Elegoo Beats Bambu to the Punch, M1 Ultra 3D Scanner Available to Preorder and Shipping Soon
Available for preorder and shipping within the next couple weeks, Elegoo's first 3D scanner cuts the cord, streaming scan data to your computer via high-speed Wi-fi or cable.
Elegoo has joined Creality, and pipped Bambu Lab to the post, in offering a 3D scanner to its customers, a new hardware synergy to complement the company’s 3D printers. The Elegoo M1 Ultra went up for preorder today in the U.S., EU, and the UK, with early-bird pricing of $1,599 knocking $100 off the eventual MSRP of $1,699.
Bambu Lab’s own scanner, the S1, was announced on October 12, but the latest there is just to sign up for email updates for an expected November launch.
In numbers, the Elegoo M1 Ultra weighs 511 g, and has a 3-inch touchscreen display for operating and monitoring scan progress. It has the wand shape typical of handheld scanners, and is powered by a removeable 4,800mAh battery. Elegoo doesn’t provide any data on how long the battery lasts when using the scanner, but says it takes 1.5 hours to charge it up to 80% from empty. A spare battery is included in the box with the scanner.
The scanning tech inside is a combination of multiple blue laser projections – cross lines, parallel lines, and single-line – plus near-infrared, between them offering a mix of scanning modes. Elegoo presents this spread as suited to cover large areas quickly, smaller patches in high detail, depth in holes and pockets, dark and reflective surfaces, and objects outdoors in direct lighting, with or without tracking markers.
The M1 Ultra can track global markers, as well as localized ones, Elegoo says. Near infrared mode uses feature-based tracking exclusively.
Outdoor performance in NIR mode gets a boost from the included lens filter – an increasingly common accessory for dual-light source style scanners like this, which typically puts the blinkers on the other wavelengths of light, cutting interference. Elegoo says outdoor performance using the NIR mode – say, scanning a statue out and about, where tracking markers would be impractical – is up to 80,000 lux. That’s equivalent to strong direct sunlight.
Bring a Capable Computer
While it has a display that can show you the scan as you go, there’s no indication from Elegoo that the M1 Ultra can operate completely independent from a computer, with the company describing the relationship between scanner and computer as one of load-sharing – the scanner processes and compresses the data, streaming it via USB tether or via Wi-Fi to your computer.
As such, it seems like you’ll need a powerful computer to achieve anything with the M1 Ultra. Elegoo recommends the following for a smoother experience: an Nvidia RTX 4060 graphics card with 8GB of VRAM, paired with 32 GB of system RAM for Windows users, and an Apple M4 chip with 32 GB of RAM on macOS.
Wired connections get the best performance, with up to 100 frames per second at lower resolution (1520 x 1200) in a laser mode, dropping to 60 FPS when using a wireless connection. NIR scanning maxes out at 30 frames per second no matter the connection type.
The Elegoo M1 Ultra is available to preorder on the Elegoo webstore. The discounted early-bird pricing ends November 12.
You’ve Read That; Now Read These…
License: The text of "Elegoo Beats Bambu to the Punch, M1 Ultra 3D Scanner Available to Preorder and Shipping Soon" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.