3D Scanning Intro with Kinect & Skanect

Starting out in 3D scanning using Kinect

In this post we talk a bit about our entry into the 3D scanning world, & why I ultimately settled on MANctl's Skanect 1.5 as the choice.

A quick intro to 3D scanning:

You need a 3D scanner such as Asus Xtion or Microsoft Kinect scanner (both the Windows or XBox versions are fine)

Ideally, you want a PC with built in graphics that comes with OpenCL drivers, but that is not compulsary.

Thre are 2 ways most programs go about it, they either rely on your CPU, or on your GPU.

For CPU based scanning, I hihgly recommend a grunty quad core with atleast 4 GB of RAM & Win 7 - trust me you'll need ram for this. I use 8GB & the performance is very good.

For GPU, you'll need OpenCl set up. Back in the day, OpenGL was the thing to look for, now OpenCL seems to be it. But again, you dont need it. Another reason why I chose Skanect, & not Reconstruct Me.

Top contenders & Free tools

ReconstructMe, Skanect & KinectFusion project seem to be the hype but a new free product the FARO Scenect is getting a lot of attention.
FARO's free version is quite hard to use in my opinion, & in my case it failed to actually start despite following instruction carefully. It insisted it couldnt find my XBOX kinect, despite Skanect finding it ok & the correct set of drivers installed.

Why I chose Skanect:

If you dont want the long & short of it, heres why.