Building a 3D Full-Body Scanning Rig: Your Guide to Cameras, Budget, and Components

Starting from Scratch? Building a 100-Camera Photogrammetry Station.

Recently, a partner asked me a great question about setting up a 3D full-body scanning rig. I figured it would be helpful to provide a detailed answer for anyone exploring this fascinating field. This article, as of January 26, 2025, covers the basics to get you started with confidence.

1. Budget
   I always recommend budgeting $1,000 USD per camera, which includes cameras, electronic components, structural materials, and software—assuming you build the structure yourself. This serves as a good baseline for planning your project.

2. Cameras
   Canon R100 or Sony a6400 are great. The number of cameras will simply affect the quality. Our clients use between 80 and 250 cameras. More cameras = more quality. Technically, you can either use 80 cameras with lenses at 18mm (less cameras grabbing a larger area), or 200 cameras with lenses zoomed at 40mm (each camera grabbing more details of a smaller area). Above 160 cameras, you can dedicate a few units for the face itself (using 18-135mm lenses).
   Some people seem to debate that having 60 full-frame cameras will produce better results. At 5x the price of the R100, the R8 would definitely produce better results, but the overall required budget would still be way higher. Most of our users are working with entry-level cameras. This one is made with 206 Canon SL1 (a ten years old cameras, still producing 5k RAW files!)

3. Lenses
   Kit lenses are great as you adjust based on your shoot type. When shooting action shots, we zoom out and simulate a virtual bounding box resembling a square where the dancer can freely express within that range. For films, we’re zooming in as much as possible and frame within a rectangle bounding box, covering the body and arms/hands in a A-pose

4. Electronic components
   Raspberry Pi 3, 4 or 5 (offers similar performance), network switches, etc. Each Pi can handle 4 cameras (or more if you use USB hubs, but I always stick to 4). Check out the budget calculator for the exact list of items: https://xanglecs.com/hardware-budget-calculator

5. Trigger cables / trigger boxes
   Not required! We do everything by USB via the software

6. Structure
   Dimension: diameter 12’, height 10’.
   We use extruded aluminum. Some of our users are working with plumbing pipe.
   Want to skip the hassle? Purchase a pre-built frame from us: https://xanglestudio.com/frame

7. Software
   Xangle Camera Server. That is the main part of our business. We’ve been developing this multi-camera software since 2011. The main highlight is of course the USB triggering (no trigger cables required). But on top of this, as we’re also running a photogrammetry (head and body 3d scan) studio, we keep updating the software to ease our life. I really want my technicians and talents to have a good experience, and that’s why you’ll see tons of goodies in the software like easy file review, audio/visual countdown, etc

I wrote this text above based on my experience, but I highly suggest you talk with other folks in the industry to get various points of view. On my end, I have the chance to regularly be in touch with some of the largest studios, gaining a lot of knowledge about the different types of configurations, but I’m always amazed by how varied the technique change from one studio to another. We’ll address the Polarization one day ;)

Bonus: About the software

Xangle Camera Server is powerful camera control software designed to manage hundreds of cameras seamlessly. It handles triggering (software-based), syncing settings, managing lighting, organizing large datasets, and optimizing scanning sessions (actor names, poses, contact sheets, etc.).

And here’s why it’s so cool:

1- No trigger cables or boxes needed
All cameras are triggered via USB, providing precision comparable to analog triggering. On some models (e.g., Sony A6400), a single cable handles triggering, data, settings, and file transfers. This setup also allows advanced features like triggering subsets of cameras with custom timing.

2- Flash handling made simple
A "sacrificed" camera sends the flash signal precisely halfway through the exposure—no extra electronics needed. Timing is automatically calculated based on shutter speed.

3- Seamless photo-to-video switching
Switch modes directly from the software, even on older models like the Canon SL1/100D.

4- Burst mode support
Effortlessly capture a range of motion or OLAT (On-Light At-Time) with built-in burst mode functionality.

https://xangleCS.com