Assessing Potential Educational Use of Two 3D Scanners: Microsoft Kinect v2 and NextEngine 3D Scanner Ultra HD

An education use suitability analysis of two commercially available 3D scanners, Microsoft's Kinect v2 and NextEngine's 3D Scanner Ultra HD, is presented. The analysis includes focus on potential classroom / education use. Highpoints of this are evaluations of (1) accuracy when scanning real-world objects, (2) consistency between scans, and (3) impact of object color on scan quality. In addition, the compatible platforms and available application programming interfaces for each are discussed.