Quickly turn the things in your world into 3D models that you can modify, improve, share, and 3D print.

The Digitizer is essentially a turntable, a webcam, and some lasers. It uses Makerbot’s conveyor app to control the motion of objects on the turntable and then scans the points generated by the laser during the rotation. It works best with light, matte objects like ceramics, clays, and non-glossy plastics but with a little glare-reducing baby powder you can scan just about everything as long as its taller than two inches and small enough to fit on the platform.

See things differently. When you scan an object, you give it a brand new life in the digital world. The MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner outputs standard 3D file formats so that you can improve, shape, mold, twist, animate, and transform objects in a third-party 3D modeling program.

To scan you simply load up the Digitizer software – an excellent, intuitive system that should be a model for all 3D printer and scanner makers – and, once you calibrate the system using an included, laser-cut object, you press Digitize. Nine minutes later you have a scan. The system interpolates missing information which can be good or bad, depending on the lighting, and then asks if you want to take a photo of your object. You then slide away a filter over the camera to reveal the bare webcam, shoot your, photo, and then share or print your object.

Behind the two-click simplicity is a powerful and complex reconstruction process. MakerWare for Digitizer contains an algorithm that connects hundreds of thousands of points into a seamless digital mesh in just seconds. There’s no patching, stitching, or repairing required, so you can skip straight to your creative process. We’ve worked hard to create software that saves you time.

Are the scans perfect? No. Because of vagaries of materials, reflections, and ambient light a perfect scan is impossible. The Digitizer is like a mimeograph machine rather than a true scanner. It grabs only the important parts of an image and reproduces the rest the best it can.

– Scan volume: Up to 20.3 (diameter) x 20.3 cm (H) [8 x 8 in.]
– Detail resolution: 0.5 mm [0.0197 in]
– Triangles per 3D model: Approx. 200K
– Scan speed: Approx. 12 minutes
– Optimal Light Conditions: Artificial indoor light
– Maximum weight on turntable: 3 kg [6.6 lbs]

producer: makerbot
period: 2013