

Young Engineer Uses Webcam, Laser to Build Budget 3-D Scanner - harshpotatoes
http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/2010/08/budget-3-d-scanner/

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oiuyhtfrgtjhk
Everybody uses this free software, <http://www.david-laserscanner.com/>

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harshpotatoes
Oh wow, that's been around for a while, hasn't it? Dang, I was mislead by the
wired article at how new this sort of software was. Still, it is pretty neat
at how low cast 3d scanning is, and how easy it would be to hook this up to a
3d printer of some sort.

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oiuyhtfrgtjhk
The maths is pretty simple - most of the new stuff is making the editing of
the resulting model easier.

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tocomment
Where do I find the plans for this, and the software? I'd love to try to build
one.

His webpage says the "MakerScanner" is an open source project but it doesn't
provide any plans or code. Grr that really grinds my gears when something is
called open source but it isn't.

I can't even find any contact info online to ask him.

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steveklabnik
It has a box to put in your email to be contacted when the first version is
released.

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tocomment
So he's not going to release the source until the first version is done?

The benefit of open source is that others can help with the coding and getting
to the first release.

I guess I'll try the email thing.

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steveklabnik
Some projects (see zedshaw's Mongrel 2, for example, or Diaspora) prefer to
have an architecture put in place by an exclusive group, and then use open
source to iterate.

Sometimes, too many cooks spoil the broth.

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shpxnvz
That's fine, of course, but then it's not open source _until you release the
source_. I agree with the OP that it's misleading if labeled otherwise.

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sil3ntmac
I thought this idea had been around forever? I've seen it implemented with
turntables before, which adds a nice touch.

Edit: It's been done with legos: <http://philohome.com/scan3d/scan3d.htm>

Also, check out the MilkScanner, very cool! <http://gizmodo.com/266169/lego-
milk-scanner>

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cameldrv
I know that this has been patented, but the patent may have expired by now. We
were looking to do this in 2001, and gave up due to the patent.

