Scanning Services
Serving Canada
On-Site Mobile 3D Scanning
We can scan almost anything. Give us a call to discuss your needs.
What you get back
File formats
Whatever your next step needs — files of course, but if you need introductions to a 3D printer, CAD technician, machining or laser cutter, casting house and so on, we’ve got you covered.
Reverse engineering
What a scan is, and what CAD wants
A scan is a mesh
A scan is millions of flat triangles stretched over the shape of the object. It knows where the surface is. It does not know that this bit is a hole, that one is a fillet, or that this face is meant to be flat.
CAD is surfaces
CAD works in NURBS — smooth surfaces defined by mathematics rather than by triangles, with real features behind them. A hole has a diameter. A fillet has a radius. You can change them.
So they don’t just open
Drop a mesh into a CAD package and you get a heavy, unintelligent blob sitting in the model space. Something has to translate between the two, and that something is either software or a person.
It’s difficult to reverse engineer a mechanical part based simply on a scan — but it can save a huge amount of time.
What we provide
STP files — surfaced versions of scan files, not full CAD files. NURBS patches fitted over the scan, accurate to what we measured, and openable in any CAD package.
CAD features — best fit planes, cylinders, cones. Cross sections, volume analysis and comparison to CAD files.
What that is good for
Getting a real-world shape into your CAD environment to build around, check against, or machine from. It is a head start measured in days, not a finished parametric model.
It can save a LOT of time to have an STP file. But we recommend having the part as well — calipers and micrometers are still needed sometimes.
If you need true CAD
Full reverse engineering services available on request.
A modelled, feature-based, editable part built from the scan by someone who knows what they are looking at.
Tell us what you need to capture or measure
Describe the object or the site, and what you need the data for. We will tell you what the job takes and quote it.