’m looking at purchasing a 3D scanner and was originally planning to go with the Inspire 2.mostly smaller RC components that are black in color
My goal is to build a clean, seamless workflow. I have already the dual-axis turntable want to Inspire 2 mounted on a tripod and connected directly to my PC via cable for stability and performance.
My system specs are:
AMD Ryzen 9 CPU
NVIDIA RTX 5080 GPU
32 GB RAM
Ultimately I want to validate whether the Inspire 2 is the right choice for this use case. The end goal after scanning is to bring the mesh into a CAD environment so I can accurately modify the part geometry where needed.
I’m also not very familiar with Revopoint’s software yet, but ideally I’d like as much automation as possible: place the object on a motorized dual-axis turntable, have it perform a full 360° rotation with tilt, and let the software handle the rest — minimizing manual intervention. I know that’s a big ask, but I’d really appreciate honest feedback from anyone who’s used it for similar applications, especially on how well it handles small, dark-colored parts and how accurate the scans are.
Final note: I unfortunately couldn’t purchase the Inspire 2 on Amazon — it was simply unavailable, so I ended up going with the OtterLite instead. I’m not 100 % happy
Playing with the Otter, I’m sure you’ve come to the conclusion that it is not as straightforward as you thought.
Inspire 2 would be great for your small dark colored parts. If you have trouble, a bit of baby powder or scanning spray will make a drastic difference. I’ve never used that scanner with the turn table, but I know you have to stand it up a few different orientations, scan, and then merge scans together. You can do that in the RevoScan software. Its not automated though. You still have to go in and pick how you want to fuse your point cloud, clean up noise, then mesh it. FYI you cannot merge meshes, models are merged at the "fused” level. There is the “one-click” but if you are looking for super accurate scans its best to not use that. Once you get the hang of it it all goes pretty quick. But it is not a hit a button and the scanner starts and spits out a clean mesh scan type of workflow. Not at this pricepoint.
In terms of scanning, modifying, and printing parts. How are your CAD skills? I think you are better off reverse engineering the parts instead of pushing and pulling on meshes in something like blender. For Reverse Engineering, Revopoint has their own version of quicksurface as well as Geomagic offerings for doing that more efficiently. Lots of people using Fusion360 for smaller parts because the meshes are not as big. F360 is going to much less costly.
The Inspire 2 is a good scanner for small to medium sized objects and it is really not very expensive. And of course you can scan objects on the turntable that is controlled by the software. Very comfortable so far, yes, BUT: As @Nickluvin stated already that’s only the starting point. Usually you have to scan severall times from different angles, “develop” every scan to a mesh and finally merge all meshes together. This process is very easy comfortable to go through, but you have to do it. The One-Click button is leading to unsatisfactory results. Depends on the object and the quality you need in the end. If you want to load your final mesh in CAD you should simplify it as much as possible. Scanning usually leads to meshes with A LOT of polygons. Often not a problem, if you need only a raw draft for re-construction in CAD.
Black metal parts are fine, black plastic will be not visible for the Inspire 2.
See this quick shot: A remote control with a black plastic case is where you see only a dark square on the left. On the right this is a holder made of black metal that can be scanned very easily. The oval shaped “hole” in the front at the right side of the holder is a coating of black plastic - invisible without preparation (scanning spray, powder). I use a MINI, when the parts are not too big.
@PUTV suggested scanning in laser mode for you purpose and your computer should be able to handle this task with ease. Be aware that there are often problems with misconfigured USB ports, you can find many postings about that here around.
You see, scanning is not like taking a foto, but the more often you do it, the faster you find the settings for good results and then the real fun starts. Just don’t give up too soon!
