Hello.
Question here for someone who has done it before.
Looking into getting a 3d scanner...but I am looking at some software option...that draw onto the mesh...I see quick surface and Geomagic design.
These are way out of my budget and subscription on top of it.

Any other software that might do similar? I need to get some curves and import in Moi to finalize.
scannes items can be exported as stl and obj...so import the obj ...I ll be fine?

Tnx!

Hi Matadem, check out here for some Rhino plug-ins that could work for that:

https://wiki.mcneel.com/rhino/reverseengineering
https://blog.rhino3d.com/2026/02/mastering-scan-to-model-workflows-in.html


> scannes items can be exported as stl and obj...so import the obj ...I ll be fine?

The OBJ will be triangle mesh data, not suitable for loading into MOI directly.

- Michael

Matadem,

I used to do a fair amount of converting scans into usable files. I was given the scan and photos of the object plus the plans of they had them. Mostly different types of containers (juice containers, milk jugs, condiment containers, that kind of thing) I would first bring the scans into Blender and shrink wrap them to build them as a simplified quad meshes and use subdivision surfacing to monitor it. I wouldn't do anything that needed precision like threads or the caps (those were usually garbage from the scan anyways). I would then import those OBJ models into Moi using the SubD and do the fine precise work there. It was relatively fast and worked well. Best of both worlds.

Val

Hi Matadem, From what we gather, scanners still output mesh data first (OBJ/STL etc), then 'reverse engineering'
software tries to rebuild surfaces/NURBS from that afterward. As Michaels post indicates.

QuickSurface looked interesting because it seemed more affordable than the Geomagic ecosystem:
QuickSurface

There’s also a Personal version:
QuickSurface Personal

The newer Creality entry level scanners also seemed surprisingly decent for the money:

CrealityScan Wiki

From the little bit we researched, the rough scanner landscape seemed to go something like this (cheap → expensive):

- Creality
- Revopoint
- 3DMakerPro
- Einstar (Shining3D)
- Shining3D
- Matter and Form
- Peel 3D
- Artec
- Creaform
- Faro
- Hexagon
- Leica

Research the names above here


Might also be worth checking out some of the Shining3D stuff as they have both entry level and also
seem to push the “metrology-grade” angle quite hard on some models.
I am not suggesting any of the hardware listed here is good.

Video:



metrology-grade = expensive machines that measure things so accurately they can probably detect your modelling mistakes before you do

Nicely presented 'review' - not sure if unbiased or not at this moment:
https://all3dp.com/1/best-3d-scanner-diy-handheld-app-software/

I got an old Nextengine laser unit and some geomagic software tied directly to that model a while back and tested it out for a week or two
I only paid a few hundred dollars for the lot but the original full setup bought by universities etc would have been around $30,000, most of it for the geomagic software.
Well I really struggled to make it work and abandoned my efforts after a couple of weeks because I just couldn't make it work for me, and most jobs can be solved with a good set of calipers.
Plus some of the file useage was massive and even my six core computer was taking ages with GM

Anyway. I came back to the STL files with a bit of MOI under my belt and looked at improving scans via MOI and I reckon this is the way to go for us poor people and it's far simpler.

You can use MOI to build the scan into sensible parts, the first part you have to do is the "Origin" part and then you build the other sections around that part to achieve proper squareness in three dimensions

I've done hardly anything on this stuff, it's been a whole new area of learning but the geomagic part for me was abandoned pretty quickly

So my recommendation for a cheapie 3D setup is get a scanner that does good STL files, and use MOI to orientate/Build your result into a full drawing

for stl/stp stuff I used Alibre
https://www.alibre.com/forum/index.php?threads/new-add-on-for-conversion-of-stl-to-stp-and-open-in-alibre-complete-c-rewrite.26312/

my 2cents

Hi ado, the kind of odd looking lumpy shaping comes from using the MOI SubD converter on a mesh that has not been set up for sub-d smoothing.

Here's some examples of how the control mesh should be formed for sub-d smoothing to make a good quality result:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ckOTl2GcS-E

- Michael

I have more detailed stuff via a 50MB Alibre Stp

Which converts to a 75MB MOI stp (about 10 mins)
and a 132MB 3dm file (a few minutes)

It's the processing time for these things when you're just experimenting, it starts to get silly pretty quickly

If you're getting money for a job no doubt it's worth more hassle

edit: I've converted the lumpy 20MB to fbx and it's processing back into MOI
So far I've done the washing up and 5% is done. Going to walk the dog now.
MOI is using 14GB of memory in task manager atm

Nope. it all just blew up/crashed

Did an stl to stp in Alibre 2.5MB to 43MB PRT file (Alibre STP)

saved from Alibre to IGS 137MB
(MOI couldn't open Step Sat files or they took ages)

opened in MOI and saved as a 3DM 287MB

It's a messy subject matter area of work IMO but the ability of MOI to draw inside the scan makes it far more practical

I think my earlier work to get the 20MB file involved mesh reduction in MESHLAB and faffing about with that
MESHLAB is a good program, like MOI it's tightly written and very efficient

edit: I just remembered, if you can get the STL under 1MB then life gets a lot easier.

Hi Ado, I'm not surprised there are problems. The MOI Sub-d importer is not intended to be used on high density scan data with hundreds of thousands of triangles. It's designed to process a sub-d control cage made with a few thousand quad faces.

- Michael