In January 2002, 3dMD’s parent company, 3Q Technologies, purchased the entire business and all intellectual property of TCT international plc (TCTi), formally known as Tricorder plc. 3dMD is a wholly owned subsidiary of 3Q Technologies operating with exclusive rights to market and develop its technology in the medical and dental sectors. The very same technology is marketed by 3Q inc., 3dMD's sister company, in non-healthcare markets such as media production and location-based entertainment.

Tricorder was formed in 1996 to develop a commercial implementation for imaging subjects in 3D. By 2001, the company had developed a comprehensive library of industrial strength software and had vast experience with various hardware and optics configurations that comply with international safety standards, as well as FDA Class 1 medical device standards.

This highly sophisticated technology foundation owes its origins to not just one person but to the company funding a diverse team of individuals with many different skills sets and experience working to together to achieve an integrated software and hardware solution fused with the practical knowledge of incorporating raw technology into a robust product structure. This is why 3dMD benefits from exclusive rights to the only true industrial strength application of human form stereo photogrammetry in daily use where other similar projects have failed. By 2001, 3dMD LLC had around 20 healthcare-related implementations of its devices.

In 2002 at American Association of Oral & Maxillofacial Society Annual Conference, Chicago, 3dMD introduced its modular capture unit approach, enabling healthcare professionals to purchase re-configurable hardware-software systems for use in a variety of applications. The current 3dMD product portfolio is robust and easy to maintain.

As part of its strategy to exploit the considerable foundation of software, 3dMD’s parent moved its Research & Development Operation to the United States in January 2003. This has enabled 3dMD to build active collaborative arrangements with a number of internationally focused institutions and universities to accelerate the technology and its applications. Over the past few years, this has brought a fresh new pool of ideas and recognized world-class talent into association with the company and continues the tradition of building upon a rich heritage of technology.

These collaborations have allowed the company to deliver very advanced image capture applications to world-recognized clients such as Walt Disney Feature Animation, Procter & Gamble, and the US Government..