This is a story about how DIYers have resorted to reverse-engineering their cars. Some break out the calipers and contour gauges while others who are a bit more tech-savvy have resorted to 3D scanning. Surprisingly, it doesn’t take much money or the newest tech to get started in the Xbox 3D scanning world. In fact, you can simply pick up a discontinued Xbox Kinect unit to get started.
From an article in The Drive by Rob Stumpf.
Before we get into what people are doing with these cheap devices, it’s important to understand how they work and why they provide so much more of a benefit over a flat photo. The reason that a regular camera can’t be used is that standard imaging sensors are essentially monoculars. They have no native way to measure depth.
To solve this problem, many robotaxi start-ups use lidar technology. Lidar sends out beams of light to form a point cloud; that’s a set of points along cartesian coordinates in space which represent a 3D object. In Tesla’s case, multiple cameras can be used to form a stereoscopic view of the world and artificially measure distance, though it’s often debated how accurate software can create these measurements compared to purpose-built sensors.
The magic in Microsoft’s Kinect sensor is almost like a hybrid of both solutions. While not as robust as a lidar sensor, the Kinect uses beams of light (like the lidar) as a method to gauge the distance of an object. It also uses a two-camera setup, where one camera uses a standard vision sensor, and the other is used to view the grid of infrared beams that are projected by sensors mounted inside the Kinect. By mapping the location of dots projected by the infrared grid, the sensor is able to overlay both feeds to form a single image with depth information baked in.
Now that we understand roughly how the Kinect works, let’s check out just how enthusiasts are using it to build their dream cars.
DIYers and builders alike are primarily using these Kinect-produced scans to either reverse-engineer parts of the cars or make it easier to model against complex shapes and contours. For example, one Miata owner used it to make new headlight buckets, another used it to design a spoiler for their Audi, brake ducting, switches, center consoles (with gauge pods cutaways), replacement door handles, and even entire intake manifolds.
Plenty of other examples can be found in some of my favorite car-related 3D printing Facebook groups, like “3D Printing Auto and Moto” and “Miata 3D Printing Association.” But there’s one particular project I’d like to call ours which I’ve showcased before; Crucible Coachworks’ Porsche 911 slantnose build.
For the complete article on Xbox 3D scanning CLICK HERE.
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