Lending Technology

The Digital Scholarship Lab provides equipment to support academic and scholarly content development by faculty, staff and students in the Michigan State University community. Items can be checked out for a specific period of time for use outside of the building, while some are limited to onsite use. The type of availability and request process for each item is listed below.

Oculus Quest 2

A photograph of the Oculus 2 headset and controls.

8 Oculus Quest 2s are available to check out upon request. These headsets are managed with ArborXR and do not require the the creation of Meta account or pairing with a phone. A curated list of apps is pre-loaded on the headsets, and they are ready for use. 

  • Equipment request form required
  • Requests must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance
  • Headsets may only be picked up in the DSL: Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm
  • Check out period - 7 days

  • Apps installed on the headset:

    • Beat Saber
    • Engage XR
    • First Steps
    • Mission OSS
    • Moonrider
    • Oculus Meta Browser
    • Open Brush
    • VictoryXR
    • Ribbiting Discoveries (frog dissection)
    • YouTubeXR

     

Insta360 One X Camera

A photograph of the Insta360 One X camera, battery and carry pouch.

The Insta360 camera is the best tool to capture immersive pictures and video in 4k quality. The kit comes with a 64 GB micro SD drive to directly capture video and pictures to the camera. Or you can connect your smartphone with the Insta360 app for Google and Apple to get video and images saved directly to your phone while you monitor the action in real time! To help process your content, all of the computers in the DSL classroom are equipped with the Insta360 Studio software and the full suite of Adobe video and photo software for the best post production work. 

  • Equipment request form required
  • Requests must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance
  • Headsets may only be picked up in the DSL Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm
  • Check out period - 7 days

Insta360 One Selfie Stick

Insta360 Selfie Stick and the tripod connector, shown in the foam case.

The Insta360 Selfie Stick is the perfect partner to the Insta360 series camera. Take pictures and video with an extended reach in all directions. The stick itself is invisible to the camera from any angle, so you get unobstructed content from every view. The stick also expands at the base to become its own tripod for you to get in the picture yourself as you control the camera from your connected mobile device. And you can freeze time in 360 by reconfiguring the stick to allow you to freely spin the camera on axis to stop motion around you.

  • Equipment request form required
  • Requests must be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance
  • Headsets may only be picked up in the DSL Monday-Friday, 9am-5pm
  • Check out period - 7 days

Einstar 3D Scanner

Einstar 3D Scanner held in one hand while LED lights flash to scan an object.

The Einstar 3D scanner is a portable LED light high definition scanner that is safe to the human eye and works well in ambient light without the need for sprays or powders to enhance object scanning.

A powerful imaging tool, it does require the use of a desktop or laptop computer with an Nvidia GPU to handle the scanning process. A workstation in our Digitization Room is configured with the software to support this scanner, and a designated laptop is available onsite to also support this equipment. The scanning software for this system is preloaded on the desktop and laptop workstations. The kit for this also includes positioning markers with an optional 3D handle to attach to reduce hand and grip strain.  A large pre-marked non-motorized turntable is also available for use

Revopoint Mini 3D Scanner

Revopoint mini 3d scanner using a blue light to scan an object on a rotating turntable.

The Revopoint Mini 3D scanner is a portable Blue light high definition scanner that is designed for small, intricate items. This scanner may need masking sprays or powders for some items to enhance object scanning with shiny objects and low contrast surfaces.

This scanner can be used with any desktop, laptop computer or even a mobile device equipped with the Revopoint 5 software. This allows for extreme portability, and the system comes with a USB-C powered single-axis turntable to allow for easy marker point object scanning.

Canon 80D DSLR / Collapsible Photo Box

Photograph of the Canon 80D DSLR camera with an attached 35mm lens.Collapsible, folding white nylon photo box for background elimination.

The Digital Scholarship Lab also has traditional methods to create a digital asset using the technique of Photogrammetry. We have a Canon 80D DSLR camera, tripod, and two lenses to let a user take multiple photographs of an object, then export those files to the MetaShape software located on the lab computers to build an object from those shots. A portable, folding nylon white photo box and a tripod  are included with this equipment to eliminate background images. We also have a large 36" grey backdrop on a spool if more contrast is desired.

This equipment is not dependent on any computer to create the images, but software, like MetaShape,  that can "stitch" the potential hundreds of photographs together is a requirement.