3D scanner Occipital Structure Sensor: digitize yourself (friend, wife, dog)

Do you know what they can integrate into the seventh iPhone? Infa, of course, is not 100%, but inside the new Apple smartphone with a fairly high degree of probability, something like a 3D scanner may appear. However, if they do not have time to build such a sensor into the "seven", well, then it will be in the iPhone 8.

Why is there an easy confidence? In addition to the growing interest in 3D printing, which, as you know, goes hand in hand with 3D scanning, there is other evidence. For example, have you probably heard about a company like PrimeSense? It was her experts who developed the iron for Kinect in due time. Do you remember who bought PrimeSense at the end of 2013 for some $ 350 million?

However, what are we all about Apple, but about Apple? They still did not even bother to integrate a 3D scanner into their devices. That has companies like Occipital do everything for the village residents spilled Coop e Rtina (sarcasm!).



Although their Structure Sensor looks like a high-tech growth on the back of the iPad, this device really works, which we managed to verify for ourselves. By the way, inside the 3D scanner there is an infrared sensor from PrimeSense. But this is so, by the way.

According to an ancient legend, at the end of two thousand and eleven, Occipital employees decided to make Kinect mobile together. What then did for a year and a half. In the fall of 2013, the company planned to raise money for the Structure Sensor project using Kickstarter - and hit a jackpot of one million and almost three hundred thousand US dollars. The first batch of devices was sent out at the beginning of 2014, and now this sensor can also be purchased at the expanses of the Immense if you wish.



Inside the Structure Sensor - an infrared laser that paints everything around with a pattern of invisible points, an infrared sensor, infrared illumination and a completely ordinary battery - the device is autonomous, runs on a single charge for 3-4 hours and can be in standby mode for 1000 hours.



Working distance: 40 cm - 3.5 m
Accuracy: 1% of the working distance
Resolution: VGA (640x480) / QVGA (320x240)
Frame rate:
30/60 frames / s Viewing angle: horizontal - 58˚, vertical - 45˚
Battery: work - 3-4 hours, standby - 1000 h
Operating temperature - 0-35 ° C
Dimensions, weight: 119.2x27.9x29 mm, 95 g
Price: 20 000 rub.

The sensor itself is screwed with four screws to the bracket, which then clings to the iPad. After that, the scanner and tablet are connected through a special cable. By the way, today Occipital officially supports 4th-generation iPads, iPad Air and iPad mini with Retina displays - each of them has its own mounting bracket. In the future, all Apple gadgets with a Lightning connector.







But Android users are asked not to worry. Joke! Occipital promotes the idea of ​​open source drivers, distributes software development packages, supports open CAD specifications, and sells the hacker cable separately - in other words, encourages enthusiasts who can create their own unique applications on other platforms.

If you are interested in the mechanism of action of Structure Sensor. The device uses structured lighting - an infrared laser source applies a special invisible dot pattern to objects in front of the scanner. At the same time, the infrared sensor detects pattern distortion in VGA resolution - when you move the iPad, the 3D scanner creates a depth map for the scene and the objects inside it.

We pass to the most interesting. Today in the App Store you can find several free applications developed within the walls of Occipital, as well as one really cool program from the Russian - yes, you heard right - the company Itseez.



Let's start with the simplest. All applications from Occipital are somehow designed to demonstrate the capabilities of their scanner. For example, the main application - Structure - creates visualization in three modes - infrared, with the display of the depth of the scene, and combined, when the image obtained from the iPad camera is combined with artificial coloring depending on the distance to the objects.





There is an option that demonstrates the gaming potential of the gadget. By launching the Fetch application, you can chase a cat-skateboarder for a yellow ball. First you need to scan the space around - the real world will become part of the virtual game scene. The cat can then be moved within predetermined limits, evading obstacles.



The Scanner application helps to scan an object and then view it in different modes or send a 3D file by mail (PLY or OBJ formats). Room Capture - the same as Scanner, but optimized for scanning rooms. By the way, if everything turns out to be quite simple with objects - when moving around them, the surface of the future 3D model is filled with gray - then to get a more or less acceptable result when scanning the room you have to sweat (in the latter case, we would recommend using a tripod).







Calibrator and Viewer programs are auxiliary utilities that you can skip without a twinge of conscience (Calibrator helps to adjust the accuracy of the image overlay from the tablet’s camera and scanner, and Viewer displays three video streams on the iPad and is very similar to the Structure application described above) - and go to the program from the Nizhny Novgorod company Itseez. To begin with, we had to be smart. The mounting bracket for the test sample was suitable only for iPad mini, and the strength of the existing instance was not enough to work with Itseez3D ... In general, masking tape, double-sided tape together with iPad Air did a miracle!



The application can work in two modes - scanning objects or a person. On the one hand, everything is simple: to separate an object from the background, you need to place magazines or newspapers around, and then, focusing on the progress bar, go around the object around, periodically fixing the tablet with the scanner fixed in space (it is at these moments that the tablet scanner makes another “Snapshot”, which is immediately sent for processing). On the other hand, without certain skills, it may turn out to be something like an annihilated iron (see below). But after an hour of training, everything looked much better (see even below).







Scan a person - Itseez3D does what videographers call a "milk" plan - a little easier. For example, there is no need to encircle an object with printed matter - it is enough for the program to recognize the face of the subject and then catch it in a green frame. We smoothly walk around (without fixing) the object in a circle, do not forget to remove the crown - then the resulting 3D model must be rendered on the company's servers. And then - you can brag to your friends by scrolling through the resulting object on the screen of a tablet or laptop. Or print yourself as a loved one on a 3D printer.









Based on the results of the two-day picking of Structure Sensor, let's be honest: for ordinary users, this is a two-day toy. But if you are a developer who believes in the triumph of technology, if you, any trendsetter, or at least bought a 3D printer at a low price, then Structure Sensor must definitely replenish your gadget arsenal. Say what you like, but this device, despite a lot of glitches and a small assortment of applications, perfectly demonstrates what can become real tomorrow. And it is worth a lot.

PS Video illustration of the above - video “3D-scanner Structure Sensor: digitize (friend, wife, dog)” on our YouTube channel Geek to the Future

PPS We dragged the dog (in the title) for the sake of a red word - you can certainly scan a live dog, but the results are likely to turn out to be very unpredictable - it is unlikely that the animal can sit for 20-30 seconds without movement ...