HP’s Sprout all-in-one was a behemoth when it launched, and its second iteration, the Sprout Pro G2, wasn’t any different. Both PCs made 3D scanning easier by incorporating a down-facing camera atop the display and a Touch Mat that almost acts as a second display. To match their power, both Sprout PCs are incredibly large and expensive, priced at $ 3,750 and higher. At CES, HP introduced the $ 599 Z 3D Camera, which basically takes the 3D camera technology from the original devices and packages it as a PC accessory rather than a full, all-in-one device.
The Z 3D Camera looks identical to the top portion of the original Sprout PCs, and even though it’s called Z, the camera is shaped more like an L. It sticks to the top of your PC’s monitor with its included magnetic badge so it can capture and digitize objects in front of your PC. Since the Z is an accessory, HP scaled the technology down in the sense that the Z 3D Camera doesn’t come with the Touch Mat that the Sprout PCs do, nor does it include the original’s light projector. Otherwise, it’s the same technology and includes a 14.6MP 2D camera and a 3D depth-sensing camera featuring an IR diffractive optical element projector.
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