What’s the Difference between iReal M3 and iReal 2E?

The two professional 3D scanners launched by iReal 3D are iReal 2E handheld color 3D scanner and iReal M3 dual-infrared laser 3D scanner. What’s the difference between them? How to choose the right 3D tool when a 3D designer or an engineer needs to make a purchase decision?

The result shows iReal M3 is capable of scanning humans and objects of different sizes and various materials, while iReal 2E is designed for the human body and medium and large-sized objects bigger than 30cm. Its limitations are determined that iReal 2E is suitable for objects with not very high detail reproduction, like stoned sculptures and car floor mats, or customers who have an insufficient budget. Additionally, it needs a scanning spray to treat the surface when meeting black and reflective objects.

Differences between Light Sources

The common light source that both iReal M3 and iReal 2E utilize is infrared VCSEL structured light, referring to projecting infrared speckles for 3D reconstruction. It supports invisible light scanning, hair scanning, and markers-free scanning (geometrical feature and texture data alignment), suitable for the human body and medium and large-sized sculptures.

The newly-launched iReal M3 dual-infrared laser 3D scanner added a different light source – 7 parallel infrared laser lines. It becomes the biggest difference. The main advantages compared with the infrared speckle mode:

– No need to use scanning spray to treat the surface for most dark, black, and reflective objects.

– Higher accuracy for edge reconstruction and better detail reproduction.

So the new light source makes up for the lack of infrared speckle when scanning items, especially to meet the scanning needs of items for industrial design and small objects of 5-30cm.

The reason for iReal M3 is stronger than iReal 2E on object scanning is the newly-added parallel infrared lasers. What are the data test results? See the groups of data comparison.

It’s obviously founded that the scanning capabilities of infrared parallel lasers for sharp edges and detail reproduction is more powerful, which empowers iReal M3 on the adaptabilities of the materials and sizes.

Therefore, iReal M3 is your consideration if you work related to reverse design and/or industrial design or if you need to scan wide objects, such as items larger than 5cm and metal parts. When the main scanning tasks are human bodies or medium and large-sized objects starting from 30cm, iReal 2E is a cost-effective choice.