EinScan HX Review: Specs, Features, Software and More

3D scanning first emerged in the second half of the 20th century. The first machines used projectors, which were later replaced by white light and lasers. As is the case with any rapidly evolving technology, 3D scanning has been steadily becoming both cheaper and more accurate. The professional solutions are utilized in various fields: from the medical sector to law enforcement, from design to architecture. 

And their prices are more affordable than ever. The Einscan HX by Chinese manufacturer Shining 3D is one of the solutions that offer an impressive level of quality.

 

About Shining 3D

Source: shining3d.com

Shining 3D is a China-based 3D scanner manufacturer that was founded in 2004. Since then the company has had a growing reputation and position in the market. Their experts have been working on 3D digitizing and additive manufacturing for more than a decade. Shining 3D is able to develop 3D products at a large scale, using and providing various technologies. 

The company offers both high-end and affordable 3D scanners that are meant to be accessible for all industries where 3D digitizing matters. The Einscan HX confirms the reputation of the company as one of its innovative, precise, and affordable products.

 

Shining 3D Einscan HX overview

EinScan HX is a professional portable handheld 3D scanner. It’s a part of a family of 3D scanners by Shining 3D, dubbed the H-series. The recommended object size for this device is between 30 cm and 300 cm. 

Source: einscan.com

The scanner utilizes a hybrid technology: it uses both blue laser and blue LED light sources. Each technology is used in a different scanning mode. Overall, there are two of them: Laser scan and Rapid scan. The former is slower and doesn’t support texture scanning, but the laser allows the device to get better results when working with reflective and darker color surfaces since it’s less sensitive to ambient light. It also has a better resolution (0.05 mm–3 mm). The Rapid scan utilizes the blue LED lights, which is significantly faster, hence the name (the scanning speed in this mode can reach up to 1,200,000 measurements per second). Both modes support color scanning.

The specifics of each mode are presented in the table:

Mode	Laser scan	Rapid scan
Light source	Laser	LED
Accuracy	Up to 0.04 mm	Up to 0.05 mm
Scan speed	Up to 480,000 points/s  (55 FPS)	Up to 1,200,000 points/s  (20 FPS)
Resolution	0.05–3mm	0.25–3mm
Align modes	Markers	Markers, Feature, Hybrid, Texture
Max. FOV	420 x 440 mm	380 x 400 mm
Texture scan	No	Yes

 

Shining3D Einscan HX 3D Scanner

 

What’s in the box

Source: youtube.com

The contents of the packaging include: 

• Shining Einscan HX 3D scanner
• Power adapter
• Power cable
• Calibration board
• Calibration board support
• Markers
• Marker removal tool
• USB drive

For some items, package content may change. In case of any questions, please get in touch.

 

Preparation

The preparation process starts with the hardware installation:

• Insert the pin plug into the scanner’s circular connector port
• Plug the other one into the scanner’s USB port in 
• Plug the power adapter into the connection cable 
• Plug the other end of the power cable into a power outlet
• Connect the other end of the connection cable to a USB 3.0 port on your computer

Source: shining3d.com

The next thing to do is to download and install software. 

• Go to https://www.einscan.com/support/download/
• Choose the EinScan HX model
• Click on the ‘Software’ button to download it. 
• To activate the License, turn on the scanner after connecting it to a PC and running software.

The last step of the preparation process is calibration. 

• Put the calibration board vertically
• Follow the instructions provided by the software
• Make sure that the device’s camera is aimed at the center of the board without significant angling
• For White Balance calibration aim the scanner at the back side of the calibration board (the white side), move the scanner up and down. 

Apart from this, there is an informative video guide from Shining 3D:

 

Highlights

Hybrid technology

Blue LED light in combination with laser improves scanning materials adaptability and provides a wider range of applications. Apart from increased speed of operation, laser scanning is less sensitive to ambient light, which ensures better performance with reflective and dark-color surfaces.

 

Precise data

The high resolution and accuracy of the device meet the needs of most industrial applications for reverse engineering and measuring. This quality part confirms the statement.

 

Impressive speed of processing

Considering its large single-scan range, the Einscan HX boasts stunning speed of data acquisition. In the Rapid scan mode, the number of measurements reaches up to 1,200,000 points/s. As for the Laser scan mode, its multiple blue laser lines are able to capture most objects in minutes.

Source: youtube.com

 

Convenient design

The Einscan HX is an ergonomic, lightweight device with user-friendly controls. Both beginners and professionals are sure to enjoy scanning with this portable and yet powerful machine.

 

Software

The EinScan HX comes with a proprietary ExScan Pro software solution. It is a professional software for 3D scanning and data processing that features a variety of advanced options for data editing. For instance, it features point clouds generation, meshing and texture alignment. In addition, it is really easy and intuitive to use.

The scheme below shows how the software workflow looks:

Source: shining3d.com

It is also possible to work with meshes in a third-party software, for example, one can import files to the Geomagic Essentials or the Solid Edge Shining 3D Edition.

 

Application

Einscan HX: Overview and Examples

Here’s a general overview of what the scanner is capable of:

Scanning a motorcycle

The Shining 3D Einscan HX launch webinar video has shown how the device can be utilized to get a high-quality scan of a front part of a motorcycle.

Source: youtube.com

Below is the resulting scan:

Source: youtube.com

Van interior laser & structured light 3D scan

The Shining 3D performed scanning of a van interior with the help of the Einscan HX laser and structured light modes. The magnetic markers were used for this special case.

Source: youtube.com

They decided to create a new project for each new part to simplify the process and make it more flexible. The first model looked like this:

Source: youtube.com

The device allows adjusting the brightness settings right in the middle of scanning through the dedicated buttons, which is really convenient, especially with surfaces like this.

Source: youtube.com

The different parts of the van were later merged into a single model through the Auto alignment feature.

Source: youtube.com

The complete rapid scan and laser scan data was later imported to the Geomagic Essentials software for further alignment.

Source: youtube.com

This is how they finally got an STL file containing all information on the project received from both types of scanning.

Source: youtube.com

Automotive 3D scanning

Here you can see more examples of how the scanner can handle tasks for the automotive industry.

Scanning the internal cavity of the Tesla Model 3 Frunk:

Scanning the Honda CR250 R Cylinder:

Scanning the Honda XRV 750 for custom parts:

Scanning the car interior:

Workflow and Post-Processing

Here you can see the entire workflow when scanning with the Einscan HX — from beginner to your first scan:

And this is how post-processing looks when scanning:

3D Models

Automotive parts

Due to its advanced technology, the Einscan HX is able to capture reflective surfaces and tricky forms with exceptional quality. Look at the examples of the automotive parts scanned with the device:

Heritage preservation

The Shining 3D Einscan HX can be a valuable solution for historians and restorers. The scanner possesses the capability for quality color and texture scanning, which is vividly demonstrated through these examples: 

 

Comparing Shining 3D Einscan HX with Shining 3D Einscan H

The Einscan H is a portable handheld 3D scanner. The device boasts ergonomic lightweight design, high-resolution scans, larger scan volume, fast speed of acquisition, and many other handy functions. The Einscan H can operate in three modes, including Standard, Body, and Face scanning. One of the most important characteristics is its improved capture algorithms that ensure outstanding acquisition, when it comes to slight body movements and small details like hair.

Let’s compare the technical parameters of the two models under consideration:

	Shining 3D Einscan H	Shining 3D Einscan HX
Accuracy	Up to 0.05 mm	Up to 0.04 mm
Connectivity	USB	USB
Display	No	No
Technology	White light	Blue LED, Laser
Acquisition speed	Up to 1,200,000 points/s (Standard, Body); Up to 720,000 points/s (Face)	Up to 1,200,000 points/s (LED scan mode);  Up to 480,000 points/s (Laser scan mode)
Camera frame rate	55 FPS	20–55 FPS
System requirements	OS: Win10, 64 bit; Graphics card: NVIDIA GTX1080 and higher; Video memory: ≥4GB; Processor: I7-8700; Memory: ≥32GB	OS: Win10, 64 bit; Graphics card: NVIDIA GTX1080 and higher; Video memory: ≥4Gb; Processor: I7-8700; Memory: ≥32GB
Depth of field	200–700 mm (Standard, Body);  200–1500 mm (Face)	200–700 mm (LED scan mode);  350–610 mm (Laser scan mode)
Output formats	OBJ; STL; ASC; PLY; P3; 3MF	OBJ; STL; ASC; PLY; P3; 3MF
Point distance	0.25 mm–3mm (Standard, Body); 0.24 mm (Face)	0.25 mm–3 mm (LED scan mode); 0.05mm–3mm (Laser scan mode)
Rotating table	No	No
Max. scan volume	420 x 440 mm (Standard, Body); 780 x 900 mm (Face)	420 x 440 mm (LED scan mode);  380 x 400 mm (Laser scan mode)
Texture / Color	Yes	Yes
Price	$4,999.00	$9,999.00

The differences shown in the table prove that the Einscan HX model is more precise and versatile in terms of its functions and characteristics. Moreover, it has a wider range of applications due to the built-in laser technology. On the other hand, the H model has a quite impressive scan range and is better for human scanning.

Other than that, two scanners share many similar features. Both the Einscan HX and H support texture and color scanning, which make them ideal for corresponding fields of application. For example, the Shining 3D Einscan H is great for design and education purposes, while the Einscan HX will serve as a reliable tool for reverse engineering and manufacturing.

 

Comparing Shining 3D Einscan HX with Scantech KSCAN20

The Scantech KSCAN20 is a professional 3D scanner with a dual-laser light source consisting of standard red and hyperfine blue. The device boasts wide scan volume and volumetric accuracy as well as fast efficient 3D scanning and precise data capturing.

Let’s see how the Einscan HX performs relative to the metrology-grade Scantech KSCAN 20 3D Scanner. These are the objects for the test:

 

Object	Size	Photo
Ring	D=17 mm.
Angel	L=145 mm. H=130 mm.
Disk	D=300 mm. W=20 mm.
Shaft	L=260 mm. D=40 mm.

And here are the results:

Shining3D Einscan HX	Scantech KSCAN20
Angel
Deviations
Green = deviation is between -0.1 mm and 0.1 mm Yellow = deviation is between 0.1 mm and 0.3 mm Blue = deviation is between -0.1 mm and -0.3 mm
Shaft
Deviations
Green = deviation is between -0.1 mm and 0.1 mm Yellow = deviation is between 0.1 mm and 0.3 mm Blue = deviation is between -0.1 mm and -0.3 mm Red = deviation is larger than 1 mm
Disk
Deviations
Green = deviation is between -0.1 mm and 0.1 mm Yellow = deviation is between 0.1 mm and 0.3 mm Blue = deviation is between -0.1 mm and -0.3 mm Red = deviation is larger than 1 mm
Ring
Green = deviation is between -0.1 mm and 0.1 mm Yellow = deviation is between 0.1 mm and 0.3 mm Blue = deviation is between -0.1 mm and -0.3 mm Red = deviation is larger than 1 mm

As you can see, the accuracy and resolution are quite decent. The Einscan HX is suitable for scanning and controlling the geometry of objects with the size starting from 200 mm, with an acceptable level of detail.

 

Conclusion

The Einscan HX is a professional solution that still manages to be affordable. This portable handheld device offers the level of accuracy that is rare among 3D scanners of this price range and size. The Einscan HX utilizes a hybrid technology, using blue LED lights for high-speed scanning (the so-called Rapid mode) and lasers for more accurate scanning of objects with dark or reflective surfaces. Setting up the machine is quite easy and consists of a few simple steps. The proprietary software offered by Shining 3D is user-friendly and makes post-processing as intuitive as possible.

Able to meet the requirements of demanding professionals without compromising on portability and coming at an affordable price, we believe that the Einscan HX offers a great level of accuracy and manages to be a versatile tool that can satisfy the requirements of many users.