3D scanning and 3D printing are increasingly linked technologies, there are specific tools in CATIA to transform a 3D scan into a printable model. For this you have to go into the “Digitized Shape Editor” workbench that is in the “shape” menu.

“Filter” Tool

This tool provides an easy and precise way to reduce the number of points from the scan (to reduce the file size). A green sphere appears, and represents the difference between two points. The higher the value, the greater the distance between two points and therefore the lower the number of points in the mesh will be.

After filtering, you obtain a lighter with a reduced number of points, which will depend on the size of the filter you applied.

“Mesh creation” tool

Creating a mesh from a point cloud operates in the same way as earlier, by clicking on “mesh creation”, followed by setting the SAG depending on the desired level of accuracy.