The Matter and Form 3D Scanner for the Classroom

As much as I love what learning 3D design and printing can do for students, especially at-risk students, I know that there is one huge impediment to widespread adoption of 3D printing in the classroom beyond the narrow focus of STEM and robotics.  And, that is the fundamental nature of the FDM printer being used in schools today.

As cool as they are, they are simply too slow and too prone to failures for a teacher to rely on for serving a full classroom of students.  Thus, they are being relegated to specific tasks to support small groups of students like those in the robotics club, etc.  Even in the situation in the classes using our curriculum, which are generally limited in size, it is a struggle for our teachers to get everything printed from week to week.  So, we understand the issues teachers face.

But, we continue to be adamant in our belief that 3D technologies offer ALL students unique learning opportunities.  And, that is why we are so excited about 3D capture in all its forms... 3D scanning or photogrammetry.   And, while we can envision many positive educational opportunities in all classroom subjects, history is a great place to start on a grand adventure.

A Matter and Form 3D Scanner Adventure

A little over a month ago, we learned about the Matter and form 3D scanner.  It was just before our one week 3D ThinkLink Immersion class for deserving Cadets from 3 Youth ChalleNGe sites (DC, MD and SC).   Thus, we were able to obtain a Matter and Form 3D scanner just in time for the class.

Matter and Form 3D Scanner

It is completely different from all the other handheld scanners we own and use.  And, quite frankly, that difference stood in the way of our being able to immediately use it for the class as we had hoped.  Even so, we realized we had something very different and very special in terms of our long-term goals of encouraging teachers to consider enhancing their history curriculum by creating their own "Virtual Museums" in the classroom.

So, I have spent a great deal of time since then to learn all I can about what the Matter and Form 3D scanner has to offer.  And, it not only measures up to my hopes; but, significantly exceeds my expectations.   And, I DO mean SIGNIFICANTLY!

Two Basic Differences

We have enjoyed all the handheld 3D scanners we own.  They include the Sense 1 and Sense 2, the xyzPrinting 3D scanner, four standalone Intel iSense scanners, an HP Notebook with a built-in Intel iSense Scanner and the newer HP Z 3D Scanner.  Beyond computer based scanning, our experience  also expands to a Sony Xperia  XZ1, which is terrific for scanning people and several iPhone and iPad apps.  Every one of them is useful at some level.

But, the Matter and Form is totally unique in TWO important differences.

Difference 1: Control, Control and Control!

I mentioned earlier that we were not, initially, able to immediately benefit by obtaining the Matter and Form 3D scanner in time for our 3D Immersion Week.  That is because that week is packed with all new experiences for our cadets and it appeared that scanning with the Matter and Form was going to be a long process.

What I didn't know at the time is that how long a scan takes is under OUR control.  It's simply a matter of trading speed for higher "Point Cloud" resolution. 

All full color 3D scans consist of a Point Cloud that controls the underlying shape and the color image called a 'Material'.  One set of cameras captures the point cloud and another captures the color image covering the final rendered object.

Here is an example of the "Point cloud".  (Note also multiple test scans listed to the left of the MF Studio screen.) 

Point Cloud

And , here is an example of the "Mesh" material applied.

Mesh Material Applied

With the Matter and Form scanning system, just about every aspect of the process is under the user's control.  Had I known at the time, we could have easily reduced scanning time significantly with only a little loss of fidelity.  Each of the scans in the list in the first image represent quite different scan times.  The larger the number, the less the time.  The trade-off is less density and lower base object resolution.  We'll be going into this in detail in future articles.  The important take-away is that, unlike my initial impression, we CAN scan very quickly if we desire.

Difference 2:  Iterative Scanning (Adding scans to improve coverage and quality)

Secondly, scanning is NOT limited to a single all-or-nothing pass.   This HUGE!  If you have ever used a handheld 3D scanner you, too, have had the experience of trying to capture everything in a single session hoping that one false move doesn't throw you into the frustrations of the "Lost Tracking" wilderness!   Even when successful, we are rarely able to scan ALL 3D sides of an object with a 3D scanner in a single scan.  In fact, I don't recall a single instance of having been able to do so until obtaining the HP Z 3D scanner.  (But, experience with the HP Z scanner, while so promising, has been initially frustrating in that once tracking is lost, it seems very difficult to recover.)

The Matter and Form's software, however, not only allows for multiple scans using different orientations; but, in most cases, easily merges those scans into a single 3D virtual object.  And, you don't even have to do those scans in the same session.  We can come back to a saved scan project at any time and add additional scans as we learn more and get better at it.  In fact, all of the sample scans I am going to use in this article represent a single scan just to show scan quality.  And, in every case, we plan to return to the each of the projects to add additional scans using different orientations to complete the project by adding the top and bottom to the scan list.

We can choose any of the scans or a mix of scans to produce our final result.

Why Our Selected Test Objects Are Important

At this point, I should point out why we are beginning our exploration of all of our scanners with the particular objects we have chosen.  After all, tobacco tins aren't exactly an obvious choice.  And, neither are the upcoming Sponge Bob Square Pants fish tank ornaments.  As unlikely as it may seem they do have two things in common.  First, both groups of objects can form 'curated collections'.  We will not only scan one tobacco tin; but, multiple tobacco tins dating from the early 1900s.  Here is just one example:

Santa Tobacco Tin from Cheinco Industries - Pass One

And, while Sponge Bob Square Pants fish tank ornaments are still being sold; they, too, form a historic collection, albeit a modern one, that will eventually pass away as the future moves on to other cultural icons.

History is a continuum.  So, like the visionary Dr. Henry Chapman Mercer, we want all of our students to understand that what is common today may become VERY rare in the not-to-distant future.

The other thing they have in common, although for different reasons, is that they are difficult to scan.

In fact, I suspect that none of the handheld scanners will be able to capture the tobacco tin sample above.  That is because the underlying shape of these uniformly round tins are too smooth.  Distinctive features work best for hand held scanners.

The Sponge Bob figures present their own challenges that will require multiple scans using different orientations and locations on the turntable to derive a complete capture with the Matter and Form 3D scanner and should be a challenge for our handheld scanners as well. 

Highly Recommend Considering a Matter and Form

This was not intended to be a 'review'.  It's simply an introduction to the scanner I will be using in our initial 'Virtual Museum' articles.  Even so, I cannot conclude this article without issuing a hearty recommendation for the Matter and Form 3D scanner and hope that you will continue to follow our progress to see why I like it so much.