3D scanning, design, and inspection tools and workflows have been established for some 15-plus years. Yet, during that time, the required technology has been accessible only to those with deep pockets and dedicated personnel, whose entire job scope was to oversee these often complicated systems. For these reasons, design and inspection based on 3D scanning was, quite simply, not something that gained a foothold across the manufacturing and engineering industry.

To overcome the hurdles of scanning and scan processing systems, in November, 3D Systems announced the Geomagic Capture system, which incorporates accurate blue light scanning hardware with a choice of Geomagic scan processing software, giving anyone the ability to scan objects directly into CAD. Capabilities found in products like Geomagic Capture are ushering in a new design paradigm: scan-based design.

Scan-based design is founded on the idea that there is real benefit to seamlessly incorporating real-world parts and assemblies into CAD as part of the product design workflow. Doing so shortens development times and allows manufacturers to get products to market faster. In the past, engineering-level 3D scanners have been costly. At the same time, the processes of acquiring scan data and transferring it into CAD were two very distinct islands of a single workflow: one for processing and editing the scan data, the other to transform that data into a solid CAD model.

Scan-based design systems have brought these two processes together, allowing scan data to smoothly go directly into SolidWorks and SpaceClaim, with a set of tools that plug into typical CAD software. These tools allow for immediate conversion of point clouds into 3D CAD solids, decimation of the data to reduce file size without losing fidelity, among other benefits. Scan-based design products are reducing the cost of both the software and the scanner in half.

With scan-based design, designers and engineers can optimally design based on physical objects and create CAD data where none currently exists. Perhaps blueprints for a particular part have been lost. Scan-based design approaches can scan the part directly into CAD and create detailed drawings immediately. Users can make updates to existing production designs to accommodate new materials and new manufacturing processes. They can choose to create solids based on exact data or as-designed data, thus streamlining the process of recreating mechanical designs quickly and easily.

Scan-based design is set to become a widespread method in almost every CAD designer’s toolkit. Think about this transition as being like the move from yesterday’s expensive, niche rapid prototyping to the much more widely used and economical 3D/additive manufacturing of today.
In the same vein, reverse engineering is morphing into scan-based design. More industry professionals will scan directly into their design software for a variety of needs, producing 3D data and as-built drawings for molds and tools for which blueprints disappeared long ago. This method can be used to integrate an old product into a newer, fresher one or to incorporate a natural form into an industrial design.

Tom Charron is vice president of product marketing at 3D Systems, a leading provider of 3D content-to-print solutions, including 3D printers, print materials, and cloud-sourced on-demand custom parts. Based in Rock Hill, S.C., the company also provides integrated software and hardware tools. Earlier this year, 3D Systems completed its acquisition of Geomagic Inc. More on Geomagic Capture can be found at http://geomagic.com/en/products/capture/overview.

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