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

Do you know what they can build into the seventh iPhone? Infa, of course, is not 100%, but with a fairly high degree of probability, something like a 3D scanner may appear inside the new Apple smartphone. 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 a light confidence? In addition to the growing interest in 3D printing, which is known to go hand in hand with 3D scanning, there is other evidence. For example, have you heard of a company like PrimeSense? It was her experts who developed the iron for Kinect. Do you remember who bought PrimeSense at the end of 2013 for some $ 350 million?
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However, what are we all about Apple, yes about Apple? They have not even bothered to embed it into their devices even a 3D scanner. So, companies like Occipital have to do everything for the sprawling residents of the village of Kup e retino (sarcasm!).



Let their Structure Sensor look like a high-tech growth on the iPad's back, but this device really works, which we managed to check for ourselves. By the way, inside the 3D scanner there is an infrared sensor from PrimeSense. But it is, by the way.

According to an ancient legend, at the end of two thousand and eleventh year, Occipital employees unanimously decided to make Kinect mobile. What and then engaged in over one and a half years. In the fall of 2013, the company planned to raise money for the Structure Sensor project with the help of Kickstarter - and hit a jackpot of one million and nearly three hundred thousand US dollars. The first batch of devices sent out at the beginning of 2014, and now this sensor can, if desired, be purchased in the Vast expanses.



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



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

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







But Android users are asked not to worry. Joke! Occipital promotes the idea with open source drivers, distributes a software development package, maintains open CAD specifications, and sells “hacker cable” separately - in other words, strongly encourages enthusiasts who are able to create their own unique applications on other platforms.

If you are interested in the mechanism of action Structure Sensor. The device uses structured illumination - 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 distortions in VGA resolution — when you move the iPad, the 3D scanner creates a depth map for the scene and the objects inside it.

We turn 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 it right - the Itseez company.



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 an artificial coloring depending on the distance to the objects.





There is an option that demonstrates the gaming potential of the gadget. By running the Fetch app, you can drive a skateboarder cat behind the yellow ball. First you need to scan the space around - the real world will become part of a virtual gaming scene. The cat can then be moved within the prescribed limits, bending around obstacles.



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







Calibrator and Viewer programs are auxiliary utilities that you can skip without shame (Calibrator helps you adjust the accuracy of image overlay from the tablet’s camera and scanner, and the 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 plate of the test sample was suitable only for the iPad mini, and the existing copy was not enough to work with Itseez3D ... In general, the masking tape, double-sided tape together with the 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, it is necessary to spread it around magazines or newspapers, and then, focusing on the task completion indicator, bypass the object around, periodically fixing the tablet with a fixed scanner in space (it is during these moments that the tablet scanner makes another "Snapshot", which is immediately sent for processing). On the other hand, without certain skills, something like an annihilated iron can turn out (see below). But after an hour of training, everything looked much better (see below).







Scan a person - Itseez3D makes what videographers call the “dairy” plan - somewhat easier. For example, there is no need to enclose the object with printed matter - it is enough that the program recognizes the person being shot, and then catch it in the green frame. Gently go around (without fixing) the object in a circle, do not forget to remove the top of the head - then the resulting 3D model must be rendered on the company's servers. And then - you can brag to your friends by scrolling the resulting object on the screen of a tablet or laptop. Or print yourself a loved one on a 3D printer.









According to the results of the two-day picking up of the Structure Sensor, let's be honest: for ordinary users, this is a toy for two days. But if you are a developer who believes in the triumph of technology, if you, any trendsetter, or at least bought a 3D printer on the cheap, then the Structure Sensor must replenish your gadget-arsenal. Anyway, but this device, despite the many glitches and a small range of applications, perfectly demonstrates what could be real tomorrow. And it is worth a lot.

PS Video illustration of the above is a video called “Structure Sensor 3D Scanner: 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 little word - you can scan the living dog, of course, but the results are most likely to be quite unpredictable - the animal is unlikely to be able to sit without movement for 20-30 seconds ...