It’s almost the end of 2020! If we’ve learned anything about the pandemic this year, it’s that we can evolve during these uncertain times and adapt to whatever comes our way.

We thought now is the best time to feature the best new 3D scanning technologies to help you make plans for 2021. They can give your work life a major boost. Our team always researches, tests, and only recommends hardware and software that are the best value we can find in the market.

We divided them into 4 categories:

1. 3D Scanner
2. 3D Scanning Accessory
3. 3D Inspection
4. Reverse Engineering

3D Scanner

AI-Powered Artec Eva / Leo Handheld 3D Scanner

Artec: Trailblazers in Combining 3D Scanning and AI

It’s been a long-standing ritual that Artec releases one major update every year for Artec Studio. The company’s proprietary 3D scanning software works with all of its handheld, desktop, and long-range 3D scanning systems. This year, Artec made an exception with two announcements. The team made a major breakthrough in combining 3D scanning with the power of AI called the HD Mode for Artec Studio 15.1.

What So Special About the HD Mode?

With the HD Mode, now you can get both high-quality scans with the convenience of a handheld 3D scanner.

Exclusive to the Artec Eva and Leo, the HD mode doubles the resolution of these handheld 3D scanners and produces substantial improvements in scan quality. The new algorithms are now capable of extrapolating more information with the same amount of 3D capture. All you have to do is enable the HD mode on the 3D scanner. You get richer quality and detailed 3D scans with less noise.

Scan Density

With the power of the HD mode, what this means is the scan density per frame is no longer restricted by the hardware. You can see how much more information is captured with the HD mode compared to the SD mode (refers to previous standard definition mode).

Major improvements also include the ability to:

• scan different types of challenging surfaces
• get cleaner scan data
• get the nitty-gritty details of an object
• widen the spectrum of object size these two handheld 3D scanners can scan

What This Means For New and Existing Users

For users who purchase a new Artec Eva or Leo, this means that you are getting a great value, capturing amazing 3D scan quality for the price of the scanner.

For existing users who already have an Artec Eva or Leo, if you upgrade to the latest version of Artec Studio 15.1, you get these types of results! All the work is done with just a software upgrade. No extra work is required. It’s like getting a new 3D scanner!

Interested in upgrading to Artec Studio 15.1 to get better results? Contact Us →

See It In Action

Using the HD Mode, there’s no change to the way you scan. You just scan as you normally would while Artec Studio does all the heavy lifting work. The results are so spectacular that our motorcycle wheel scan captured with the Artec Eva was selected by Sketchfab as their Staff Pick!

Learn More

For more details on the AI-Powered Eva and Leo with the HD Mode, check out our product page.

Accessories

AESUB Vanishing 3D Scanning Spray

Solving An Industry Problem

Traditional powder 3D scanning sprays cover the object but they don’t necessarily do a good job in adhering to the object’s surface. As a result, the powder spreads everywhere causing a real mess. For example, it’s extremely difficult to handle or move the object after it has been sprayed. This can be a pain to cleanup.

Traditional 3D Scanning Spray – Before AESUB Blue

Great inventions are typically borne out of real problems that you can’t find an adequate solution in the market. This is what happened to AESUB Blue Vanishing 3D Spray Founder, Fredrich Schlott, a mechanical engineer who was running his own 3D scanning service company. He was looking for a 3D scanning spray that doesn’t cross-contaminate by spreading dust to the 3D scanning systems, technicians, and its surroundings. Hear about why he started AESUB in his own words:

What’s So Special About AESUB Blue?

You might think AESUB Blue is just a 3D scanning accessory but you will be amazed by the 3D scanning results you get simply by spraying the part with this product.

What’s different about AESUB Blue is that it’s a vanishing spray. Once you spray it on an object, it will disappear after a certain amount of time depending on temperature (usually within a few hours) so there is no mess and no cleanup!

The Result: You don’t contaminate yourself, the 3D scanning system, or the working environment. Best of all, it provides a consistent coating that makes it much easier to scan dark, shiny, metallic, clear, or any hard to scan surfaces.

AESUB also offers a permanent 3D scanning spray when you need to scan an object over a few days.

3D Inspection

Geomagic Control X Essentials

The Demand For Low-Cost 3D Inspection Software

Product quality and reliability matter more than ever. Companies are producing more manufactured goods to meet customer demands. As a result, they need to be absolutely sure that every product that comes out of the production line is consistently good.

Product quality ultimately has a direct impact on the company’s bottom line. It affects:

	Good Product Quality	Poor Product Quality
Customers	Boost customer loyalty (trust)	Customers not happy with the company (lose confidence)
Post-Sale	Fuel positive reviews, word of mouth (boost marketing and sales)	Negative reviews and complaints (bad publicity/press) Replacement and return (more costs + work and headaches)
Profitability	Boost revenue and reduce cost	Lost sales and higher costs

This is not just a problem for large corporations. Small to medium-sized businesses who might not have as big of a budget as global brands are also looking for affordable ways to implement a quality control system. When manufacturing in volume, companies need assurance in their product consistency. It’s also about getting accurate and easy to understand reports to pinpoint and fix the source of quality issues—fast.

What’s So Special About Geomagic Control X Essentials?

The two new Geomagic Control X editions use the same platform as the professional edition at approximately half of the price!

Tailored to companies with a smaller budget that want to get started in quality inspection, 3D Systems introduced Geomagic Control X Essentials.

This is great news because the entry-level Essentials packages provide the best value as general-purpose 3D inspection systems that are feature-rich without a high price tag. Not all organizations need advanced features like automated inspection or engineering analysis. If your operations expand and require additional quality inspection features, you can always upgrade to the professional version.

Here’s a comparison chart to better understand which version would be the best fit for you:

See It In Action

To give you a better idea of what Geomagic Control X Essentials offers, here’s a quick demo:

For more information on Geomagic Control X Essentials, please visit our Geomagic Control X Software Essentials Page.

Reverse Engineering

QUICKSURFACE 2021 Scan To CAD Software

Demand For Low-Cost Reverse Engineering Software

Similar to 3D inspection, more and more small to medium-sized companies are looking for low-cost reverse engineering software to help speed up the product development process. QUICKSURFACE is a low-cost standalone scan to CAD software set out to change the reverse engineering industry. It has comprehensive SCAN to CAD tools that are simple to use. As a bonus, it’s almost substantially more affordable compared to similar software on the market.

The new QUICKSURFACE 2021 has just been released. It includes new exciting new tools to help you to make the reverse engineering of 3D scans even easier.

Here’s a list of new features and improvements [with video].

What’s So Special About QUICKSURFACE?

QUICKSURFACE opens up reverse engineering in a way that is both approachable and accessible. The workflow is straightforward. It cuts through all the hassle typically associated with the reverse engineering process to get you the end result fast. At an affordable price, it spreads the use of the technology so more people can benefit from using scan data from a 3D scanner as a basis for design.

The standalone reverse engineering software gives users a versatile toolset to create parametric and freeform CAD models while making sure accuracy and design intent are intact.

With QUICKSURFACE you can do:

1. Parametric Modeling (History-based Modeling): Parametric modeling is a key feature of QUICKSURFACE. The best part: You can easily modify and make changes to the parameters from solid bodies even at a later time. You can directly transfer a parametric history tree to SOLIDWORKS® for mechanical parts.

   

2. Freeform Modeling (Automatic Surfacing + Manual Surface Modeling): Great for reverse engineering organic or complex surfaces, you can do it instantaneously with a click of a button or have total control to manually adjust the resolution and position of control points of the created surface.

   

   

3. Hybrid Modeling (Combining both Parametric modeling + Freeform modeling): Real-world mechanical parts can have a mix of both organic and prismatic shapes. Starting with freeform and basic primitives, you can build a complex CAD model by trimming them and can later change the surfaces based on the design intent.

Try QUICKSURFACE For Free

If you are still unsure if QUICKSURFACE is right for you, the best way is to test it out yourself.

Start a 15-day free trial and test drive it to see if QUICKSURFACE is a good fit for you.

Get Ready for 2021

We hope that article will help with your planning into the New Year. As we’re getting really close to the end of the year, you still have time to get ready for next year.

If you still have budget left you would like to spend this year, now is the best time to purchase 3D scanning equipment. This will ensure you are off to a good start in the New Year, whether it’s for new projects or expanding your capabilities.

It’s best to talk to a 3D scanning specialist about your plans so they can better understand your 3D scanning needs to recommend the best solution for you.

Please feel free to contact us about your needs and we can put together a tailored quote for you.

At GoMeasure3D, we wish you a Merry Christmas and a great start to the New Year!

The post Four New and Exciting 3D Scanning Technologies To Gear Up For 2021 appeared first on GoMeasure3D.

Can’t attend live? You should still register! We’ll send you the recording after the webinar.

* We respect your privacy. All attendees will remain anonymous during the webinar (your video and audio will be disabled).

3D Scanning Webinar

Artec just released their new version of the AI-Powered HD Mode inside Artec Studio for the Artec Eva and Leo handheld 3D scanner. If you want to see with your own eyes how amazing the quality of 3D scans it is capable of generating, register for this webinar to find out. We will show you the new AI-Powered HD mode and answer any questions you have.

Boost Scan Quality With AI-Powered Artec Eva

Duration: 1 Hour

This webinar is ideal for:

• Anyone looking for a powerful, all-purpose 3D scanner.
• Existing Artec customers who are looking to upgrade to Artec Studio 15.1 to make their Eva feel like a new 3D scanner!

You can watch the webinar on demand by filling the form below:

Artec Leo

Want to see the AI-Powered Artec Leo in action?

We’ll have a webinar dedicated to it in the coming weeks so stay tuned!

Alert Me

3D Inspection Webinar

Have you been looking to take the leap to improve your quality inspection process for your company but have a tight budget to do it? 3D Systems recently introduced two affordable editions for Geomagic Control X: Essentials and Essentials Connect.

How To Implement an Affordable 3D Inspection System

Duration: 1 Hour

This webinar is ideal for:

• Anyone looking to get started on scan-based inspection without a large investment.

You can watch the webinar on demand by filling the form below:

Why Attend?

As you start making plans for 2021, these webinar sessions can help you in finding the right 3D measurement solutions for any new projects or to expand your capabilities. Purchasing equipment by year-end will ensure you are off to a good start in the New Year.

You are welcome to attend both webinars! Looking forward to seeing you there!

The post Upcoming 3D Scanning and 3D Inspection Free Webinars In November appeared first on GoMeasure3D.

Looking for ways to improve quality at every step of your design and manufacturing processes? Geomagic Control X pinpoints the source of the issues quickly to help you manufacture better products.

The latest version of Geomagic Control X 2020 is here! The vision of this new version is to ensure quality everywhere. Measure more parts, more often, and in more places. New features and enhancements are there to help you ensure quality control across the entire organization, regardless of where your team or stakeholders are located—in the office, remotely, or anywhere in the world.

What is Geomagic Control X?

Geomagic Control X is the ultimate 3D inspection software for manufacturing that works with any 3D scanner or portable CMM. It’s a comprehensive solution that helps you make sense of complex measurement problems in an easy to understand format with color maps and reports.

The 3D metrology software compares 3D scanner data (which contains surface measurement data) of a manufactured part (a prototype, first-article, or finished goods) to a golden standard (a CAD model), to see if the part is manufactured according to specifications. If the part falls out of specified tolerance, Control X gives a complete picture as to exactly where the parts pass or fail. You have access to all the information to find the source of the issue and fix it immediately.

Geomagic Control X is also useful for wear and tear analysis. It pinpoints exactly where machined components need attention for maintenance by repairing or replacing them. As a result, it allows for fast resolution and downtimes in production are minimized.

Now that we’ve looked at the benefits to having this 3D inspection software, let’s dive into what Geomagic Control X 2020 has to offer.

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Geomagic Control X New Features and Enhancements

The new version of Control X boosts productivity, reliability, and traceability throughout the inspection process for your entire operation.

What’s New Geomagic Control X 2020 Feature Highlights:

Here’s a quick video overview of the new features and enhancements for Control X 2020:

Geomagic Control X 2020 Release Webinar:

If you have time and want to go more in-depth into Control X 2020, Gregory George (3D Systems Application Engineer Manager, Americas) does an excellent job explaining the features and demos them in his webinar.

Noteworthy Geomagic Control X Features:

There are many features and enhancements to this major release. Here, we’ll focus on some highlights to the Control X 3D inspection software featured in the webinar.

1. Free Inspection Viewer

   Fitting in line with the vision of Control X 2020, the latest version includes a free inspection viewer tool. This feature empowers anyone to freely share knowledge throughout your organization. While not everyone in your organization needs the full functionalities of Control X, it is a nice to be able to modify how reports are presented once you have all the source data from your colleague or staff. Improve communication across your organization that leads to better decision making.

   You can open full CXProj files and control the visibility of the data and how you want the information to be presented. All you have to do is installed as part of Control X, and it does not need a paid license to be launched.

   The free inspection viewer gives you the ability to:

   • edit display properties such as annotations and color bars
   • create your own reports from the data in the project file

2. New Portable CMM Probing Workflows

   The new version of Control X has 20 new geometry probing methods that can easily adapt to challenging feature construction inspection requirements.

   For example, it’s now easier to change construction methods on the fly while you are in the Live Inspect tool with different types of probing options.

   

   

   

   

3. Deviation Location

   Used primarily for aerospace and automotive surface analysis applications, the Deviation Location feature quickly and easily identifies, measures, and reports surface defects (ie. dents, corrosions, and other types of wear). Deviations are extracted from a surface normal and you have the ability to annotate different characteristics of them. It’s a very specialized tool that’s useful for finding where a surface is pitting or rusting (where and how deep) for defects of aerospace and automotive paneling, gas and oil pipelines, and other surface critical applications that require more precision.

   

   The enhanced feature now provides additional dimensioning options that measure the Major Length and Minor Width of a surface defect, relative to the defect shape, that provides a more precise size of the defect shape.

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Another Great Feature to Geomagic Control X:
Comprehensive GD&T Callouts

Geometric Dimensioning & Tolerancing (GD&T) plays an essential role to accurately measure parts because other forms of measurements can create Tolerance Stackup (When the effects of individual tolerances of each component add up to the final product). Some features can also be difficult to inspect by traditional measurement standards. GD&T provides a universal language for designers, operators, and people inspecting the manufactured parts to understand the design intent clearly so they all know how the part should really look like.

What’s great about Control X is that it includes extensive GD&T tools to analyze size, form, orientation, and location of features according to the ASME Y14.5M standard to make sure parts that pass inspection truly meet the design intent (and also in the meantime not rejecting good parts).

Geomagic Control X measures:

• Linear, angular, radial, elliptical, bore depth, counterbore, countersink, and thickness
• Straightness, flatness, circularity, cylindricity, parallelism, perpendicularity, angularity, position, concentricity, symmetry, line profile, surface profile, runout, and total runout

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Dental Application for Geomagic Control X

Geomagic Control X is known for its use mainly in the manufacturing and aerospace. However, dental students MUSC Dental School in Charleston, SC. found innovative ways to use this inspection software for medical applications. They created a step-by-step video on how to use Control X for dental research.

The video goes into depth on the tips and tricks of comparing scan data of dental models including:

• cleaning up the master model (reference data)
• importing measured data
• how to take linear measurements
• 3D compare to show deviation from scan data from the master model
• creating reports

This really highlights what Geomagic Control X excels at doing and its versatility. The 3D metrology software can easily compare a digitized version of a physical object and compare that against a standard.

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Want to understand how Geomagic Control X can benefit specifically for your organization?

80%

lower inspection cost

reported by Control X customers based on time and labor-saving

Get a free consultation to better understand how 3D inspection can help lower your inspection cost.

Book a Free Consultation Now

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Source: Information and screenshots taken from What’s New in Geomagic Control X Webinar by Gregory George, 3D Systems Application Engineer Manager, Americas. Check out Gregory’s YouTube channel for more great demos on Geomagic software including Geomagic For SOLIDWORKS and Geomagic Design X.

Discover Control X 2020 →

The post What’s New with Geomagic Control X 2020? [With Video Demos] appeared first on GoMeasure3D.

]]> https://gomeasure3d.com/blog/3d-inspection-how-to-use-a-3d-scanner-for-surface-deviation-analysis/ Tue, 08 Oct 2019 13:28:00 +0000 https://gomeasure3d.com/?p=13115 Learn why a 3D scanner is an invaluable measurement tool for conducting surface deviation analysis and the different types of 3D inspection that can be conducted with scan-to-inspection software.

The post 3D Inspection: How to Use a 3D Scanner for Surface Deviation Analysis appeared first on GoMeasure3D.

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There are many advantages to using a 3D scanner for surface deviation analysis. You can quickly scan a physical part into digital form. When used in conjunction with 3D inspection software, you can see within minutes how the part compares to a standard (typically a CAD file or a golden part).

Simply put, 3D inspection is a method of determining whether a part deviates from the norm.

Here’s a quick video explanation of the concept:

The goal is to quickly identify the problem areas to:

• Correctly fix the issue in the shortest amount of time, or
• Pass/Fail a manufactured part to maintain high-quality control standards (depending on set tolerances)

What are the different types of 3D inspection used for surface deviation analysis?

Using a 3D scanner to inspect surfaces for deviations is useful in many ways. The most common use cases generally fall into the following categories:

1. First Article Inspection
2. Determining Flatness or Imperfections
3. Wear and Tear Analysis
4. Warpage/Shrinkage in the Part

1. First Article Inspection (FAI)

   First article inspection is a thorough analysis of the first batch of goods created in production. It ensures the manufacturing process is set up correctly to prevent any major issues down the road.

   First article inspection is the first line of defense for quality control in the production process. The process examines the first batch of manufactured goods to see if they meet design, engineering, and technical specifications. If issues do arise during this stage, the scan-to-inspection process can quickly identify and pinpoint any issues. It’s a proactive measure to ensure that problems don’t escalate with the manufacturing process when it goes into full production.

   How It Works

   A 3D scanner captures a manufactured part into a digital 3D model with known measurements. 3D inspection software compares the scanned data against the CAD model. The color map indicates precisely where the areas are within tolerance (green) and also areas out of tolerance (lows and highs) to identify areas that need to be examined more closely.

   Step 1:

   The manufactured product is converted into a digital 3D form with the help of a 3D scanner. The scan data is then imported inside a 3D inspection software such as Geomagic Control X in this example.

   

   Step 2:

   CAD data (design file) is used to compare against the scan data of manufactured product to check for deviations.

   

   Step 3:

   The two models overlay each other and millions of measurements are checked against the CAD model. Measurement deviations in the form of a color map are used to understand where and how much the variations occur.

   

   

   Step 4:

   A detailed traceability report, including full GD&T and root cause analysis, provides the information and insights you need to further drill down in figuring out how to solve the problem.

   

   

   7X faster

   3D scanning and inspecting parts with Geomagic Control X is up to 7x faster than with a traditional CMM

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   80% lower

   Geomagic Control X customers report up to 80% lower inspection costs based on time and labor savings

   

   Source: 3D Systems

   Manufacturing problems can be quickly identified using 3D inspection which can result in huge time and cost savings.

   From experience, common issues often stem from the equipment or the material(s) being used to manufacture the product.

2. Determining Flatness or Imperfections

   

   When machining materials like steel or cutting glass, manufacturers want to make sure with certainty that the production process doesn’t produce imperfections that would affect the overall quality of the product.

   

   Some manufacturing imperfections are difficult to detect with the sense of touch or seen with the naked eye. 3D inspection empowers you to analyze surfaces in ways that are not capable of using human senses alone.

   You can also use a 3D scanner to measure flatness on a surface with a given tolerance or where the part deviates (streaking or small bumps) that would otherwise be difficult to trace.

   Fixing the issue normally entails fixing the machine or switching out the tooling component to a different brand.

3. Wear and Tear Analysis

   

   Simple wear and tear applications consists of scanning the part before and after use.

   Here is a video demonstration using a 3D scanner for wear and tear analysis.

   The outcome of the wear and tear analysis determines:

   1. Exactly where your part is warped or damaged during its use. You can repair the part of where the wear and tear occurs so it can last longer.
   2. If the part is damaged past the point of repair, the test would indicate that you would need to replace the part.

   Typically stationary scanners are best for inspection applications, but for use cases where the part cannot be moved, a handheld 3D scanner like the Artec Spider is a good option.

4. Shrinkage/Warpage

   

   Shrinkage/Warpage is a huge concern for companies that manufacture through metal cast molding, plastic injection molding, and 3D printing.

   A common application we see is a manufacturer creates a product using plastic injection molding. The raw material, the plastic, is first heated, put into the mold, and then cooled. When the final product is produced, there is a noticeable shrinkage in the manufactured product caused by temperature change. Once this change is identified, you can either adjust for the shrinkage beforehand during the design process, or alter the way that the part is physically being manufactured.

   By finding where the shrinkage occurs, manufacturers are able to determine how to compensate for the shrinkage.

   Corrections can be fixed by identifying:

   1. If the right amount of material is being used (whether it be too much or too little)
   2. If the injection points on the mold are causing an issue
   3. Or if there is a need for a design change

   Another way to do this is if you have a watertight model of the manufactured part, you can inspect the overall volume of that part using 3D scanning software or 3D inspection software. This inspection can also tell you if your parts are either heating up and or cooling correctly after they are manufactured. At the same time, it also gives the manufacturer an idea of how much material is being used during the manufacturing process.

   Here is an example that illustrates this application is found in the case study where specialty material is used in 3D printing. When compared to the CAD model after it’s been manufactured, deviations are spotted when compared to the CAD model. You can fix this issue by knowing why it occurs and compensating it to correct the issue.

   

   Evaluating the Accuracy of a 3D Printed Part Against the CAD Model

   Read case study

Got A 3D Inspection Challenge You’re Looking to Solve?

Different companies have their own set of unique challenges when they are looking to inspect their parts for surface deviations. At GoMeasure3D, we love to hear how we can help you with your project that requires 3D inspection.

Talk to one of our 3D scanning specialists and they will be happy to have a personal consultation to help you.

The post 3D Inspection: How to Use a 3D Scanner for Surface Deviation Analysis appeared first on GoMeasure3D.

You’ve spent countless hours doing the research and have come to the conclusion that having a 3D scanner will help you tremendously with your work. Now it’s time to approach your manager in order to give you the green light on the purchase.

The only problem now is to convince upper management that this 3D scanner purchase will turn out to be a great investment for your company.

How do you present the value of a 3D scanner so they will approve?

Good news! We’re here to help.

We developed a guide that shows the benefits of investing in a 3D scanner specifically for reverse engineering and quality inspection applications.

The post [NEW GUIDE] Making a Case to Your Boss: Why Invest in a 3D Scanner? appeared first on GoMeasure3D.