Scanning Procedure of Female Torso Using Low-Cost Hand-Held Sense 3D Scanner

3D scanning technology is widely used in medical and clothing applications as well as research projects. This paper presents our experiences with a low-cost hand-held 1st generation SenseTM 3D scanner (3D Systems Inc., Rock Hill, SC, USA) including free software Sense (V2.2) [1]. The shape of the female torso, including breast tissue volume, was determined using 3D surface scans. Female upper body area implies special requirements for positioning of participant and handling of scanner to gain good scan quality for reliable surface geometry. Lighting, settings and options, advantages and drawbacks of this scanner, including dimensional tolerance and repeatability measurements using mannequin and human body are addressed. Data processing and anonymization issues in the included free software are shown. Dimensional accuracy has to be proven first before using the SenseTM 3D scanner. For this purpose, a rigid plastic mannequin with markups, so-called fiducial points, was used. The distance from incisura jugularis to umbilicus height and nipple distance were measured using manual anthropometry compasses and virtual measurement from the 3D scan. The deviation was 0.1 % and -0.03 %, respectively. Repeatability of measurements was determined calculating average error parameter from 5 scans in standing and supine position (lying on the back) using the alignment procedure in MeshLab (v1.3.4BETA) [2]. Mean average error was 0.26 mm for both standing and supine position using either 4 or 19 pairs of points for alignment. Keeping in mind that the scanner is optimized for human skin and not for plastic surface, which sometimes causes reflections, this deviation can be judged very low. In addition, repeatability measurements were carried out on 3 pilot study participants. Mean average error for all participants and positions was 1.33 mm. Compared to the element size of maximum 3 mm this error is acceptable. Hence, the low-cost SenseTM scanner can be used in research projects dealing with human body geometric measurements.