Revopoint Pop 4 Kickstarter Closes Saturday – Blue Laser, VCSEL, and 3DGS Under $700
The company regularly launches via Kickstarter: that's typical. But the Pop 4 is a decidedly atypical budget 3D scanner, packing near-infrared, VCSEL, blue laser, plus 3D gaussian splat modes all in one.
Revopoint’s Kickstarter campaign for the Pop 4 closes at 9 AM EDT on June 6. To date, the company has amassed close to $2.5-million raised against a $60,000 goal. The campaign pricing currently has the standard edition Pop 4 at $643.
Why are we bothering to mention it? The Pop 4 is quite peculiar for a budget-handheld scanner. For one, it introduces a couple of firsts in the Pop series, bringing forward the expected field near-infrared technology and adding blue laser tech – something we typically see in Revopoint’s pricier Metro series – as well as a completely new complementary near-infrared tech in a VCSEL projector. All previous Pop scanners were near-infrared field only, effectively following the same formula as the original release, with gradual adjustments through subsequent Pop models.
These two additions massively boost the Pop 4’s versatility compared to its predecessors, increasing the range of objects you can scan and scenarios the scanner can, theoretically, perform in. VCSEL alone ups the scanner’s ability to scan in direct light, up to 100,000 lux, says Revopoint. For reference, the Pop 3 could only work in ambient light up to 20,000 lux.
Blue laser handles the precision work, as well as shiny and dark objects where scanning spray is not an option. It offers up to 0.03 mm single-frame accuracy, Revopoint claims. Working with the infrared mode gives you up to an 800 mm working distance for larger objects and full-body captures, marker-free.
As ever with 3D scanners, there are specific computing hardware requirements to get the most out of the system. GPU-accelerated performance in laser mode (typically process-heavy) is limited to Windows for now, requiring beefy NVIDIA hardware. Mac users with M1 Pro processors or better can run laser mode without GPU acceleration. Revopoint confirms in the campaign FAQs that Mac and AMD GPU acceleration is coming by mid-July.
The Pop 4’s uniqueness doesn’t end at blue lasers. The scanner can also output 3D Gaussian Splats in .splat format – highly unusual in a handheld 3D scanner. A mode pointedly used for asset capture in the digital arts and design, 3DGS doesn’t capture mesh data – it’s more a volumetric representation that captures appearance rather than geometry, resulting in photorealistic scenes. 3DGS captures are typically calculated from a video recording – Revopoint’s implementation here anchors the 3DGS data (photorealism) to the scan data.
Revopoint is no stranger to crowdfunding campaigns and mass production of the Pop 4 is already confirmed underway, so while our usual caveat about crowdfunding still applies, it does seem like more of a formality than a risk here. First batch units are expected to ship at the end of June. The original $579 Super Early Bird tier is gone, but last-minute backers can still secure the $643 tier.
Editor's Note – This article highlights a Kickstarter crowdfunding campaign. Kickstarter is not a shop; campaigns are under no legal obligation to deliver on crowdfunding promises, nor offer refunds on unfulfilled campaign rewards. For more insight, read our article 8 Things to Watch for When Backing a 3D Printing Kickstarter.
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License: The text of "Revopoint Pop 4 Kickstarter Closes Saturday – Blue Laser, VCSEL, and 3DGS Under $700" by All3DP is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.