One Step Closer

Research scientist creates an application that enables scan capture using iTechnology.

Users of the iPhone 4, iPad 2, or latest-generation iPod touch can turn these devices into handheld 3-D scanners by using a $0.99 application called Trimensional, thanks to a recent development by Grant Schindler, PhD, a research scientist in the Computational Perception Lab at Georgia Tech. The application uses the device’s screen to light the object being scanned from four different directions, allowing a 3-D model to be produced.

Dr. Schindler has now added an in-app upgrade for a few dollars that allows users to export the data to CAD programs or 3-D applications. As he concedes, the scan does not result in the same precision one would expect from a professional 3-D scanner, but for dentists and laboratories it provides another tool to communicate facial structure in three rather than two dimensions and the ability to share case information quickly and easily.

This development moves the industry just one more step closer to creating a handheld scanning device to replace the large stationary scanners currently used in the laboratory. To view scan results using the app, go to www.trimensional.com.