Best professional 3D scanning software in 2024
Digitization is redefining horizons across manufacturing. Central to reverse engineering, digital warehousing, and quality analysis (QA), 3D scanning is fast becoming a cornerstone of this revolution, and the technology is rapidly reshaping how manufacturers work. However, a 3D scanner is only as good as the software used to operate it. With there now being a plethora of different platforms available, choosing the right 3D scanning software can be daunting. To help optimize your 3D scanning workflow, we delve into the best available in 2024, highlighting each program’s strengths, weaknesses, and applications.
Even the most advanced professional 3D scanners rely on PC software for processing captured data. But with the very highest-end devices now packing powerful onboard processors, why is this still the case? To find out, we need to quickly revisit 3D scanning’s fundamentals.
Many of the industry’s leaders utilize structured light. Let’s start by examining how it works. In very broad terms, the technology involves firing structured patterns of white or blue light at a given object, then using a camera to observe distortions as they reflect back. Each of these constitutes a ‘data point’ in a 3D space, with a full scan yielding an entire ‘point cloud.’
3D scanning software is critical to interpreting this data and turning it into accurate, lifelike meshes. Pattern recognition and reconstruction algorithms are at the very heart of the process. These effectively use light distortions to understand where points are in relation to one another, identify shapes, and map color and surface details called ‘textures’ onto final models.
Key point
3D scanning software is not just critical to post-processing, it’s at the very heart of data capture and ensuring best results.
As well as optimizing data capture, such 3D scanning software actively helps users tidy up their meshes, by removing outliers, filling holes, and preparing for CAD export. With a range of other platforms, it’s then possible to turn these into dimensionally accurate, true-to-life 3D models with a host of applications, from photorealistic CGI to reverse engineering and inspection.
For now, we won’t delve any deeper into the technical side of things. After all, we’ve already given you the full lowdown via our article: How does structured-light 3D scanning work?
Instead, we’ll spend the rest of this article taking a look at the very best 3D scanning programs on the market, what differentiates them, and how they can be best utilized.
Professional 3D scanning software
Artec Studio
- Windows, macOS (Catalina or earlier)
- Multi-resolution 3D scanning
- Realism-enhancing HD Mode
- Extensive mesh editing tools
- Analysis & scan-to-CAD-ready
- High-end features come at a professional-grade price
No matter what you’re digitizing – from a micro-sized bolt to a person or even an entire facility – there’s an Artec device to help you achieve this with aplomb. But all of these 3D scanners operate using the same advanced software: Artec Studio.
Updated with each new release, Artec Studio is packed with features that optimize results at each stage of your workflow, from data capture to processing and export. During digitization, the 3D scanning software analyzes whatever you’re capturing and adjusts device sensitivity so even inexperienced users can pick up tricky areas like dark, obscured, or shiny surfaces.
Key point
Artec Studio is regularly updated to bring new features to Artec 3D scanners – so users’ devices are constantly evolving.
Following data capture, Artec Studio’s advanced Boolean toolkit, auto-surfacing functionality, and deviation analysis features provide you with all the essentials needed for inspection and reverse engineering. Exporting to platforms with application-specific features can then be carried out at the click of a button, as part of a smooth, highly automated workflow.
Of course, Artec’s 3D scanning offering exists in a competitive market. Less capable platforms may even come at a reduced price. But Artec Studio’s groundbreaking, sharpness-boosting HD Mode, scan-merging multi-resolution fusion feature, and full wireless capture support make it a clear leader in the field of professional-grade 3D scanning.
Skanect
- Free trial, Pro version for $129 per year
- Windows, macOS
- Open to third-party devices
- Presets for scanning people, rooms, and medium-sized objects
- Shapeways & Sketchfab integration
- Commercial features hidden behind the Pro version paywall
- Relatively basic editing toolset
Unlike many of the platforms made by professional 3D scanner manufacturers, Skanect is device agnostic. This means it can either be used to power its developer’s structured-light scanning hardware or a handful of other low-cost devices, including an Xbox Kinect.
Skanect’s feature set is suitably beginner-focused. The software pairs live feedback features with body, object, and room capture presets that help the uninitiated maximize results. Things are similarly simple on the mesh-editing front, with small part removal, hole-filling, and mesh simplification being the peak of its capabilities.
Key point
Skanect may be device agnostic – making it available to most 3D scanner users – but it lacks many professional-grade features.
For advanced editing and analysis, users will need a higher-end platform. Even relative basics such as high-poly model export and email support are hidden behind the Pro version paywall. As such, Skanect is very budget-friendly, but its feature set is pretty primitive.
Photogrammetry software
- RealityCapture: $10 for 3,500 credits, $3,750 for an unlimited license
- Windows
- ‘PPI’ licenses allow casuals to only pay for what they use
- Captures textures brilliantly
- Faster than photogrammetry rivals
- Suffers from familiar photogrammetry drawbacks: slow vs. 3D scanning, error prone, and immobile
If you’re looking for a professional photogrammetry software, you can’t go too far wrong with RealityCapture. When it comes to creating VR scenes or geo-referenced maps, the program is great for generating realistic 3D meshes from high-resolution images, or even 3D laser scans.
Key point
In Artec Studio, you can combine 3D scan and photogrammetry data to create even more realistic, texture-perfect 3D models.
More broadly, the photogrammetry data it’s designed to process can also be used to make high-resolution, lifelike models, ideal for certain CGI use cases where authenticity is prioritized over geometry capture. That said, issues like poor photo spacing, uneven lighting, lead times, and (when using rigs) a lack of portability, can limit photogrammetry’s effectiveness.
As a result, switching to other photogrammetry software offerings such as Agisoft Metashape or the open-source Meshroom, is unlikely to change this substantially. Of course, you don’t have to choose between 3D scanning and photogrammetry. Artec Studio lets you combine the technologies to achieve incredibly lifelike textures, so there is a third way here.
However, if you compare the two, RealityCapture’s pay-per-input licenses are great for realistic 3D modeling, but only 3D scanning delivers flexible, standalone, accurate geometry capture.
What about manufacturers though? What can they do with resulting models? Let’s take a look!
Application-led 3D scanning software
Geomagic for SOLIDWORKS
- Windows
- Plugs directly into your existing SOLIDWORKS CAD software
- Enhanced feature extraction tools streamline scan-to-CAD
- Close SOLIDWORKS integration with Artec Studio
- Also requires SOLIDWORKS purchase
- Relatively simple QA tools
For reverse engineering, SOLIDWORKS may be enough in itself. The industry stalwart has established itself a strong reputation as a 3D mesh editing and CAD software. But if you already have a license, and need even more advanced tools that allow you to more quickly reverse engineer and iterate upon designs, Geomagic for SOLIDWORKS could be ideal.
Advanced auto-surfacing allows features to be turned into CAD surfaces at the click of a button. When it comes to generating 3D shapes from sketches, the plug-in also comes with a suite of extruding, revolving, and sweeping tools, operable through a UI engineers will recognize. All this simplifies and accelerates the process of uncovering design intent and iterating.
Of course, the add-on requires a SOLIDWORKS license. So that may put beginner users off adopting it. But it is available in a free version, so you can toy with features before making a full purchase. Geomagic for SOLIDWORKS is also relatively reasonably priced.
Geomagic Control X
- Windows
- Facilitates batch QA & inspection
- Smart dimensioning allows deviations to be identified rapidly
- Aerospace-grade analytic tools
- Broad feature set can be daunting for complete newcomers
- GD&T features are advanced but face stiff competition from industry leaders
If you work in quality control, you’ll likely already have heard of Geomagic Control X. Its UI may be tricky for new users to get their heads around, but once they’ve cleared this initial hurdle, they’ll find that the platform is ideal for accelerating batch inspection.
Key point
Platforms like Control X make it possible to inspect entire product batches for defects based on 3D scan data.
With visual scripting, you can create a template from an initial scan and use this as a basis for future analyses, automating your entire workflow. Adding tolerances is also simplified by Smart Dimensioning, which automatically creates dimensions between features. This is particularly useful when adding flatness or symmetry tolerances for scan deviation analysis.
Advanced profile measurement and location analysis capabilities have also made Control X a popular tool for identifying damage, warpage, or twisting during blade maintenance, repair, and overhaul (MRO). But the software can be applied elsewhere too. Its GD&T toolset is close to best-in-class and it’s sure to unlock production insights that help your bottom line.
Geomagic Design X
- Windows
- Feature extraction wizards for advanced reverse engineering
- Built-in UI assistant for newcomers
- Time-tested across industries
- Pro-grade toolkit may not be necessary for more basic applications
When it comes to reverse engineering, Geomagic Design X is about as industry-ready a software as you can get. With highly automated surfacing, layout, and sketching tools, it can carry out many complex scan-to-CAD tasks at the click of a button. For manufacturers, this makes the program ideal for digital warehousing and replacing faulty parts at pace.
Like Control X in the field of QA, Design X facilitates batch workflows with macros that automate mesh processing, but it’s also packed with features that streamline manual sketching. Using its advanced suite of tools, you can now carry out the most complex tasks with ease, from extracting sectional polylines and feature curves to references with multiple inputs.
Design X even comes with an Automated Accuracy Analyzer for real-time deviation analysis. It could be argued that its features constitute ‘overkill’ for basic use cases. But the software’s Redesign Assistant actually makes its UI quite easy to grasp and there’s no arguing with its reverse engineering capabilities – the use cases are already out there!
ZEISS INSPECT Optical 3D
- Free trial, available on request
- Windows
- Best-in-class inspection tools
- Parametric platform remembers analyses for repeat tasks
- Makes deformations easy to find
- Customizable with ZEISS apps
- Upgrade to Pro license required for advanced GD&T, auto-surfacing, and rendering tool access
Though recently renamed, ZEISS INSPECT retains all the same top-end inspection tools as its predecessor GOM Inspect, only it’s now marketed under separate variants and apps.
Many of these come with the same core features, but ZEISS Inspect Optical 3D is probably the variant with the broadest reach, as ZEISS X-Ray & ZEISS Airfoil are more specialized. The program allows you to analyze deviations instantly, inspect with advanced GD&T tools, and analyze parts digitally prior to production with ‘virtual assemblies.’
Bulges, dents, and slots are also exaggerated, making deviations easier to spot, while advanced rendering allows users to see how products will look in incredibly realistic previews. These features, along with the customization options available via the ZEISS Quality Suite, turn the software into a powerful tool for ensuring product quality with 100% confidence.
Of course, many of the program’s best features are hidden behind a paywall. But if you plan on using 3D scanned data for QA, upgrading to the Pro license is likely money well spent.
Key point
Once found exclusively on industry platforms, reverse engineering and inspection tools are slowly creeping into 3D scanning programs too.
What next for 3D scanning software?
With the development of ever more advanced algorithms, users can expect to see the 3D scanning process get quicker, and results to continue improving. This could be in the capture of tricky dark or shiny surfaces (which is already getting easier) or the finest, most complex object features through AI – a technology that continues to drive precision gains in Artec Studio.
While 3D scanning platforms are also starting to add reverse engineering and QA features, there remains a place for dedicated toolsets.
Wherever you look, automation tools are driving productivity in these areas, in a way that improves manufacturers’ costs and lead times. Likewise, cloud solutions like Artec Cloud continue to streamline the sharing of 3D mesh-based projects, and bring the prospect of full ‘Industry 4.0’ factory integration closer to reality.
Where will these advances take 3D scanning software in the near future? It’s likely they will see the technology make further inroads in the fields of metrology, reverse engineering, and inspection, where ultra-accurate, high-speed digitization are most valued.
