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Fuel3D
Fuel 3D Handheld scanner
Fuel3D scanner scanning a person
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Fuel3D Scanner Kickstarter Video
The constant battle 3D printing faces is the fact that very few folk want to learn CAD, it is difficult and time consuming, they want the technology to catch up with their instantaneous smartphone based lives. Being able to point a camera at something take one snap and then print a 3D model off appears to be the desire.
As MakerBot gear up for their Digitizer 3D Scanner, a new Kickstarter campaign is aiming to beat them to the punch with their handheld, high-resolution and affordable 3D scanner, the Fuel3d Scanner.
The Oxford, UK based firm say that their $1,000 scanner provides results of a similar quality to those of a $15,000 one. They hope to raise $75,000 in 32 days and are well on target as already $9000 up on day one
“The explosion of 3D printing and the continued expansion of the games market means that there is an increasing demand for 3D scanning products that capture high resolution 3D data,” said Stuart Mead, CEO, Fuel3D Inc. “With Fuel3D, our goal is to bring high quality 3D scanning to a wider market by making it available at an affordable price-point.”
The Fuel3D team has teamed up with a Kickstarter success story, Uformia to offer pledgers the chance to get the scanner bundled with their MeshUp software. The Fuel3D scanner has really caught the attention of Uformia CEO, Cherie Stamm “Fuel3D's scanner promises to change the game in the 3D scanning and modeling space,” said Stamm. “For the first time, professional level handheld scanning is in the price range of the average computer user or 3D modeling and printing enthusiast, at a quality that even surpasses devices costing tens of thousands of dollars. Uformia is very excited to partner with Fuel3D on their Kickstarter campaign, as our upcoming product MeshUp is a perfect tool to use together with Fuel3D's scanner to creative an infinite number of possibilities by scanning and remixing the world around you.”
We’ve seen several affordable scanners come and go but the Fuel3D seems the real deal with a list that reads like the who’s who of desktop 3D printing all paying attention to the launch. From Pirate3D to FormLabs to iMakr to Josh Harker everyone seems to want to get involved in this product.