How to Make Anything

well, almost...

Week 3: 3D Scanning and Printing

This week we had to 3D scan an object and 3D print an object that couldn't be made subtractively. I decided to make something similar to one of those sticky balls -- a small sphere composed of small rods connected to the center, and lots of empty space inbetween them. This was a very, very bad idea, as it was too detailed and fragile for me to adequately remove the support structure when printed from the Objet printer. I also used the Sense scanner to scan a person and a pencil bag. I'm not too satisfied with the scans that came out, and not sure if I was just moving the scanner too fast or something else. I've used the Kinect before for making 3D scans, and found that to be easier and more accurate (but didn't have a Kinect around this time to use).

  • Assignment: 3D scan and print
  • Made: "Fun" ball and a couple scans
  • Programs Used: OpenSCAD, Meshlab
  • Tools Used: Sense scanner, Objet printer
I designed a "fun" ball in OpenSCAD.


NOT FUN AT ALL. It was basically impossible to remove all of the support without destroying the piece. I should have made the rods and end pieces thicker, as well as not had so many small nooks and crannies. Notice how most of the ends of the rods have sadly come off. Lesson learned.
A half printed version of the ball that I practiced removing support from.


Onto the scanning! Using the Sense scanner was preeetty difficult. It kept losing track of the item, and even when I went as slowly as possible, the scanned image didn't seem too great. The best scan I got was probably of my Ethiopia pencil bag. But it also doesn't have that many details.


I tried to scan my friend Jared, and ended up with the terrifying scan on the top, as well as the not-so-terrifying scan on the bottom.