Matter and Form 3D Scanner User Manual
Table of Contents Our Roots ............................................................................................................................................................ 2 Legal & Safety Stuff ........................................................................................................................................ 3 Laser Stuff .........................................................................................................................................................
The Best of Two Exposures ................................................................................................................................. 54 Scanner Tab .................................................................................................................................................... 55 Bed Resolution ............................................................................................................................................................
Our Roots We are designers and programmers from Toronto who needed a high-res 3D scanner but couldn’t afford one, so we built our own. Determined to help others enhance their creative, professional and recreational lives, we launched a recordbreaking Indiegogo campaign backed by designers, architects, hobbyists, gamers, teachers and creative families.
Legal & Safety Stuff These instructions provide important information concerning the proper operation of the product. Only use this product after carefully reading the operating instructions included with the product and all warnings and labels on the product packaging, including the manual and any separately included sheets. Only use this product with the included accessories and the included power adapter. Do not use this product or any Matter and Form Inc.
designed to provide reasonable protection against harmful interference in a residential installation. This equipment generates, uses and can radiate radio frequency energy and, if not installed and used in accordance with the instructions, may cause harmful interference to radio communications. However, there is no guarantee that interference will not occur in a particular installation.
Inside the Box Thank you for purchasing the Matter and Form 3D Scanner. Included in your box, you'll find: 1. One (1) Matter and Form 3D Scanner 2. One (1) AC Power Adapter 3. Four (4) Interchangeable Power Adapter Plugs (set of 4 international) 4. One (1) USB B Cable 5. One (1) Calibration Box 6. Set-up Manual 7. Electronics Documentation The scanner also features a removable plug in the center of the turntable bed.
Getting Started 6
Connecting the Scanner Once the scanner and accessories have been unboxed, the first step is to connect the scanner to your computer by following the connecting instructions in the Set-up Manual or the following: 1. Plug the USB Type A connector end into the computer; 2. Plug the USB Type B connector end into the scanner; 3. Connect the power cable to the scanner and plug the power cable into a surge protector; 4. Download the software from www.matterandform.net/download.
Using the Software From the Matter and Form software homepage, users can select to create a new scan, open recent scans, calibrate the scanner or open the scan viewer.
Calibrating the Scanner Calibrating the scanner may be the single most important step to take in order to get good results. Calibrating your scanner on a regular basis ensures that you get the most accurate results from your scan. To calibrate: 1. Make sure your scanner is connected to your computer and powered on. 2. Open the Matter and Form scanner software. 3. There are three options on the left on the start screen. Click "Calibrate" to start the calibration process. On Windows: On Mac: 4.
5. The scanner will rotate the calibration box left and right on the turntable, firing its lasers and collecting a range of data. Please be patient. This process can take several minutes. 6. Once the first step of calibration is done, follow the instructions for Calibration Step 2 and move the calibration box forward. Click "Continue Calibration" when the box is in its new position. 7. The scanner will rotate and fire its lasers again. Be patient and avoid moving the box.
8. If your calibration is interrupted or fails, an error message should appear. Here are a few examples of the possible error messages one could see: If you receive any of the above Calibration Failed messages, try the action suggested in the message and try to calibrate again. If a step in calibration takes longer than 30 minutes, stop the calibration and try again or contact support@matterandform.net for tips and assistance. 9.
Preparing to Scan in Windows 1. Click on “New Scan” to begin. 2. Select Object Color Options - The software will now give you a choice of object Color options: Single-Colored, Multi-Colored or Advanced. Single-Colored and Multi-Colored are both automatic settings while Advanced opens manual controls. Most users will find that the automatic settings of the scanner are more than adequate for their scanning purposes.
To figure out whether one should pick the Single-Colored or Multi-Colored option, use the following chart: 13
3. Click on your selection. 4. The scan viewer screen will open. Place your object on the scanner bed. 5. Click the “Scan” button, located at the top left. If you selected “Single-Colored”, the scanner will now tune for lighting, object shape and object Color. Skip to Step 10. If you selected “Multi-Colored”, the Scan Viewer will show you the camera feed of the scanner bed. The laser that tunes for lighter Colors and the red spectrum Colors of the Color wheel will flash on.
6. Looking at the camera feed, position the object so that the laser line passes over the lighter Colored area by using the Rotate Right or Rotate Left buttons provided on screen or moving the object by hand. 7. Click “Confirm Lightest Color”. The software will conduct the tuning process to determine the best exposure for the light Colored area. 8. Repeat Step 6 for the darker or blue spectrum Colored area of the object. 9. Click “Confirm Darkest Color”.
2. The Preferences window will open. 3. To change settings to allow for Multi-Color or black and white scanning, click “Enable high contrast scanning”. 4. Close Preferences window. 5. Place your object on the scanner bed and click “New Scan” to begin. 6. The Scan Viewer screen will open. Tuning and optimizing will begin immediately.
7. Once tuning is done, scanning starts. Users can watch the scan in process on the main window and also see the camera view by clicking on “Details”. 8. Sit back and relax as the scanner does the rest! 9. If you wish to stop the scan for whatever reason, click “Pause” near the progress bar. You will have the option to resume scanning or finish the scan with an option to save the scan or not. Rotating, Zooming In and Panning Users can rotate, zoom in or move the scan on the screen (i.e.
To RESET VIEW: After clicking the view window, press the "c" key on your keyboard.
Doing More with the Scanner 19
Saving and Exporting a Scan Once the scan has completed, users will be prompted to save the finished, rough scan. We recommend that users save their rough scans before exporting to a different file format or cleaning. For more information on how to clean a scan, see “Cleaning a Scan” (p. 22) To save as a .MFCX file: 1. Click “Save Now”. 2. Enter file name. 3. Click “Save”. To export the scan in a different file format: 1.
Windows: Mac: 2. Select the file format you wish to export as; 3. Enter the file name for the new export; 4. Click “Save”. When saving or exporting your scan as a meshed object (i.e. as an OBJ or STL file), you are prompted to ‘Perform Mesh’, with the option to enter your desired “Octree” and “Degree” settings. Changing these settings will impact the time it takes to mesh your scan and the level of detail the mesh will contain.
Cleaning a Scan During scanning, the scanner can sometimes pick up and add unintended points to the scan. The cause of these points can be reflections off the surface of the object or captured background movement, objects or reflections, amongst other things. In response, we developed cleaning tools to help remove those unwanted points. It is critical that you clean prior to meshing. In Windows software, the scan will also often capture the scanner turntable.
2. Clean tools will appear on the right. There are two major options: Crop on the top and Auto Clean on the bottom. 3. Cropping removes all points outside an area you specify. Use the sliders (click and drag or use your arrow buttons) to control how much of the image you want to crop out. Points will highlight in red when they are in the cut off area. The top slider removes points from the bottom up. While the bottom slider crops points away from the center.
4. Click "Apply" to apply crop cleaning. The errant points have now been mostly removed. 5. Zooming in and rotating the scan reveals that there are still some errant points remaining near the lip of the vase.
6. Tip: Save your scan at this point by clicking "Export" from the Tool Bar and select "MFCX – Project File" so you can come back to this version of your scan in case Auto Clean removes too many good points as well as bad. 7. To get rid of the remaining errant points, set the Radius and Threshold tolerances and click “Auto Clean”. The software automatically "cleans" what it determines are outlier points. Radius refers to the number of points surrounding each evaluated point in a scan.
default values (Radius: 3, Threshold: 2.0) were used to clean the above example scan. 8. Save your cleaned scan or export to a different file format. Cleaning Scans in Mac Below is an example of a raw scan of a small vase. Example scan in Mac: To get rid of these unwanted points, the software has a “Clean” function. 1. Click the "Clean" button on the tool bar. 2. Clean tools will appear on the right.
Example of bottom up cropping: Example of top down cropping: 27
3. Save your cleaned scan as an MFCX file and/or export to a different file format. Combining Scans The software allows you to join two separate scans into one 3D file with the help of the Combine tool in Windows and Align tool in Mac. This is a helpful tool for instances where features of an object have been missed because of the scanning angle. For example, in the previous section with the vase, features on the bottom and top of the vase were missed. By performing another scan at a different angle (i.e.
Note the plasticine used to prop up and secure the vase to the bed on its side in the scan on the left. The plasticine was then cropped away in the cleaning process so that it would not appear in the final 3D file. Combining scans is an automatic process that uses mathematical algorithms to identify key points in two different scans. It lines up those key points so each individual scan can snap in place over top of another scan. 1. Open an existing and cleaned MFCX file.
4. Click “Choose File” to select the cleaned file you’d like to combine with. 5. Click “Open”. The automatic combining process will begin. Depending on the size and complexity of your scan files, this may take a few minutes. 6. When the combining bar disappears, the combining process is complete. The two scans are now combined. In our sample, the vase now has a fully captured bottom and top. Note the crisscrossing rows of points indicating where the two scans have overlapped in this zoomed in image. 7.
In Windows, if your scan combine fails, you can re-try the combination by selecting the checkbox “Apply additional processing. Improves chance of success, but takes longer.” Before you choose the file you would like to combine with. This will flag the software to attempt to find the key points with more iterations of review and may achieve a better result.
The Basics of 3D Scanning 32
How Our 3D Scanner Works The Matter and Form 3D Scanner is a laser-based scanner. Laser scanners work by shining a laser at an object, using a camera to capture data that is returned from the laser hitting the surface of an object and then using software to stitch all that data together. On the Matter and Form scanner, as the lasers pass over the surface of an object, data is generated at a rate of approximately 2,000 points per second.
What Happens During a Scan The scanner uses two lasers to scan small to medium sized objects placed on its rotating bed. One rotation provides 360° coverage of an object. For some small objects, one full rotation (or pass) is enough to scan the whole thing. In order to capture larger objects, the scanner’s head rises and automatically detects whether there is more of the object to scan.
Single-Color vs. Multi-Color Scanning The difference between the Single- and Multi-Colored scanning options is in the number of camera exposures used to detect the lasers. Single-Colored scans use one camera exposure for laser detection, whereas Multi-Colored scans use two camera exposures. To choose the best option for the object you want to scan, determine if your object’s colors are contrasting, or if they are close to the same spectrum.
Some people have set up outstanding lighting rigs with light boxes or LED arrays, but you can still get great scan results using fluorescent overhead lighting or regular incandescent lighting.
3D Scanner Terms 37
File Format Information Besides our MFCX file format, there are several other file formats that all have unique attributes and can be used for a variety of purposes: FILE TYPE MFCX (project file) XYZ (point cloud) PLY (point cloud) OBJ (meshed) STL (meshed) 38 DESCRIPTION Matter and Form Inc’s proprietary file format that is the quickest and easiest format to use while utilizing Matter and Form’s software.
Point Cloud Basics A point cloud is a set of data points in a coordinate system. In a threedimensional coordinate system, these points represent the external surface of an object and are usually defined by X, Y, and Z coordinates. There are five essential terms that are used to describe elements of a given point cloud: vertices, edges, faces, polygons and surfaces. Vertices A vertex is a position. It includes additional information such as Color, normal vector, and texture coordinates.
Octree & Degree When you’re saving or exporting your scan as a meshed object (i.e. as an OBJ or STL file), you are prompted to enter in your desired “Octree” and “Degree” settings. These are fairly complex subjects, but after experimenting you will get a feel for how these two settings affect the final meshed object. Octree Depth: Octrees help the computer organize the points of a 3D object very efficiently.
Octrees and the Stanford Bunny This image depicts an octree setting of 5, but also includes octree settings of 1 and 3 for demonstration purposes (the larger boxes are lower octree settings) SOURCE: https://devtalk.nvidia.com/default/topic/609551/par allel-programming-education/my-cudaprogramming-lecture-and-teaching-of-poissonparallel-surface-reconstruction-in-a-summer-scho/ Degree: Each Octree cube has a collection of points.
Advanced Scanning 42
Introduction Advanced scanning grew out of the research and development we conducted when we were building the scanner software. We needed a way to control the fundamental aspects of the scanner and visualize the results, so we could understand what worked and what didn’t. The main screen scanning options - “Single-Colored” and “Multi-Colored” - both codify and encapsulate the knowledge we gained through using the advanced features.
Cam Feed Tab The Cam Feed tab shows what the camera is seeing. At the bottom there is a checkbox “Throttle Camera Feed (Use during scanning on a slow computer)”. When this is checked, only one in four images from the camera actually get displayed; the others are discarded in order to lower CPU usage. It doesn’t affect the scan. However, if you have a very slow computer, keeping this checked to reduce the strain on the CPU is a good idea.
static rather than a straight solid or nearly solid line), you’ve found the exposure that will give you the best scan results for the object. Manual Control Tab Manual Control tab w/ Color Detection tab selected Manual Control tab w/ Laser Detection tab selected The Manual Control tab is where you pick the camera exposure for capturing the Color of the object, and for capturing the laser lines.
Color Detection The goal of Color Capture Exposure is to find the exposure where the object’s colors appear realistically. You want an exposure that shows the Colors on the object in a bright but not overexposed manner. Move the slider left or right to see the result in the Cam Feed. On the next two pages, examples will be given on what to look for when manually adjusting Color settings.
Example 1: Picking the best exposure for Color Here are three examples of Color capture adjustments. As you can see in the images below, the second one is the best choice. It’s bright, but not so bright that it’s turning white. The Color capture on a scan with this exposure will result in a fairly dark object. White looks grey. This is a good choice for color. This is overexposed.
Example 2: When the choice isn’t clear Sometimes you might find that the difference between two exposures doesn’t give you a strong impression about which is the better choice for Color. There isn’t necessarily a wrong choice in this instance, either one will probably be OK. We recommend that a good way to help decide is to look at the white area of the scanner that holds the scan bed (seen at the bottom of the Cam Feed screen). In which of the exposures does it appear clearest? Choose that one.
Laser Detection The exposure of the camera has major ramifications on the quality of the final scan. The basic rule is that the dark-colored areas of the object will need a bright camera exposure and the light-colored areas of the object will need a dark camera exposure in order to best detect laser lines firing at the surface of the object. The Laser Detection tab has two sliders, and one checkbox. The top slider (called Laser Detection Exposure) is used to set the primary laser exposure.
Example 3: Picking the Best Laser Exposure The best exposure in this set of images is the middle one. You have a nice solid line, with no gaps, and no dotted line effect. In this image the two laser lines have gaps in the middle. This is an area where the software is not able to pick out the laser in the image. Here the gaps are closed. This is a good set of laser lines. Here, the laser line on the left is starting to disintegrate. It looks more like a dotted line than a solid line.
Example 4: Picking the best laser exposure As we experiment with different laser exposures for this wooden block, pictured to the left, the wrong choices are apparent. Exposures 0, -1 and -5 all give broken lines with lots of gaps. Removing them leaves -2, -3 and -4, and they’re all comparable. So how do you choose the “best” of two or three exposures when they are more or less the same? The best choice in a case like this is to choose the highest value exposure, which in this case is -2.
High Contrast Scanning High Contrast Scanning is a method that we developed in order to capture the best data possible when scanning objects that had more than one Color present. During development, we discovered that black and white objects or objects with contrasting Colors were difficult to scan. Exposure tuning for one Color would mean that areas on the opposite end of the spectrum would scan poorly or not at all.
Example 5: Setting High Contrast Laser Detection Exposure Some models cannot be scanned with only one laser exposure. A great example is these little blocks of clay. The bottom one is white, the middle is blue, the top grey. Let’s take a look at the laser lines found at some different exposures. High contrast colors: grey and white both contrast with blue. Here you can see the laser lines when a darker exposure is selected. The white and grey blocks show nice lines, but the blue isn’t there.
Here you can see the laser lines when a lighter exposure is selected. The white and grey blocks don’t show up, but the blue block has a nice laser line. The Best of Two Exposures To solve the problem in example 5, we must use High Contrast Scanning. It provides the means to combine the best laser detection from two exposures, so you can capture more of the object. To use it: 1. Under the Manual Control tab, click on the Laser Detection tab to start the laser detection process. 2.
Scanner Tab This tab contains a checkbox labelled “Enable Movement Override”. When checked, two sliders are enabled, “Bed Resolution” and “Head Step Resolution”. These sliders allow you to specify the degree of bed rotation and the number of millimeters the head will move during the manual scan process, overriding the automatic settings built into the software. Bed Resolution The larger the degree of bed rotation, the faster your scan will go, and the less detail you will capture.
The regular scan process uses “Adaptive Bed Rotation”, which means that each new set of points is reviewed to determine how far the model has rotated since the previous set of points. If there is a large distance between the two sets of points, the bed will rotate back and capture data between the two sets of points. This helps ensure that as much of the model is captured as is physically possible. Changing the bed rotation degree size overrides Adaptive Bed Rotation.
If You’re on a Mac The high contrast scanning, bed movement control, laser exposure and Color exposure settings are available in Mac but there is no viewer window to aid in setting the values. Please note that these features will be completely changed in the upcoming UX overhaul with more user friendly controls added. In the “Scan” menu, click on Preferences. In the Preferences window, choose the General tab.
(Note: The facility to separately set the camera exposure for laser 1 and 2 is experimental and hasn’t proven to provide any advantage to a single exposure setting for both lasers. This may be removed in the new UX.) The exposures run in the range of 2 to 2500, where 2500 is the brighter and 2 is the darker exposure.
Troubleshooting 59
Introduction We will say this upfront… bad scans can happen. Anyone who has spent time scanning objects with a 3D scanner knows the frustration of setting up a scan, waiting for it to finish and then coming back when it’s done only to find that there are giant holes of missing data or the object has fallen over mid scan. These setbacks can be overcome, however, if we keep in mind a few key principles.
Bad Lighting Proper lighting plays a key role in producing quality scans. Insufficient or improper lighting directly affects the data that the scanner picks up from the object. To illustrate this point, we scanned a Red Delicious apple under different lighting conditions. For detailed information on proper lighting, see The Importance of Lighting (p. 35). Scan Result Lighting Condition Too Bright 12” from a window on a bright, sunny day Note the gaps in the surface of the scan.
By keeping in mind the optimal lighting condition discussed in The Importance of Lighting (p. 35), we can produce much better scans of the exact same object.
Calibration Ensuring your scanner is properly calibrated has a tremendous impact on your scan’s geometric accuracy. Failure to calibrate directly impairs the accuracy of the scanned object’s point cloud as it is being constructed, distorting the final scan. The solution is to calibrate and re-calibrate as needed. Even a small movement in the scanner’s placement can affect its calibration and, consequently, its precision.
Inadequate Exposure and/or Missing Points Objects that have stark, contrasting colors necessitate different camera exposures and might prove difficult during automatic “tuning.” Tuning is the process by which the software determines the best camera exposure for capturing the color of the object and the best exposure for capturing where the laser is hitting the object. Repositioning the object on the turntable so the camera can tune to a different side of the object might resolve this problem.
Errant Points and/or Background Noise The scanner was designed with busy workplaces in mind: people walking by workspaces while scanning is underway, conversations happening over desks where scanners are working. A defining component and feature of our scanner is its “cleaning” functions that enable users to erase unwanted points. (See Cleaning a Scan (p. 22) for more detail on how to clean.
Black or Missing Scans On occasion, users have started to scan an object only to have the object turn into a solid black mass and/or a single black dot. A vase converted into a black mass during scanning. A vase converted into a single black dot during scanning These problems are typically a result of the user’s computer not having enough memory or capacity to process the scan and mesh correctly, or because there is an issue with the graphics card driver.
5. Find the line “”. The number is the number points the software will display. The default is 3.5 million points. 6. Change “3500000” to a lower number (i.e. “1500000”. The range of usable display information is from a low of 1 million points (1000000) to a high of 5 million points (5000000). 7. Save the changes to the file, close the Config file and relaunch the MF software. 8. Open your point cloud files, mesh and combine using the new settings.
Copyright © 2015 Matter and Form Inc. Matter and Form and the MF logo are trademarks of Matter and Form Inc. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced in any form without the written permission of Matter and Form Inc.
