ROSEMONT, Ill., USA - Z Corporation today introduced the ZScanner™ 800, the second product in its unique line of handheld, self-orienting 3D scanners. The ZScanner 800 offers five times the resolution and more than double the accuracy of its first-generation 3D scanner, making it suitable for the most demanding applications.
Announced today at National Manufacturing Week in Rosemont, Ill., the ZScanner 800 is ideal for reverse engineering, design, manufacturing, digital mockups and simulations, and its new accuracy makes it suitable for demanding 3D inspection applications. Its resolution and accuracy capture small objects and highly detailed surfaces in the automotive, multimedia, arts, historical preservation, and medical markets.
The ZScanner 800 is equipped with a third high-definition camera that greatly increases scanning resolution and accuracy within 40µm (microns) and detects changes in surface height down to 50µm. The product also boasts a first-ever automatic multi-resolution function that self-calibrates the resolution level based on the type of surface being scanned.
Z Corporation last year introduced the world's first handheld, self-orienting 3D scanner on the market, the ZScanner 700, eliminating the need for fixed-position tripods, bulky mechanical arms or external positioning devices, all of which made hard-to-reach surfaces like auto interiors nearly impossible to scan. Since it was uniquely part-referenced, the ZScanner 700 allowed the user to move the target object during scanning, and it was the first 3D scanner to display a real-time on-screen image of the surface being scanned. The ZScanner 800 has all the capabilities of the ZScanner 700, including unequaled portability (it fits in a carry-on suitcase), automatic real-time surface generation, industry-leading ease of use and affordability.
"The ZScanner 800 very deliberately parallels our evolution 3D printing, where we're meeting customer needs for speed, quality, affordability, and convenience," said Z Corporation CEO Tom Clay. "The result is a dramatic increase in value and breadth of applications in a world that is rapidly becoming more 3D."
ZScanners capture data in one continuous scan rather than in numerous shots from fixed positions, eliminating hours of post-processing time to integrate static shots into a cohesive scan. ZScan™ software, included with the scanner, automatically produces a .stl file for import into a 3D CAD software package or output to a 3D printer. To scan, the user picks up the ZScanner handheld unit and "paints" the object with a projected laser crosshair. The surface is recorded by the ZScanner 800's "trinocular" cameras. ZScan software generates a polygon mesh of the surface on the computer screen in real time.
Z Corporation handheld 3D scanners have been documented to be four times faster than tripod-mounted systems, which typically require more than 50 individual scans for something as simple as a bicycle helmet. The individual scans take additional hours to register into a unified 3D mesh.
Pricing, Availability
The ZScanner 800 will be available in November 2007 through Z Corporation's worldwide reseller network for a US manufacturer's suggested retail price of $49,900.
About Z Corporation
Z Corporation makes products that enable users to capture, edit, and print 3D data with unprecedented speed, ease, versatility, and affordability. These products include the world's fastest high-definition 3D printers — machines that produce physical 3D models from digital data in full color - and uniquely portable 3D scanners - handheld machines that digitize 3D surfaces in real time. Z Corp. technology is enabling a wide range of applications in manufacturing, architecture, civil engineering, reverse engineering, geographic information systems (GIS), medicine and entertainment.
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