F O R MLA B S W H ITE PA PER:

3D Scanning for Reverse

Engineering, Restoration,
and Metrology
Producing parts that reference real-world objects can be an essential element to technical
workflows, from precision engineering to art. 3D scanning is a key piece of this equation, and
alongside 3D printing creates a powerful digital workflow that can simplify and sophisticate
processes in a range of industries.
This white paper provides a detailed look into how to start using 3D scanning to improve part
design and production and how, paired with 3D printing, scanning technology workflows can be
effectively applied to replication and restoration, reverse engineering, and metrology.

August 2018 | formlabs.com

Contents:
How Does 3D Scanning Complement 3D Printing? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3

Which Scanner Do I Need? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Accuracy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4

Volume and Coverage . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

Low-Cost Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

Choosing a Scanner . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

Replication and Restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8

Replication Case Study: Fine Art Restoration . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9

Reverse Engineering and 3D Printing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Verify Fit and Function . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10

Custom Ergonomics . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11

Metrology and High Accuracy 3D Scanning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12

Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14

FORMLABS WHITE PAPER: 3D Scanning: Restoration, Reverse Engineering, and Metrology  2

How Does 3D Scanning Complement 3D Printing?
A 3D scanner expands the capabilities of a 3D printer, allowing you to replicate the shape of
almost any object. Together, the two technologies create a powerful, digital workflow that can
simplify and sophisticate processes in a range of industries.
The output from a 3D scanner is a mesh of triangles representing the surface of an object at a
real-world scale. In some cases, the scan can be used directly to replicate objects without any
CAD work.

Learn how to process 3D scanned objects for replication and how scanning is being used in
art restoration.

A hybrid workflow can also be powerful, where solid CAD models are combined with scanned
models. Customized ergonomics capture a physical imprint of a part of the human body, and
integrate them with a mechanical design.

Learn to reverse engineer a scan to create products with custom ergonomics.

3D scanners are also valuable tools for measuring the accuracy of manufactured objects. Many
factors affect 3D print accuracy, and metrology-grade 3D scanners provide a clear picture of how
a material performs for demanding applications.

Learn how Formlabs uses metrology to validate the accuracy of SLA materials.

FORMLABS WHITE PAPER: 3D Scanning: Restoration, Reverse Engineering, and Metrology  3

Which Scanner Do I Need?
With such a wide range of product options, it can be difficult to choose the scanner that’s right for
you. There are several major factors to think about when purchasing a 3D scanner.

ACCURACY
Scan accuracy varies considerably between scanner technologies, and higher accuracy comes
at higher cost. The required tolerances of your final part can be a helpful guide for determining
your accuracy requirements for a 3D scanner.

A comparison of the manufacturer-reported accuracy and price of 20 3D scanners available in 2018.

With accuracy in the range of 0.1 mm or better, laser and structured light scanners are a good
fit alongside high resolution 3D printers. Formlabs Form 2 stereolithography (SLA) 3D printer
produces parts at a similar accuracy, and with a similar printable area to the scan volume of many
desktop laser scanners.

Definition: Both structured light and laser scanners use projected light and an offset camera
to triangulate points on a scan object. A laser scanner projects laser lines on the object, while
structured light projects a focused grid from a digital projector. Structured light can achieve
higher accuracy than laser scanning due to the noise caused by laser speckle patterns.

Besides the accuracy between measured points and their actual location, scanners also vary in terms
of resolution, which is the distance between captured points at a given scan distance. This means
that details on the scanned object that are smaller than the scanner’s resolution won’t be captured.

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In general, structured light scanning provides the best resolution and accuracy, typically slightly
higher than laser scanning. For some artistic use cases for 3D scanning you may need a lot of
detail, while overall accuracy is less important—especially if you don’t require your part to fit
precisely with other parts in an assembly. In these cases photogrammetry is an excellent low-cost
option to explore. Find more information on photogrammetry in the next section.

Laser and structured light scanners provide high accuracy, but reverse engineering also demands
sufficient resolution to capture small surfaces. Photogrammetry can offer high resolution, but
accuracy is usually inferior.

Accuracy can mean slightly different things depending on the manufacturer and scanning
technology. For example, the accuracy of handheld scanners depends on the distance to the
subject and the quality of scan reconstruction, while desktop scanners have consistent accuracy
within the constrained scan volume. If you are considering buying a 3D scanner for precise
measurement, make sure to compare like to like.

VOLUME AND COVERAGE

The area that a 3D scanner can capture varies significantly
between scanners. Find a scanner that fits your size and
resolution requirements without too much overhead, as
cost typically increases with scan volume.
Handheld scanners can be manually moved around the
object and have fewer size constraints than desktop
models. Most inexpensive handheld scanners can
capture objects from the size of a basketball to an entire Desktop 3D scanner with a turntable
room. High-end handheld scanners have an even wider
range, and fill the niche for all objects that require precise
measurement, but cannot fit in a desktop scanner.
Handheld scanners are also able to capture objects
near instantaneously, which makes them well-suited for
taking human measurements (where the subject is not
perfectly still) for ergonomics and medical applications.

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Scanners may rotate the object to capture occluded areas. Red regions are occluded and will be missing
in the scan. Areas with deep relief are difficult for a single axis turntable to fully capture due to occlusion.

If the area of the model can’t be seen by the scanner, it will cause a gap in the model. You
can automatically repair small missing sections with most scan software to create a 3D printable
model. However, repaired holes are rarely accurate to the original object.
Many scanners use turntables to increase what the scanner can see. The sophistication of a
scanner’s turntable affects how easily and completely the object is captured: some scanners
have the ability to move the object around multiple axes, imaging the object from more angles.
This feature is important when reverse engineering plastic parts with deep recesses and ribs,
which are impossible to capture from a single angle.

LOW-COST SCANNING
The high cost of entry for laser and structured light
scanning systems can be prohibitive, but many lower-
cost systems are available. Can low-cost scanning
systems deliver enough performance for real world
applications? Yes: Not all use cases require high
accuracy, and low cost scanners can have unique
advantages, such as speed and scan size, that make
them an interesting option in their own right.
There are three main categories of low-cost scanning
systems: IR (infrared) depth-sensing cameras, photo-
grammetry, and entry-level desktop laser scanners.
Depth-sensing cameras, such as the Structure Sensor,
Sense Scanner, and iPhone TrueDepth, project a field of dots
in infrared to sample a 3D scene. Depth-sensing cameras are
simple to use and are the least expensive scanning option,
but the accuracy and resolution of depth-sensing cameras is
low1, often larger than 1 mm, and fine details are usually lost.
Large objects may be captured with depth-sensing cameras,
but accuracy declines with increased distance from the
subject and at steeper angles to the camera.2

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Photogrammetry uses a large set of photographs that are automatically analyzed to create
a 3D model. Under ideal conditions, object detail captured by photogrammetry can rival a laser
scanner.3 Overall, geometric accuracy is usually worse due to the lack of fixed reference points
for the camera’s position. Nonetheless, photogrammetry does not require any equipment
besides a digital camera and software, which makes it an attractive option.
Both depth-sensing cameras and photogrammetry are a good solution for scanning large objects
in order to create 3D printed scale models. They offer enough accuracy for capturing the shape of
the human body, and can be used in workflows to create devices with customized ergonomics.
Several entry level laser scanners are available using technology similar to higher end systems,
such as the Matter and Form and the EORA. These scanners are a great way to start replicating
small objects at 1:1 scale. As one would expect, the accuracy of entry level laser scanners is lower
than a high end laser-based metrology scanner, but they can easily provide enough detail to
replicate small decorative objects and figures where accuracy is not critical.
If you only have occasional 3D scanning needs, digitization services can scan your object, as
well as perform CAD translation and accuracy inspection.

CHOOSING A SCANNER
Use this flowchart to determine what scanner you need based on accuracy, scan volume, and budget.

1. Kalantari, M., and M. Nechifor. “Accuracy and Utility of the Structure Sensor for Collecting 3D Indoor Information.”
Geo-Spatial Information Science, vol. 19, no. 3, 2016, pp. 202–209., doi:10.1080/10095020.2016.1235817.
2. Harkel, Timen C. Ten, “Depth Accuracy of the RealSense F200: Low-cost 4D Facial Imaging.” Nature News.
November 24, 2017. Accessed July 16, 2018. https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-16608-7.
3. Lužanin, Ognjan, and Irma Puškarević. “Investigation of the Accuracy of Close-range Photogrammetry.” Journal
of Graphic Engineering and Design, July 21, 2015, 13-18. http://www.grid.uns.ac.rs/jged/?pid=1010#.

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Replication and Restoration
With both a 3D scanner and a 3D printer, you can replicate the shape of almost any object. In many
cases, scanning circumvents the need to build 3D models from scratch. Replication is a valuable
tool in general for model creation, but it’s especially helpful for breathing new life into objects that
have lost or broken elements–from Renaissance artwork to treasured heirloom antiques.
Replication is a straightforward process: Scan, refine, print. When you scan, try to capture as
complete a model as possible. Be mindful of where you mount your part to the scanner, because
mounting points tend to cover some of the object. A partial model is much less likely to be
printable than a scan that includes as many surfaces as possible—you may need to mount your
object in several orientations to get a complete scan.

Some missing scan data can be patched during scan refinement, but detail cannot be regenerated.

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Refining the scan involves patching any missed sections of the scan and reducing noise.
Most scan software will attempt to produce a watertight model (a 3D mesh without any
holes). However, automatic hole closing has its limits; it will not regenerate missed details.
We recommend MeshMixer for this step because it can fill holes with smooth curves, and will give
you a better approximation of the original surface than a flat fill. Denoising is another feature of most
scan software, and is typically a trade off between surface smoothness and sharp edge accuracy.
Once you have a watertight model, it’s ready to be 3D printed. In order to create a replica of
a functional object, the mechanical properties of the 3D printed part should be similar to the
original. Plastic parts and decorative objects are excellent candidates for replication with 3D
printed polymer. If the part is integrated into another object, it may require a post-processing
step such as painting to help it match the look of the original.

Tip: Create convincing replicas of metal objects by electroplating 3D printed scans. Plating
gives you the look and feel of metal, while dramatically improving mechanical strength.

REPLICATION CASE STUDY: FINE ART RESTORATION

Mattia Mercante uses 3D replication to replace lost pieces of sculptures and fine artworks at the
world-renowned Opificio institute in Florence, allowing museum visitors to experience the art as
the artists intended.
On the 17th-century reliquary pictured below, Mercante scanned intricate frame details from
elsewhere on the piece using an HP 3D Structured Light Scanner, and then replicated the
missing pieces on a Form 2 3D printer. The prints were painted to appear identical to the
original decorations. Best of all, the restoration required no CAD modeling, and was fast and
affordable compared to hand craft.

Learn more about the work of Mattia Mercante on the Formlabs blog.

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 Scan the object with a high Reverse Engineering and 3D Printing
accuracy scanner (±0.1 mm)
Reverse engineering is a method of reconstructing a design from an existing
object, so that the design can be modified or adapted. In practice, this
Use reverse engineering tools to means measuring an object (usually with a 3D scanner) and converting the
redraw and resurface mesh in CAD
3D scan into a solid format that is compatible with CAD modeling tools. For
3D printing, reverse engineering is a method to increase confidence in your
Incorporate new functional or design and can be an intermediate step when creating custom organic
design elements shapes.

VERIFY FIT AND FUNCTION

3D print initial prototype with a
Reverse engineering is often used as the basis for new designs to be
high accuracy SLA printer
assembled with existing components. Without modeling every relational
object, it can be difficult to catch all potential issues that might arise from
Test fit via physical assembly with assembly entirely in CAD. 3D printing allows you to test reverse engineered
original components
designs in physical space, where it’s much easier to catch any issues.
In addition to large-scale design changes, it’s important to be aware of
Make adjustments to correct fit possible fit issues arising from measurement error. If the target object has
undercuts, very thin bosses, or deep pockets that are challenging to scan,
you might need to use guesswork to fill in missing regions in CAD.
Create a secondaryprototype or
move tomanufacturing
⊳ The workflow for using 3D printing to validate reverse engineering

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Physically assembling a printed prototype can be a very fast way to find and resolve potential
spatial conflicts in your design, whether caused by new modifications or measurement error
from scanning.
This workflow can also dramatically shorten time to a functional prototype; in many cases it
only takes small machined adjustments to make the initial prototype functional, which can be
incredibly valuable early in the product design process. Any physical modifications will translate
directly to changes made to the final design in CAD.

CUSTOM ERGONOMICS
When a product needs to be held or touch the human body for long periods of time, the
importance of ergonomic fit increases. A fit that’s acceptable for a few minutes of use can
become uncomfortable after many hours, and improper ergonomics may even lead to
repetitive strain injuries.
When it comes to ergonomics and customized products, 3D printers and scanners are
complementary tools. 3D printers can produce individualized components and products to order,
like orthotics, hand-held grips, and eyewear, without expensive manual labor.

A clay impression of a camera operator’s grip is quickly transformed into a durable, customized, 3D
printed product.

Start by capturing a section of the human body. You can do this directly with a 3D scanner, or
indirectly by taking an impression and 3D scanning the impression. Once the shape is captured,
process the scan through reverse engineering tools to create a smooth CAD surface that closely
represents a hand’s grip, an ankle, or any other impression from the human body.
Reverse engineering organic shapes is surprisingly simpler than reverse engineering mechanical parts
with tight tolerances, given the right tools. The “Auto Surface” function of Geomagic for Solidworks
will generate a smooth CAD surface from a scan (STL) with organic surfaces. Automatic surfacing will
eliminate noisy or rough surfaces—a helpful feature when converting an impression into a product.

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Once you have surface that is editable with solid CAD tools, you can easily subtract or add
features that allow the part to interface with other generic components, like bolt hole patterns,
mounting plates, and other fittings.

Metrology and High Accuracy 3D Scanning

Applied metrology is the measurement of the actual dimensions of a part, and is essential to all
manufacturing processes, including 3D printing. Formlabs uses 3D scanning during product
development to measure and validate the accuracy of new SLA materials, and benchmark for
specific applications. 3D scanning is the most versatile metrology tool for 3D printed parts, which
tend to have more complex surfaces than could be easily measured with a micrometer, or even a
CMM (contact measuring machine).
Metrology-grade scanners and scan software allow you to measure accuracy by comparing the
scan output to the source model. The models are aligned based on selected reference points
and the software performs a deviation analysis, identifying areas where the printed surface
differs from the source file.

3D printed dental arch measured in GOM Inspect. A high accuracy part has a narrow overall standard
deviation (width of the peak), and a low maximum absolute deviation in important areas.

Deviation analysis paints a statistical picture of part accuracy. However, accuracy is not always
perfectly consistent across a 3D printed part. For instance, supported surfaces are less accurate
than top surfaces, and post-curing shrinkage has a greater effect on a part across large spans.
Formlabs measures both the global accuracy, and local accuracy of important features. For example,
the contact surface of a removable dental die requires higher accuracy than the rest of the
model, because it requires a tighter fit and closer tolerances. When measuring a printed die,
we align the scan and measure around the critical surface, before checking that the rest of the
model meets overall accuracy standards.

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Tip: When measuring a 3D scanned model, align the scan’s reference points around areas
where dimensional accuracy is known to be important.

Once an accuracy benchmark is set, Formlabs measures the same test parts printed on an
array of Form 2 printers, to check whether the material prints consistently within specification
regardless of slight manufacturing variations between printers. In addition to quality control,
Formlabs tests the accuracy of competitor materials printed on their native hardware, to ensure
that our products perform competitively.

The accuracy of SLA resins depends on a combination of their chemistry, and finely-tuned exposure
and process settings unique to each composition. Metrology is part of a feedback loop that ensures
Formlabs materials are accurate and functional.

Tip: The accuracy of a metrology scanner must be at least as accurate as the manufacturing
process of the part being measured, to avoid introducing error. Refer to the scanner selection
chart to find the right technology for your budget and application.

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 Conclusion
3D scanning has an important place at the beginning and end of 3D fabrication workflows. It
can be used as a faster and more efficient way to start constructing digital models, whether by
incorporating existing designs via reverse engineering, digitizing hand-sculpted clay designs, or
referencing the exact shape of the human body. A 3D printer like the Form 2 turns the digital
model into a physical reality in a wide range of materials, but first you need the model. 3D
scanning is a shortcut around creating your model from scratch.
Learn more about the 3D printing side of digital workflows: explore the differences between the
three prominent technologies to see which best fits your work, and request a free sample to see
the result of stereolithography 3D printing firsthand.

Request a Sample Part

Contact Formlabs to learn how desktop SLA can work for your project.

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