Earlier this week, the MakerLab received one of the first shipments of MakerBot's new Digitizer 3D Scanner! This revolutionary new device converts physical objects into digital files. In essence, it is a 3D copy machine! The Digitizer was extremely easy to set up and  the scanning software is very user friendly. Within a few minutes after unpacking, we were ready for our first scan: a gnome that was 3D printed on an early MakerBot Cupcake 3D printer.

The process took around 10 minutes and involved a laser scanning of the gnome, which slowly rotated clockwise on the Digitizer's turntable. We then sliced the file using MakerWare, saved it on an SD card, and printed the digitized gnome using one of our MakerBot Replicator 3D printers.

The photo below shows both the original 3D printed gnome (in white) next to its scanned copy (in yellow). The scan is quite similar to the original 3D printed object and captures many of its details. Overall, we are quite pleased with the Digitizer and are proud to add it to our arsenal. This new device allows our lab to turn physical objects into digital files that can be easily modified and/or physically printed. If you are interested in taking the Digitizer for a "spin," just stop by our lab.