Why?

Cropping is an essential part of creating a puzzle. What you choose to include vs discard plays a big role in how easy, fun, difficult, or engaging a puzzle can be.

Why is cropping so important? Here are two reasons why:

• Framing
  • Cropping is how you “frame” a 3D model, similar to how you’d frame a photo. You get to choose what you’re including in the puzzle and what you’re not.
• Smooth edges
  • As most jigsaw puzzles go, the border of the puzzle should be smooth and straight.
  • What you shouldn’t do is simply delete polygons (which produce jagged edges) but rather boolean/remesh so that edges are straight.

Mobile scanning app cropping

The mobile scanning apps that we recommended include cropping functionalities which eliminate the need for exporting the scans into software.

Each app is different, so follow the steps within each app to correctly use their cropping functionalities.

RealityScan Cropping

Unfortunately, the way RealityScan creates 3D model is that it creates a watertight mesh around the scanned object. This isn’t ideal for creating puzzles because those watertight mesh triangles will end up being cut into puzzle pieces, which creates pieces that aren’t part of the 3D scan itself.

What’s also not great is that there isn’t a native, in-app way to delete and crop away that mesh triangles, so you’ll have to use a 3rd party app on a computer to crop away those triangles.

<aside> 💡 We did put in a feature request logged on their forums, but no word yet as to when they’ll ship the feature.

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So, what’s the solution?

You’ll have to use one of the methods listed in the PC cropping article.