The learning curve for 3D modeling has become significantly less steep over the last decade, but it’s an upward curve still. So what do you do if you want a digital 3D model of something physical, but don’t want to model it yourself? Your only options are to have someone do it for you, which can take a decent amount of time and money, or you could use a 3D scanner, which can either take lots of time OR money. If you go with the scanning option and try to go the cheap route, you could end up wasting a lot of time. If you’d like the process to be a bit less painful, you’ll need to spend tens of thousands of dollars on a professional 3D scanner. At least, that was the case before the Lynx A.

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Technically it’s still not available because it still has 32 days left on its Kickstarter campaign, but the good news is that it’s already reached funding. What the Lynx A does is nothing short of miraculous, packing everything needed to 3D scan into a handheld tablet device. It’s the camera, the sensor, the computer, the software (it saves in all your favorite file types: “PLY, OBJ, STL, XYZ, JPS, BVH, and more”), and even the screen to work on. One of the greatest features really is that it’s wireless; I know from experience that wires are not conducive to 3D scanning, and with the Lynx A you’ll have at least three hours of mobile scanning. It’s designed to be as easy to use as a point-and-shoot camera, and the controls are inspired by video games — two joysticks and four buttons.

So what can it do? At LEAST three awesome things: scene modeling, object modeling, and motion capture. The functions are just like they sound too. With scene modeling the Lynx A is just turned around a room, or scene, and it’s captured in real time in color and to scale until the pause button is pressed. The object modeling function does the same thing for a specific object by rotating the device around the object. Motion capture is a bit different though, creating a skeleton of whatever is moving and then the motion is tied to it; that motion can later be mapped and skinned as desired. That’s quite a bit of power for a handheld!

The possible applications for the Lynx A are beyond me, and its creators, but engineers, interior designers, and architects will all want this in their toolboxes. Even surveyors could mount this to a quadcopter and capture macro views of entire buildings. The best thing about the Lynx A though: the price. Since it’s still on Kickstarter, I don’t know the retail price, but I’m guessing between $3000 and $4000, but you can still snag one for under $2000 as an early backer. Even if it’s $5000, that’s a tenth of what other 3D scanners cost. I expect this technology to be in our phones in a few short years, but until then, the Lynx A is where it’s at.

Kickstarter page: here