Hi Friends! 3D Sensor Scanner Device strapped onto my iPad drew more than a few stares. It hugged two opposing corners and added an oblong silver-and-glass mound to the back with what looked like a blinking, red laser eye."It’s the Structure Sensor," I explained, and it allows any iPad with a lightning connector to scan and import 3D images of rooms, objects and people. It’s kind of like a mobile Microsoft Kinect sensor for your tablet.Occipital bills Structure Sensor as the World’s first 3D sensor for mobile devices. That’s true, for now. Google’s Project Tango includes tablets and phones that can create real-time 3D maps of your environment. Tango, however, does not appear close to commercialization.
Structure Sensor (and SDK), which was born as Kickstarter project in 2013, is marching closer to commercial availability. It now has pricing and a small array of homegrown and third-party apps that show off the device’s powerful 3D-image scanning capabilities, and its potential to do much, much more. Google’s Tango project, the Structure Sensor is really a 3D scanning add-on for iPads (and laptops and desktops, if you buy the optional $39 USB cable, though it won't be able to take advantage of the iPad's camera). The included bracket will let you use it effectively with your iPad, and the scanning device attaches to it with four tiny screws. I hope the future implementations allow it to snap on and off.I tested one of the first units and the handful of apps that Occipital sent with it and came away impressed.
Scanner is adjacent to the tablet’s built-in camera, it critically doesn’t cover it. The power/sleep button does get covered, but an extender on the bracket gives you access to the button.In order for the scanner to communicate with the iPad (and any Structure Sensor-ready apps you’re running on it), you need to use the included short white cable the goes from the sensor's proprietary port to the iPad’s lighting power and data port.There’s also a power jack on the sensor, but you’ll only need that to charge up the scanner’s onboard batteries, which are rated to run for up to four hours of scanning.
HOW TO USE FOR iPAD 3D SCANNING:
Occipital’s Structure Sensor works much the way a Kinect sensor does: Its laser projector (which you can see if you stare directly at the face of the scanner) bathes the area and objects in a mesh of dots that the companion infrared camera uses to read for shapes and distance. Since it doesn't have a color camera, Structure Sensor uses the iPad's camera, and the bracket actually puts the device's sensors in perfect alignment with it a necessity for precise 3D scanning.According to Occipital, the device reads at approximately 30 frames per second in VGA resolution and, if close enough to the subject, with sub-millimeter precision. In my experience, the process of scanning an object and having the 3D representation appear on screen is quite fast and shockingly accurate.
Scanning an object so you can 3D print it later, especially if you need a replacement part at some point, is pretty smart. Occipital imagines people might use it for body scanning (to help fitness apps better track your performance) and immersive video games that, once you’ve scanned yourself or a friend, put you in the action.
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