Had to give this a quick try – way too interesting to miss: Budget 3D Scanning at Home using Microsoft Kinect and new KScan3D scanner app by 3D3 Solutions.
First time I came across the idea of using Kinect for something else than XBox controller was in iPi-soft Motion Capture (MOCAP). The app used Kinect to capture the actor’s movement, then save the recording as a file. The file containing the recorded movement is then imported to a 3D app (say like my favorite Poser). Then you can make the 3D characters dance according the recorded movement. Magic.
What was revolutionary: The technique earlier reserved for the BIG players only was suddenly available for home use, not to mention small 3D project studios. This was also the the moment I started anticipating that sooner or later Kinect would be used in scanning real world objects into 3D models. It just became real.
DIY – Quick 3D scanning test
Download the free KScan3D trial from their website. Install. Unplug your existing Kinect from XBox, and stick it into your PC. As the app installed drivers for Kinect, your PC tells that you have now Kinect connected to your computer. Start the app, and start playing. After 2 hours of joy, OMG – IT WORKS!.
Scanning with KScan3D and Kinect
The KScan3D user experience was excellent – every phase in scanning was pretty much self-explanatory… Scan – Combine – Finalize – Done. Never touched the manual.
Naturally this “Home edition 3D Scanning” has it’s limitations, mostly because of the Kinect’s current abilities. (3D3 Solutions has also the finer solutions available for those with more budget). Kinect is not that accurate, scanning typically requires 2 persons – one to hold the Kinect, the other to hit the Scan button. Kinect by nature does not see/scan small objects, recommendation was “Minimum is roughly size of a shoe”.
Ok, what’s next?
The question becomes instantly what you can do with the scans.
The obvious for me & other 3D graphic artists: You must be able to import the models and textures scanned into a “matching” budget 3D graphic app, like Blender, Poser or DAZ just to name a few. In my case – I would scan real world objects and use them in my 3D illustrations, 3D movies, game graphics and such. For example – I’d like to scan my motorcycle, and make my current favorite 3D models pose on it.
Another logical pair is using the app with 3D printing – scan the model, and then print a copy of it with your 3D printer. Or: scan, polish and then sell your model for others to use. BTW, we are bound to see a new kind of copyright wars, as Mattel et al. will soon start suing kids & their parents who scan and 3D print their Barbie® & Ken® – or sell the models for printing such on soon-to-appear 3D print model marketplaces.
What is likely coming soon: Virtual clothes shops, where you can try on different clothes on your virtual 3D self, comfortably at home with your browser… I am quite sure that H&M and others will eagerly swallow this bait, if not already working on this kind of solutions. At least the previously difficult 3D scanning part of yourself is now well taken care of.
Testing import with Poser Pro 2012
Unfortunately the KScan3D trial version does not allow exporting or saving, so this test is made with the pre-made model downloaded from KScan3D gallery page. The page offers demo exports in .obj .ply and .stl file formats. Poser accepts the Wavefront .obj files
Good news is that the .obj model imports nicely into poser. Below screenshot of the import result, I just fixed her stance a bit, the lights are almost Poser default. I started to test render her to a real .png image, but cancelled as the calculations as the 1.569.639 vertices and 3.129.251 faces took too much time on my poor ol’ mac. And the result would not really differ from the quickly calculated posing image.
The bad news is that the texture data is not included in Wavefront .obj files that Poser understands. This is a big downer for me, as she is, and will look forever like she’s molded from metal (I can just choose the metal color). Normally poser models have their textures in separate .png files, which you can apply to the model in the materials section. I don’t know if KScan3D export can produce a separate .png texture file as the trial version does not export. If it does, great! If not – this becomes just a fancy app, that I can do nothing useful with, at least for now.
Also to remember – the imported model is not your typical pre-made poser figure. You cannot repose it; move arms, legs, apply your favourite poses etc – it’s a “statue”. What you scan is what you get, and that’s it.
Conclusion
If the non-trial version export features fit your needs, I can warmly recommend this. Especially because of the solution total price tag: 99 EUR for Kinect, 300 USD for KScan3D – lots of value for money.
In the near future, apps of this kind will of course be bundled in Kinect installation/driver CDs – as the 2D apps are now shipped with every document printer/scanner. But until that – KScan3D does it’s trick quite well. Impressive!
Oh – and before you ask – you can use the XBox Kinect for you tests. It seems to be exactly same piece of hardware as the Kinect for Windows. The differences are: a) Price tag on Windows version is 100 USD higher, and b) you are by MS licensing terms required to use Kinect for Windows in PC production environment. I’ll restrain myself on further commenting this genious licensing plan cooked up by MS lawyers..
Copyrights and trademarks mentioned in this article again belong to their respective owners.
See also my related blog articles
