Cost Evaluation of 3D Digitisation Techniques

In the framework of the Belgian BELSPO AGORA 3D and DIGIT03 programs, we have evaluated 3D digitising technologies with regards to the quality of the acquisition, the capacities and limitations of each technique and also the direct cost of the different 3D digitisation processes. It is on this latest topic that the paper is focused. In order to evaluate the cost of 3D digitisation, we considered the time for the digitisation, cost of the equipment and cost of the staff. Our preliminary results show that the real cost by specimen depends on the amount of specimens to digitise. Techniques that appear to be low-cost can be the most expensive in the framework of massive digitization programs, whilst more expensive equipment can be more efficient in the long term. Therefore low-cost equipment is mainly recommended for occasional digitisation or small series of digitisations.