Three-dimensional (3D) scanning systems are used to capture 3D models of real-world, physical objects by using one or more 3D scanners to capture views of the physical objects from multiple angles and synthesizing the 3D models from the multiple views.
Three-dimensional scanning systems may be contrasted with panoramic photography or virtual reality (VR) photography that capture a series of two dimensional (2D) images from multiple viewpoints and combine the 2D images into a format that allows a user to control the panning of a virtual camera across a 2D scene that remains stationary at a fixed central point (e.g., “outward facing” VR photography) and formats that allow a user to rotate around an object to view 2D images of the object from different sides (e.g., “inward facing” VR photography).
In contrast, the 3D scanning systems may be used to capture three-dimensional models of objects and/or environments (e.g., geometry defined by collections of three dimensional points), thereby allowing, for example, the measurement of lengths within the 3D models, and the insertion of the captured 3D models into 3D virtual environments such as 3D modeling tools and 3D game engines.