Scanning reads in
A scanner measures a physical object and turns it into a digital copy — a mesh, a web of thousands or millions of triangles describing the surface. The input is a thing that already exists. The output is a file. Nothing new gets made; an existing object just moves into the computer.
Printing builds out
A printer turns a file into a thing. The input is a digital model, the output is an object built layer by layer. That file can come from a scan, but just as easily from a CAD model drawn from scratch, or an STL somebody else sent over. Printing doesn't need scanning if you already have a file.
When you need both
The most common order goes: object in (scanning), something gets changed or completed (the model is cleaned up, a missing part is modelled back in), object out (printing). A broken part is exactly that case — the surviving half is scanned, the missing half is built into the model, and the whole thing gets printed.
When you only need one
- Scanning only, when you want an accurate digital archive and aren't printing anything
- Printing only, when you already have your own file or a finished CAD model
- Scanning plus CAD, when someone else has to work on the file afterwards
- Scanning plus printing, when you want to hold the same object again
Describe your object and I'll tell you whether you need scanning, printing, or both.
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