Comment on current tripod head!

Background: Having used this for a few days, the only thing I feel is lacking is a better quality handle/ tripods mount. The scanner head is very well made and finished to a high standard, but the mounting parts have a very cheap plastic feel about them (I think it has changed from the early designs I have seen on the web?). See red arrow in one of the photos

The POP2 itself is working well for me and I’m getting better results daily. I think it is worth pointing out that this area of Technology is not perfect, and some might not be aware of effort required to scan objects successfully straight out of the box! My view is, you will get good results if you are willing to spent time to really understand IR scanning basics. The software is a bit “Clunky” but works.

So back to the tripod….

I’ve switched over to a ball style head and it feels and operates so much better. The one shown is a quinine Manfrotto but there are many similar clones on the market at a reasonable price. These all use a little push button to allow for smooth ball head movement that locks when the button is released. The curved handle/feet of the Ball Style tripods feel better to hold then the straight barrel design of the one supplied.

The battery screws on as per the original.

The only thing not interchangeable is the inline phone mount. To solve this, I just 3D printed an adaptor (55mm long) that slides over the battery holder as shown. This has an added advantage in that the height is kept shorter and feels more balanced in the hand.

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The replacement desk tripod fitted…

Pushing the Red button allows smooth 360 degree pan movement.

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The part on the left simply slides over the battery tube (27.20mm OD) and is 55mm long.
In my case I just used a good quality double sided foam mounting tape to put the two parts together.
This is printed in PETG.
Not by design but accident! When the phone is fitted, it distorts the printed mount very slightly (from the internal spring arrangement in the holder part). This actually locks the new part to prevent any turning…

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Overall ended up with this…

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The current one supports a one-click setup of the device and also 180-degree rotation from front and back. It’s convenient for most users.

But still thank you for your advice, 360-degree pan movement is also a good suggestion and we will turn this suggestion to our product manager. Welcome you to provide more suggestions.

Point taken but…

My major concern was/is the weak plastic parts shown below. The parts look very similar to the mounts used on my cheap GOPro clones…. And over time they have caused issues breaking. I hope yours have a better life span then similar ones I have. The material appears to be nylon but there is such a small contact area…

On a positive note: I felt the telescopic feature is a great aid when using the turntable. Being able to adjust the height in this way is excellent. This feature is obviously lost went changing tripods.

I certainly will use both. But for handheld work the more balanced feel is much nicer to use.

And a last comment, being able to adjust the tilt angle along with forward/back has come in useful on some test parts I’ve played with using the turn table? Not sure why?? Big learning curve!

Anyway thanks for your time…

I have no idea how you are able to scan proper with this setup , I guess everyone have own favorite setup they like to use .

The proper setup of the 180 degree angle ( tilt) of the scanner ( head) is very important while scanning . It was not there by accident .

You should not scan anything at that angle , you will lose the tracking much quicker . 30-45 degrees angle is preferred for scanning more accurate, and capture the largest area of the object for better visual tracking .

The POP2 works best when it is in horizontal position with tilted head at 30-45 degrees while scanning if you can’t move the scanning subjects.

Also do not mesh your scans on your phone , fuse it only and mesh it in Revo Studio or any other program of your choice to preserve the accuracy .
Meshing on the phone delivers bad accuracy and the meshes can’t be used for the purpose you need .

The more I use this I agree 100% with your comments……

One of the uses as mentioned previously, is scanning certain parts of the body to make support aids etc. I’ve been using a Latex glove filled with water as a sample and testing various setups. One problem is I can’t rotate the body parts on some of these people to actually get to the area and I have found the need to tilt the camera to scan that area of interest. This is easily done by rotating the wrist (Photo might show this better) to get keep the camera correctly aligned. I have found the ball head allows me to rotate the head very simply and keep a straight wrist. This would not be needed for many people, but I haven’t found a way around it yet.

Look I can see the design concept behind the single click-in – forward/back tripod head supplied (and it looks the same on the Mini?). I still feel it isn’t the quality of the head unit. Plus it feel unbalanced in the hand to me.

Here are my two current test hands… it is the rounded areas around the top sides of the hand and fingers I’m trying to improve… Tips appreciated. I’m sure I just need to experiment more (a lot more). Also found going to real skin is completely different in the reflectivity to IR.

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That is a good target to practice , not much tips here other than more practice , however each object is different .

Personally I don’t scan humans using my phone as that is not the quality I am after , but faces , hands and feet are the most easy to track .
I think the best way for you would be to develop your own workflow that fits you best .

And if you use marker mode you need to place the closer together everywhere , when scanning using marker mode the object features don’t matters anymore , only the markers , so if there is not enough markers visible , you will lose tracking , i don’t think you need marker mode for hands and feet or face . Just change the scanning mode and keep proper distance , how more visible the object is in the preview, how less issues with tracking .

Thank you once more… you guys have really helped me get going and provided me with a good starting point to use the tool effectively. I’ve looked at SO MANY YouTube clips on scanning but really until you get into scanning the objects you are working with yourself do you gain a better understanding of individual situations - trial and error and building up your own knowledge base…

Is there a forum or place that announces updates or other useful information on the Revo POP2? Most of the ones I have looked at just want to criticize the product! Or is this the best place to ask…

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You welcome , this is the official forum , there is also official Facebook group .

But latest stuff are announced here first .

You can watch and learn how to operate the software, but when it get about your own scanned object , you need to find your own ways how to approach it . That is when you develop your own skills , and skills are impossible to share.

Just because you got the most expensive camera, don’t means it will make from you the best photographer .

But so far you doing well and I am sure you will find your ways . Talking about will not make you better at this, practice trial and error will .

I shared mostly everything in my POP2 thread what can be useful to share , the rest is up to the user.

I don’t know any other places that I could recommend for you .

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