Which 3D Scanner is Best for 3D Printing?

It's the dream of every 3D printing enthusiast. You see something in the physical world, scan it in seconds, and print it out in an exact replica on your 3D printer just like that. Up until recently, this has only been possible with commercial scanners that cost tens of thousands of dollars, and tons of training to use properly.

These days all of that is changing, and just like 3D printers have become more and more available to consumers, we're also seeing the first wave of consumer grade 3D scanners hit the market. But are they any good?

I tested three different solutions for at-home scanning, and in this video I'm going to compare them all and tell you which one is the best. Stick around to the end because I'll also answer the question that's on everyone's mind... Should you get a 3D scanner?

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🎥 IN THIS VIDEO: 🎥
00:00 Introduction
01:01 The Best At-Home 3D Scanner Contenders
Contender #1: Creality CR-Scan Lizard
Contender #2: Revopoint Mini
Contender #3: iPhone 14 Pro Max
04:10 Round 1: Form Factor and Ease of Use
05:29 Round 2: Software
11:39 Round 3: Price
13:11 Round 4: Scan Results
17:33 Post-Fight: Do You Actually Need A 3D Scanner?

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[thenextlayer]

THANK YOU for watching. Let me know in the comments what you thought... would you like to see more videos like this, or was this a boring one for you?

[hoctrimededebutry]

Once again a superb video : good subjects, good questions and good arguments 🙂 Thanks from france. Your channel is a wealth of information

[mic]

The latest Revopoint RevoScan (still in beta as of this comment) is another level of simplicity and quality - it combine all you need!

[spawnreaper]

polycam has a monthly fee that is insane.

[TommyHoughton]

Great all-in-one video! Been loving your content since I discovered you. I'm a fan of the thumbnails too😄

[RoboSaloonPictures]

The front-facing LiDAR Scanner on the iPhone is significantly better than the one on the back of the phone. Should have used that one for the comparison.

[Garage]

That really sucks that software disputes really sunk the Creality. Still, it's great we're getting a lot of cheap options for 3D scanning.

[jordanwright]

Great video. I think the Mole 3D scanner would have been a good inclusion in this comparison. After using the Revopoint and the Mole 3D scanner I really prefer the output and quality of the Mole3D scans. The software is pretty good for the Mole as well. A lot less post scan cleanup in Zbrush and Houdini with the Mole scans and in my opinion it actually comes pretty close to the accuracy of some of the much more expensive laser/LiDAR scanning equipment we have used in the past.

With the Mole the models align automatically and easily when scanning larger sections in chunks. As you mentioned the software is a huge part of the experience and 3D maker did a pretty good job here.

Not super important but something in passing I thought I’d mention in regards to compute time to process scans and as I love the Mac - and being a user of Mac’s for VFX / film production since the old PowerPC days one place Apple has really dropped the ball is with GPU compute. I also have the M1 ultra and when doing photogrammetry or point cloud alignment whether from laser/LiDAR or other types of 3D work it takes an ice age on the Mac even with Apple Silicon optimized software and when compared to a modestly configured PC with a last generate RTX 3090 the Mac is much slower. In fact my M1 Ultra as configured cost roughly the same as the render node I have with 4x 4090s which completely smokes the Mac in pretty much every 3D task I throw at it. As good as Apple Silicon is it’s GPU compute is a lot less capable than CUDA / RTX and it’s not really scalable like it is on PC where you can just throw in an additional GPU and scale performance with each GPU added. At one point we could do multi GPU setups on the mac - unfortunately Apple went a different way with things and many of us hoping the latest power Mac model would bring that capability back we’re really disappointed again.

Not trying trying to start a MAC / PC holy war as I love my Macs too but I feel like Apple really blew it when they severed their relationship with Nvidia. All of the production level 3D renderers like Arnold / Redshift/ Octane / Vray / Karma - heck even Cycles run much faster under CUDA/RTX than the built in GPUs by Apple and even discreet GPUs by AMD at the moment. It’s a bit of a tangent I’m on but it relates to 3D work in general and the sad state of direction Apple has been heading into since it started focusing less on industry pros and almost exclusively on consumers. Even the photogrammetry based iPhone software you used in this video has upload to the the cloud and do GPU compute on a server farm filled with Nvidia A100’s but I digress.

Anyway great video and I’m glad I didn’t back the Lizard - I almost did and your video made me appreciate dodging that bullet.

[CedricAnne]

I use professional scanners at work and bought the CR Scan Lizard. Honestly, I'm getting pretty good results with it. Might just be that the software is buggy enough that it works for some and not for others, but for the price, I wouldn't disregard it.

[ka_ekim]

1. Youre not wrong about android. The vast majority of them do not have LiDar anymore. 2. In the price section you only mention polycam. I have an ipad for my scanning needs, and Scaniverse is free and does amazing work with the LiDar sensor. No extra cost as long as you have the device.

3. Great stuff, love the videos (i know im a year late, but there are a lot of ppl joining the community rn, and they should be aware that LiDar doesnt have a cost a monthly subscription)

[hristoilchev]

So in short, 3d scanners are still useless.

[paparoysworkshop]

Interesting video. I've been toying with the idea of getting a 3D scanner. I'm not sure if I would use it enough to justify the cost, but at the same time, I've spent more on other frivolous things in my life. It's just a matter of getting all of my "wanted" toys in a practical order.

[nerdipedia]

I’m pretty sure I am not the only woman subscribed to your channel but this has inspired me to see it I can get my fellow fem printers to join. :) I have to admit, I almost pulled the trigger on the quality, scanner a while back, but I was a bit sceptical that they would be able to pull off the same quality with this software issue. Too bad that my concerns were right but maybe I will manage to save enough for the next step up. Thanks for the reviews!

[motoc]

Hi. Great video. I have been using an xbox 360 kinect and software called Kscan3D on windows to 3d scan and model items. 360 kinect cost me $25 AUD and the power adapter and usb lead costs $18 AUD but its no good for smaller objects like a matchbox car but brilliant at 3D scanning things like shoes and the OG xbox console all the way upto scanning people and furniture. I have scanned entire rooms of the house with it no probs. Just putting it out there as a cheap alternative for now until the price of scanners come down

[anthonycadogan]

This was very helpful, thank you. What about if you have a part that is broken with missing pieces. Is there a way to produce a complete scan of the said item. Are we there yet in terms of technology?

[karlosss]

I notice with the lizard, you were scanning at full brightness setting causing the preview window to show you a red image. Red is

[flashforum]

Content on HUMAN BODY SCANS would be interesting. And comparison of some of the more commercial / prosumer options if you can get your hands on those for a review

[mikek]

I wonder if putting on a UV lens filter and taking scans in a dark room with only uv light would result in better scan quality?

[alexrobles]

Great and informative video. Thank you. i was a bit disappointed that you didn't really show photogrammetry or count the cost in buying an iPhone in the equation (I have an android ). Other than that excellent video that showed the good and bad points of both.

[bottledwaterprod]

Btw, you can use Polycam with professional cameras. Giving you infinite resolution and capture count. After looking up best methods and being careful, my Fujifilm X-T30 produced impressive results.