I was given the task of replicating a medieval pot using a 3D scanner and printer.  I was able to build a very accurate model of the pot but there were several problems in the process of creating it. Finding the space to do the scanning was tricky as the equipment required a dark environment.

The next issue was getting shots of each surface of the pot. The lip of the pot made capturing the inside incredibly difficult. With the pot being very old I dared not risk moving around too much. Also some slight configuration issues with the hardware resulted in me having to manually move the pot for each photo rather than relying on the turntable.

The Medieval “Wizard’s pot” being scanned

However, once scanned in I was able to approximate any of the pot’s missing surfaces with the modelling software. When the model was ready it was sent to the 3D printer where the replica was created. The final product is almost indistinguishable from the original except for its difference in colour caused by a lack of the appropriate colouring materials in the printer. However, this discrepancy did ensure that we didn’t return the wrong pot.