Investing in 3D Scanning, Cousin of 3D Printing

The “printer” in your home office is not just a printer.

Long gone are the days when your printer had one task. Now, it acts as a document and image scanner, fax machine, and network hub with the ability to print from nearly any media you can plug into it.

Standalone printers, scanners, and fax machines you find on the market are specifically for high-demand jobs or specialty work. Stripped down, basic scanners and fax machines are a thing of the past. Their functionality is nearly always rolled into printers.

It’s a consolidation of functionality that’s spanned several decades.

Some day, that will happen with 3D printers, too. At the risk of sounding corny, it will be something like the replicators in Star Trek. The machine itself will be an open field where objects can be scanned or printed or… faxed?

I bet you’ve never even considered 3D faxing before — probably because it sounds silly.

The point is, there are multiple facets to 3D printing, and they might not receive as much attention as the popular printing hardware. But the software side is robust, and there are plenty of opportunities to invest, especially in 3D scanning and image sensor data collection.

Today, we’re going to look at some news in the field of 3D software.

3D Scanning

Visual sensors are cheap and abundant, and as a result, range imaging has become increasingly accessible.

Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT) popularized range imagery with the Kinect interface to its Xbox 360 video game system. And unlike most video game controllers, this free space sensor has successfully jumped to the next generation of console.

The Kinect — like all the other range-scanning products — assembles shape data. Some of these products go a step further and create full 3D renderings of the real-world objects they see.

The Structure Scanner, for example, attaches to an Apple iPad and lets users collect 3D image data that can be used with the Skanect scanning software by Occipital Inc.

While awesome, these are still private companies using specialty hardware. But there are also companies attempting to turn commodity hardware into usable 3D scanners.

One such company, DDD Group (OTC: DDDGY), has unveiled some rudimentary 3D space-scanning technology using common smartphone cameras.

Let me first be clear and say this company should not be confused with 3D Systems (NYSE: DDD). This is DDD Group PLC, an Australian company responsible for a software family called TriDef.

Secondly, let me be especially clear to separate the marketing crap from the real software development.

The company’s new software feature is called TriDef MotionView, and it builds 3D shape data out of existing sensors in common smartphones and tablets running the Android operating system. It is by no means 3D scanning, but it builds off the company’s prior experience in 3D upconversion.

DDD’s history is in creating 3D content out of 2D content. For example, TriDef 3D Ignition is a piece of PC software from the company that allows users to upconvert standard display video games into ones that support 3D monitors with active shutter glasses. It’s also possible to use glasses-free 3D mobile devices.

The thing is, I’ve never been all that bullish on 3D as a display tech. In fact, I think it’s a waste of everyone’s time.

However, I do not think software that assembles range and shape data from commodity hardware is a waste of time at all. Stretching functionality and consolidation of hardware is what it’s all about.

Good Investing,

Tim Conneally

 @TimConneally on Twitter

For the last seven years, Tim Conneally has covered the world of mobile and wireless technology, enterprise software, network hardware, and next generation consumer technology. Tim has previously written for long-running software news outlet Betanews and for financial media powerhouse Forbes.