Thomas Megel is aiming to bring down the cost and complexity of accurate 3D scanning — and to prove it, he's scanned a Raspberry Pi single-board computer using another Raspberry Pi single-board computer.

Megel founded OpenScan.eu with a mission to create a low-cost 3D scanner built around an Arduino-powered control unit and off-the-shelf smartphones and cameras. In its latest incarnation, though, the project has shifted focus with a new variant running atop a Raspberry Pi single-board computer and a Raspberry Pi Camera Module or HQ Camera Module.

"I am able to reach great accuracy with just a Raspberry Pi [and] Pi Camera [Module] v2.1," Megel explains, following the production of a demonstration video and 3D scan of a second Raspberry Pi. "I am currently testing an upcoming cloud processing feature, but it will always be possible to do the processing locally on a PC with Meshroom or similar ...