Easily Scan Your Self Using a Kinect to Print a 3d Figurine

Using only a Kinect, a decent computer running on windows and free software, you can create an stl file of yourself, and it is surprisingly easy.

Materials:
Kinect (try a local  pawn shop or ebay)
Kinect power/USB adapter- http://www.amazon.com/Power-Supply-Cable-Kinect-Xbox-360/dp/B004S7GA46
something tall to put it on
a computer
a stool
a 3d printer, or you can just use shapeways

Software:
Get the Kinect SDK and the developer's toolkit from
http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindowsdev/downloads.aspx
and you will also need netfabb basic to repair the mesh and make it printable, find it here
http://www.netfabb.com/downloadcenter.php?basic=1

Step 1: Setup Software

After you have acquired your materials, the first thing you must do is make sure the whole system will work properly. After downloading the software, most importantly the SDK and the developer's kit, plug the Kinect up to the wall and to the computer, open the developer's kit and run any of the examples to make sure the computer properly recognizes the Kinect.

Step 2: Setup to Scan

In order to scan, the Kinect needs to be properly placed so that it can see most of you waist up. This means it must be above your head looking down, and you must be sitting on the stool in front of it strait with with your chin lifted (see picture).

Step 3: Scanning

note- you may need someone to help with this part.

In order to capture a 3 dimension mesh of yourself waist up, front and back, just open the Kinect Fusion Explorer WPF  app, sit in front of the Kinect on a stool, hit the "reset" button in the Kinect Fusion app (this is the part that may require an extra hand because as soon as you hit reset you should move as little as possible). When your screen shows a good 3D image of you (see picture 1), start spinning slowly until you have turned a full 360 degrees and the Kinect has fully scanned you (see picture 2) at which point you press "create mesh" (another time at which it would be best for a friend to help).

Step 4: Clean It Up

Now that you have an stl file of yourself, your are almost ready to print. Unfortunately, no matter how perfect of pose you had in the scan, there will be several holes in the mesh and it is quite likely that you scanned a little too much (pieces of leg, floating pieces of background furniture, etc.). This is an easy fix however, and all you need to do is open the file in Netfabb (one of the programs I listed at the beginning) and cut it up and repair it. To do this follow the below instructions-

-First, select a view that is not too disorientating and hit Part>Move>to origin>translate.
-Now for the hardest part, rotate the mesh until your waist is parallel to the x axis (or any axis).
-Once your mesh is sitting strait and rotated correctly, use the cut tool to remove floating debris and choose a point on your torso to make a cut perpendicular to your spine.
-Once your mesh looks like the picture, use the repair tool (the red cross) to fill all of the holes.

Now your mesh is ready to be saved and printed by any method you wish!