3D Scanning With Microsoft Kinect

So you have a 3D printer. You have run out of things to print from Thingiverse and are looking for something new.

Why don't you 3D scan your own objects and print miniature versions?!?

With a cheap 3D scanner you could recreate objects in your house to make a miniature doll house for your kids, or tiny versions of your family to keep on your desk, the possibilities are almost endless.

Step 1: Step 1: What You Will Need

• XBOX 360 Kinect Sensor
• Kinect USB-to-PC power adaptor
• Laptop or PC with:
  • graphics card capable of OpenCL or Cuda2.0
    
  • minimum of 2Gb RAM
  • plenty of hard drive space
• 3D scanning software:
  
  • Skanect
  • ReconstructMe

Step 2: Step 2: Setup for Scanning

Download and install the Kinect for Windows SDK.

Plug in your Kinect sensor and wait for windows to detect the device.

Install your chosen 3D scanning software and go to step 3.

Step 3: Step 3: Configure Your Software

Each software has its own unique settings and features and you will need to have a bit of a play to find out what works best for you and your PC.

Generally you want to set bounding box dimensions so you dont scan a too large of an area and increase the scanning resolution depending on the object you are scanning and the quality of the end product you want.

Step 4: Step 4: Scan You Object (or Person)

If you are scanning a person you can put them on a giant sized lazy susan, or better just walk around them with the kinect. Make sure to angle the kinect up and down as you scan them to fill in all the gaps like on the top of their head.

Once the scanning is complete each software package has an option to fill in the model and close any gaps left.

If you chose it your scanned data will include both the volume and colour data and you can now have a full colour 3D print made at a company like Shapeways. Or if you went for the basic scan you can print it on your own 3D printer or a local supplier found on 3DHubs.

I hope you enjoyed this instructable.

Happy scanning!