mesh2scan

A Blender extension that performs a virtual 3D scan of a mesh you supply. It ray-casts from virtual scanner positions to acquire real surface observations, then reconstructs a separate, densely triangulated scan mesh from those measurements. The original object is never modified.

Experimental, pre-release (0.0.2). It scans the geometry you give it, so it measures the shape that is actually there — it does not invent detail that a game mesh only fakes with normal maps. Results can have open boundaries, are not watertight-guaranteed, and are not CAD/Class-A surfaces.

Features

• Virtual scanning: casts rays from virtual scanner standoff positions and records actual hit points and normals (misses are discarded), or samples the surface directly for a zero-noise baseline. The original mesh stays untouched; the scan is a new object.
• Guided surface (default): keeps the reference connectivity and adaptively splits shared edges by length and detail toward a triangle budget, then applies a bounded observation fit. Preserves creases and open borders.
• Observation volume (experimental): fuses only the acquired points into a native OpenVDB volume and extracts an independent isosurface, then fits and simplifies it.
• Smooth inferred geometry: optional crease- and boundary-protected curved (PN-triangle) reference, so coarse source facets scan as a smooth surface. Switch to Original shape to scan the actual facets.
• Shared triangle budget across selected parts for whole-exterior captures, weighted by surface area, curvature, and per-part importance.
• RAM preflight that estimates peak memory and either auto-reduces the target or stops before capture.
• Diagnostics: refinement/curvature vertex colors, a per-capture JSON report (triangle count, open/nonmanifold edges, ray-hit fraction, sampled deviation from the source), and PLY export of the observation cloud.
• Presets from an 80k quick check up to a 25M shared exterior.

Requirements

• Blender 4.5+ (checked on 4.5.4 LTS and 5.1.0).
• No extra runtime packages or platform-specific binaries.

Install

1. Download mesh2scan-0.0.2.zip (the build output, not the source ZIP).
2. In Blender: Preferences → Get Extensions → menu → Install from Disk, pick the ZIP, and enable mesh2scan.
3. Open the 3D View sidebar (N) → mesh2scan.

Usage

1. Select a mesh in Object Mode.
2. Pick Quick check · 80k, Guided surface, and Smooth inferred geometry.
3. Click Check RAM & Target, then Capture mesh2scan.
4. Inspect the result, colors, and report before raising the budget. Use Original shape to compare without inferred smoothing.

For a whole exterior, select the exterior parts and choose an Exterior preset. The triangle count is a shared total, not per part. Set per-part share in Object Properties → mesh2scan Importance.

Build

Requires Python 3.11+ (standard library only).

python tools/build.py            # writes dist/mesh2scan-0.0.2.zip
python tools/build.py --source   # also writes the repository archive

Develop

python -m venv .venv
# activate .venv, then:
python -m pip install bpy==5.1.0 -r requirements-dev.txt
ruff check .
python tests/blender_smoke.py
python tests/lifecycle.py

Use Python 3.11 with bpy==4.5.4 for the Blender 4.5 line in a separate environment. Run the smoke/lifecycle checks in a fresh scene: they create and delete temporary objects.

License

GPL-3.0-or-later. See LICENSE.