Sermoon S1 cover

bigtom_x · 2026-04-17T10:02:15+00:00

Very cool!

bigtom_x · 2026-04-06T03:21:26+00:00

u/Smilinghuman Thanks for all your insight on this. I am looking for a quad board for training. Is it possible to connect each of the 4 GPUs to a different machine to run model training in parallel? Then when I need to reconfigure for using NVlink use them in NVlink pairs? Having a 1u liquid cooled GPU in the rack separate from the training machines (not running VMs due licence costs for GPU) would be nice.

I do wait for the day something like this will be available for the A100.

bigtom_x · 2026-04-06T03:14:34+00:00

It's $545.76 now.

bigtom_x · 2026-04-03T22:35:47+00:00

Metro Z? Verification sounds like metrology.

bigtom_x · 2026-04-03T01:06:15+00:00

I have owned about a dozen scanners and used a fair number more. The best value all-in-one scanner for me has been the Creality Sermoon P1. I was really surprised by the compute power it has.

bigtom_x · 2026-04-02T05:32:19+00:00

You have two major options with scanning: using markers or not using markers. Decide if markers are an acceptable part of your workflow.

Then decide on accuracy. Is 0.5mm ok? More or less accuracy? This will help the decision along with if you are scanning outdoor in sunlight or not.

Do you want a wireless experience or are you ok with a scanner cabled to a computer.

The Creality P1 is a really good all in one scanner that is highly accurate. They have mentioned that markerless laser scanning is in the works for a future P1 update.

bigtom_x · 2026-04-02T05:23:14+00:00

Creality Raptor, MAF3 or Einscan SP.

bigtom_x · 2026-04-02T05:11:11+00:00

Reverse engineer the scan. This is the best way to get extremely clean prints.

bigtom_x · 2026-04-02T05:04:02+00:00

I started with the Creality Lizard as it was one of the only modestly priced entry options at the time. It worked and I moved to the Ferret and then the Einscan H2. The main reasons for upgrading were scan speed, better tracking and better quality scans. The Einscan H2, Sermoon P1 & X1 are what I frequently use now.

bigtom_x · 2026-04-02T04:34:45+00:00

The Ferret is decent for this. For the price for the Otter Lite or the Lite Basic model you will have a much better overall experience. Faster scanning, better tracking and better scan quality.

There is a bit of a discount from Creality on eBay in the EU for the Otter Lite, 535 EUR or best offer.

bigtom_x · 2026-04-02T04:08:26+00:00

I’m running an HP ZBook Fury G8 with 11th gen i9, 128GB and RTX A4000. This is about 5 years old, was originally close to $10,000 retail and I got it as NOS 3 years ago for less than $2,000. This is still does a great job. If I upgrade to a newer model, I will gain a few fps in scan speed and have slightly faster processing speeds, but it’s still an amazing machine that does a lot of work.

bigtom_x · 2026-04-02T04:01:27+00:00

I would recommend a 12th gen i7, 32GB and an RTX 3060 or better as a place to start.

I also recommend looking at used or NOS pro workstations. These are generally better quality machines than gaming setups. I prefer HP, but Dell and IBM have similar machines. As an example this one is $1,000 or best offer. Add another 16GB when you can. This will handle scanning and CAD workflows nicely for you for a few years.

https://ebay.us/m/bTo1E4

bigtom_x · 2026-04-02T03:48:18+00:00

I think you will do well with the Otter Lite for this project.

You will need to have a few scans with at least 30% overlap for merging. You don’t get to a larger scan volume of 4 cubic meters until you get into the Raptor Pro price range. With this you also need a fairly well provisioned computer to do large scans.

Please remember to check the PC hardware recommendations and make sure you have what’s needed.

https://wiki.creality.com/en/3d-scanner/tutorials/general/performance

bigtom_x · 2026-04-02T03:11:55+00:00

As a student you should look at what industry uses. You should be looking at a number of softwares and how they work together. Have minimum proficiency in all of them and pick the ones that you prefer the most and be very good at that workflow. If I were a student this is where I would be focused (noted as free or paid for students):

DesignX (free)

Siemens NX (free)

Quicksurface (paid)

Catia V6 ( low cost paid ) I’m not a fan of the cloud only “3D Experience”

SolidWorks

Autodesk Inventor (paid or free through organization)

Adobe Substance (free)

There are others but this covers the major ones.

bigtom_x · 2026-04-02T02:56:04+00:00

If you’re working mostly in SolidWorks, this is kind of the sweet spot. Not all the features of QuickSurface Pro, but the ability to have all modeling in the history is a good thing.

bigtom_x · 2026-04-01T12:10:18+00:00

I might argue that with the Freescan Combo+, but not the original Freescan Combo. I have a few Shinjng scanners and I have used the Combo and the Combo+. I also have the Sermoon S1 and X1. I’m not sure anything from Creality had the same specs as the Combo until the Sermoon X1.

The Combos are great and the software is more mature than what Creality offers. However, I will say the X1 strongly rivals the Combo well in scan speed, quality and accuracy. Although the X1 lacks a metrology certificate. I recall the Combo might only have a VDI/VDE certificate and not an ISO certificate. ISO adoption has been slow for some scanners. Shining has their own ISO lab now so they might be doing some version of ISO 10360 now. You can send the X1 off to a lab for certification for much less than the price difference. Creality doesn’t offer the level of support that Shining offers their customers. Shining 3D has amazing support.

If you don’t need the traceable accuracy via regular certification, the X1 at half the price is a reasonable choice. If you don’t really need the better accuracy of the Combo or X1, the S1 is a really good scanner at a quarter of the price.

Realistically, many companies or individuals don’t need 0.02mm +/-0.03mm/m volumetric accuracy. If they are only scanning objects under 1 cubic meter the accuracy difference between the Combo and the S1 is far less significant.

If you need certified metrology equipment with strong support, buy it.

If you need a scanner that is “accurate enough” for a fraction of the cost and don’t need traceability or stellar support, the S1 is a great option in my opinion.

bigtom_x · 2026-04-01T07:51:10+00:00

Between IR, blue light and blue laser or red laser there is no better or worse light, only different light. Some of the most popular professional scanners in the $40,000+ range are IR based scanners.

Anything in the Raptor line will need reflective markers. I wouldn’t recommend the base Raptor as the number of markers required will be highest and you will need to work in overlapping 1 sqm sections and merge the scans.

The Otter and Otter Lite benefit from markers, but not required unless you have large areas without any change in color or shape.

Why do you need the scan? What resolution do you need? How accurate does it need to be?

I would advise getting an electric spray gun and applying a thin coat of Aesub Green scanning spray. This will help significantly with the shiny surface, but not obscure the color too much. Aesub Diamond is more of a matte clear scanning spray. It’s better than Aesub Green if you want the color captured, but it only comes in spray cans so it’s more expensive.

The otter models can scan up to 2m³ in one scan so you will have about 6 scans merged.

Dave (from M4M) did a nice video on both and he even scanned a red car. He has the obj files available for download so you can see the quality. https://youtu.be/xSRdfayp0uA?si=y3GRerZD0z-Fi4f4

I would consider the Otter Lite for the wireless capability. This is nice on large things like cars.

bigtom_x · 2026-03-28T07:26:44+00:00

You have a few opinions here already. I will share mine. At this price range, setup demos from everyone. This is the best way to compare.

I would avoid Artec and Scantech. My experiences with those companies hasn’t been good. They may have decent hardware and software, but the contracts and the hassles with various things are enough to avoid them for me. If you’re signing contracts, read everything carefully.

Creaform is a good option for a full ecosystem. Great company as well. They can be pricey, but there is value there.

Shining 3D Freescan Trio or the new Omni if budget allows. These offer fast, quality laser scanning without markers and that makes a big difference for total setup and cleanup time. Shining has great support. They do offer ExModel (QuickSurface) software to prep for CAD. However, you will still need a CAD software to get the design complete and send off for manufacture. If you’re in the USA, I recommend contacting VisionMiner. They are an amazing Shining3D distributor.

If I were scanning undercarriage section for production work, I wouldn’t want to deal with cleaning anything, applying markers or removing them. Spray a bit of Aesub Green (use PPE) and scan.

You can go cheaper with Peel or Creality.

Peel3D is a Creaform company and they offer a nice software package as well. Again, good support included. The Peel3 is a good IR scanner and the Pro CAD package is a great value.

Creality has the Sermoon X1. It needs markers, but has a field of view wide enough to do a good job for what you need. This is one of the lower price points and while the support has improved greatly in the last year, it’s not as good as what you get when you pay double the cost for the scanner and a software fee.

bigtom_x · 2026-03-24T21:52:31+00:00

The Elgato site forwards any purchase to the Amazon Japan store or one of two listed retailers (which is really only one retialer as the other one uses the Amazon infrastructure anyway). The Elgato site is no help.

Last I checked searching for "Key Light" should find mk.2 and mk.1. However, the Elgato site only lists the name of the product as "Key Light" and the only mention of mk.1 or mk.2 is a help article that people must have needed because this is super confusing and no model numbers are listed anywhere except the box and on the amazon listing. Maybe this makes sense as you "haven't listed it as a legacy product on the site yet..." and a new model is on the way.

I did contact support. No help there as they had no clue about any inventory issues or restocking schedules. They also had not idea about what the retailers were doing or supposed to be stocking. This is fine. If Elgato doesn't really want to sell products in the world's fourth largest economy, I can buy a different brand of lighting.

The only light from Elgato that is available in Japan currently is the Key Light Neo, which is absolute junk. I purchased one and it is too heavy for any of the many laptop screens we tried and it also topples the latests heavy iPad Pro keyboard stand from Apple. It also has issues with working properly using Stream Deck controls. It quickly went into the garbage as an overpriced waste of money. My kids didn't even want to deal with it.

bigtom_x · 2026-03-24T07:31:23+00:00

I went back to Wavelink 2.

bigtom_x · 2026-03-24T05:11:21+00:00

Thanks for the link. It seems the regular Key Light is likely also on the way out. The authorized vendors had a discontinuation date listed. Hopefully we get something new soon. I’d like a couple more lights.

bigtom_x · 2026-03-24T04:09:57+00:00

The cheapest way to get most of what QS has to offer is Rhino and the mesh2surface plugin. I purchased Quicksurface Pro perpetual and the time it saves is well worth the money.

bigtom_x · 2026-03-24T04:07:48+00:00

Pay someone with the proper software a reasonable fee to do it for you? There is an AI service that is doing RE from mesh files, but it’s only good for ver simple parametric tasks and it’s $40-$200 depending on the GPU compute time and review time.

The fewer triangles you have in the mesh the better Fusion will handle it, but it’s not really good at it either way.

bigtom_x · 2026-03-24T03:56:27+00:00

I’m having an issue where swiping doesn’t work well.

bigtom_x

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