¶ Instruction
¶ Introduction
¶ Scanning Setting
Accuracy
If you want to obtain better details, do not hesitate to choose “Hi-Quality”. If your computer has a dedicated graphics card （i.e. GPU）, the Hi-Quality mode will provide smoother performance.
For large objects or lower computer specifications, you can choose "Fast Mode“ for scanning.
Turntable
Regarding the Turntable option, if you select "Yes", the point clouds on the turntable plane will be removed during the tracking process.
¶ Basic Terms and Concepts
¶ Scanning distance
The accuracy of all scanners is related to the scanning distance. Generally, the closer the scanner is to the target while still obtaining point clouds, the higher the accuracy. The Otter scanner has a minimum working distance of 11cm and can reach a maximum distance of 100cm. For scanning smaller objects, the scanner should be positioned close enough to the target to ensure reliable tracking without losing accuracy.
Follow the instructions provided by the scanning software to maintain the "Optimal Distance".
¶ Exposure time
Creality Scan offers two camera exposure control modes: Automatic Exposure and Manual Exposure.
For larger targets, such as faces, Auto-Exposure can be used for scanning.
For smaller objects, automatic exposure may not be accurate. It is recommended to manually adjust the exposure time of the IR camera.
¶ Quality colormap
During the scanning process, Creality Scan provides a quality colormap for point clouds to indicate whether the current scan quality is high enough. The following image is an example of determining scan completeness based on the quality colormap of point clouds. The object on the left shows a mix of red and green, indicating a relatively poor quality of the scanned point cloud, while the object on the right appears uniformly green, indicating a relatively good quality of the scanned point cloud.
After the scanning process, it is necessary to perform pointcloud optimization to fuse the scanned multiple frames of point clouds (several hundred or even thousand frames) and obtain a higher quality pointcloud.
Resolution is one of the important parameters for this process. A smaller resolution setting will capture more details in the model but may require longer processing time. However, setting the resolution too small, such as 0.05mm, may result in missing parts of the model.
When dealing with smaller objects, such as those below 25cm, or when seeking better details, it is recommended to set the resolution to 0.1mm or 0.15mm.
Sensitivity: The larger this value, the more points can be retained. The smaller the value, the more points will be filtered out.
Creality Scan software allows users to perform pointcloud optimization multiple times. For instance, if you are not satisfied with the current optimization results, you can modify the parameters and re-run the pointcloud optimization step.
¶ One-click Process
One-click processing is designed for beginners who have little experience with 3D scanners. If you require better scan quality, it is not recommended to use One-click Processing and instead manually adjust the parameters for each processing step.
¶ Model editing
Creality Scan provides pointcloud editing functionality. After the point cloud optimization is complete, users can select and delete unwanted points in the point cloud.
¶ Scanning Cases and Techniques
¶ Small Objects
¶ Mechanical Parts
¶ Crafts
¶ Face
¶ Full body
Note on scanning human body
(1) During the scanning process, the person being scanned and their clothing should remain as still as possible until the scanning is complete.
(2) It is recommended to start scanning from the front face, scanning in the order of the head, chest, waist, and legs, from top to bottom.
(3) If someone can stand on a turntable, it can result in better scanning results.
How long does it take to scan the full body?
If you are familiar with the operation of the scanner, you can complete a full body scan within 2 minutes (i7 cpu, Nvidia 1060 GPU). The time here refers to scanning time, not processing time.
¶ Vehicle
¶ Outdoor Scanning
For outdoor scanning, particularly for small to medium-sized objects, we recommend utilizing the fast mode. The structured light in Otter’s fast mode demonstrates superior resistance to sunlight interference. When it comes to large objects, the resistance to interference is nearly equivalent between the fast mode and the high-quality mode.