MakerBot Digitizer Desktop 3D Scanner Review
As one of the first truly accessible 3-D printer scanner solutions available on the market today, there are literally thousands and thousands of people all over the world that owe almost everything they know about 3-D printing to the people behind Maker Bot and the technology that they have been producing for some time now.
Originators of the truly accessible 3-D printer technology, everything that this company puts out is regarded as top-quality stuff – amazing considering the fact that the overwhelming majority of the solutions that they release are also priced very, very attractively.
If you are serious about getting your hands on a top-flight piece of technology, a 3-D scanner that effortlessly replicates the items you are scanning in high-definition, without ever having to break your bank account along the way you are going to fall in love with all that the MakerBot Digitizer has to offer.
Let’s dive a little bit deeper into this game changing device!
Overview
While handheld scanners are becoming more and more popular, especially for folks that need to scan incredibly large objects to be rendered later down the line, you just can’t meet the high-definition scans produced by desktop turntable scanners like the MakerBot Digitizer.
This unit is incredibly small, incredibly lightweight (it weighs just about 4 ½ pounds) but is capable of taking some of the most in-depth and detailed scans and renders of any piece of consumer grade technology available on the market right now.
The turntable of this device is going to slowly rotate the object that you have to scan all while taking high-definition renders thanks to the multiple lens scan configuration is even makes the most of. Every square inch of your object is going to be scanned with laserlike precision, rendered effortlessly behind the scenes, and then ready to be used with ANY 3-D printer design software or hardware available on the market right now and well into the future.
This is just part of what makes the MakerBot Digitizer so attractive!
Technology
Dual scanner technology is the way to go with scanners these days, and the MakerBot Digitizer makes the most of this technology for sure.
Unlike older scanners and digitizers on the market right now, the MakerBot Digitizer also makes use of a combination of structured light and laser sensors that provide for a much more in-depth, accurate, and high resolution scan then you would have been able to get out of the traditional unit.
This combination makes for a very portable device – something we will highlight more just a moment – built in model editing software really helps to elevate the MakerBot Digitizer considerably as well. As we mentioned earlier, this is a device that has the potential to change the way that producing 3-D projects but certainly the way that you go about rendering and scanning from the real world into your production software.
Portability
While the MakerBot Digitizer isn’t quite as portable or lightweight as many of the handheld units available on the market today are, it is still one of the most portable turntables digitizers and scanners money can buy right now.
As we highlighted earlier, the entire unit only weighs about 4 ½ pounds. This is about a third of the weight of most other desktop style scanners and you definitely won’t have to worry about wearing yourself when it comes time to move this scanner from one location to another.
Don’t be surprised, however, if you discover that you sent your new desktop scanner in a very specific location and then leave it there from now on. This is the kind of unit that you can leave permanently next to your 3-D printer, the kind of unit that is as close to future proof as it gets until the next real big leap in digitizer technology comes down the pipeline.
Special Features
One of the really cool special features that the MakerBot Digitizer showcases is the ability to effortlessly fit into the streamlined workflow with all other Maker Bot 3-D printer solutions.
This is a real plug and play kind of device, exactly what you would expect from the people that helped to make 3-D printers so accessible to the general public. Being able to literally plug this digitizer into your Maker Bot set up and then run with it without any headache or hassle is something that is almost worth the price of admission on its own!
Of course, this unit also produces standard 3-D design finals that you are going to also be able to use with literally any other 3-D printer on the market today. Having the ability to take your scans and renders to a friend’s 3-D printer – or the one at a local university, it makes no difference – and get high-quality results is a benefit that is tough to quantify.
Pros
Incredibly compact, impeccably designed, and capable of producing some amazing scans and renders with lightning like speed, there are a lot of other digitizers on the market today that promise the same kinds of results but come nowhere near as close to following through the way that the MakerBot Digitizer does.
There’s a reason why this is considered to be one of the very best digitizers on the market right now, even though it has been available for a year or two already
Cons
The biggest drawback are going to have to confront with the MakerBot Digitizer is the fact that it utilizes a turntable/stationery model to do the scans that it produces.
There are ways to get around this limitation and transform it into a handheld scanner, but the results that this approach are very much hit or miss. If you’re dealing with smaller size objects, however, 20 cm x 20 cm scan ever going to be a problem.
Final Verdict
When you get right down to it, this scanner from MakerBot is one of the best in the business for not only what it does, but also the incredibly low price tag. You’re going to be amazed at the high def scans it produces and the speed at which it produces them.
The MakerBot Digitizers is the perfect digitizer for those just getting into the swing of things with 3-D printing technology.
