14 DAY TRIAL // 3D printing is all well and good if you're an expert in computer-aided design and can make your own virtual three-dimensional models, but if you're not part of that small minority, you're more or less toast. Matterform aims to change that.
Well, perhaps it's a bit much to say that people other than model designers have no business in 3D printing. After all, you can find lots of designs online.
Still, you're mostly dependent on others for resources in that case, unless you have a 3D scanner, and those are few and far between.
They're also pretty big and expensive, so they haven't made it to many actual consumers yet, only 3D printing stores and services.
To change that, Matterform has invented a small, simple and more or less cheap 3D scanner. It even brought it to the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, Nevada.
When closed, the scanner is about as big as a shoebox, which is surprising. Granted, it means that you can only scan little things, but it's not like 3D printers can make large objects yet.
Well, there's that one that can 3D print a house in 24 hours out of concrete, but it's a totally different piece of pie.
When opened, the scanner reveals the now standard spinning platter where you put the object meant to be scanned. The actual scanning is done by a camera and two lasers mounted inside the lid.
Any small household object can be duplicated that way, and you can even scan something sculpted out of clay, or play-doh, or whatever else.
The file you can then use on your 3D printer, or send to whatever 3D printing service is nearest and have them do it instead.
Scans take anything from 5 to 45 minutes depending on how detailed you want them to be. Medium-resolution scans take 15 minutes, for a point of reference.
The Matterform 3D Scanner will be released next month for $579 / €425 (probably €579 if exchange rates don't pan out).
