3D portable camera with depth sensing for less than $100

Question

I am looking for a camera that can scan 3D objects for use in 3D modeling programs like Blender. Requirements:

• SDK
• quality 3D scans
• portable, preferably wireless
• less than $100

Answer 1

Basically you have 2 options:

1. Hand-held 3D scanners (cost at least $300): Sense 3D scanner, Structure.io, Go!SCAN, Fuel3D. Should work out-of-the-box.

2. USB depth sensors (difficult to find < $100). These have a few limitations:

   • All don't come with an SDK that creates high quality polygon models from 3D pointcloud. You'll end up coding.
   • Do not contain an IMU (Inertial Measurement Unit) like , so models may be mis-aligned. (this is just a guess)
   • Not wireless

What you are asking hasn't hit the market yet. I'd definitely invest some more money and choose option #1.

Answer 2

It will be hard to find a stereo camera for < 100USD. Still, you can have a look on Microsoft Kinect and Asus Xtion PRO LIVE.

There is no such stereo camera with a wireless video transmission in the market however you can make one using IEEE 802.11 transmission bands.