Artec to Release Spider 3D Scanner

3D scanners are a vital part of additive manufacturing (AM), providing a relatively quick method of generating 3D data for reverse engineering or continuing product development. As AM becomes more prevalent, the need for 3D scanners continues to grow, increasing the number of options on the market, and decreasing price.

While I still wouldn’t describe any professional 3D scanner as inexpensive, per se, what used to cost $30,000 and up can now be found for much less. Artec entered the 3D scanner arena with its Eva portable scanner, and is now set to release the Spider.

Like the Eva, the Spider is a portable, handheld 3D scanner. The name is taken from the scanner’s “many eyes,” which combine their imaging power to produce scans with a high resolution up to 0.15mm and an upper accuracy of 0.03 - 0.05mm. While the Eva has been put to use mainly scanning the human body, the Spider is intended for more industrial uses.

“Artec has been very successful in selling the Eva scanner, our flagship product,” said Artem Yukhin, president of Artec. “It was originally designed for scanning the human body and other organic shapes for medicine, art and heritage preservation. It is also successfully used for industrial design and manufacturing. However, certain spheres of mass production and industrial design require higher-precision scanning of objects with sharp edges and intricate detail. We realized that we need to develop a scanner to fill that niche: the speed and ease-of-use of Eva, but with higher accuracy, resolution and the ability to digitize the most complex, industrial parts. That's how the Spider was born. You can easily digitize complex objects in minutes and import (them) into a CAD system.”

The Spider provides real-time scanning without using markers or requiring manual alignment during post processing. Scans have texture and, according to the company, the new scanner is accurate enough to record sharp edges and thin walls. The Spider will be released at the upcoming Control show in Stuttgart, Germany, which runs May 14-17, and will be priced under $20,000.

For those looking for even more bang for their buck, Artec has also released a “lite” version of the Eva. The portable handheld 3D scanner loses the ability to capture texture, but has also been reduced in price by €4000 (around $5,300).

Below you’ll find a video interview with Artec’s Yukhin.

Source: Artec