After seeing a demonstration of this App at the BETT in January, I thought this would warrant further investigation.

The Qlone (pronounced Clone) App for iPads and iPhones from EyeCue turns the device’s camera into a 3D scanner. The App is free to download and use but has in App purchases for some formats when exporting the scanned files.

Free exports: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, SketchFab, Imaterialise, GIF, video or image.

Paid exports: CGTrader, Shapeways, OBJ, STL, USDZ, GLB, X3D or PLY.

To start, download the App to your device, then from the App or the website, download and print the scan mat, open the App, place the object on the mat and start scanning.

It is worth noting that while the default is A4, the scan mat can be printed larger if required and the object can be scanned several times in different positions, which will merge into one. I guess the more scans the better the image.

Qlone on YouTube: https://youtu.be/BkOxvT_esQo 

It looks quick and easy; however, in practice I have found scanning to be quite difficult, especially around the lower edges of the AR dome. It seems that if the distance is not just right or if any parts of the mat’s outer markers are obscured by the object being scanned then the scan dome disappears and it can be quite hard to regain.

I also found that trying to scan all around the object was awkward; a turntable of some kind would probably make this much easier.

Now, it could be that I need more practice and I only scanned the object twice, but the scanned results I obtained were somewhat less than perfect, certainly not up to the quality suggested on the website.

But having said that, it did work, and I find that quite exciting.

Being able to 3D scan an object without any expensive add-on equipment would be very useful for so many things. I certainly intend to keep practicing to see if I can get better results!

If you wish to know more about this App, take a look at the website: https://www.qlone.pro/