to find the best exposure for an object. The high-contrast option is intended for objects with colors from both of the following sets:

Blue, Purple, Dark Green, Black
Yellow, Orange, Red, Grey, White, “Pastel colors”

The object’s texture (i.e., color) can also be captured via the color exposure option, with the manual advising users to adjust the Texture Settings slider until the colors on the object appear bright but not overexposed on the camera. Textures for a Regular Scan are captured along with geometry, while those for a +Quickscan are captured separately.

Although the Scan Path Angle, which describes the degree of table rotation, is straightforward, astute readers may have noticed that Scan Height was included in the list of settings that have to be adjusted by trial and error. That’s because although Scan Height has five degrees in MFStudio, nothing on the scanner itself indicates the heights to which those degrees correspond.

The manual states that, “If unsure of the appropriate scan path height for your object, leave the slider full and cancel the scan’s progress when your object is completely scanned. It will load in the Project Editor as is.” Given that a scan can potentially take hours, babysitting the scanner until it’s complete is not an ideal solution. It’s a minor gripe, but a scale or even some harsh marks on the scanner itself would have been appreciated.

Once a scan is complete, the Project Editor allows users to remove errant points using an adjustable, automatic Noise Selection tool, a manual Brush tool or a Crop tool. The Project Editor can also be used to align multiple scans of the same object taken from different angles. The last step involves meshing a project at various levels of detail for export as OBJ or STL file. Projects can also be saved as point clouds in PLY or XYZ format, as well as Matter and Form’s propriety MFPROJ format.

The V2 Scanner – Hands On

Test 1 - Mesh of the rubber duck included with the V2.

The obvious place to start was with the included demo part. We ran two scans with Scanner Height at the lowest setting and the High Contrast and Color Exposure options disabled: once with the duck sitting on its base and once with it propped on its side. Each scan took roughly seven minutes. We then used MFStudio to align the two point clouds and generate a mesh. The first test went smoothly, which is just what you’d expect from the included object.

Test 2 - Mesh of Mr. Fantastic.

For our second test, we brought out our old friend Mr. Fantastic, who had graciously volunteered to help us test another desktop scanner. The results in this case were more mixed. After four separate scans with High Contrast Exposure enabled (each took roughly 30 minutes), the V2 was unable to capture the black elements on the figure, particularly the glove on the model’s right hand. As a result, the mesh created from the aligned point clouds is missing that portion of the model entirely.

Test 3 - Geodesic model on the V2 3D scanner.

Our third test used one of the geodesic models printed for our review of the FabPro 1000 with High Contrast and Color Exposure once again disabled. Three scans at approximately 20 minutes apiece generate some fairly messy point clouds, no doubt due to the slightly reflective nature of the FabPro Proto GRY material.

Test 3 - Point Cloud of the geodesic after 30 minutes of cleaning.

We spent about half an hour cleaning up the point clouds using the Brush tool after several attempts to use Noise Selection delivered mixed results. It’s also worth noting that MFStudio crashed at one point during manual point selection, and though the file was reported as being recovered when we rebooted the program, the data had been lost.

(Note: All tests were conducted on a laptop with an i5-8250U CPU, 8GB RAM and integrated video card.)

Test 3 - Mesh of geodesic model.

Even with a fairly thorough cleaning of stray points, the mesh for our third test did not capture the hollowness of the geodesic model, instead turning the triangular holes into smooth indentations. This suggests that V2 is not ideal for scanning objects with complex internal geometries, even when those features are still accessible by the lasers. In other words, you probably won’t be using the V2 for reverse engineering.

Test 4 - Aircraft circuit breaker panel on V2 3D scanner.

Our fourth and final test was intended to evaluate the V2’s ability to capture color and texture using a circuit breaker panel for the fire extinguisher system for a Lockheed L-1011 airliner. Since the goal wasn’t to scan the entire object, but rather just the front panel, we reduced the Scan Path Angle to 90°, which cut the scanning time from just over an hour to approximately 25 minutes.

Test 4 - Point cloud of an aircraft circuit breaker panel.

We scanned the panel from four different orientations with High Contrast and Color Exposure enabled and then aligned them using MFStudio. The result was passable, though once again the scanner seemed to struggle with contrasting colors, such as the white lettering at the top of the panel.

A Desktop 3D Scanner for Makers and Educators

The V2 3D Scanner offers an entry point into the world of 3D scanning for makers and educators alike. Based on our tests, it’s not an ideal option for professionals, but there are still plenty of potential applications for home and personal use. For example, it would be relatively simple to make a clay model of a custom part, scan it, mesh it and export the resulting STL or OBJ file to 3D print a plastic version. From a pedagogical standpoint, it’s a great way to get kids interested in STEM: taking the time to scrub a point cloud of errant points is actually fun and helps users appreciate just how complex a 3D scan can be.