Kscan 3d Directions

Hey Everybody, here are some quick directions for using Kscan 3d, the software that allows us to capture 3d models with the Kinect Sensor.

1. Start a new project for your scan. Name it something meaningful to you.
2. Click “Enable Batch Scanning” in scan settings. Set “number of scans” to 18 (you can experiment with this and see what gives you good results, but this is a good number to start with) “delay between scans” to 1, and “delay” to 10.
3. Confirm that the settings under “meshing” are set to “Generate Mesh” and “Alignment Mesh Geometry”
4. Position yourself (or the object you want to scan) on a rotating platform at least 18 inches from the Kinect. Confirm that the kinect can see the object, and that it is centered in the kinect’s field of vision (at the center of the red crosshairs)
5. Prepare to be scanned. If you wear glasses, you will want to remove them when the scan starts. Find a pose you like that is comfortable enough to hold for 30 seconds to a minute.
6. Click the green “Scan” button
7. The software will beep to countdown to the scan. When it beeps very rapidly the scan is about to begin! Remove your glasses (if you wear them) and strike your pose before this happens.
8. The software will make a shutter sound when it takes an image. Rotate yourself (or have a buddy rotate you) clockwise a very small amount.
9. The software will beep rapidly and make the shutter sound again when the next image is captured. Rotate yourself again, and continue rotating slowly and evenly until all 18 images have been captured.
10. You will see a series of grey meshes in the central mesh area of Kscan! Check to see that they have all aligned correctly (check for duplicate or out of place features)
11. You can select the individual captures from the panel to the immediate left of the mesh area. The selected mesh will display red. Select any out of alignment meshes and delete them (if necessary).
12. When all meshes are aligned, select your first mesh and hold down shift while selecting your last mesh to select all meshes.
13. Click combine in the “combine” panel near the center-top. Wait for the combine operation to complete (this may require several minutes).
14. Select the combined mesh and click “Finalize” in the combine panels. The default settings for Finalize should work well, though you may want to turn “close holes” to the maximum setting (slider all the way left).
15. Wait for the finalize process to complete (this may take several minutes).
16. You should now have a finalized mesh! It should look much smoother than your rough combined mesh.
17. Click the down arrow at the base of “Export” in the “Scan Panel” to select a format to export your Mesh as. Obj and Stl will work best for most of our purposes.
18. Select your finalized mesh and click “Export” to export as the format selected.

That’s all you need to know! Once you try this process, experiment with settings and techniques and see what you can achieve.

The Digital Scholarship center has been set aside for Kscan experiments at set times over the next two weeks. To schedule Kscan time during an available slot click any of the “Open Kscan” appointment slots on this calendar page.