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Comment by groundlogic | Hacker News Reader

Reminiscent of the Logitech Scanman handheld 2D scanner from 1988 (https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:Logitech_ScanMan...), but now in 3D. (How is there not a Wikipedia article about this product? I bet deletionists are to blame.)

I think this concept could eventually be a success just because it has the potential to be a lot cheaper than a fully automated/mechanized solution.

Just like the Scanman was a lot cheaper compared to the very expensive flatbed scanners of the 80s. Smaller, lighter, zero/minimal amounts of moving parts, etc. Perhaps not good enough for professional use, but the pro market was kinda small anyway.

I guess the endgame is that high-end 3d scanning functionality gets built into regular smartphones.

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I think this concept could eventually be a success...

I worked for a sister division of Ametek (Creaform's parent corp) a while ago. It's a real company and this is a real product line (I think this is the 3rd or 4th gen product by now).

Ametek is big on precision metrology for industrial/aerospace use and Creaform is a bet on the future. The corporation also owns Taylor Hobson from the UK. They're not looking to put this into smartphones.

https://www.taylor-hobson.com/

Sorry, I was being unclear. I guess in my mind innovations that have obvious mainstream applications aren't really full-blown successes until they have reached the mainstream.

> They're not looking to put this into smartphones.

That probably means that someone else will be making money off this kind of feature.

Anway, I do hope this thing can go mainstream!

There’s a lot of money to be made in verticals, my friend.

“Mainstream” doesn’t always equate to “success”. In fact, trying to please everyone usually pleases no one.

Creaform is doing just fine. They wouldn’t have been acquired otherwise.

Yes, there is a huge amount of profit to be made by just serving the traditional 'boring' industries. A company can be extremely well off without ever dipping into consumer market.

See for example Oracle as an example closer to programming.

>I think this concept could eventually be a success just because it has the potential to be a lot cheaper than a fully automated/mechanized solution.

It's already a success, it's just priced beyond the reach of consumers by a couple of orders of magnitude. Creaform are the market leaders in a very competitive field.

https://www.aniwaa.com/best-handheld-and-portable-3d-scanner...

Please see https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=20782361

I guess the endgame is that high-end 3d scanning functionality gets built into regular smartphones.

We will likely see 3D sensors get embedded into smartphones very soon but there are substantial trade offs in terms of size, power consumption, cost and performance. Also the consumer use-cases for 3D scanning are quite unclear. Hence what's going to be in phones will likely be used for enhancing AR applications / "Lenses" (proven use case) as opposed to capturing an accurate 3D representation of the world.

I think there are lots of clear consumer use cases for this.

Like:

a) Scan a friend's face/head and then use an app to replace the hairstyle with something different.

b) Get a friend to scan your body (or scan your own feet) using your smartphone, then use that data to order custom outfits or shoes that fit perfectly.

I did some work to attempt this sort of thing using a kinect, back when they were newish. We were trying to automate the sizing of custom-fitted clothing. It was easy enough to get rough measurements, but very difficult to get repeatable and accurate measurements.

I suppose if you were just looking to see which of a set of sizes would work best for a person, it might be easier. Also, today's technology is better and I didn't really know what I was doing. :)

But still... fabric measuring tapes are cheap and easy to use, and they won't invade your privacy or try to sell you stuff like phone app developers inevitably will.

Something like this should have (at least) millimeter-precision. Way enough precision for clothing/footwear sizing.

> But still... fabric measuring tapes are cheap and easy to use

I disagree.

People tend to come in very unique shapes. Even a something "as simple" as a foot probably needs at least like 3-5 different measurements to something that really fits perfectly.

This is already happening with some of the low-cost mobile 3D sensor accessories out there (like Structure Sensor). Having it built into the phone is obviously where a lot of people want to see things go but there's definitely a prosumer class popping up that were priced out of traditional 3D scanners previously.

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