Laser Scanning Forum

Laser Scanning Leonardo's horse sculptures We may have had something to do with this project... Leonardo da Vinci Puzzle Examined by Research and Exhibition of Budapest Horse at National Gallery "...As part of the ongoing Renaissance Bronze Research Project at the National Gallery of Art, and at the request of the Museum of Fine Arts, Budapest, conservators undertook a technical study to investigate the materials and methods of fabricating the Budapest bronze sculpture. Procedures employed included x-radiography, alloy analysis by x-ray fluorescence spectroscopy, and three-dimensional laser scanning...." See this link for the full article: http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_s ... int_modo=1

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Oh, I see I don't wanna worm FARO's secrets. I am just trying to understand, if such simple procedure allows to register fully automatic, why only FARO include it in registration software? e.g. Z+F have quite new version of software, but they use special "coded" targets...

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Hello Sergey.As written before - the general idea is not wrong.But please, let me ask for your understanding that I cannot discuss our IP publicly.Thank you very much,Oliver Bürkler

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Oliver Buerkler wrote: It is not just distances which are analysed. But in principle you are right. I see the scheme with distances as following. Software calculates the distances between all targets in every station. Then SW looks for the same distances in different stations (with definite tolerance, of course). E.g., ST1, dist. tgX-tgY=24.486 m, and ST2 tgH-tgG=24.484m. It means that pair X-Y at ST1 corresponds to H-G at St2. After analyzing all such pairs SW can find the same targets at different stations. And then - fully automatic. Am I right? Or we need have any additional constraints?

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Hello Sergey.It is not just distances which are analysed. But in principle you are right. Best regards,Oliver Bürkler

Re: Choice of phase based scanners Hi Nickhope you're keeping well. As you know, we've been working with the Faro LS880 for a number of years and can recommend the service we've had from Faro - whenever it's been back for yearly servicing (typically 5-7 days), we've never had a problem loaning a scanner. Any tech problems have generally been dealt with very quickly - Oliver who posts on here knows the scanner inside out and is very good at backing up the Faro UK guys and there is a good amount of feedback and listening to ideas at user meetings etc.The scanners are pretty tough and the key problems with the older scanner has been sorted out using the battery pack and wireless - we managed to damage a couple of the older cables in getting them snagged on steelwork. I'm not sure how big the case is for the HDS, but if it's similar in size to the Scan station, there are places we've dragged the LS box that you couldn't take the HDS!Colour - even with the old camera unit, the results are good, the new one gets rid of the parallax error and processing it to colour clouds in Scene is a doddle. It only cuts down on speed a bit and there's less chance of error to using the separate camera unit approach.The Faro Scene software has come on in leaps and bounds and by the look of 4.6 is still adding speed and flexibility to getting a good set of registration data. It doesn't have cloud-cloud registration, but with careful field targetting and ensuring that the survey end of things is good, this isn't a major problem. Plus you can always spit out PTX's and presumably take it in to cyclone to sort that out.Mixing data - Scene works fine with importing PTX from our other scanner (Trimble), not sure about Leica PTX's though. Data output - we mainly use Pointools and it's a no brainer going from Scene to that as Pointools imports FLS files directly (and quickly).I guess it boils down to your workflow and what your guys are happier with - capturing data with the Photon is simple (as I'm sure the HDS is as well!), but if you're planning on taking it in to Cyclone, then there's an extra step of messing about. Getting up to speed on Faro Scene is quick and it's an easy bit of software to put down and pick up again, so I'd concentrate on how well your guys get on with the software.CheersDeri

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Hi Oliver,Could you explain the method of fully automatic registration without preliminary naming of the target?FARO Scene uses the distance between targets to automatically recognize the pairs, isn't it?Regards,Sergey

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Hello Oliver,Yes we need this special target and it is not possible to print them an a normal printer at home.It is a special greyscale codering. As you know black is not really black.Why doesn´t it work with our older systems? For the Z+F IMAGER 5006i we improved our measuring system. We reduced range noise and we are able to scan reflective surfaces even better. These new targets are made for the new scanner.For the imporvement of the scanner I atteched a picture that could explain the difference.RegardsThorsten

Re: Mt Rushmore scanning 'contract' award how long to you think it will take them?good work getting the contract dos sound grate fun

Re: Choice of phase based scanners Hi Nick, Hopefully you will get some further good advice from all the users out there who have either one of these systems or in fact alternatives, such as the Z&F offering that, while very similar to the Leica 6100, has a different range of accessories and obviously processing suite options that work directly with the .zfs files. Worth adding to your list of possibilities if you are committed to a phase based solution. Also, having seen these systems evolve over the past few years, I think there are some further points to add to your list for consideration! Such as upgradability and frequency of updates, useful accessories (e.g CAMERA facilities), ergonomics (see recent posts, by others, on injury whilst using phase based scanners), and perhaps most importantly software workflow and data format integration as this will significantly affect your bottom line when crunching the vast reams of data these scanners produce (Be prepared for a new level of processing complexity). In my line of work the data integrity and availability are very important. We chose to use a Faro system for our close range scanning activities where we can get an unfiltered data file so that we can track processing actions conducted on it and repeat these, independently, if required. We integrate the data with Leica Cyclone for complex registration tasks and use programs like Pointools for data presentation, as we find other software just cannot show the same volume of data as Pointools. Hence, the data integration has proved to be effective and versatile. We have also found that direct contact with the faro software developers, available from the regular user workshops (2-3 a year), means that UK based users can significantly influence the software development and get answers directly. Faro also seem to resell a wide variety of other software such as Pointools / Geomagic / Reconstructor and others. Faraz and Tony from Pointools regularly attend the workshops to update you on new versions and tips. These have provided us with significant benefits and have highlighted alternative, time saving, processing methods. A real benefit of the hardware is the infra-red wavelength of the laser as it seems to reflect from a greater range of materials and is also non-visible which can be a real benefit if used in areas where distracting passers by at night can be a hazard (example: Around roads /railways/ airports /construction sites). Regarding other service questions such as replacement systems etc. To be honest we haven't needed to call on this to put it to the test, but I would hope that you would get an agreement, in writing, from any provider to guarantee your work is not compromised. Or, at least, ensure you are compensated if it is!! Ultimately, you will be able to capture high quality, accurate and useful data from any of these systems and your choice will come down to more subtle, but not insignificant, factors such as working environments, relationship with hardware vendor and your desire to explore a wider remit of work (rail profiling, security work, kinetic scanning etc). Best of luck in your decision and please post what you eventually choose and why, and I look forward to seeing some beautiful scan images from you in the future!

Re: Faro Photon Data Heritage Hi Nick,It is about 5mm X 10mm towards the bottom and 10mm X 15mm towards the top. There was no uniform filter applied to this data.regards Dave

Re: Hello from Brazil!! Radir,I'm interested in the fact that you work in the oil and gas industry as well. We will be looking to scan a lot of offshore platforms soon for asset management. For the time being we have completed many on shore laser scan and model projects.I know that some of our clients use Leica Cloudworx for Smart plant and have had a lot of success.If you ever find yourself in a situation where you need some help on a project then please get in touch.Kindest RegardsMatt

Re: Hello from Brazil!! Hi Guys!, I'm working at PP&M area, onShore/offShore. The majority of our project is about As-built plans and documentation from plataforms. I've been worked with Leica HDS 3000, Faro, Z+F scanners and modeling with Cyclone. Now I think that I need to know about Point Cloud working with Smart Plant, it seems to be the next great solution for the PP&M area, even though I've no sure. Regards. Radir.

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Hello Thorsten.Thanks for your elaborate explanation!!Just out of curiosity:- You need to have exactly this special target with the coded point number on it. Right?- Can a user print them at home on his printer?- From SPAR conference in Denver I learnt that this system is only working with the very latest model of your portfolio. Why is it not working with 5600 or even 4500 scanners?Best regards,Oliver Bürkler

Re: 3D Scanning in Popular Mechanics magazine Great article!Thanks for posting it here Michael!!Best regards,Oliver Bürkler

Re: Choice of phase based scanners Welcome to the forum Nick,I guess that if you are already using Leica then it would be a good way to go, worth looking at both though.Matt

Re: Hello from Brazil!! Hi Radir,Welcome to the forum. What sort of industries are you involved with in BrazilMatt

Re: Faro Photon Data Heritage Dave,the scans look great with the mapped RGB values. What was the point density on the elevation faces (5mm ish ?)Cheers,Nick

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Hi everybodyI am happy to see all these interessant replies.I was talking about Automatic registration to minimize laser scanning office work.Even if automatic registration is possible we will still have to check it afterwards. The registration error panel helps a lot to ensure assembly precision.But picking a point on each target area takes a lot of time that I would like to reduce....Did anybody succeed to apply photos (texture map) automatically with FaroScene.This task also takes a lot of times with LEICA Cyclone software and I wonder if it was possible to minimize this part of work.Actual workflow with Cyclone is : - create panoramic photo from 6 photos (PTGUI)- create cubic photos (Top, bottom, left, right , front , back)- import photos - map photos to scanworld pointclouds by choosing similar points on photos and pointclouds- apply textureOlivier

Re: Mt Rushmore scanning 'contract' award Thats going to be a really interesting project to work on! The whole site covers about 1200 acres if I remember correctly. I cant wait to see the rendered models when its done.Good luck to all those who will be involved with the project.Matt

Re: separate cyclone projects Hello Steven, Thank you for your reply. You well understand what I was trying to do. After your answer can we consider typical following workflow to enable several persons to work on, a single (big) project ? 1) import - create/open 2 different cyclone database/projects and import some ZFS files - create scanworlds 2) find targets - find target separately relating to scanworlds created 3) apply texture map - apply photos to scanworlds separately 4) create a new "full database" SHARED - import each scanworlds processed by each team member 5) register - register all scanworld And then , to continue to work on this project for cleaning pointclouds and other tasks , should team members work on different modelspaces on this shared database ? Is there any risk to corrupt database in that way ? Olivier

Re: Choice of phase based scanners Phil,We have had a demo of both a while back - but the previous version of the Photon and the original HDS6000.Both were light weight, robust, fast, with cleaner scan data than the older phase scanners. We love the on board logging, faster field target acquisition and improvements in battery technology. So, both fit our purpose well - leaving the variables of:* cost* service* loan scanners while out of service* sensible effective (not specified) range of operation for detailed scanning (say 5mm grid)We have always had a good service from Leica with our HDS2500 / 3000 / Scanstation and as yet do not have any Faro kit.Nick

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Hi Steven,As you mentioned Z+F has a solution for automatic registration I think I should explain our routine to avoid misunderstandings.Z+F has developet a special target that could be used in combination with our Z+F IMAGER 5006i.These targets are detected by our software LaserControl automaticly. After detecting the target position the software is able to read the code to numerize the targets. The software went through all scans of one project to detect and numerize the targets. When the detection is finished the user has the possibility to check if the software has found all targets with the right number. The customer gets this information in a dialog box. After detecting the targets the registration starts as usual. You have the possibility to use tachymetry dat or the bundle adjustment to get a better registration accuracy as well.This workflow couls spare a lot of time.For example we have done a saml project with 15 scans. The time for registration by clicking and naming the targets manual is about 30 minutes. The time for registration with cloud to cloud routine is about 25 minutes. And the new routine using the Z+F AutoTargets needs about 8 minutes.The picture below gives you an example for these new targets.If somebody has any further qestions fell free to get in contact with me.Regards Thorsten

3D Scanning in Popular Mechanics magazine Article in Popular Mechanics magazine, July 2009: 3D Laser Imaging Helps Restore a 19th-Century Firehouse Updating a historic Rhode Island firehouse took more than a typical renovation. A Faro 880 laser created a highly accurate 3D image of the structure, allowing builders to dismantle and rebuild it with great precision. ... By Lisa Palmer Photographs by Clint Clemens Published in the July 2009 issue. Full article and images at: http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_jo ... 23400.html

Mt Rushmore scanning 'contract' award This is a pretty interesting development: Scots win Mt Rushmore 3D deal Published Date: 02 July 2009 By Christopher Mackie Mount Rushmore will become the first of ten World Heritage Sites to be rendered in 3D by a team from Historic Scotland, after the conservation body struck a deal to survey the US monument. Using laser technology, the team, which includes experts from Glasgow Art School, will provide a visual record of the site in South Dakota as part of a heritage collection that will become known as the Scottish Ten. It will include 3D models of Scotland's own five World Heritage Sites – the Antonine Wall, New Lanark, Neolithic Orkney, St Kilda, and the Old and New Towns of Edinburgh – as well as four further international monuments yet to be confirmed. Speaking ahead of a trip to Mount Rushmore to sign the survey agreement, culture minister Michael Russell said: "Scotland has great expertise and a wealth of experience in preserving, understanding and researching its historic environment. "We have embraced 3D scanning to increase our awareness of heritage and are now able to share our knowledge in digital documentation with countries and organisations on a world stage." The Scottish Ten project, which will begin in September and is expected to last five years, is part of a larger effort by CyArk, a US non-profit organisation, to digitally capture 500 of the world's most significant heritage sites. The funding for the Rushmore survey, which is being arranged urgently because of concerns over the deterioration of the sculpture's granite, has been agreed on a partnership basis between CyArk, Historic Scotland and the US National Park Service. It is understood Historic Scotland will cover its own costs from within its existing budget and provide training on survey techniques to experts based in the United States. Source: http://news.scotsman.com/world/Scots-wi ... 5421241.jp Anyone have any other information about this?

Re: Hello from Brazil!! Welcome Radir.What systems do you use.

Re: separate cyclone projects If you havn't started the project start 2 databases and you can import 25 scan's in to each do the texturing at the Scanworld level then do the full copy from one to the other. Always many ways to skin a cat.

Re: Choice of phase based scanners A request from the Moderators could forum members who work for Manufacturers of laser scanners please refrane from puting in there comments and let owners answer.

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Hi All I think what Matt was getting at is the differance between TOF and Phase based workflow's. Most TOF systems will have some for of targeting in the field so with or without Survey control the final deliverables (registered scan data) is finished before you leave site with little or no post proccesing needed, but yes takes longer on site. Phase data capture methods need external control to put it "on grid" or upright, and some form of post proccessing needed to fit the scans together manual,semi or full automation. This really is down to the fact the most Phase based systems store there data on board for proccesing later where TOF systems can collect store and procces data in near real time. Personally Hats of to Faro and Z&F for getting full automatic registration to market as I'm sure you will see other's follow. the concept is a great one and will surely save time, BUT as an ex user and now someone who see's scandata registered by many differnet companies,scanners and software I rarely see "finished data" of a high standard where full coverage, well postioned targets controled by good quility survey techniques hasn't been applied. Meaning I am still wary of trusting software that give's me numbers which indicate a good fix but due to poor geometry can easily be wrong. I think cerene_olivier highlighted an important question. Cyclone needs to "Find Target" and is not always 100% successful, which is true but why would an automatic solution be 100% right I doubt it. So Automatic registration is only as good as the data and geometry applied and the algorithm used to fit a sphere of Black and white.

Re: separate cyclone projects Olivier My understanding is you are trying to apply photos or "cubemaps" to a series of scans. The texture is applied to the original scan worlds once they have been imported from the zfs files. To be able to split up the imp file simply copy half the scan worlds to a different imp file and when you and your colleague have finsished, copy them back. Ensure you do a "full copy" and delete the copied files from the original imp. The copy process could take a few minutes (+10min for 25 scans) depending on how many scans you are copying. If you have already registered you will need to delete that registration and reregister afterwards. Cheers Phill

Re: Hello from Brazil!! Welcome Radir & Brazil, Good to have an international following... Best regards,

Re: Choice of phase based scanners Hi Nick,A very good question...and a very good place to ask....but I must admit its a close call between both solutions you have mentioned, and without knowing the types of work that you are involved in, then its difficult to give you a direct answer.Best regards,

Re: Choice of phase based scanners Nick,Welcome to the forum. Im sure you will get lots of replies about this topic from our members.Have you had a demo of both pieces of hardware? If so what are your thoughts on the phased based solutions? If not why not?

Re: Hello from Brazil!! Hi Radir,Welcome to the Forum!Nice to find people speak the same language and work in the same area!Regards,Délio Pontes

Hello from Brazil!! Hello,I've been worked with laser scanning in Brazil for 6 years and I'm always learning about it. It was amazing finding this forum and I think It will be nice exchanging diferents views.Thanks.Radir

Choice of phase based scanners We are looking to buy a phased based scanner and have shortlisted the HDS 6100 and Photon 120 to add to our HDS scanstation. Any comments from the community who are active users ?

separate cyclone projects Hello I want to apply texture to pointcloud from HDS 6000 . I have got more than 50 stations. I'd like to have informations on how to separate big cyclone project into smaller one and export it on different PC to do the job with my colleague. I was thinking about exporting modelspace but I don"t know how to reimport them. Is there a solution without access to IMP file by network ? The idea would be to apply texture map apparence to 25 stations each other and then merge all the work into a single imp database Olivier

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Oliver, Oliver Buerkler wrote: Does Cyclone find the targets in the scan data automatically, without having them re-scanned in high resolutions? If so, does this work for all scanners, or just for some types? As far as I know it does not find the targets automatically, they have to be named. Oliver Buerkler wrote: Does Cyclone create the target names automatically for not-named targets? Cyclone will generate an auto target if it suspects there should be one. Oliver Buerkler wrote: Does all this work "on the fly" with immediate feedback to the user? It depends how feedback is defined, Cyclone register shows results for all target constraints as you go. Oliver Buerkler wrote: Does Cyclone do fully automatic registration for a unlimitted amount of scans in batch mode? When scans have been initially registered using named targets, point to point, or created constraints, Cloud to cloud registration can look for overlap between scans and allows an overall tightning of all scan data, and the ability to adjust target weights if required. When targets weights are lowered the results of the cloud to cloud constraints come into play. I dont work for a scanner manufacturer so I only say what I see. There is no need to mention whether something is an advertisment or not, other wise it may be seen as one. I dont think there is anything wrong with FaroScene, Im sure its a great peice of software, I can only speak for Cyclone as I have used it for nearly ten years now and found it to be more than adequate. Maybe im getting cynical as I get older, and maybe progress is to blame, I just see a lot of hype about things these days and like to try and weed out the truth. Regards Matt

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Hi, I was going to respond to Matt earlier, but I am at a conference. Cyclone does not do the same thing. The user has to 'click' the targets from within Scan Control and then use the 'Find Black & White Targets' tool. This will add vertices for all the targets clicked - these get named as Auto 1, auto 2 etc when using the Auto-add constraints tool in Register - not beforehand (you can name them manually if you wish, or they will take on a name from a control file - if you have one). The error between all these is then presented and can either be accepted, or more constraints can be added using auto-add cloud constraints, manual cloud-to-cloud or geometry from the scene. So, not entirely the same as FaroScene (David showed me at XCES 09, so I know what he's on about). Regards, Paul

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Hi Matt. Sorry for asking back.... I am just curious... No advertisement - just trying to straighten out the facts! Does Cyclone find the targets in the scan data automatically, without having them re-scanned in high resolutions? If so, does this work for all scanners, or just for some types? Does Cyclone create the target names automatically for not-named targets? Does all this work "on the fly" with immediate feedback to the user? Does Cyclone do fully automatic registration for a unlimitted amount of scans in batch mode? Cyclone is for sure a very good software. But in respect of automatic registration, I am pretty sure that does not "the same thing". Best regards, Oliver Bürkler

Re: Wembley Stadium despite my rambling and going on (can't help myself), the fact remains that the scan looks fantastic Ben

Re: Modelling I beams - quick method? Hi Romuald,Sorry for the late reply.Cyclone can not model curved beams, but imagine that you had to model a beam that is supporting pipes. The beam may be bowed in the middle due to the weight of the pipes. The tendency will be to model the beam in small peices so that it follows the bend in the beam, this is not necessery for industrial type projects. All that is required is the level of the end points of the beam, so a straight beam from end point to end point is modelled. Pipe engineers can use this information to work out levels for a new pipe run, because a new beam will usually be installed next to the orgional to take the new weight. There are cases where the beam could be modelled in a curve, maybe clash checking, Cloudworx Pro is very good at clash checking models against scan data, so no need to model the beam in that case anyway.I think that some of the high end packages like Polyworks can model curved beams, but not certain on that.Rhino is probably the way to go.RegardsMatt

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Hi Oliver,Thats a very good description of FaroScenes registration functions.As far as the automatic registration is concerned, Cyclone does the same thing. If I have a number of scans with named co-incident targets amongst them, they will register automatically in Cyclone, in the same way.As far as the semi automatic registration is concerned, Cyclone can also use any modelled objects as common points for registration.I understand that there are clients out there who may want an arbitrary co-ordinate system for a small project, I just prefer to know that every bit of information on a project is co-ordinated and intergrated, also repeatable. I have also been in this trade too long now to accept that anything is truly automatic, there is always more to it than that.It seems like both programs basically do the same thing on the registration side of things, its just down to preference of scanner and software. RegardsMatt

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Dear Oliver the missing word in english for "Bündelblockausgleichung", should be "bundle adjustement". ..Eric

area on sit for conferences would be nice to have an area on site for conferences calls for papers and conferences them selfs

Re: Real-time scanning had a think about this and what you need is a moition control system for the laser video cam and a real time video editing tool set, "prossessing" is a good tool set point video at you frame grab, out line form line trace send line trace to laser mcr shine laser, re do at 30 fps no need to scan at all

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Hi all. Just a few words from my side on this topic. You should differnciate between 2 cases: Automatic registration using spheres and / or checkerboard targets: 1) the new automatic registration in FARO Scene V4.6 is fully automatic as long as you use spheres or checkerboard targets. 2) If you do not want to use surveyed targets - like many of our customers as they are no surveyors and do not need to work in land surveying coordinates - FARO Scene places the scans relative to each other. Doing this, it balances the errors between all the scans (sorry, I do not know the English term for "Bündelblockausgleichung" maybe somebody here could teach me "Surveyor English" ). 3) If you have access to the surveyed coordinates of your targets (for example by using our special prisms which ensure you measure exactly the center of the spheres) FARO Scene is of course capable of using them for registration. This was even the very first method for scan placement implemented ever. 4) Since FARO Scene V4.6 the identification of spheres and/or checkerboard targets has even been automized together with surveyed coordinates. As soon as FARO Scene finds survey coordinates, it uses their identification to name the targets found in the scans. So, no more search for the right names to make registration work. Semi automatic registration using natural objects: 1) If you do not want to use spheres or checkerboard targets for whatever reason, FARO Scene will apply it´s new correspondence search and the automatic naming to all objects like planes, slabs, cylinders or points which you created manually from the scan data. This is happening on the fly while you are creating the objects. The only manual thing you have to do is creating the objects - and ONLY if you do not use spheres or checkerboard targets. 2) FARO Scene V4.6 is constantly checking whether you have sufficient objects or targets defined in your scan to place it to the other scans in your workspace. As soon as this is the case, it immediately places the scan to give you direct feedback. You can even watch the scans being pulled together in the 3D view while you are marking the objects you want to use for registration. Lastly - As always with our automatic features: You can turn everything off complete (or only parts of the supporting tools) if you want to have full manual control over the things you do. Most people don´t want this - but especially universities are interested in the real data and a full manually controlable process. With FARO Scene V4.6 the user has the choice - not the technology! I am sure, I missed something! Don´t miss to ask! Best regards, Oliver Bürkler

Re: FARO Photon 120 Data David,Thanks for the excellent examples of what can be achieved with a laser scanner. It won't be long before laser scanning is dominating the geomatics industry. I like the fine detail on the tower could you post a close up when it has RGB values of say a window in ortho?

Re: FARO Photon 120 Data Hi Jason and Paul. Check out our Tips & Tricks about the automatic registration: http://www.laserscanning.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=89&t=1003 If you have further question, just let me know and I will try to answer as good as I can Best regards, Oliver Bürkler

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Dear Matt and Oliver In think, that the idea behind this automatic registration goes in the right direction. You can work with a lot of internal references and take only same external reference to transform the hole project. This saves a lot of time. If customer likes to have survey reports is better to works with external references. FARO cannot deliver a report over registritation yet. You can only see the registration results in the scan fit of each scan. We hope for the future. The nice think on automatic registration is, that people like mechanical engineers, civil engineers, architects are enable to scans self small projects. The didnt need a seperate total station for that. For small projects are enough to work with local coordinate systems, like machine rooms, small machine places, fassades. I think in the future are all manufactures will have this. But FAROscene isn’t a more powerful program as cyclone. This isn´t true. Cyclone haves much more functionality. The differnce is that cyclone haves lot of functionality, depence from modul. FAROscene is including in scanner price. The functionality is registration of scan, color overlay and editing pointclouds and the typical function likes measurement. For data processing you need a third party software. Here is the main question: People will works in the future in special software likes cyclone. lfm modeller and realworks or the developement goes in interface programs (software plugins) like pointcloud, pointools, LMI and the cad works will done in the "home cad system" (autocad, rhino, microstation, pdms or catia). What the community means to this general topic ?? ..Eric

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Oxbow wrote:Hi Oliver I have seen scan project fit together with over 200 scans. Quit important is to setup a good reference grid in field. For big scanning project is this a very usefull feature. In First step: the software looks for targetes and speheres automatic. You will have good resultes, if targets not to far from scanner and the view angle to paper targets are good enough. I think, you can detect 90% of references automatic. If you have enought good placed references, than is the registration easy. I make same test in combination with reference plans, wich is also a usefull tool for registration, and this is tricky. My opionion is a mixup from different references types like walls, planes, sphere and targets to complex. The reason is the complex mathemtic algorythim for registration with planes. ...Eric Sounds like there is still a lot of manual work to do even with the automatic tools. In my opinion there is no substitute for surveying all your targets with a total station and being able to account for everything you do. Many of our Oil and Gas clients require survey reports for all aspects of our surveys including scan targets. When I register a set of scans with external references it takes about 2 hours for a couple of hundred scans, they are all accountable, they all register. Matt

Re: FARO Photon 120 Data Hi Paul / JasonThe filtering option is to remove stray points and dark scan points associated with noise, I did not apply any uniform filter on these scans. When doing a uniform filter I import the fls (faro laser scan) data into pointools and apply the filter as the pod (pointools format) file is created.I will see if I can get some mesh data screen shots soonThe camera was a Nikon D200 (10 megapixel) but the new Photon 120's are sold with the Nikon D300 if the customer wants the colour option.I will have to see if someone can put together some info on the auto registration as I am tied up this week. The process is very simple, you create a workspace with the scans in, then click on preprocess scans. This then gives you a box with some options you just tick what you want:Filter DarkFilter StrayAuto detect and fit checkerboard targetsAuto detect and fit SpheresCreate Objects from markerUpdate object FitsApply PicturesExport ImagePlace ScansTick the boxes and then click OK, the software then loads each scan, runs the routine and then unloads the scan and moves to the next one. The auto target routine takes about 2 minutes per 40 million points.regards Dave

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Hello Eric I thank you for your prompty answer. I find this a very interesting improvment in laserscanning process. We spend too much time at the office to register project scans. With Leica cyclone we have to pick a point on every target area and launch "find target" command to enable software to recognize it. and the result is NOT 100 % successful. And then we have to apply picture manually by picking similar points on pointcloud and picture to have color... Faro scene seems to be more powerful as Leica Cyclone isn't it ? Olivier

Re: Wembley Stadium nice work Ben,do you have anymore planned?

Re: FARO Scene automatic registration Hi OliverI have seen scan project fit together with over 200 scans. Quit important is to setup a good reference grid in field. For big scanning project is this a very usefull feature. In First step: the software looks for targetes and speheres automatic. You will have good resultes, if targets not to far from scanner and the view angle to paper targets are good enough. I think, you can detect 90% of references automatic. If you have enought good placed references, than is the registration easy. I make same test in combination with reference plans, wich is also a usefull tool for registration, and this is tricky. My opionion is a mixup from different references types like walls, planes, sphere and targets to complex. The reason is the complex mathemtic algorythim for registration with planes. ...Eric

Re: FARO Photon 120 Data Hi David,Thank you for an excellent post and ask if you could post us a guide through the registration process, with timings and complimentary screenshots?Also, is that a Nikon D300 you are using? Cheers,

FARO Scene automatic registration Hello I currently use LEICA phase-based scanner. Last week a FARO Vendor said me that Faro Scene software realize automatic registration and automatic picture assembly. Has anybody already used these automatic Features? Does it work well ? With Leica Cyclone, these operations are "manual" as we have to point every target . Regards Olivier

Re: Real-time scanning I was just looking at the laser scanning section on wiki and found a link to this interesting little time of flight camera. http://www.ifm.com/ifmus/web/pmd_prd_home.htm It has a field of view of about 6m x 3.5m at 6m distance, but has a better pixel size at close range.

Re: FARO Photon 120 Data Have you generated any meshes David - this seems like it would be an ideal candidate... I'd be interested to see the tower an front entrance.Could you also explain the filter operation you mention? Is this a uniform sampling or a noise-reduction algorithm so strip out stray data/outliers? If you are doing a uniform sample, can't a level of import (say 1/4 points) be defined before bothering to bring it all in, only to strip it back out?Thanks again.Cheers,Paul

Re: Wembley Stadium pburrows145 wrote:Not entirely true Matt. If the scan goes off level with the compensator enabled, as you know, you are given a visual warning on the laptop. You can relevel the scanner at this point, but it does not mean you have to start all over... If you have targets out in the scene, capture these (again) and just register the two scans (or rescan an area which could be used for cloud-to-cloud). My line of thinking on this was that it would be hard to do a scan that big in three hours with the compensator on, maybe I read into things too much But fair point about the targets. Matt

Re: Wembley Stadium Not entirely true Matt. If the scan goes off level with the compensator enabled, as you know, you are given a visual warning on the laptop. You can relevel the scanner at this point, but it does not mean you have to start all over... If you have targets out in the scene, capture these (again) and just register the two scans (or rescan an area which could be used for cloud-to-cloud). Theorectically you could be five minutes from the end of a scan and this might happen (either kicked, sunk, or slipped tripod) - It would be rather annoying to have to start from fresh again! nb: Anyone else attending the Flood & Coastal Managmement Conference this week?

Re: Wembley Stadium Its always a bit of a worry doing a long time scan like that incase the tripod slips or goes of level, then you have to start again.Good work Ben.Matt

Re: Scan Voids If the scanner is broken as Phill mentions, then im sorry to hear that, but... When we had this issue it was the glass lense cover, it had to be cleaned a lot before it would stop the barcoding effect, and yes it does occur only in certain parts of the scan because the dirt is only on a certain part of the glass lense cover.I say dirt, but it is almost certainly grease of some kind, which refracts light that is being sent out from the scanner.I would reccomend spending an hour or two cleaning before sending your scanner to Germany, seriously.I had to tell the survey team using the scanner about 10 times that it was a dirty lense cover, and cleaned it myself in the end, because they did not believe me.Matt

Re: as cheap as chips scanning I built the small backing board, constructed a laser pen holder, and bought a web cam. I got busy and forgot... so I will have a go soon and post something up. Some of the examples on the David site look scantastic...Matt

Re: HDS 3000 in strong electromagnetic environment I have never scanned inside the sort of enviroments mentioned, but I do remember a problem I used to get with the 2500 Cyrax scanner. If the scanner was set up next to a vertical light pole on a street, then a sort of snowballing effect would occur with the scan data. This did not happen every time but enough to work out what was the cause.

FARO Photon 120 Data Eastnor Castle, in the dramatic setting of the Malvern Hills and surrounded by a beautiful deer park, arboretum and lake….visit http://www.eastnorcastle.com/ for more details The following screen shots and pictures are from Friday 26th June, I took the FARO Photon 120 to the castle to do some test scans. I did 4 setups (7 min scan time 120,000pps 2 mins for the pictures). I was onsite 1.5 hours in total with setup etc. I then ran the data through Faro Scene 4.6 to filter, auto registration (scan placement) and colourise the data. (no manual input). I then put the data into Pointools edit to clean up the odd car movement and to paint the trees. Finally into Pointools View to create the videos, these will be on the forum next week.

Re: HDS 3000 in strong electromagnetic environment Hi bradwe' ve recently been using Scan station 2 in an high voltage environnement (see attached file)It is 63 000 V, but no idea how many ampers are inside.The scans locations we're about 3-4 m from the structures.Hope it helps.stephane

Re: Cloud of Point Processing with SAL3D Are C++ API's adequate for this kind of software? In my oppinion, this layout conferes flexibility, but is not very user friendly for non-experienced developers

Re: as cheap as chips scanning Other members have been following David but not many people posted their results. viewtopic.php?f=21&t=27

Re: Scan Voids DevonI only have bad news for you. If your lens is clean then you machine is stuffed. Our HDS3000 went back to Germany 2 times for this issue. This was just when we had started scanning (2004), and I cant recall the full details. Question: Have you used it in a hot environment (+40°), or in a Dusty (Iron ore style) environment, as we suspected this was the reason for our's stuffing up. Apartently when they pulled it apart the cooling fins where caked up with dust. CheersPhill

as cheap as chips scanning Thought you may like to see this for thaws who don't know it you don't need a lot of cash to do 3D scanning, bit of code, laser pen with stripe splitter and a video cam and whayhay http://www.shapeways.com/blog/archives/ ... eview.html I have been following Dave's scanning for some time, there are other homebrews out there but i like Dave's the best and so see what been don't with it

Re: Scan Voids all mirrors and lenses are cleaneven if it was dirty,i dont know when a lense would decided to be dirty between certain angles............and then fine for the rest if the scan. and only dirty during certain point spacing........and not dirty during target scans.......

Re: Scan Voids DevonBosch wrote:It’s not a dirty lens. Reason... why would a dirty lens only affect it between certain angles?? And second, i watch the beam shot out at an irregular beat for a split second to create the void. I’m assuming my post wasn’t clearly read at this point, but thanks. Not the mirror - the lens cover... This would sometimes produce the effect you mention if not cleaned correctly. Cheers.

Re: Scan Voids It’s not a dirty lens. Reason... why would a dirty lens only affect it between certain angles??And second, i watch the beam shot out at an irregular beat for a split second to create the void.I’m assuming my post wasn’t clearly read at this point, but thanks.

Re: Could some one from Faro UK PM me for the benefit of other forum members contact has been made.regards Dave

Re: HDS6000 Batteries Hi friends, We have the same problem from the batteries,since we used leica-hds6000 in 2007.now one of them doesn't work and the other always get the alarm(red light) when chargeing. So i have no idea for it, either to buy a new one, either to make a new one(use the batteries from the motocycle 24V )

Re: Wembley Stadium It's an impressive scan for 3 hours. What settings did you undertake this on, etc?

Re: HDS6000 Batteries thanks guy'sWe will do some more investigation and let you know if we can any fixes

Re: Wembley Stadium Very nice Ben, I never got permision to set up in the middle.Was this part of a job

Re: TruView Orientation Tools Thanks Phill,Is working well now!Regards

Wembley Stadium http://www.digitalsurveys.co.uk/laser_s ... mbley.html

Re: HDS6000 Batteries You say they're taking 15-16 hours. What charge level do they indicate when plugged into the scanner after 2-3 hours?The reason I ask is that I had one which seemed to take ages and the final light never went on, but when sat in the scanner was at 95%... and it had only been on charge for 2hrsJust a thought.

Re: Scan Voids It is almost certainly a dirty lens, Follow the advise and do not use anything other than the cleaning in the topic Phil listed, there is a coating on the lens which can be damaged if using non lint free material like cloth or tissue paper.BTW it takes a good 20min to clean one lens, perticulay if you have been scanning from underneath trees as the sap in the air is really sticky.

Re: Could some one from Faro UK PM me Are you using the new Photon120 Sean?

Re: Z+F Imager point cloud plus Spheron colour information Hi Jason Good to hear from, hope your well. As discussed in some previous threads we do have some Spheron camera mounting connectors _________________________________________ here it is attached to a tribrach _________________________________________ I m not sure about the Faro, i ll check back. regards Peter

Re: Isopropyl Alcohol - General Purpose Cleaner This stuff is great - but don't get it on your fingers! It turns them white...

Re: Scan Voids We use.... viewtopic.php?f=43&t=109

Could some one from Faro UK PM me Could some one from Faro UK PM me asap need to chatall the best sean v

Re: Scan Voids It is almost certainly a dirty lense that is causing this problem. Any wipe that has alchohol or ethanol in it will do the job. Dont use vodka, one of our guys did before he went to find a new job.

Re: Scan Voids Sounds like a daft thing to ask, but have you cleaned the lens cover recently? If so, did you use the proper cleaning cloths? I have seen this happen when a customer used toilet roll (yes, toilet roll) and some spit to clean the lens...

Re: TruView Orientation Tools nice work Phillcheers,

Scan Voids My scanner will on some odd occasion (but more often than anything lately) have weird voids in the scan. It seems to always happen below the 0 deg horizontal line and between 300 and 330 Vertical. the pictures attached show the voids occurring at 3mm spacing’s @ 2.5m. The second picture is of the same set up but a scan of 1 inch spacing at 2.5m. As you can see a small void but 99% of the scan appears. I will watch my scanner as it is going through this area and it will go from and steady beat to a “stutter” in the laser being shot off, and then return to normal till it hits one of these areas. I was wondering if anyone else has ever had this issue. Scanner Problem.jpg Scanner Problem 2.jpg

Re: TruView Orientation Tools Delio Nice one with the zoom You crazy cats that like 90° to be 0°. Attached is the changed js file (you only nead the js file this time) with 90° at zero. Cheers Phill

Re: HDS6000 Batteries EricYes, we have had the same issue. Only one of our batteries will fully charge, but it can take up to 15-16hrs. It seems like the batteries memory is broken. I have asked our local rep if it can be reset somehow, but he informed me that they would need to go back to Germany.CheersPhill

HDS6000 Batteries Hi AllWe have had our 6000 for a couple of years now and have had a lot of battery issues. Specifically, some batteries wont charge at all, red error light comes on. Majority now will only charge up to second last indicator light.We have tried to get batteries recelled locally by battery specialist, it seemed to fix the problem for a while, but now the red charging error light comes up again. I am starting to think that it might be the transformer that is the problem. Very reluctant to have to send transformers and batteries all the way back to Germany to get fixed.Has anyone else had similar issues.Thanks in advanceEric

Re: ClearEdge 3D I may be proved wrong when I eventually see Clear edge modelling detailed buildings all by itself... to be honest I would be wary of any software that has to be viewed via a webinar, what are they trying to hide? If it is so great why is is so hard to see it..Either it works, or as I suspect it does not...

Re: ClearEdge 3D Sorry, confused threads there - I was talking about ClearEdge.I think you need Quicktime Standard to view the TerraDat Movie (usually comes with iTunes if you have an iPod).

Re: TruView Orientation Tools Other think... I did a test with using the help from Phil And also if you write: CX_Control.setZoom(50); below the lines: Mark3DXNameTxt.innerHTML = "ΔX:"; Mark3DYNameTxt.innerHTML = "ΔY:"; Mark3DZNameTxt.innerHTML = "ΔZ:"; updateToolBar(); setMaxNeighborsFromCookie(); CX_Control.SetAzimuth(180) CX_Control.SetAltitude(45) You can control the zoom to some object... Regards, Délio Pontes

Re: 10 topics listed in recent posts please I think so - I think it's also encouraging more posts and wider reading... Cheers Guys

Re: TruView Orientation Tools I Phill, Thanks again for your help and sorry for your lost time... But I have another question... I´saved your file (azimuth&altitude.zip) in the folder trueviews to have acess the horizonal angle and vertical angle but When I was reading the vertical angle from horizon line , I must read 0 degrees and the trueview show me 90º. Also when I open the file "cyclnoexui.xlst" and setup the vertical angle, I noticed that my 0 degree corresponds to the 90 degree in the trueviews. This is can be a error? anyone had the same problem? Regards, Délio Pontes

Re: ClearEdge 3D I set up free (non "Pro") version. Is it enough to view it?

Re: ClearEdge 3D I believe you cannot get a trial version. You can get a refund if it doesn't do what it says on the tin however... Anyone had a go yet?

Re: Exporting of database to .PTX format Hi phil, thanx for the reply, forgive me, im still very noob to cyclone and its a major change to working on CAD etc. also what ever i know at present is self learnt. i actually created a blank data base to import the .ptx file, and then unified that data to about 15mm. unfortunately there isnt much documentation on the product other than the great help you guys provide here on the forum.

Re: ClearEdge 3D terradat wrote:If anyone missed or is interested in a recording I made of the Edgewise3D software webinar, it can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/nqujkg The use of Google Sketchup is impressive towards the end of the show. Anyone had any success importing clouds into sketchup? Nick, I have a problem with contents of your link. How it should be opened? I have set up Google Sketchup...

Re: Z+F Imager point cloud plus Spheron colour information For those of you interested in using panoramic cameras in conjunction with FARO Laser Scanners:Our Software FARO Scene is prepared to import and handle panoramic pictures as well if they have been captured from the scanner´s position. You can then easily use them to colorize the scan cloud.Not as automatic as our own parallax free color overlay - but still a helpful solution in some cases.Best regards,Oliver Bürkler

Re: ClearEdge 3D If anyone missed or is interested in a recording I made of the Edgewise3D software webinar, it can be viewed at http://tinyurl.com/nqujkg The use of Google Sketchup is impressive towards the end of the show. Anyone had any success importing clouds into sketchup?

Re: TruView Orientation Tools Phill wrote:It takes me about half an hour to get my brain back into Javascript mode. Phill, thank you for helping others on this subject. I'm sure lots of people will benefit from this.

Re: Topcon's Laser Scanner GLS-1000 Hi Jose, I cannot to keep silent I'll try to explain my point of view. Maybe it will be offtopic in this branch, but... I cannot agree with your: pollete wrote:and I think that hardly any of us honestly needed that crazy super-speed and hyper-dense tera-pointclouds hyper-dense? Maybe really not. But more speed -> less time in the field. Especially, when weather is terrible:? You see, I live in Russia, here is not only sun:) There are open pit mines, gas and oil plants, architecture and so on... And we need to capture it with any weather... More speed is big advantage. pollete wrote:So stop over-engineering ranging capabilities and start a new way. we just need something close to the Image quality and basic exposure control that today is achievable by most of point and shot cameras. My understanding of it - it is not the absolutely new way. I suppose, if you need more camera features, maybe you need more photogrammetry solution? Maybe in this case you need just quality orthophoto? pollete wrote:You can do even better if you simply do a hole on top of the scanner, put an slr lens mount so you just need to screw your favourite camera body... well I can see is not that simple, but i't can't be imposible. Maybe, but a lot of suppliers try to ship to the customers the complete solution, but not the set of spare parts or the children's designer set. Look at this: http://www.develo.jp/lisa_p01.html It looks like Riegl scanner, but in the box with hole for camera... pollete wrote:an entry-level slr costs something about 0.8% of a scanner, why don't they just dismantle one and put some parts inside a scanner. Camera itself, may cost about 0.8% of a scanner. But work for adoption of this camera for the scanner will be much more money...

Re: Loadin additional points with Scan Control Maxim If I understand correctly it is definitly possible to import a fenced area of scan, provided it is in the zfs file to start with. In cyclone make a fake HDS6000 scanner, open the scanner controller, open your project, and open the scanworld that you want to import the data on. Put a fence around the area you want to import and go to scanner control-> import points within fence. This is really cool as when you import the scan it is instantly put in the modelspace. You can have the scan controller on one screen and the modelspace on the other, and as needed load more data on critical areas. You cannot however tell cyclone to load less than the maximium amount of points in the area. We use this technique alot, where we capture the data on the scanner and identify the targets later on in the office. It means we dont need a laptop, yay! Phill

Re: TruView Orientation Tools Delio You are killing me. It takes me about half an hour to get my brain back into Javascript mode. Anyway see below Mark3DXNameTxt.innerHTML = "ΔX:"; Mark3DYNameTxt.innerHTML = "ΔY:"; Mark3DZNameTxt.innerHTML = "ΔZ:"; updateToolBar(); setMaxNeighborsFromCookie(); CX_Control.SetAzimuth(180) CX_Control.SetAltitude(45) } Cheers Phill Re: 2D sketch from 3D model in Cyclone Mikhail The post below may help you in your endeavors. A normal slice in acad will cut 3d objects but not faces. The face2section lisp will convert faces to sections so they can be sliced. viewtopic.php?f=22&t=549 Phill Re: ClearEdge 3D Hi Daniel,any success with the trial data? Re: Z+F Imager point cloud plus Spheron colour information Hi Peter,Have you done any work with the FARO Photon 120? Re: 10 topics listed in recent posts please hiI think we would all agree this is working nicely :O) LT Extender a sad loss.... LT-Extender-Killed-By-Lawyer.jpg http://www.lt-extender.com/LT-Extender/englisch/default.htm Cadopia - IntelliCAD hi, I would like to know if anyone is using IntelliCAD, especially the Linux version? presumably this works through Wine? IntelliCAD CAD Platform - Features and Benefits DWG file compatibility IntelliCAD's native file format is DWG. IntelliCAD opens, edits, and saves any existing DWG files saved in numerous versions, including DWG Version 2.5 through 2007, without conversion or data loss. IntelliCAD provides industry-standard compatibility with the Autodesk® AutoCAD® command set, as well as programming APIs, such as LISP and SDS (IntelliCAD's C programming API). That means you can get to work immediately using the DWG files, commands, and applications you rely on. Drawing productivity IntelliCAD offers many productivity features to help you get the most from the time you spend creating drawings. You can organize items on layers, snap to items for precise positioning, work in model space and paper space depending on whether you're drawing or printing, and create 2D or 3D models. Additionally, the IntelliCAD Explorer provides the unique ability to review and exchange layers, blocks, linetypes, dimension styles, and text styles between drawings with drag-and-drop ease. And thanks to IntelliCAD's ActiveX integration, you can insert IntelliCAD drawings (or just parts of them) into Microsoft® Office application files for many cross-application uses. Building applications If you have existing applications that were built using the ADS or AutoLISP libraries, you can quickly use them in IntelliCAD using the same languages and functions you are used to. The Solutions Development System or SDS is a C/C++ language interface compatible with the ADS® (AutoCAD® Development System) interface. IntelliCAD includes a VBA object model to implement quick solutions or to create prototypes for SDS applications within your organization. Affordability IntelliCAD is a commercial grade CAD program that's compatible with the DWG file format and industry-standard applications without the hassle and high price of other industry-standard applications. IntelliCAD's tight knit community and low price makes it attractive and affordable to anyone who creates and uses DWG files. Additionally, many Commercial Members offer a free evaluation version of their products so you can see if IntelliCAD or a customized product meets your unique needs. http://www.cadopia.com/demo/stdControl.swf Stress Free hi here is an old but very interesting post on 'stress free'... the future of Autodesk? Submitted by David on 21 August 2008 - 12:30pm http://www.stress-free.co.nz/autodesk_beyond_desktop_cad_and_bim Re: New Interface for Complex 3D Modeling ... interesting stuffwhere`s it all goin? Re: Topcon's Laser Scanner GLS-1000 Hi Jose,Excellent work on your web site....:O) Re: Faro Photon 120 Data Hi Dave,an excellent post....thanks for your contribution...keep it up :O)when will we see you again?... pop in anytime Re: Faro Photon 120 Data HA HA... I was going to say it could have been worse but thinking about it....... I will have to be more careful when doing screen dumps. Good game though... Re: Topcon's Laser Scanner GLS-1000 well... you might be right. But let me ask. Don't you think it is time to ask tls engineers to go in this direction? we have seen tremendous improvement in the "range race", and I think that hardly any of us honestly needed that crazy super-speed and hyper-dense tera-pointclouds that are given by the latest Faro LS120 at full-throttle. So stop over-engineering ranging capabilities and start a new way. we just need something close to the Image quality and basic exposure control that today is achievable by most of point and shot cameras. A Canon Powershot G10 that can be considered some high grade PS camera costs less than 500$ Take out everything but raw+jpeg shot, +2EV compensation, iso 100, 4 wb presets and one custom. Then fix aperture to f11 like in A mode, and let the camera or the user to set sutter speed. You can do even better if you simply do a hole on top of the scanner, put an slr lens mount so you just need to screw your favourite camera body... well I can see is not that simple, but i't can't be imposible. an entry-level slr costs something about 0.8% of a scanner, why don't they just dismantle one and put some parts inside a scanner. One thing I can't understand is why Leica people didn't look at their own shelves for gear to put a true Camera iside their hds May be because we don't cry loudly enough and also because leica is no Leica anymore but a firm buyer and re-labeler... Re: TruView Orientation Tools Hi Phill, You explained how to setup the horizonal angle...can you explain also, how to setup the vertical angle? What line I need to write? Regards, Délio Pontes Re: Loadin additional points with Scan Control I mentioned that, we operated the scanner from the onboard panel Cloud of Point Processing with SAL3D Cloud of Points processing software. Fully featured download for 60 days. Suitable for industrial applications SAL3D, (the 3D Shape Analysis Library, in C++ API) from AQSENSE http://www.aqsense.com/products/sal3d.html Re: 2D sketch from 3D model in Cyclone Thanks, Greg! Re: New Interface for Complex 3D Modeling It really looks amasing. If this system only interface module, what is the core of the system? Re: Topcon's Laser Scanner GLS-1000 pollete wrote:No control at all for internal camera (no wb, no brightness nor contrast or any exposure compensation, no raw storage, no blending overlap regions...) Maybe I'm wrong, but you expecting too much from internal camera... Re: Topcon's Laser Scanner GLS-1000 I've had the opportunity to do some in-deep test of the GLS and I must highlight that it boasts a very interesting on-board interface that makes a real choice to work with no other device as controller. tank-like construction. (but heavy and bulky... not for girls wonderful battery power solution. some total station philosophy and operation (back-sight orientation option, aiming pointer...), nice for surveyors. You would love this scanner that would be better called R2D2 but: there are some cons There is no mount nor trigger port for an external camera. No control at all for internal camera (no wb, no brightness nor contrast or any exposure compensation, no raw storage, no blending overlap regions...) Some parallax is very noticeable in close ranges. The mirror revolves around an off set axis and that causes images to be slightly misaligned column-wise as they are not perfectly nodal-point coincident. It is slow, even slooooooooooweeeeerrrr if you use fine mode. Poor rendition if any on dark or polished surfaces (cars, slate roofs, golden, smoked or moistened surfaces...) Afaik Topcon is working in a new scanner, and I'm willing to see what comes out. I love Topcon instruments and would like to have the chance to share some thoughts with them about how to improve this first and welcome scanner Regards Re: Loadin additional points with Scan Control masimo wrote:We scanned it in super-high resolution because we just wanted targets to be in a super-high resolution Thanks, Maxim Why didn't you scan the targets separately? Re: Topcon's Laser Scanner GLS-1000 terradat wrote:Hi Alexander, Thanks for your questions regarding the Topcon GLS-1000. I can now add to Andy's answers as follows: 3. Yes, the scanner has performed well at around minus 10 C. If prolonged cold weather usage is anticipated, it is possible to order a scanner with low temperature lubrication as an option. 4. I have uploaded an image of the tilt mount below which is now available. If you have any other questions about this hardware or software, please post here or contact me. Nick Microsoft Word.jpg Hi Nick, Thank you for your answer. I have been in Chester last week and have talked with Andy also about work at low temperatures. It is really excellent news! Even if working temperature range will slightly move after lubrication - that is no problem - we are living not in desert Re: Topcon's Laser Scanner GLS-1000 Alexander Freydin wrote: 3. Have anyone tested this scanner under low temperatures (under 0 degrees)? 4. It is possible to tilt the scanner to scan more space? Hi Alexander, Thanks for your questions regarding the Topcon GLS-1000. I can now add to Andy's answers as follows: 3. Yes, the scanner has performed well at around minus 10 C. If prolonged cold weather usage is anticipated, it is possible to order a scanner with low temperature lubrication as an option. 4. I have uploaded an image of the tilt mount below which is now available. If you have any other questions about this hardware or software, please post here or contact me. Nick Microsoft Word.jpg Re: Autocad working to national grid Nice tip GregThanks Re: Autocad working to national grid Hi David If you are using OpenGL in AutoCAD try turning 'Off' the 'Enhanced 3D Performance' in 'Manual Performance Tuning'. This option can be found here: Tools>Options>System>Performance Settings>Manual Tune Also try changing your visual style to '2D Wireframe' if it was previously set to '3D Wireframe'. I have had similar display issues and found that this helped. Autocad working to national grid Hi all, I was wondering if anyone has had a similar experience to this. I have produced some 3D linework on a local grid, which looks as intended. However, when moved to national grid coordinates I am getting some awful graphical glitches. The client wants the drawing to national coordinates. Both images are at world UCS, in plan view. This problem is isolated to this pc, and after moving the data still looks ok on other computers - so I am assuming a graphics card compatibility issue. I am running an ATI HD 3600 with ( I think ) the latest drivers. Before moving: After moving - national grid: Re: Faro Photon 120 Data Greg wrote: 'Caravan Parking Game' HaHa well spotted Greg... You have been rumbled now Dave! Re: Choice for 2D scanning device Hi everyone,Thank you all for your advices, I will take them into account for this project and do some further hardware search. Re: Loadin additional points with Scan Control We scanned it in super-high resolution because we just wanted targets to be in a super-high resolution Thanks, Maxim Re: Loadin additional points with Scan Control It is my understanding that this is not possible, would be nice though. If you do not need it super high res in an area why scan it at that resolution in the first place Re: Faro Photon 120 Data Hi DaveNice images!Whats the 'Caravan Parking Game' I see on your taskbar? Re: 2D sketch from 3D model in Cyclone Hi Mikle-dIn the past I have used the 'FLATSHOT' command in AutoCAD. 'FLATSHOT' creates a 2D flattened representation of the 3D model in your drawing.I found it particularly useful because hidden/obscured lines can be captured in a separate layer or ignored if required.I also use the 'MAKE2D' command in Rhino that gives similar results. Loadin additional points with Scan Control Hello!We have prepared some scans with Imager5006 in Super-High resolution using scanner onboard control panal.Now I'd like to try to import a region of a partially imported scan from a zfs-file with Cyclone Scan Control Module.Is it possible to load point cloud data from a fenced area with a subsampling? I wouldn't like to have that region in super-high resolution.Maxim Re: Faro Photon 120 Data pburrows145 wrote:I hope to see you soon on the tour of duty... Whats the tour of duty? Re: Faro Photon 120 Data Thank you David - very comprehensive. I hope to see you soon on the tour of duty... Re: 2D sketch from 3D model in Cyclone Thank you, Matt!I'll try! Re: 2D sketch from 3D model in Cyclone There is a function in AutoCad from 2006 onwards that automaticaly draws 2D linework from 3D models.The command prompt is 'SOLVIEW' to get the section and 'SOLDRAW' to draw the section.I have tried this on very large refinery models with great results, although I never use patches.Matt Re: Choice for 2D scanning device Hi GLD,The Z+F Profiler is especially built for such applications. As Matt wrote the GRP 5000 system from Amberg is succesfully used for years in this cases.It is possible to use a Z+F IMAGER 5006i in profiling mode as well on a moving plattform.RegardsThorsten Re: 2D sketch from 3D model in Cyclone Thank you Sam!But ACAD is not a solution!We need to have 2D scetch with prints of patches boarders, countours of cylinders and something like that.ACAD can produce only cross sections, but not the boarders of inclination patch. Re: 2D sketch from 3D model in Cyclone your best bet is to create cross sections of the model in a CAD app like AutoCAD. Re: Faro Photon 120 Data Hi Guysanswers belowHow long did this take? About 6 hours but 2 hours of that was the software automatically filtering and fitting the scans together. The auto target detection did create some extra targets because of the contrast differences on the outside wall, this was quickly resolved by deleting the bad reference and updating the scan manager.How many setups? 7 setupsWhat resolution was used? I kept to 120,000 pps full 360 6 minutes 57 secondsWhat accuracy did you achieve on the data? Which area? That's a difficult one as there are many answers, as with all scanners distance, reflectivity and texture will change that result. The Photon 120 is achieving 2mm at 25m at 90% reflectivity Which setting on the Photon did you use - hi-speed/lo acc... lower speed/hi-acc? Slow (7 mins, so still fast) high accuracyHow did you register inside with outside? We placed spheres (spread out) outside of the church and then placed some inside and then placed the scanner in the doorway an made sure that we had a good view inside and outWhat accuracy was the registration? Largest target mismatch was 10mmHow many points were captured? 242,188,172 before any uniform filter.Did you capture colour also? No colour on this one, I will post some colour examples soon.Do you have any examples of the deliverables - ortho-images/sections/models? I will have to put something together as don't have any from this jobDo yo have any screen shots of the data from the top of the tower - I believe it has flint inclusions, how did these come out? See picturesregards Dave Re: Choice for 2D scanning device You should also look into Sick LMS290 scanner (or the LMS series) if cost is your concern ($7K). It is not as accurate (20 to 35mm). Alternatively, Velodyne HDL-64E (see http://www.velodyne.com/lidar/) is a good candidate ($75K). They were extensively used in the DARPA Urban Challenge. Riegl LMS-Q120, VQ180, or VQ250 are also good choice. There is also the Optech lynx, Z+F profiler 5006, and MDL Dynascan. Best Regards, Kin Re: Harmful effects of high speed scanners Your mother would warn against that if she saw you doing it. Have to admit I have stood on the scanner case a few times too. Not good practice! Re: Choice for 2D scanning device Hi Paul.Yes, it is free of costs.Yes, you will be allowed to re-sell your software using our SDK. Again free of costs.Many software partners are already using this interface.Best regards,Oliver Bürkler Re: Choice for 2D scanning device Hi Oliver,Is your SDK available for free to Photon users or is there a charge? Also, once people have utilised the SDK for their own means, are they able to sell the code/product they create - effectively licensing it out?Thanks once again for your help.Regards,Paul Re: Choice for 2D scanning device Hello GLD. You CAN use your Photon for this kind of application. In fact there are already some customers using our scanners in this way. With our so-called helical-interface you can synchronize the scanner with your distance measurement device (or whatever you want to use for positioning the vehicle). Our SDK allows you to access as well our files as our hardware directly from your software. So you have full control over the system via your software. This way you can run the scanner in "helical mode" which means only the mirror will rotate and record slices while your vehicle is moving. Hope that helps! If you need more detailed information, please feel free to contact your sales rep, our customer service team or myself directly. Best regards, Oliver Bürkler Re: Choice for 2D scanning device Hi GLD, The GRP5000 is designed for scanning rail tunnels, so is very similar to what you describe. http://www.amberg.ch/at/index.php?id=400&L=3 Matt Choice for 2D scanning device Hi everyone, I am currently looking for a scanning device that could do some 2D scanning. The goal of this project is to detect any obstacle or deformation of/on a tunnel with a scanning device mounted on a moving vehicle. Here are some little sketches better than a long speech: No obstacle or deformation Presence of obstacle or deformation So I would like to detect anything, within a range of 10-20 meters forward the vehicle, and with a measuring accuracy of approximately +/-2mm. Which kind of scanning device could do the trick? cause a laser scan like the FARO PHOTON seems too sophisticated for this application. thank you in advance. Re: Faro Photon 120 Data Hi Dave,Welcome back to the forum!Great to see you posting stuff again please keep posting and hope to see Ace Surveys posting some stuff soon. Re: Harmful effects of high speed scanners Ignoring ALL H&S (probably) I stand on the black flight case (laid horizontally) to put the SS2 up high - a bit naughty perhaps... Re: Faro Photon 120 Data Hi Dave, I trust you are well... a few questions... How long did this take? How many setups? What resolution was used? What accuracy did you achieve on the data? Which setting on the Photon did you use - hi-speed/lo acc... lower speed/hi-acc? How did you register inside with outside? What accuracy was the registration? How many points were captured? Did you capture colour also? Do you have any examples of the deliverables - ortho-images/sections/models? Do yo have any screen shots of the data from the top of the tower - I believe it has flint inclusions, how did these come out? That is all... Cheers 2D sketch from 3D model in Cyclone Hi All! Did anybody have a task to make a 2D sketch from 3D model? There are lot of patches, steel sections, lines, etc. in 3D model. I tried ot make Tools->Drawing->Create Drawing from Object. It looks like only lines can be drawn on reference plane. Why don't patches or something else process contour prints? Re: importing .zfs on polyworks ok, from the ZF software i exported a .ptx, an the demo of REconstructor imports it fine. So, the problem... Polyworks needs to re-meshed the .ptx as it does with the .xyz? Re: Faro Photon 120 Data Hello stranger :O)Good to see some more example data from the Faro Photon 120....and I hope you pointed everyone at Ace Surveys to the forum :O)Look forward to seeing more in the future.Cheers, Re: Scaling Ortho Image Hiif its something you are going to do frequently you could write an Autolisp routine or vba app to automate the task :O)you could have tick boxes to automatically scale the image for metres or mm`s....and possibly batch process too...if the images arent too big! Faro Photon 120 Data Hi everyone, This Pointools video shows data from the FARO® Laser Scanner Photon 120. The Church was scanned as part of the training for ACE Surveys who were the first company in the UK to acquire the latest technology from FARO. The data set shows 7 scans, each taking 7 minutes. Then the data was processed in FARO Scene 4.6 which allowed us to filter and automatically register the scan positions. For more information on ACE surveys please visit: http://www.acesurveys.co.uk/ Regards Dave Re: Harmful effects of high speed scanners pburrows145 wrote:NB: Why are you lifting the scanner over your head??? I Guess it is more accurate that is sometimes lifted higher than your head. But you never know. Due to the nature of the beast, we put our scanner into all kinds of weird places which require lifting it up high or placing into something. I think the issue stems from the fact the unit is just small and light enough to make it tempting to just try and put it where you want it yourself. Like Matt says, its pretty obvious you are not going to lift an SS2 onto a fully extended tripod by yourself, with the HD6000 you just might try it. Even the fact the unit only has one handle contributes to the problem of making you think its a one man job. My elbow case directly stems from a job that included 116 scans over 5 days. Then a week of registration - which makes it worse - Mouse wrist! Re: Complex modeling The plug-in to Maya looks great. You might want to try Zipline by Pinpoint 3D for a more automated approach as long as you can use polygonal meshes to dirdim's point. It should be able to reduce the size of the mesh and keep the details you need. Re: Complex modeling That scanner is pretty impressive, I'll have to call my buddies at Trimble for a demo. I thought for sure it was the FX model (which is actually the Surphaser rebranded by Trimble). BTW - the Surphaser would scan that corbel with seriously high resolution (as much as 50 points per inch) in less than a minute. We absoultely love it this scanner!On the Customs inspection damage - I have so many stories! We should do a whole thread on this topic. Same is true for TSA here in the States. Once we brought a Minolta on a flight as luggage, arrived at the site to scan, opened the box and saw a big ol' dent in the side of the unit. We fired it up and it worked perfectly fine and has ever since. Of course the TSA left their normal 'we were here' flyer in the box, which didn't happen to mention that they're sorry for dropping the unit! Re: Harmful effects of high speed scanners Hi Paul,There are all sorts of occasions when a scanner needs to be lifted up quite high. I find that it has been more of a problem in the past for me with the ScanStation as we dont have a 6000 (yet).I have worked on some very large projects as you know and trust me, lifting the scanner onto a tripod two or three hundred times does cause a bit of pain. Like I said though, I have had problems with my elbow before and it is hard to say when and what the cause of these things may be.We have a strict procedcure that says two people must lift a ScanStation onto a tripod.I think the issue with the 6000 is the fact that a lot of people are using it as a one man operation, so improved handles could be good idea.CheersMatt Re: Complex modeling Hi all, Thanks for the hints. I will probably go first for the plug-in to Maya (thanks to Nick). Michael, FYI I used a GX-200. This scan was done at a density of 1.8 horizontal and 1.1 vertical. The object was at 66m from the scanner. In general term, the GX-200 is an underestimated scanner. True it is a bit slow but it is extremely reliable and robust. During a mandate in North Africa 2 months ago, it was seized at the custom for 2 days. Since it was in a back-pack, the custom employees did not figure out it was a survey instrument so it ended out being thrown on a concrete floor. So it was seriously damaged. IMG_0001.JPG IMG_0010.JPG Needless to say that we were completely discouraged since going back to get another scanner would have delayed the project by at least 2 weeks and incur additional expenses. So we were extremely pleased when the tests revealed that the scanner was still operational. We then taped the holes and proceeded with the scanning of 30 facades with no problem! Michael, I may end up calling you for advise in the plug-in to Maya is not ok. Re: importing .zfs on polyworks another question... can i extract the structure of the pointcloud, so when i export the .xyz i can link it with the information extracted? what kind of format can apply the structure of information with the "empty" .xyz? and well, i have tried with a variety of values, i don't know how get a good .ptx from Z+F Laser Control to Polyworks Re: Harmful effects of high speed scanners I sell the scanners and I have never experienced these pains...I have however had 'real' tennis-elbow and I can assure you, if I had the same symptoms from lifting the scanners I would be very upset... May I direct you both to the following... (wink-wink nudge-nudge...) - it's 100% risk-free! http://www.hsadviser.co.uk/manualhandling/index.html?sid=864686 I see where you're both coming from as regards handle options etc... NB: Why are you lifting the scanner over your head??? Re: importing .zfs on polyworks the error is just a "unable to read", in fact the REconstructor2 demo can't load any of my zfs images (allocation error, anyway i can't use more REconstructor2 to test). And yes, when i import xyz it makes me meshing the files, that's the reason i finished using directly IMinspect (he works with the original xyz without remeshing). So well, i will keep trying to get a good ptx import again. Sometimes i get good files but require a lot of memory and i'm under 32bits Cyclone Register looks good, but we haven't try it. Re: Harmful effects of high speed scanners HI rlasater,That explains the pain I am getting in my elbow. I had wondered why, after each scanning job I did, that my arm really hurt, always put it down to years of welding in awkward positions.I agree that there need to be some sort of handles on the side of the scanners, so that the strain is taken by both arms, and the right muscles.I remember using the 2500 Cyrax scanner which wieghed about the same as a concrete block of same size! At least the weight is getting better with time.Matt Re: Exporting of database to .PTX format Trevor You may or may not have understood my earlier explantion. When you unfiy a cloud it creates another unified cloud on top of the clouds you have already created. Hence, when you imported the ptx file and your size was 9gig, and you unfied again, it created another 9gig unifed cloud and appended it to your database, so now your database has 2X9gig unfied clouds in it. (2 X 9gig = 18gig). To prove my point if you go to the scanworld explorer (tools -> scanner -> scanworld explorer) and go to the unfied tab you should have 2 unifed clouds listed there. I would go back to your original scan, unify at a higher spacing rate and copy out this unfied scan to a new database. I have found that the spacing you specify when unifiying doesn't always end up as the absoulte spacing between points, I often use 30-40mm spacing with little loss of definition in structural steel type jobs. Hope this helps Phill Re: importing .zfs on polyworks What error message did you get? I have not tried this process yet, but I know that Polyworks likes to restructure point data into a mesh-like format and so you usually have to specify distances and meshing parameters to get the data in. However, unless you are using a 64bit version you may struggle to get all the pointclouds into the software.Also, just to clarify about your .xyz exports. You will not be able to get these into IMAlign, as the .xyz file does not contain any of the point normal information. Polyworks requires this to help construct the mesh. You are better off using .PTX if it is possible to export this from your other package.To be honest, for registration it would be better to use something like Cyclone Register or an equivalent. These obviously have a price too, but not too much compared to the Polyworks pricing!I wish you the best success with this project. Harmful effects of high speed scanners Here is somthing to look out for: with the new ultra-high speed scanners, if need be, 25 or more setups in a day is not un-achievable. The way the HD 6000 is designed, lifting it out of the case and placing on the tripod repeatedly can cause a nasty case of Tennis Elbow - which is much more serious than its sounds, especially to someone who needs to lift scanners onto tripods for a living. With the single handle on top, the usual technique is to lift it out of the case with one arm, palm down, then place the other hand under the unit to lift onto the tripod. Well, my Doctor has informed me this is the worst possible way and is certainly the cause of my new case of tennis elbow. Lifting with the handle and then raising it up, and usually over your head, puts the strain on your outside forearm muscles where it does not belong and BINGO you have a painful case of TE, or Lateral Epicondylitis (That sounds more serious doesn't it?).Since this is an on-the-job injury and is chronic or potencially even disabling, as a manager, this worries me. All of our employees have been told not to lift the scanner in this manner - which is almost impossible because of its design. To this end, we are going to remove the handle on our unit to remove the urge to just reach in and grab it.So attention Leica and Z+F: the handle on top of the scanner is cute, but is horribly designed. We need handles lower on the sides so that the unit can be lifted properly - with the palms up/in. To my colleagues here in the states: this is a serious OSHA/Workman's Comp issue and I would suggest putting a policy in place before one of your people gets hurt! OUCH! Re: Scanning a freezer? I have scanned with Scanstation 2 at -10 to -15 C. Never tried this but told it works, warm instrument thoroughly before use, i.e keep it the truck foor well with heating on full blast. then place dust masks over the air vents, the sort of thing you would use on a dusty site, might need some duct tape around the edges. Told it keeps all the warm air in, and allows sufficent air in without the scanner shutting down. Will try it this winter Re: Complex modeling This scan looks pretty good - which Trimble scanner did you use? Looks like the Trimble FX (Surphaser). We've done quite a few projects like this for animation purposes in 3D Studio. The first question is do they definitely need Nurbs, or will polygon meshes work? We prefer meshes if we can because its faster/easier/cheaper on our end. But downstream applications like animation can be faster/easier to process & render if you provide them with Nurbs. If you can deliver meshes, then you have many options for post-processng the raw scan data including your PolyWorks, Geomagic, and Rapidform solutions, or lower end packages such as MeshLab, VRMesh, etc. If you need Nurbs, the 'big 3' are great for converting the meshes into 'rapid Nurbs' that can be imported into almost any CAD and visualization packages (including Maya). Alternatively, you could use the Pointools/Rhino (or AutoCad) approach, which we use and like as well but haven't yet done much with organic shapes such as these architectural details. If you need any specific advise on any of these routes, I'm happy to help. importing .zfs on polyworks We recently captured new information with Z+F 5006i, we are not very confortable with the software included, and i'm trying to load the original .zfs files into Polyworks (IMalign) so i can align and work as usual. But every time i try to import a .zfs i get an error, i think that maybe is a time-issue, 5006i is new (2008?) and we use Polyworks10 (from 2007), so maybe the .zfs structure is slighty different and PW10 doesn't recognize them. Is possible? the only option is acquired PW11 then? I try to export from ZF to .xyz, and well i can load in IMinspect, but without reference points i can´t apply best-fit alignment there, i just can do alignment marking "pairs" or "n points" (same as the ZF software). Any other file format compatible between ZFLC and PW10? i try the .ptx too, but i couldn't get any good export, too much details (2gb a simple shoot, i can't load in memory) or very tiny file with poor detail. Re: Exporting of database to .PTX format Hi Matt / Phil Thanx for your replies, my problem is that the data is really heavy and i need to thin it out, i have tried to unify the database, up to a variation of 15mm, instead of the db decreasing in size it actually increased by 9gig, after much searching i found exporting cloud as a .ptx file, then importing it as a unified cloud would decrease the size "9Gig", but it still not thinned out so i started the thinning out process and it increased againg to 18gig, and very laggy, i have optimised and to no avail is it speeding up, im out of ideas Re: Complex modeling looks nice, with this tool you don't need eny intermediate stages of modelling in 3rd party software Re: Scanning Tripod Hello Jason,Thanks for your feedback.The only troubel we could have is to buy it now. The website is unvailable.I did not remeber to have answer you. If you still would like to exchange, feel free to ask me questions by PM.Romuald Re: Complex modeling take a look at Studio Clouds for Maya http://www.alicelabs.com/index.php They offer a 21 day trial version. http://www.alicelabs.com/download.php Re: Scanning a freezer? ChrisI haven't done any of this sort of work myself, but I have heard of people wrapping the scanner in an electric blanket with mixed sucess.Just another idea.Phill Re: Locating Utilies with Scan Station 2 Tim thanks for your reply. It is nice to know we are doing some things right is our processes with this new technology. I hope I will be able to call on you again.Paul I have not heard of or used TrueSpaces with AutoCAD. I shall look into this.Again, thank you gentleman Re: Comlex modeling I think the best way would be to create a clean reduced mesh then export it to Maya as an stl-file for final modelling.Rhino is also good, but it will take you much more time Complex modeling Hi, I have to scan buildings for which in addition to the normal tracing (window, doors, façade, etc), I will have many of these kinds of objects to model as well. More precisely, the final modeling/rendering will be done by my client in Maya. complex jpeg.jpg Since this object has 650,000 points, I do not think Maya can accept this size of a cloud (correct me here if I am wrong). I am thus looking for the best suite of software and the related workflow to model/simplify the objects before I deliver them to my clients for the final modeling. I am using a Trimble scanner and RealWorks (RW) for my normal tracing/modeling. RW can model this thru a mesh but the mesh would be of a huge size unless I dramatically decimate the points. I am thinking of the following combination: Rhino + Pointools plug-in (so I can model these objects using NURBS) AutoCAD + Pointools plug-in (same as above) JRC 3D Reconstructor (assuming its smart meshing algorithm can reduce the size of the mesh to something acceptable for Maya) I am not familiar with any of the above so ease-of-use needs to be taken into consideration. I also welcome any other combination or suggestion. Thanks in advance. Re: Open Source 3D printer Jason Warren wrote:Looks interesting Phil, you going to give it a try? I still havent got around to trying david laser scanner yet so maybe after that haha Re: Scanning Tripod A year on and no problems....suffering from wear and tear, but no different from any of the other tripods I have used.To be honest, I think if you look after your kit, it will look after you :O) Re: Cheapest DIY scanner ========================= New DAVID Version 2.4.2 ========================= Finally, the new grabber has found its way into DAVID! It makes DAVID 2.4 compatible to more different cameras and performs faster on most hardware. Give it a try! http://www.david-laserscanner.com/?section=Downloads As usual, there are some more nice improvements both for beginners and pros, like: *Increased precision* We have improved lens un-distortion and calculation of the 3D laser light plane position, reducing deformations and waviness of scan data. *Default camera parameters included* Setting up the camera parameters is one of the most difficult steps for beginners. For some camera models, DAVID has default parameters that will help you get started. Of course some adjustments will be necessary, since every setup is different... *COMmunication* For those who automate their scanning setups, DAVID has improved capability of communicating over a (virtual) COM port in both directions. You can control many DAVID functions remotely, or even synchronize single camera frames to laser motor steps, which is especially interesting for Scanning Without Background! Details can be found in the user manual: http://www.david-laserscanner.com/wiki/ ... l/com_port *and more* Please see the complete list in the changelog: http://www.david-laserscanner.com/wiki/ ... se-history ====================================== DAVID Starter-Kit and New Line Laser ====================================== As presented in our previous newsletter, the DAVID Starter-Kit is available, and it contains all hardware necessary to set up a 3D Scanner. Best quality you can get for a price that low! For those who are building their own setup, we have new battery-driven line laser modules with adjustable focus in our shop: a green and a red one (LE532-5-3-F-S, LE650-5-3-F-S). Our favorite webcam Logitech QuickCam Pro 9000 is available at a low price, including a specially designed stand! And industrial cameras are coming soon... http://shop.david-vision-systems.de/ind ... anguage/en In the meantime, we have found a large number of distributors all over the world, so whatever country you live in, there's a good chance that you will find a reseller close to you. See here: http://www.david-vision-systems.de/index.php/contact More details about the Starter-Kit: http://www.david-laserscanner.com/?section=Starter-Kit by Simon & Sven Re: Scanning a freezer? Most EDM`s have built in heaters now so I suppose it will only be a matter of time before we see them in scanners? Re: Looking for some help!! Sean,when will we see the book?cheers, Re: Open Source 3D printer Looks interesting Phil, you going to give it a try? Open Source 3D printer What is RepRap? Look at your computer setup and imagine that you hooked up a 3D printer. Instead of printing on bits of paper this 3D printer makes real, robust, mechanical parts. To give you an idea of how robust, think Lego bricks and you're in the right area. You could make lots of useful stuff, but interestingly you could also make most of the parts to make another 3D printer. That would be a machine that could copy itself. RepRap is short for Replicating Rapid-prototyper. It is the practical self-copying 3D printer shown on the right - a self-replicating machine. This 3D printer builds the parts up in layers of plastic. This technology already exists, but the cheapest commercial machine would cost you about €30,000. And it isn't even designed so that it can make itself. So what the RepRap team are doing is to develop and to give away the designs for a much cheaper machine with the novel capability of being able to self-copy (material costs are about €500). That way it's accessible to small communities in the developing world as well as individuals in the developed world. Following the principles of the Free Software Movement we are distributing the RepRap machine at no cost to everyone under the GNU General Public Licence. So, if you have a RepRap machine, you can use it to make another and give that one to a friend... The RepRap project became widely known after a large press coverage in March 2005, though the idea goes back to a paper on the web written by Adrian Bowyer on 2 February 2004. RepRap Version 1.0 "Darwin" can be built by anyone now - see the Make your own RepRap link there or on the left, and for ways to get the bits and pieces you need, see the Obtaining Parts link. Re: Scanning a freezer? I used Riegl Z-360 at -15C and not a problem - a real work horse but impossible to be calibrated correctly . Scanstation seemed to have a little more problems with adopting to very low temperatures giving some kind of random errors and annoying "checking accuracy" every 5 min. HDS6000 was OK, although I remember the range was slightly reduced, not to mention battery life. Placing heater under the scanner I would rather call a risky business because of possible water condensation plus hot air shimmering (different densities of air through which laser beam would have to travel could be causing some anomalies ). Re: HDS 6000 Hard Drive Issue Connecting to the scanner with web browser let you delete whole folders at once. Re: TruView not loading .dat files over the web Thanks for the information good to hear there is a solution out there for thoses who are having web problems. Re: hot environnement I did some work in Turkmenistan--I'm not sure the heat in the afternoons, but it was 38Celsius at 2am, so it was pretty hot. We'd work morning from Dawn till about 1pm and then from 4 or 5pm till Dusk. We had a ScanStation. We never had any data-related problems, but the scanner would, occassionally call it quits for the afternoon before our official end because it would overheat and just stop working all together. But as others have stated, worry about yourself too! I became dehydrated and developed kidney stones after 3 weeks--so drink plenty of fluids!!! Re: Any thoughts about TOPCON GLS Here are some screenshots of a scan from the Topcon GLS-1000 of the Wales Millenium Centre in Cardiff Bay. It's a large challenging building due to the fact that it is made of bronze sheets, glass, steel and dark slate. More images and photos here: http://tinyurl.com/ms3s5k wmc4.jpg TruView not loading .dat files over the web I have just recently gone through solving this problem and was trying to get the information on the web for others that may have the same problem. We have recently moved our web hosting over to Go Daddy in order to take advantage of the cheap storage for the large TruView files. However the default account on Go Daddy does not understand the .dat file. A web.config file needs to be created and placed in the main directly to tell the site how to handle the .dat file extension. Leica was a tremendous help and created this file that worked flawlessly. Please feel free to email me if you have having this type of problem. Re: Modelling I beams - quick method? Matt Young wrote:Unless a beam is drasticaly curved then it should not need to be made in small peices, at least for industrial models anyway. Can you develop your answer. I do not understund well what you mean. Does it mean that Cyclone is able to fit a beam curved in more than one direction like for example like a rail of roller coaster ? By the way, does exist any soft able to fit such structure ? Romuald Re: hot environnement Light photons have zero mass, and since energy is mass times velocity squared, they have no energy to produce heat. The only thing to worry about in hot conditions is how the scanner itself will operate. I would say that within +/- 5°C to 10°C above the listed operating temp should be ok, but would not reccomend going higher than 5°C if possible. Basically if the scanner works it works. Re: Modelling I beams - quick method? Cloudworx is really quite easy when you get used to it. We use a set of block drawings of sections that represent each steel size, limit the cloud points to the beam or column, insert the block and extrude. Maybe some slight adjustment of the extruded beam/columns position and rotation after. The important thing to remember with steel beams and columns with regard to accuracy is the end points. Unless a beam is drasticaly curved then it should not need to be made in small peices, at least for industrial models anyway. Re: Modelling I beams - quick method? I have been copying & pasting, which for this application (high accuracy not really required) is OK and I guess the most accurate way, if the job warranted it, would be to model each beam's point cloud individually. I did look at CloudWorx but I'm not really up to speed with it yet... Re: Modelling I beams - quick method? +1, I will use copy/paste/move or array function. But in the 2 cases, a manual control and rectification should be done.But, it is depending of a very important technical spêcification : precision of the modelisation ask. More precise you should be, more strict in the cleaning of the beam clouds for the fiting you should be. With large precision, even, no manual modification could be necessary.Romuald Re: hot environnement DanCutler wrote:I did some scanning in 50 degree heat in Dubai with a Riegl Z420i. It didn't like it, and we had to take it inside to cool down once or twice but there was no noticable problems with the data. Hello Dan, I do also a scan in a ship off the coast Fujirah. In the engine room the temperature was near of the 50° celsius. I did not have trouble with our Trimble FX scanner. I will not say the same thing for me The result was acceptable. The clouds did not seemed to be impact by this hot environnement. Technically and theoretically, is there possibility that high temperature have an influence on the laser ray Romuald Re: Modelling I beams - quick method? I would not use Cyclone for modelling beams and columns, AutoCAd is much faster using Cloudworx. Re: hot environnement I have used a Leica ScanStation on the Steppes of Kazakhstan and also in Saudi at temp of around 45°C to 55°C for days on end with no problems. The max temp for a ScanStation is 45°C.I would reccomend taking a coolbox with about 4 litres of water and some fizzy drinks for energy.Good luck Re: Modelling I beams - quick method? What about measuring the distances from the scans. Then, assuming it´s a more or less regular grid, copy as an array (each major CAD software could do that) with the measured distances.After that just compare to the scan data again and adjust if necessary.Best regards,Oliver Bürkler Re: Exporting of database to .PTX format Trevor From what you have said, I would say that your imp file still has the original scans in it. You could try doing a "full" copy of only the unified cloud to a new imp file. Just use the copy and paste comands. This should make a 9gig file if my calculations are correct. Cheers Phill Re: Modelling I beams - quick method? Sometimes it's quicker to copy/paste and adjust position of each profile manually with the handles Re: hot environnement I would be more concerned about the operator not working Re: hot environnement I did some scanning in 50 degree heat in Dubai with a Riegl Z420i. It didn't like it, and we had to take it inside to cool down once or twice but there was no noticable problems with the data. Re: Hello, from Seattle WA USA Welcome on board! hot environnement We could have some work into hot environnement, nearly 60° celcius.What could be the deviation of the phased base laser inside such environnement. Can we imagine to have deviation in distance and/or echo ?Did anyone have some feed back for this ?I already find some post about negative temperature but nothing for hot case.ThanksRomuald Modelling I beams - quick method? I've done a scan of a structure made up, mainly, of identical I beams. Having modelled one successfully in Cyclone by using point cloud sub-selection and fitting wide flange to cloud, is there a way of quickly modelling the others given that they are the same just in different locations or is it a case of modelling each one individually?ThanksGaz Re: Exporting of database to .PTX format Your computer spec is fine for any work with Cyclone.18GB is a huge amount of data, I would suggest maybe cutting the data into smaller chunks and exporting multiple PTX files.What do you need the PTX files for?Matt Re: Hello, from Seattle WA USA Welcome to the Forum, Im sure you will get some very good advice here.Matt Re: Spar Point Research Announces Plans for SPAR 2010 Houston Why not back in Denver...seemed like a great venue Re: Locating Utilies with Scan Station 2 Do you have access to TruSpaces within AutoCAD? If so this is a great way of using the cloud/photo combo in order to draw directly into the 3D space using a similar viewer to TruView...If you set the tool to Draw 3D Polyline within CAD and then use the arrow tool in the TruSpace, anywhere you then click within the TruSpace will equal a polyline in your CAD drawing - I have found this quite useful when trying to analyse intensities etc for Topo work...Just a thought, let me know how you get on. Re: Locating Utilies with Scan Station 2 We found that sometimes having the photos open next to the model space can help you to visually identify if there are any nearby manholes etc, which you can then look for in the scan once you 'know where to look'. But generally we found it best to infill these with a TCR/GPS. Personally we still use our SS2 in conjunction with a TCR at most scan positions (especially on topo work) so you have the time to infill what you need during the scan, as we are from the Cyrax 2500 generation, when you always had to have a TCR there to fix targets anyway, and have as yet not changed our workflow! Plus when theres only one of you doing the Scanning, GPS, and EDM at each position, you welcome the time it takes to get the scanner going to fix all your other detail points!However, if you are using the travese function, it might be easier to fix what you can with the scanner, and then infill duing a field check with a TCR/GPS. Then you know that while your trying to get the invert level with your back turned, no one is going to be stealing your precious scanner!Hope that helps, But it sounds to me like your workflow is fine, and sometimes it just takes practise to spot the slightest change in the scan data to see where there is a manhole!Regards,Tim Exporting of database to .PTX format Hi, I am currently having difficulty with an exceptionally huge .IMP file in cyclone. (18Gig Raw), i have tried to unify the database and thin it out to the "4mm" parameter, but to no avail does the data decrease in size but increases to 27Gig in size. I have then tried to export the database as a .PTX file format to import it as a clean unified database but that doesnt seem to work either, as the .PTX file is 57Gig and took 18hours to export. My Office PC Specs are as follows: Cyclone v6.0.3 Windows Vista Business x64 ATI Radeon HD4670_512MB Intel Core2Duo 3.0Ghz "E8400" 4Gig DDR800 Ram 3x 160GB Seagate SATA2 Drives Raid 0 Any help/advice to downsize the data without loosing quality will be appreciated. Locating Utilies with Scan Station 2 We are currently using the Scan Station 2 on Topographic and ALTA surveys and using Virtual Surveyor to set points for export into Autocad. What utilities are you letting the Scanner be reponsibile for and what are you locating using conventional Surveying methods. Assume that you are not going to "dip" the structures. Does anyone have a list of what has worked for them for what to locate with the scanner and what to locate with a total station? We just did a scan and were unable to see some gas and water valves. Right now we are thinking of locating any utility that is flush to the ground (ssmh, storm drains, water valves gas valves etc.) with conventional survey methods and then all above ground utilities (power poles, street lights, power vaults etc.) with the scanner and setting points with Virtual surveyor. Any input you can provide would br greatly appreciated. Feel free to email me. Thanks, Bobby Hello, from Seattle WA USA Hello I'm new to scanning, Our campany bought a Scan Station 2 about 6 months ago. I took the Leica training class and we are presently using it on ALTA and Topographic Surveys. We are still fine tuning work flows and hope to get ideas or suggestion on this site. Anything helps!In addition we hope to use the scanner in other non Survey related business such plants. interiors etc.We are a Land Survey/Civil Engineering company is Seattle WA, USAThanksBobbj JohnsonTriad AssociatesSeattle WA, USA Re: Warner Land Surveys Forum coming soon The Warner Land Surveys Forum is up and running now. Please feel free to have a look and register if you like. http://www.warnerlandsurveys.net/index. ... Itemid=130 Its a new forum and early days so it may take a while to get going, let me know if there are any bugs. Thanks Matt Re: Exporting Point cloud as CSV File? Thanks Steven worked perfectly!!! Re: Cyclone Performance dlefebvre,Its hard to tell without knowing a bit more about your PC, what spec do you have?As well as optimizing and compacting the data, did you unify it as well?I find that when deleting data from a modelspace like noise or trees that there is a speed decrease. This is because when you delete cloud data in a modelspace, the data is actually being hidden rather than deleted. I find that unifying again can speed things up a bit, of course the unification process itself can still take more time.One other thing to check is the OpenGL mode you are using for cyclone. Changing to a different Open GL setting should help. You may have to try a few different settings before you get the right one.Hope this helpsMatt Spar Point Research Announces Plans for SPAR 2010 Spar Point Research announced today preliminary plans for SPAR 2010, its seventh annual conference on advanced dimensional control work processes and 3D laser scanning technologies for design, construction and manufacturing. SPAR 2010 will be held Feb. 8-10, 2010 at The Woodlands Waterway Marriott Hotel & Convention Center in The Woodlands (Houston), Texas. Further details will be announced soon. The conference features presentations, workshops and technical seminars on the business and technology of capturing, managing and integrating 3D information. Spar presenters are some of the most experienced professionals from the world's largest petroleum and petrochemical producers, manufacturing companies, civil and transportation infrastructure engineering firms, industrial metrologists, geotechnical and mining firms, land surveyors, and federal, state and local governments. Spar Point welcomes presentation abstracts from process and power, civil infrastructure and transportation, and discrete manufacturing facility owners and contractors on their use of laser scanning and other dimensional control technologies to capture and document existing-conditions data for design, construction and operations. Presentations will ideally include metrics identifying the impact of 3D imaging technology on outcomes, such as maintaining or reducing critical path time, achieving cost savings, enabling safety and productivity gains, or other measures. Presentations that address the issues of best practices for contracting, professional development and liability management are also invited. Proposals must be original and not previously presented at other conferences. Proposals can be forwarded to Linda.McLaughlin@sparllc.com. Questions should be directed to Spar Point’s CEO Tom Greaves at Tom.Greaves@sparllc.com and see http://www.sparllc.com for more information. Submitted for your benefit by, Re: Exporting Point cloud as CSV File? Came across this little gem. seems to do every thing you are after. Will do conversions and search and replaces on huge text files http://www.softinterface.com/Convert-XLS/Features/Convert-Fixed-Width-Text-File-To-CSV.htm Cyclone Performance I recently just performed a large scan of some mining road under construction. I am trying to clean up my point cloud date, remove tree's etc, but the process is slow and painful. This is the first large I do working with version 6, 6.0.3 to be exact. I have done the compacting, the optimization...all that stuff, but it is still painfully slow. Any suggestions? Thanks. Warner Land Surveys Forum coming soon laserscanning.org.uk has fast become, and remains to be, the place on the net to talk about and discuss all aspects in the world of laser scanning. I would like to announce that Warner Land Surveys are about to open a forum to discuss other aspects of Surveying and Geomatics. We have a few changes to make to the forum before its finaly ready to use and I will post a link soon.Matt Re: Exporting Point cloud as CSV File? Hi BenIt has been a while since I used Cyclone. Is it not possible to specify your delimeters for text files at export?I have 2 suggestions:Download Notepad++ and see if that will do it. I expect you wil get the same result as TEXTPAD. In which case split your files down further.Topcon ScanMaster will be able to do this for you. I could have a try if you like? Exporting Point cloud as CSV File? Hi,Wondering if any one has come up with a way of exporting or converting a pts or text file from space delimited to CSV? I've tried splitting the files down, (full data is about 7 gig) to 1 gig files and using a text editor to find and replace. I've tried using TEXTPAD which just crashes with an out of memory error and 101 editor, which is great at loading in big files but seemed very slow. It took 36hours to process 800,000 lines out of 32 million!!Any ideas?Thanks,Ben Surplus Laser Liquidation 1st of seceral inventory list please contact me with questions or for price quotes Equipment List: YAG Laser Galvo Marking System, 15-20 watts, 4.5” field – Great for Job Shop CO2 Laser Galvo Marking System, 50 watts, 20” field – The first Textile Engraver 3 Head YAG system from US Laser:  20, 50 & 100 watt heads incorporated on a roll around frame w/ power supplies & unique technology (pulse shaping) (component parts?) 2nd Harmonic Baasel YAG system:  3-4 watt 532nm / low hours, been in storage 5M watt TEA Laser (CO2): 50 watts average on a wheel around frame.  Comes with alignment kit. 4 - 50 watt CO2 lasers:  Coherent Model 42 – great beam quality and they last forever! 20 watt Melles Griot w/ RF supply – Tube is no good 20 watt TEM00 Quantronics Model 117 YAG laser.  Was working but has been in storage for 10 years. Historical: Spectra-Physics Model 250 50mW HeNe (6 feet long). Working! Historical: Kodak 1960’s vintage Ruby laser head.  Laser head with 10mm ф, 100mm Brewster cut Ruby rod & solid silver cavity, no resonator or power supply (the Laser Inc. PFN power supply would power this) 1 – 1GHz Digitizing Oscilloscope  HP 54100D 1 – Tektronix Oscilloscope 7704A w/7B92A 2GHz Dual Base Modules ($400) Historical: 2- Simpson Multi meters, 60’s vintage Coherent Model 201 thermal pile sensors laser power meters (<1-100 watts) Coherent Model 212 power meter Laakmann 10 watt CO2 Tube w/ RF & DC supply  Scanners: Polygon & galvos with drivers Articulating Arm 4’, 2” diameter, 3- knuckles Articulating Arm 6’, 3” diameter, 3- knuckles Photon Inc. Beam Scan II-VI PAZ-20 Hi Power Analyzer Attenuator for CO2 Lots of Lens mounts and stages ZnSe Optics & YAG optics HP 2400 DPI Desktop Scanner Laser Inc. Nd:Glass: Square Rod & Round Rod plus PFN power supply for 30J output @ 1.064µm output Tables, Desks, Benches & Chairs photos available upon request Re: Align Poin Cloud Axis? Forrest Here are some instructions I have written for someone else to do what you ask. Setting up a User Coordinate System in Cyclone 1. In Autocad insert a line along the desired x axis from 0,0 to 0,50 (your user coordinate system) 2. Switch back to world coordinate system and select the line 3. Go to COE->Export Objects 4. Give the file a name, select Export Without Original Reference File & Export Selected Object 5. Open Cyclone and go to the project 6. Right click and select import 7. Select file type COE and import the file you just exported 8. Open up the imported coe’s modelspace, select the line and select edit->copy 9. Open up the working modelspace and paste the line in. 10. Select the line with the single selected tool (the arrow) then select one of the end handles 11. Go to View->Coordinates Systems -> Set from Points 12. Ensure you only have a Reference Point and an Azimuth Point 13. Set the azimuth to 90 14. Go to View->Coordinate Systems-> Save Edit coordinates systems 15. Select the user coordinate system and press the disk to save the system 16. Accept and close cyclone 17. Switch back to Autocad and load the modelspace 18. When the load modelspace box comes up select the user coordinate system from the dropdown at the bottom of the screen. Cheers Phill Align Poin Cloud Axis? hello, im new to the whole laser scan tech. and have a question... how do you align the X,Y,Z axis of a point cloud in cyclone so that when i open the point cloud in AutoCAD, my axis isn't all skewed? i need to orient my piont cloud in Cad so i can use it as a template and crerate a set of drawings. thanks for the help! TLS Studies Hello, Let me first introduce myself then describe the studies. I am a graduate student at the Geomatics Department of Purdue University, IN, USA, and am currently embarking on a research project involving Terrestrial Laser Scanning. I am conducting two studies on “Automatic Registration” and am inviting particpation from the user community. The first study is intended for laser scanner users and interested persons can access the instructions for this study at: ftp://ftp.ecn.purdue.edu/dsgrant/TLS_study The second study is intended for software vendors and is available at: ftp://ftp.ecn.purdue.edu/dsgrant/TLS_software_study Thanks to all who have participated already. Both studies will remain open until June 30th. Darion Grant Geomatics Department Purdue University dsgrant@purdue.edu Re: Invitation to participate in a study I wish to thank all who have taken the time to participate in my TLS study. If you have not yet done so the instructions can be downloaded from: ftp://ftp.ecn.purdue.edu/dsgrant/TLS_study I have also designed a study for software vendors and the instructions are available at ftp://ftp.ecn.purdue.edu/dsgrant/TLS_software_study The studies will remain open till June 30th. Thanks, Darion Grant Geomatics Department Purdue University dsgrant@purdue.edu Re: Autocad2010 drawing to Cyclone To get .coe export to work with acad 2009 I have to install the Cloudworx module, which is seperate from the main Cyclone module with version 6. I dont use acad 2010 but this method is your only option. Re: Autocad2010 drawing to Cyclone I don't use cloudworks at all. But I'm using Cyclone 6 Re: Autocad2010 drawing to Cyclone Which version of Cyclone and Cloudworx are you using. We had a similar problem with Acad 2009 - later version of Cyclone has a separate installer for Cloudworx. Im not sure if autocad 2010 is supported by cloudworx yet, but trying this installer may fix your problem. Autocad2010 drawing to Cyclone I had autocad 2008 and coe exporter worked normally. Now our company changed it to autocad 2010 and coe exporter don't work. Is there some other way to export drawings to cyclone? New Interface for Complex 3D Modeling ILoveSketch from Seok-Hyung Bae on Vimeo. ILoveSketch, a 3D curve sketching system that captures some of the affordances of pen and paper for professional designers, allowing them to iterate directly on concept 3D curve models. The system coherently integrates existing techniques of sketch-based interaction with a number of novel and enhanced features. Novel contributions of the system include automatic view rotation to improve curve sketchability, an axis widget for sketch surface selection, and implicitly inferred changes between sketching techniques. We also improve on a number of existing ideas such as a virtual sketchbook, simplified 2D and 3D view navigation, multi-stroke NURBS curve creation, and a cohesive gesture vocabulary. Re: take an HDS beach break rlasater wrote:I am going to move all this to the forum so others can jump in/benefit. Richard thanks for moving this to the forum so we can all benefit from Stevens registration knowledge Re: take an HDS beach break (from a PM) Hi Rlasater Just a note of thanks from the Forum for your posts, especially the sand castles. It really did lighten up the day, and have been having fun creating the 3D models which I will post when happy with them. While meshing the data I noticed a few anomolies so went back to the registration I know that this was a bit of fun but was suprised as to how it was registered. If you already know this I appologise as I do not want to teach you some thing you already no. In each of the registrations each scan was leveled which is not possible with the 6000 as it has no compensator. Also the setting for the cloud registration were very low. still set to 3% and that the whole scan was turned on in the controlspace, which has lead to some high errors. I apologise again if you knew this already but am more than willing to explain further if you didn't Steven Ramsey Thanks for the input. We had to get these done in a bit of a hurry and our new intern did most of the registrations, so we accepted things might be a bit out of whack. On the "leveled" issue, we have found that, depending on the shape of the scan sometimes we need to mark the scan level, and sometimes we need not to not mark it level. On the sandcastles it didn't really matter, on something like a two scan box-shaped interior of a room, we will level one and not the other It just seems to speed things up. I know that "leveling" the scan indicates that "up is "up", but otherwise don't see it affecting the HD 6000 registrations adversely. Is this incorrect? Due to the time constraints involved in getting everything online, and the fact we had a firstime user invloved, we did not clean anything before doing the registration, and just visually checked that the castle portion was lined up. I assume(d) the high errors were due to all the people moving around in the scene. I am confused about the "setting for the cloud registration being low" can you go into more detail on this? Thanks for your help and we do appreciate the input. Btw our intern for the summer is Forrest Smith, a 4th year architectual student and you will see him on the forum as fsmith. Welcome Forrest! I am going to move all this to the forum so others can jump in/benefit. Re: take an HDS beach break If only all jobs were this much fun.... webLeica 008.jpg Re: take an HDS beach break This kind of application is perfect to spend good time over the week end Romuald Re: take an HDS beach break Excellent stuff Richard, thanks for letting us download the data. WEBINAR: Introducing FARO with Geomagic Studio 11 WEBINAR: Introducing FARO with Geomagic Studio 11 Faro invite you to join their WEBINAR: Transform 3D Scan Data into Accurate Digital Models Featuring New Parametric Exchange for Creating Native CAD Files Use Geomagic Studio to transform the 3D scan data from FARO Laser ScanArm into accurate 3D digital models for your reverse engineering, product design and rapid prototyping projects. Geomagic Studio streamlines every aspect of the 3D modeling process, from point and polygon processing to surfacing and creation of full parametric models. A perfect complement to the CAD, CAE and CAM tools you already own, Geomagic Studio outputs industry standard formats including STL, IGES, STEP and native CAD files. Title: Introducing FARO with Geomagic Studio 11 Date: Wednesday, June 24, 2009 Time: 9:00 AM – 10:00 AM EDT (New York) 2:00 PM – 3:00 PM (London-Dublin) 3:00 PM – 4:00 PM (Berlin) After registering you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. >> Register now! Re: Removing Road Noise Hi TimYour not doing anything wrong, but using that workfow you have mised one step. When you are selecting which data to copy to modelspace use the Pointcloud sub select, then copy selected to modelspace. You will now have 2 modelspaces open, Delet the selction from the first and merge back the cleaned surface and they will marry up. Re: Making 2D drawings When you say 2D Drawings, do you mean elevations/sections, or Topographic Surveys (which could be 2d if the points themselves dont have a z value, just level text) ?In Either case you could always use 'Virtual Surveyor' , take out the required points as if you were in the field, coding them appropriately, export them as ascii and then you can use your survey package to process/string them and bring them into AutoCAD as a dot plot.Then if its for elevations, just use the viewpoint command in autocad to align yourself to the elevation. Altho its probably best to export points from cyclone an elevation at a time, so there is no confusion about if a dot point is on the 'current' elevation or not.This is how we used to work, before we 'discovered' (3 years after owning it -thanks steve!) cloudworx.But we still use this workflow when using the scanner for topo work.Hope this has been of use,Tim Re: Making 2D drawings An other way, instead of Ortho-image (wich I used frequently also with RW) is to make a crop section.You can create the crop section in all the directions, on the elevation you want and define the thickness of the data you want to display in your cad software. By using crop section, you decrease the number of point. Clouds of point of a crop sections can be easily load in Autocad or Microstation withou any plugins, just export your crop section into DWG or DGN.Like usuall, there is always more than 1 solution, but to find the best one, you should define what is the final goal.Romuald Removing Road Noise Whats the best way to remove road noise?Has anyone got a step by step guide or proceedure? Thus far i have beem copying the road sections to a new modelspace, unifying, and then running a smooth surface to remove the noise, however, when i merge the modelspace back into the original, i just end up with 2 sets of cloud. - 1 clear of noise, and 1 still containing the noise! (Which kinda makes sense!)What am i doing wrong? Is it easier to just hide all the other regions in the main modelspace, and run the smooth surface from there? Im just concerned i'll miss something, or remove something i dont want to!Any help would be much appreciated!Tim Re: Exagerrating Surface Deviation Thanks for all the responses,Steven you jogged my failing memory. I was looking at the process yesterday in Civil 3D 09 and after I created the surface I was reviewing the elevation map levels and not the actual triangles. So today I have now gone back into CAD and turned on the correct layers and with a poof of smoke the levels are exaggerated.Thanks again for the help!!Cheers,Jeff Re: take an HDS beach break They look brilliant! Re: Making 2D drawings One more way - 2D drawing functionality in Cyclone. You can set required view, swich to orthografic and set the rotate lock. Then you can use 2D drawing tools. Re: take an HDS beach break Four "S" show - See, Sun, Sand and Scanners Really nice! 7-axis FARO ARM w/ LDI Scaner on Brunson Tripod This scanner was purchased for an archeological museum scanning project in Turkey. We chose the 3.65 m (12') 7-axis hand-held Pentium FARO ARM with a Laser Design Inc. SLP-2000 scan head. This unit was mounted on a Brunson MAS2000TF tripod, heavy duty but very portable. We choose Laser Designs SLP-2000 because the far standoff distance was 500 mm (20"), the max line length was 320 mm (12.6"). The accuracy is rated at 127 um. Another benefit is that it can handle the whole colour spectrum. You can also watch the model as it is being built in the computer. This system was bought March 2008 for $80,000 USD and is currently for sale at $57,900 in Seattle, WA USA. This excellent scanner system was only used a total of two months. This kit is set up for complete mobility, total battery operation or direct line current. If you have any interest and would like photos and specs, contact me at harry.demarre@stonetheater.com. Faro Arm and LDI Scanner2.jpg Re: Modelling Help!! if your still having a problem with this send me the scan files and ill bang it out as an STL/DXF/OBJ/3DS file as you like, take me about a day from there just pop it in you fav cad software. Re: Exagerrating Surface Deviation I may be wrong and tell me if I am but why not just polygonize the data pop it into BLENDER (free) or another 3D software suitSelect the area needed to be exaggerated and extrude on XYZ as needed depending on its alignment put a side CG light on the area to show in relief.Pop a side light on it and render.or am I missing some thing. Re: Real-time scanning Hi Eugen there are two systems that can do real time scanning that I know of on is still in RnD in Germany and can not say more than that the other is a USA system that uses a 100x100 sencers to do whats called FLASH LIDAR. http://www.advancedscientificconcepts.com/ have the system at the moment 30 FPS and 100x100 array not the rez is low so dont expect MM acuracy there are also a ahnd held system by http://www.mdrobotics.ca but there web sites down but there not realy what your looking for. But I think you would be better with a image bassed MoCap system Flash LIDAR is not cheap and for the same cost you could get 8 DSLR that do HD Video, put on a body siut that is griddded up and then Track the pattan or targets you popped on your self. There is even some good outline mocap now with inervolume interpellation. Have a look here at the light prob stuff my be the root for you http://gl.ict.usc.edu/Research/SpatialR ... l_cvmp.pdf If you need to know more about image based Mocap PM me and we can talk thow what you need. Sean Re: take an HDS beach break Great images and site, down loading data now.Realy nice to see Truview used for some fun rather than work.I think we may see some interesting results. Re: Exagerrating Surface Deviation Hi JeffThe technique that Delio describes could be utilized for your project.Select the whole surface and create a block of it. In the properties of the object (Ctrl +1) you can set the vertical scale by changing the Z scale.Also I'm sure that Civil 2009/10 will also have this type of function built in. but you may need to build it as a civil surface. take an HDS beach break We had the chance to do a fun side project over the weekend. Each year the Houston Chapter of the American Institute of Architects holds a sandcastle building competition in Galveston. This year was the 23rd annual event and we went down and scanned the top five winners. All of the scan data and some great images are online at our site. I invite everyone to take a break from their workday and come take a look! http://www.smartgeometrics.com/sandcastles AIA_1Knight.jpg Re: Exagerrating Surface Deviation Hi Jeff, You may want to have a look at 3D-Reshaper, its a program for meshing 3D pointcloud data. You can extract contours or sections from the mesh using a powerfull set of tools. http://www.3dreshaper.com/en1/En_software.htm Matt Re: Real-time scanning Hi peugen,Welcome to the forum.I may be wrong but I dont think that what you are looking for is available at the moment. But I am sure someone will surprise me.Matt Re: Making 2D drawings stygg,We use Cloudworx for AutoCad which is a plugin for Cyclone. You can also use Cyclone to produce ortho images, and load them into AutoCad without cloudworx.Matt Re: Making 2D drawings Hi, I do not know what is available in Cyclone as I am a RealWorks (Trimble) user. I have the same situation often and I have extensively used the ortho-image feature of RW. This consists of a 2D representation/projection of the pointcloud along plans that you define. You can define these plans as elevation, top, cut, etc). The resulting ortho-images can be downloaded in AutoCAD (or others). Once downloaded, they can be used by you or your client to trace the 2D lines as they are scaled. The resulting precision depends on the resolution of the scan. My experience shows that you can easily remain within 20mm with an original scan resolution of 13mm. You can also trace 2D lines directly in your software on plans that you will define the same way as above. Although it is a little bit less precise, the advantage of the first method is that your client can easily do the 2D drawing himself. This can sometines make the difference between getting a contract or not. I have included 2 ortho-images that one of my clients has used to do his 2D plans in AutoCAD. The resolution of the scan was 1 point/10mm. ortho 1.jpg ortho 2.jpg Making 2D drawings Hi,I got point cloud and leica cyclone. Our client wants to save costs. So I have to process only 2D drawings. Is there any simple way? Re: Exagerrating Surface Deviation Thanks Délio,I'll review the past topic and see if this solution will suit. Ideally the clients would like to view the exaggarated surface as a whole rather than in parts. If there is no other solution presented your solution may be the next best option. Thanks again for the reply.Cheers,Jeff Re: Exagerrating Surface Deviation Hi Jeff, I did a similar project with a very flat ground surface and I used deformed cross sections to show the desviation. See topic: viewtopic.php?f=55&t=964 You can extract the cross sections form cyclone and deformed the cross sections in autocad. (make a block with each line of the cross sections and scale the Z value) Regards, Délio Pontes Exagerrating Surface Deviation I am looking for a technique to exaggarate small deviation of a relatively smooth surface for visual presentation and inspection. The client requires a 3D visualization of the deviation in the surface which are to small to view at normal 1:1 scale. We have access to Cyclone, Cloudworx and Civil CAD 2009 and 2010. Any suggestions on techniques and or other software packages that can perform this task would be greatly appreciated.Cheers,Jeff Hott Re: Handheld laser scanners After much research for our archeological museum scanning project in Turkey, we chose the 3.65 m (12') Pentium FARO ARM with a Laser Design Inc. SLP-2000 scan head. This unit was mounted on a Brunson MAS2000TF tripod, heavy duty but very portable. We choose Laser Designs SLP-2000 because the far standoff distance was 500 mm (20"), the max line length was 320 mm (12.6"). The accuracy is rated at 127 um. Another benefit is that it can handle the whole colour spectrum. This system was bought March 2008 for $80,000 USD and is currently for sale at $57,900 in Seattle, WA USA. The scanner was used a total of two months. If you have any interest and would like photos and specs, contact me at harry.demarre@stonetheater.com. KTH MEC Workshop - September 25, 2009 Hey folks, I recently posted a link to free Manufacturing Excellence Control (MEC) Software which is provided by KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm, Sweden: viewtopic.php?f=62&t=883 The significant number of software downloads, according to the MEC Group webpage, has encouraged them to host a workshop to further introduce and demonstrate the speed, quality and robustness of Intelligent Decision Making Software. This workshop is open to anyone and additional details as well as the aforementioned free software downloads can be found at: http://www.infra.kth.se/geo/ Handheld laser scanners The company I work for is planning on aquiring a handheld laser scanner for recording archaeological artefacts, architectural details, rock art sites etc., and I was wondering if anyone has had any experience with this type of scanner? I have been given a demonstration of a ZCorp 700 on a rock art site, but I'm in two minds as to whether this is the right type of kit for our purposes. The great advantage for us archaeologists is that this type of scanner is fairly portable, fairly inexpensive and relatively easy to use. However, I'm not sure if the level of detail is sufficient. During the demonstration we scanned a surface measuring approximately 1 x 1m and it produced a 2MB .stl file, which upon further inspection in 3DReshaper felt a bit "fuzzy". Does the size of the file and the "fuzziness" in the data set seem right to people? Any thoughts? Are there for instance other types of scanners out there that would fit our requirements? Real-time scanning Hi there!I am new around and I am interested if there is any in-time (on the spot) laser scanner like in the attached picture? Excuse my lack of knowledge in this field, but I would really need this kind of realtime scanning/tracking for a project. Any help is welcomed!Thank you! Re: Modelling Help!! throwerp wrote:We need to be able to produce the centre line of each tubular feature in order to do this. Phil Hello Phil, the center lines mean that it is strickly mathematics form description. Tools doing fiting of cylinder, torus should be perfect for you. I think that the mesh tools should be forbiden, you could not be able to trancribe the surface of the mesh into an theoritical axe. With Realworks survey Modeler, I could be able to do very easily the modelisation and export to cad format. Keep us inform about your result, it is very interesting Romuald Re: Scaling Ortho Image Hi Ben,You should get a TWF file when you export the image like this one.Meters0.000500390.00000000-0.000000000.00000000-0.31924807-0.314800000.70716875########################################### Descriptor file for ortho image### Description of data above ###Line 1 = Unit of measureLine 2 = Units per pixelLine 3 = X rotationLine 4 = Y rotationLine 5 = Z rotationLine 6 = X offsetLine 7 = Y offsetLine 8 = Z offset###################################### AutoCAD insert instructions ###The following instructions describe how to insert the corresponding image fileinto the AutoCAD environment at the correct location and orientation.1. Set your AutoCAD environment to use the TWF unit (line one above). - Enter 'UNITS' on the command line. - Select 'METERS' as the unit.2. Set the AutoCAD UCS to World coordinates. - Enter 'UCS' on the command line. - Select 'WORLD'.3. Insert the image in AutoCAD. - Enter 'IMAGEATTACH' on the command line. - Select the image file. - Enter '0, 0, 0' for the insert point. - Accept the default scale factor (the image contains the scale factor).4. Rotate the image to the correct orientation. - Enter 'ROTATE3D' on the command line. - Select 'IMAGE'. - Enter 'X' (for X axis) on the command line. - Enter '0, 0, 0' as the rotation point. - Enter '0.00000000' for the X rotation. - Repeat with '-0.00000000' for the Y axis. - Repeat with '0.00000000' for the Z axis.5. Offset the image to the correct location. - Enter 'MOVE' on the command line. - Select the image. - Enter '0, 0, 0' as the base point. - Enter '-0.31924807, -0.31480000, 0.70716875' as the offset values.Just follow the instructions and it should work.If you need it in mm then just scale the whole thing up by 1000 using 0,0,0 as the base point.Matt Re: Direct Dimensions 3D projects featured on TV news Matt Young wrote:"I would really love to work in the film industry" Matt Young Haha the infamous Matt Young Scaling Ortho Image Just wondering if any one knows how you scale an ortho image generated from pointools View to display correctly in Autocad?It creates them with a scale of pixels/metre.Thanks.Ben Re: Direct Dimensions 3D projects featured on TV news “Everybody likes a compliment.” Abraham Lincoln Again... "I would really love to work in the film industry" Matt Young Re: Direct Dimensions 3D projects featured on TV news Matt Young wrote:Whatever you are, be a good one. Abraham Lincoln You like the famous quotes Matt Re: Direct Dimensions 3D projects featured on TV news Whatever you are, be a good one. Abraham Lincoln Re: Direct Dimensions 3D projects featured on TV news Please see the link below. http://wjz.com/seenon/Owings.Mills.Direct.2.1036103.html Re: Direct Dimensions 3D projects featured on TV news dirdim wrote: WJZ news report and video featuring Direct Dimensions This link not working, unfortunately... Direct Dimensions 3D projects featured on TV news Direct Dimensions was featured on Baltimore's WJZ Channel 13 News on Monday June 8, 2009 during both the 4:00 pm and 5:00 pm news casts. A news reporter visited our facility to cover our 3D scanning work at the Lincoln Memorial and subsequent involvement in the blockbuster film "Night at the Museum 2: Battle of the Smithsonian." We also had the opportunity to scan the reporter to showcase our new 3D face and body scanning technologies. Here is the link to the WJZ news report and video featuring Direct Dimensions. [Note: link edited] Re: Free 3D browser? The idea was to put the software onto a server to being able to present demo products for a company. The customer should only load the page and have a look at the model (obj, vrml or whatever). Plan B is to create 3D pdf's...thanks for all repliesDaniel Re: Trimble Scanning software @ Stephen:The info in brackets is the equivalent in an extra Cyclone module:-3D inspection (3D reshaper: I really like it!)-2D inspection-media tools: including 3 possible ways to create videos with or without path definition (I know that the newest Cyclone version features a solution to create vids but I haven't seen it, yet. Our version that we bought will arrive this week.) -Curved profile / Intersection tool (TOPO II)-Walkthrough view mode: very nice to have when you have to model in dense point clouds-Twin surface inspection-Image rectification tool and moreI can't remember all features but I can check my notes. The most outstanding function in RW 6.4 was the easy pipe tool. Very fast, easy to handle and robust. As we bought Cyclone I have to get used to the region grow algorithm. As far as I remember there was an .obj export that I couldn't find in Cyclone.best regards,Daniel New Laser Scanning / LIDAR Blog An interesting Blog focusing on LIDAR and terrestrial laser scanning, check it out: http://lidarnews.com/ Re: Trimble Scanning software stevenramsey wrote:Please could you list this Heaps of functions that RWS has that Cyclone doesn't. As I feel you have been misslead, The last time I used RWS(6.1 I think) there was maybe 2 things RWS could do and Cyclone couldn't and loads the other way round. Is anybody have the both software ? My company have RW and Cyclone, but concerning cylcone we have only the registration and Truview module. So, I'm not able to do the comparaison of topographic or modelisation function. From my point of view, RW is much more better. Very kind user interface, a lot of possibility with lot of tips and trick. And the last point, but not least, the support is very reactiv. Also reachable and listen always to our technical propose for evolution. Romuald Re: Trimble Scanning software Graham wrote:When trimble purchesed BitWyse they obtained the LaserGEN software also. Which is the mechanism to make laser data directly available in AVEVA and Intergraph Plant products. Users go through a mechanism of combining the registered scans and then subdividing the result into a series of smaller descrete models. There is also a Lasergen version for Autocad and Microstation. It is including clash detection very usefull for project application. Romuald Re: Workflow for HDS6000 or 6100 Yes the work flow is very similar to using the Scanstation 2 (having recently completed the Leica HDS training) with the main exception being, as you mention, that the data capture can be done without viewing the scan scene or indeed without a laptop at all. We may look at the registration whilst offshore but this is (unsurprisingly!) dependent on how much time we have - the working day is very much based on the number of chopper flights required (from the beach and subsequent flights from platform to platform) - a 14 hr day can result in only a 5/6 hour working period!Gaz Re: Techsurv Ltd Gaz,Any information is of great use, no matter what it may be.The fact that you are already doing offshore work is good, and I hope that you are able to push into other new areas. Its the other way round for us, we have done so many onshore projects that it is hard to count them, I can count offshore on one hand.My advice with succsess is keep pushing. Laser scanning has come a very long way in the last few years and it is a delicate time right now, but remember that the hour before dawn is the darkest.Matt Re: Workflow for HDS6000 or 6100 Gaz,Its very usefull for me to see that the workflow is similar to that of the ScanStation 1 and 2. Do you process any data whilst offshore to assess if the registration is good or do you wait untill you are onshore?. I realise that the scanning can be done without actaully viewing the data, and that is going to take some getting used to.Many thanksMatt Re: Workflow for HDS6000 or 6100 Hi Matt,I posted in reply to the thread in the advertising section...Anyway, I have done a fairly simple flowchart outlining the general workflow of carrying out a scan - it was intended for clients so doesn't go into much detail I'm afraid.Gaz Re: Workflow for HDS6000 or 6100 It may be a little early to tell, but im judging by the number of views to this post so far that there is either a shortage of information about workflow with these scanners, or a lot of secrecy.I shall be sure to share some of my workflow with anyone who may be interested, when I have worked it all out.I can understand secrecy, but I also believe that sharing good information leads to good work, and good work leads to more work. Re: Techsurv Ltd Hi Matt, Thanks for the welcome. The majority of our work is still using total station instruments but we do make use of the scanner (not as much as we would like to though, tbh!) for offshore surveys - we are really trying to push our clients to at least sample what it can do! Our usual 'run of the mill' scope of work for an offshore survey is for replacement piping/structural work although we do get involved with larger scale projects as well. We would use the scanner to gather as-built data (either leaving as point cloud data or model key features/structures in). We would then either export to CloudWorx and, in conjunction with an existing proposed AutoCAD model, do a clash check or use the scan data to help us create a proposed routing. Is this enough detail for you? Let me know if you need more information! As a company we're really trying to expand the areas in which we can offer the scanner as a solution, ideally further than the oil & gas industry but we don't seem to be having a lot of success! Gaz Re: Stolen Leica TCRP1200 R300 Hi Nick,Mmm... Maybe I've been so fast in my advice... I work in Russia, so I generally know Russian web resources.Some trade companies has own forums, also there are private forums.I suppose, UK has similar web resources about survey in UK...Anyway, sorry if my suggestion wrong. Re: Techsurv Ltd Hi gaz_ball,Welcome to the forum.As mentioned in my other post today, I am looking for some help with workflow for the HDS6000 or 6100 for offshore projects. Any help you can give me would really usefull.Matt Re: Stolen Leica TCRP1200 R300 Hi KurtSorry to hear about the theft.....Contact Leica Geosystems service on 01908 256549 and provide them with the info on instrument type and serial numbers. They can also alert all the distributors.Good LuckTim Techsurv Ltd Techsurv Ltd - specialists in providing dimensional control, industrial measurement & engineering services to the offshore oil & gas industry in the Southern North Sea. As well as using 'traditional' survey techniques (total station instruments) we now offer laser scanning services using our HDS6000. For more information visit www.techsurv.com Re: Stolen Leica TCRP1200 R300 Alexander, which other boards would you recommend? One of my contacts had his RTK base stolen in UK and found it on ebay. Maybe the survey industry needs something like the photographers stolen gear registry. A mate of mine got his Canon 1Ds back via this: http://photo.net/registry/search-one-ma ... urer=Canon Re: Stolen Leica TCRP1200 R300 Kurt, you need to publish the serial number of your total station. It could help in case of sale this unit. Also good idea to publish this information on big number of bulletin boards. Re: Stolen Leica TCRP1200 R300 Im sorry to hear about the nicking of your kit, ist happaned to me and its not funny one bit, not when there is a days worth of one off data with your kit. As Phil says Leica will be on the look out pne they know just keep a look out on Ebay, bet the mupet that stole it dos not even know what it is. Workflow for HDS6000 or 6100 To all HDS6000/6100 users,Does anyone have a or know of a workflow document for the HDS6000 or 6100. Im looking to write a step by step procedure for using the scanner with targets. I have done many projects with a ScanStation 1 or 2, using targets in each scan, im not totally new to the 6000/6100, but want to make sure what I put in the procedure is correct.Any help would be appreciated.Matt Re: New Topcon Scanner Dealer in UK Thats realy cool news GLS-1000, Nick do you have a rate card on line and some test data from the system in your set up.would realy help also how meny systems do you have for hire.Last of all with you be doing some demo days would be cool to see the systems software and what it can do.YoursSean Re: Stolen Leica TCRP1200 R300 Kurt, Sorry to hear about your 1200. Did it have the pin code feature turned on? Also if you tell Leica they will keep an eye out whilst calibrating the kits.Hope you was insured for it. Stolen Leica TCRP1200 R300 ...stolen from a central reservation/island/median on a dual carriageway in Bognor Regis on Monday 1st June 2009 at 20.02pm. The instrument was hauled tripod-and-all into the back of a black sedan which sped off before I even lost connectivity with the Rx controller. So, if you get offered the opportunity to buy this lovely piece of kit, please do let us know. ....where, oh where could my baby be?... Re: Modelling Help!! Irregular you may consider the streamlined Rhino / Pointools Re: Free 3D browser? Why not consider Pointools View Pro in free mode? You can view point clouds (most formats), models (3ds, lwo, obj) and drawings (dxf,dwg,shp) as well as measure for free.We will add X3D and VRML support in 2.0 Re: Best way to print point cloud data? Jason,We used our Leica HD 6000. I wish we had more time to play around with them too. Re: Free 3D browser? On this topic, ive been looking for a free viewer to recommend to clients to download. Mainly to view the point cloud and do measurments. Right now i provide the cyclone viewer and all they can do is the view the cloud and set upsany idea on a good program that allows measurments as well?Thanks Re: Free 3D browser? Do you mean a viewer, installed on your system, downloading/streaming a 3d-model? or a plugin for your webbrowser?for all standalone applications, I recommend meshlab, although I'm not sure if you can open a 3d-model over the web.if you need a plugin... have a look at 'unity'. It's a commercial plugin, but there is a free tool as well. also have a look at the X3D-webpage. They might be able to help you. (X3D is the successor of vrml)Last but not least, BS Contact 7.2 (commercial) might be a good one, although I haven't tried that version yet.-Chris Re: Free 3D browser? Thanks NickThat is a quick viewer. Re: New Topcon Scanner Dealer in UK Phil,At present a GLS-1000 is available for rental only with an operator, however once we have more instruments available we could work on a basis of offering the first day of a hire with an operator as a training instruction, and from then on instrument only. Repeat hire with customers whom we have trained and worked with previously will then be possible.Cheers,Nick Re: Free 3D browser? Hi We also use a tiny standalone package called vrmlview: http://www.terrageomatics.com/files/vrmlview.exe.zip Cheers Nick Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone DevonBosch wrote: 1. Exempt Cyclone and autocad from DEP ( an execution program on windows that will shut down long running programs for those who dont know) I have done this for Cyclone but my AutoCad is 64bit and DEP can not be turned of for 64bit programs. Re: New Member - Anthony Biggs - Tebis UK Hi Anthony,Welcome to the forum. Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone Phill wrote:Question: To the people who this happens alot for, do you run twin screens? The other single screen computers in my office don't seem to have the same issue.l Good question, my field copy of cyclone never crashes - laptop, 1 screen. The office version does crash and yes, you guessed it - dual screen. My graphics card here is an ati radeon 3650, 256MB PCIe if it matters to anyone in the know. Re: Free 3D browser? for VRML try http://www.cortona3d.com/cortona. For other objects Accutrans. http://www.micromouse.ca/ it's more of a conversion program but views as well. Free 3D browser? Does anyone know a free 3D browser that can be used to present .vrml, .obj or similar files on the web?I am thankful for any advicebest regards,Daniel Re: Best way to print point cloud data? It sounds like fun, I would dearly love to attempt to model it. I just haven't got the time at the moment! Re: Best way to print point cloud data? nice work Richard,out of interest what scanner did you use?cheers Re: New Member - Anthony Biggs - Tebis UK Welcome! There has been a fair bit of interest and questions asked about close range scanning and modelling recently, I am sure you will have some interesting discussions and lots to talk about Re: Best way to print point cloud data? We haven't had time to do any modeling and the client does not need it, so its not a priority. However the registered scans are available if any modelers would like to play with them. You just have to credit us and our client with any published work. If anyone is interested I can put them online with a download link. Here are few more views. We think they are pretty cool too. Included: Allasaurous, Tyrannosaurus Rex, Archaeoteryx, Diplodocus Pterodactyl sm_hmns1.jpg sm_hmns4.jpg sm_hmns2.jpg Re: New Member - Anthony Biggs - Tebis UK Welcome along Anthony,We look forward to hearing more from you. New Member - Anthony Biggs - Tebis UK Hi Folks, My name is Anthony and I work for Tebis UK. We provide software solutions for all aspects of Computer Aided Manufacturing and Reverse Engineering is an area where Tebis is very strong indeed! I may be slightly biased, but I believe that Tebis have the best Rapid Surface Creation tool sets on the market. Before joining Tebis I worked in the Metrology & 3D Scanning market for 5 years and have direct experience with many alternative CAD/RE/Inspection packages. Hopefully I can use my knowledge to help others along the way! If you want to find out more about Tebis products, or have any questions, please feel free to contact me. Kind Regards, Anthony Biggs T: 0044 (0)2476 236413 E: anthony.biggs@tebis.com Re: Invitation to participate in a study Done.I look forward to seeing the results of your survey.Enjoy! Re: Modelling Help!! Hi Phil.I am pretty sure that Rapidform may be a great help for you. Alternatively you could check out Polyworks and Geomagic Studio.They can create circular tubes following the contours of your monument. Once having the extruded tubes, you should automatically have access to the centerlines.Hope that helped,Oliver Bürkler Re: Modelling Help!! If the model will purely be a centreline down the length of each tube then that should be relatively straight forward (warning! limited experience talking!). What software do you currently have? I can see how Rhino and pointools would be used, and once you had the linework it should also be relatively easy to turn into pipes - especially if the pipes are within themselves to be uniform width throughout their length. I am sure that other software suites could be used also, but the experience I have is almost exclusively pointools at present. No doubt I would change my idea about how to do it midway through modelling though That seems to be quite common at the moment Re: Modelling Help!! Thanks for the replies.The sculpture at the moment is life-like in size. It will be re-created at 10 times this height and size when it is built, as it's legs will span a canal bridge, so the model we create will be used to find bending loads, stress points, etc..We need to be able to produce the centre line of each tubular feature in order to do this.This might be vague, but it's all I know at the moment.ThanksPhil Re: Modelling Help!! Very interesting project, you'll have to let us see the model when you're done with it And if there is one thing I have learnt in my few months modelling it is what these guys have said above me. Make sure you know what your client wants and have a workflow in mind before starting to model it. The wrong approach to modelling, even within the same piece of software, can make a relatively straight forward job into your worst nightmare. Re: Modelling Help!! To Mirror Olivers question. Whats the reason for the model as that would help in how it would be atempted. Re: Modelling Help!! But still the question remains: What should the result look like and be used for?Maybe there are better or more convinient ways like Geomagic, Polyworks or Rapidform...Cheers,Oliver Bürkler Re: Modelling Help!! Rhino or polyworks maybe, but Rhino is the cheapest. Re: Modelling Help!! HiRhino/Pointools you say?I'm not too familiar with Rhino but understand its a NURBS modelling software.So you are confident we can model a sculpture like this using these software suites?Phil Re: Modelling Help!! Hey Phil.I think it would be helpful to know what the final result should be?Is there a target CAD system? What should be done with the deliverable?Greetings,Oliver Bürkler Re: Modelling Help!! Rhino / Pointools is what we would use. What on earth is that? Modelling Help!! All,I have an interesting project that I would like some help on.Basically, the image attached is a tubular metal sculpture that we need to model and I just wondered what other software options are available (3DS, etc..)that could model this dataset in the quickest possible time. Essentially, I'd be looking to complete the project in around two, to maybe three, weeks.Any questions asked, I'll try my best to answer but if you could just suggest a alternatives for me it would be much appreciated.RegardsPhil Re: Tips & Tricks: Automatic registration of laser scans Hello all. Let me try to answer your questions: 1) The automatic target search uses the 3D scan data. Not just the "image" to find the targets. 2) Tensions in the dialogboxes of FARO Scene are unit less numbers. You can use them to compare results qualitative but they do not mean meters or millimeters. Reason for this is that FARO Scene can use multiple types of targets (all object types which are available in FARO Scene) and can of course mix all of them in one registration. So it is very common to mix point-like targets (spheres, checkerboards, manually created points etc.) with planes and lines (e.g. fitted cylinders). But doing so creates the question what would be the unit of a one-number tension between planes etc. ? Additionally FARO Scene is assigning different weights to the targets which also influences the value of the tension. You do get more detailed reliability results of the scan placement when you open the so-called "Scan Fit" for each scan. There you will get a list of all targets being used to place that particular scan showing longitudinal, orthogonal and angular deviations. I hope this helps to clarify your questions. If not: ask Best regards, Oliver Bürkler Re: Best way to print point cloud data? Nice looking Dinosaurs Richard Have you modelled any of them? Re: 3D Reshaper pburrows145 wrote:Good point, well made... Perhaps you could do it just for arguments sake to show the good people here what it's capable of? Unfortunately I ran out of save/exports on my trial version, so I wont continue with this for now. It was really just a test project to prove to some colleages that the technology has moved forward now. luggage wrote:It does all look very impressive, and it would be interesting to see an example of a small section of data before and after a hole was filled. Also, does anyone have a ball park figure as to cost? Just a passing interest... If and when I get the full version I will post something more detailed. Also Im still a bit new to the software and still playing with settings a bit. Im not sure about current cost, last I heard it was around 6k. Oliver Buerkler wrote:Hi Matt. This looks very impressive - would be interested to see more results. One question: If one looks closer to the rendered image, the surfaces look a little bit like paint pooring down the walls. Does real wall look like this (maybe from the plaster) or is this an effect of the meshing method? Greetings from Germany, Oliver Bürkler I had to smooth the surface of the mesh quite a lot to get the whole thing in into 3D Max, and even now it is around 4 million faces, which is about the limit for my workstation right now. If this was a real project I would work on smaller areas and add far more detail. Its worth noting that this scan was done 6 years ago with 2500 Cyrax. Here is an image of the Abbey as it is now and you can see how rough the surface actually is. panorama-reading.jpg The great thing about Reshaper is the speed that it can process data and the way it can handle large mesh's. I dont know of any other software that can do it so well. Matt Re: 3D Reshaper Hi Matt.This looks very impressive - would be interested to see more results.One question:If one looks closer to the rendered image, the surfaces look a little bit like paint pooring down the walls.Does real wall look like this (maybe from the plaster) or is this an effect of the meshing method?Greetings from Germany,Oliver Bürkler Re: 3D Reshaper It does all look very impressive, and it would be interesting to see an example of a small section of data before and after a hole was filled.Also, does anyone have a ball park figure as to cost? Just a passing interest... Re: Best way to print point cloud data? You can't get large images with this, but for pass around the conference table size prints, we crtl-print screen the Cyclone raster and paste it into Photoshop and print it with a 8x11 photo printer. Works great. Easy way to make web images too. hmns5.jpg Re: 3D Reshaper Good point, well made... Perhaps you could do it just for arguments sake to show the good people here what it's capable of? Re: Best way to print point cloud data? See - http://www.laserscanning.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=44&t=985&start=0&hilit=ortho+image Re: Trimble Scanning software the_wu wrote:Thanks a lot for all your answers. I've received a demo license for RW 6.4 and have to say that it has got heaps of functions that aren't included in Cyclone. If anyone has got specific answers please sent me a message. cheers, Daniel Please could you list this Heaps of functions that RWS has that Cyclone doesn't. As I feel you have been misslead, The last time I used RWS(6.1 I think) there was maybe 2 things RWS could do and Cyclone couldn't and loads the other way round. Re: Best way to print point cloud data? Pointools will generate a nice ortho image of your data.. Re: Trimble Scanning software When trimble purchesed BitWyse they obtained the LaserGEN software also. Which is the mechanism to make laser data directly available in AVEVA and Intergraph Plant products. Users go through a mechanism of combining the registered scans and then subdividing the result into a series of smaller descrete models.The guys did quite a lot of work to sort out the point denstiy so it cam be maximised between sparse and dense parts of the survey.This process of breaking large laser surveys into smaller models is popluar with a lot of people in the plant market. As it fits in well with there working practices Re: Invitation to participate in a study Thanks Matt, Jason, pburrows142 and Steven, greatly appreciated.Darion Re: Best way to print point cloud data? Hi Ben,I hope you are well since we last met.There are a couple of other ways to print data, that I know of. You can print directly fron Cyclone and choose image size and anti aliasing setting from there, although it does take some time, and I dont think you can set a scale.Or you could load the data into cloudworx if you have it, and then print from there, through AutoCAD. This can still be time consuming because of the amount of data being sent to the printer.I can't help much more than that im afraid.Matt Best way to print point cloud data? Just wondering if any one knows what the best way is to generate high resolution prints from point cloud data?Can anyone recommend a printer or plotter? We no longer have a plotter inhouse as we tend to send everything out digitally. We've had problems trying to print scan data, as the only way to get it to the printers is to generate ortho images and embeded them in Autocad which hasnt yielded very good results.Cheers.Ben Re: Ratio of site works time to office works time Hi Masimo, I work with a HDS 3000 and you with HDS 6000. So I can do more or less...10 stations/day in a laser scanning pipe line. With a HDS 6000 you can produce 10* more by day than me Regards, Délio Pontes Re: Ratio of site works time to office works time Thank you all.I supposed to have those kinds of answers. Of course it depends on many thinks. But I always had troubles with estimation of time being taken for modelling.From my experience, the ratio is approximately 8 hours of scanniong with HDS6000 = 160 hours of hi-detailed modelling in Cyclone by one person for projects like you can see from the image below (ship inner rooms). So my figures are far away from those mentioned by Delio (8:16). Is my speed so terrible? Re: Noob with scanning, need advice Hi and welcome. Not sure if there are other jewellers on this forum? But certainly some Rhino users Re: Noob with scanning, need advice Hi Ken,Welcome to the forum. What your doing sounds very interesting, but a bit out my leage im afraid.Matt Re: 3D Reshaper 3D Reshaper does have a hole filling process, and I started to have a go with it. My reason for leaving the holes on this example was that they represent shadows in the scan data or places where I had cut the point cloud through a wall. The holes could be filled in very nicely, but I wanted to keep the model as accurate to its realworld condition as possible. Re: ClearEdge 3D Hi Daniel,How did you get on with the trial?Cheers, Re: Cyclone - data backing up Thanks both of you. I was looking at this in far too complex a manner and missed the obvious. I feel a little sheepish that it never occurred to me to just create the imp file in its own folder . I was far too busy looking through the options and settings! And thanks too for the info on the sc2 files, its useful to know. Re: 3D Reshaper Hi Matt,Whats the procedure for creating a mesh in 3D Reshaper? is it relatively straight forward? and does it have a 'hole' filler like Geomagic? Re: Trimble Scanning software Thanks a lot for all your answers. I've received a demo license for RW 6.4 and have to say that it has got heaps of functions that aren't included in Cyclone. If anyone has got specific answers please sent me a message.cheers,Daniel Re: Cyclone - data backing up Hi LuggageBefore starting a scanning project create a folder to store the scan data, recovery files and event logs, this will aid you in your data managment. Having a seperate folder will also allow you to store any other Job related documnets all in the same location.Once the extra data has been imported from the SC2 files, all the data is now in the .imp file so you need only move the one folder for backing up. Noob with scanning, need advice Hi everyone, I am totally new to the idea of laser scanning. I obtained an industrial laser displacement sensor and wondered if anyone could give me some guidance as to whether or not it can be used for doing high res scans of jewelry. It is a Omron Z4M sensor.I currently design jewelry in Rhino and use a CNC 4 axis mill to cut my designs in wax, then I cast the wax in precious metal. I am wanting to connect this sensor to my CNC machine and use my control software (Mach3) to obtain point cloud scans of jewelry.Any of the gurus out there know if this will work?Thanks in advance,Ken Re: New Member, New Equipment, New Problems! Sorry Andy - I am still trying to get my head around the DSP combining Phase and TOF... NB: I thought this was a very un-biased thread, truth be told... Re: 3D Reshaper You've not tried playing with the hole-filling yet then Matt? Re: Tips & Tricks: Automatic registration of laser scans Hi OliverOnce again an excelent Tips and tricks.My guess would be that the units are in Meters but would stil love to know really what tension means as it is used in both discibing the positioning of the scans as well as the targets.Assuming the units are meters ( a safe bet I hope) could you explain how Faro Scene deals with checking and verifiying of the automatic registration as there is not much point having a system that registers the data quickly if it takes longer to check them.The reason for the question is looking at the table on page 7 showing the ref tension values, Again assuming meters is the unit, this registration cointains some very large errors, too big to be ignored. Re: Ratio of site works time to office works time I can only echo what is said above. I have only limited experience compared to most people here, but the jobs we have done have all varied greatly in the ratio of office time to site time. There is certainly not a one size fits all ratio. There are far too many variables, and only experience in both scanning and using the software suites will help work out how long something will take. Re: Ratio of site works time to office works time Hi Masimo,I read some where that you can estimate 8 Hours site = 16 Hours Office.In all projects I did, I never followed that times and I needed always more time...Depends a lot of the project and other important think, is the experience of the person involved in the project.I already spent many hours doing some operation and learned later a best way and must more fast to do the same operation...Regards,Delio Pontes Re: Cyclone - data backing up I always create a new folder for a new database - the eventlog and recovery files get created automatically, and then you can move the folder where you want. Im not sure if the path matters after moving a database when re-importing scan data. If you dont have any problems with a database then you dont need to move the eventlog and recovery files with it, as new ones will be created when you open the database in its new folder.Hope it helps.Matt Re: Ratio of site works time to office works time It depends on how dense the area is, whether its pipes or civils, quality of scan data, level of detail needed on model. It also depends on what scanner you use and how fast you scanned the area.I would be wary of using a ratio, they never work. Model an area and see how long it takes you then multiply, and average.Matt Cyclone - data backing up I have a couple of (hopefully) quick questions with regards to cyclone data files.Is there a way to have each database in its own folder automatically - making it easier to remove and recover backed up job files?When you load all of the points from and sc2 file, are they then stored in the imp file? If so, I assume I would only have to move the imp file back into the working directory from the backup directory?I think that this is it for now, but I am sure I will have more questions based on your answers... Ratio of site works time to office works time HelloCan anyone help me?Are there any standart ratios you use for calculating hours of office moddeling work (per one person) if you know how many hours you will spend for scanning at site?. Let say the object for scanning and modelling is an industrial area with a lot of equipment, tanks and pipes like an oil-processing factory. 3D Reshaper I have recently been looking into a peice of software called 3D ReShaper. The software is aimed at meshing 3D pointcloud data - I have not tried much else with it yet but it is a very powerfull tool. The example I used was a scan of the old Abbey in reading. Scan Image.jpg It only took me a couple of hours to create the mesh in 3D Reshaper. I then exported the mesh as an .obj file and imported it into 3D Studio for rendering. Main Render.jpg Render 1.jpg The mesh file in 3D Studio is about 4 million faces, and I used the 64bit version to do the renders. I think you will agree that this software is pretty impressive, and compared to other software of its type it is the cheapest. http://www.3dreshaper.com/index.htm If you make an enquiry about this software then please mention that you saw it here. Thanks Matt Re: The down turn and has it affected you? no problem Matt... Re: Invitation to participate in a study happy to help Darion... Re: New Member, New Equipment, New Problems! pburrows145 wrote:Could you or someone from Topcon elaborate please...? Elaborate on what (Like Oliver I dont want to high-jack this useful thread so I will limit the marketing speil): 1) Dual axis compensators? As a site-ready tool the GLS-1000 offers Occupation and Backsight registration allowing the surveyor to work with their efficient "total station" style field procedures. OR. 2) PST? Nick is referring to the Precise Scan Technology. Clean, accuarate data from 1-150m. This is acheived by Digital Signal Processing, and combining Pulse and Phase data to improve the range timing information. Think of it like Ambiguity resolution for RTK GPS if that helps. Pulse information gives us good range information, phase comparison of the carrier enables us to get even better range information and so increased precision and consequently less noise. Back on track though: Gregor, you have some great (relatively ) unbiased information on here. Certainly contact the New UK dealer for Topcon regarding scanner hire. My personal opinion leans towards TOF and options for Survey workflow, this increases the applications of your scanner, as for one thing you have a greater working range. Paul's answer earlier explained the advantages of TOF quite nicely. Re: The down turn and has it affected you? Sean Varney wrote:Any news Matt I dont have permission to say at this time, sorry. Re: Invitation to participate in a study I am very happy to participate in the first part.Matt Re: 2D and 3D CAD PointCloud Processing Hi Paul,You did a nice job with the boat Paul, 3D Reshaper really is great for meshing stuff like that.We have not used 3D pdf very much at the moment. Mostly we are using TruView for presenting data to our clients, but I agree its an excellent good tool.Matt Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone So im testing some ideas for the people at leica.Before i started with there ideas i went with a couple of my own..1. Exempt Cyclone and autocad from DEP ( an execution program on windows that will shut down long running programs for those who dont know)2.Update video card updates...... ( a no brainer, but in my case i am alwasy up to date) these 2 stopped most shut downs, but didnt stop C++ errors. Editing my Open GL was recommended by the awesome folks at leica, so lets hope this works. Re: Invitation to participate in a study Ditto - I'd be happy to particpate Re: Netbooks on the HDS3000/SS2 I currently use a Panasonic Toughbook CF-52. It's three batteries last ALL day when you use the correct power settings... the screen is bloody amazing too! However, you could probably by 10 netbooks for the same price...?! Re: 2D and 3D CAD PointCloud Processing Loving the boat screenshot matt - wherever did you get that from?Like the concept - my missus uses it for getting her internal magazine read by staff UK-wide.Do you guys use Acrobat 3D for 3D-pdf's at all? I've seen some amazing examples recently. Re: Tips & Tricks: Automatic registration of laser scans I saw this demoed at XCES by David - it worked really well. Question is... when it's analysing the data does it use the image/jpeg of the data or THE data? Thanks in advance. Re: New Member, New Equipment, New Problems! Could you or someone from Topcon elaborate please...? terradat wrote: It's all very well and good buying a phase-solution (Photon/Z&F/Leica) if you want relatively short-range, high-quality data... however - none of these are levelled (therefore read visualisation tool rather than survey tool)...... .....However, with a time-of-flight solution (Reigl/Leica/Trimble) some have dual-axis compensator's and allow for a survey-friendly work-flows. Thanks for the info Paul, which is extends this very informative thread. I would like to add to your post that the new Topcon GLS-1000 scanner also makes use of dual axis compensators making for more accurate instrument setups and scans. This allows occupation on a known coordinate and backsight so traversing within one coordinate system is possible. The Topcon scanner integrates pulse-based time of flight and phase-based technologies to achieve very "clean" and accurate scan data. Best wishes, Nick Re: New Topcon Scanner Dealer in UK Nick, Thanks for the mention on your website... On the website you mention... Our GLS-1000 laser scanner is available for rental along with an experienced operator. Do you hire the instrument only without an operator? Re: The down turn and has it affected you? Any news Matt New Topcon Scanner Dealer in UK Hello everyone, I am pleased to announce that TerraDat has taken on the role as official dealer on behalf of Topcon for their GLS-1000 scanner in the UK and Ireland. We have launched a website with all our info and product info at: http://www.getlaserscanning.com We will post regular updates and news on the site as well as lots of data case studies. If anyone's interest in a demonstration or has any questions, please do drop us a line. Kind regards, Nick Russill Tel: 08707 303050 sales@getlaserscanning.com Re: New Member, New Equipment, New Problems! It's all very well and good buying a phase-solution (Photon/Z&F/Leica) if you want relatively short-range, high-quality data... however - none of these are levelled (therefore read visualisation tool rather than survey tool)...... .....However, with a time-of-flight solution (Reigl/Leica/Trimble) some have dual-axis compensator's and allow for a survey-friendly work-flows. Thanks for the info Paul, which is extends this very informative thread. I would like to add to your post that the new Topcon GLS-1000 scanner also makes use of dual axis compensators making for more accurate instrument setups and scans. This allows occupation on a known coordinate and backsight so traversing within one coordinate system is possible. The Topcon scanner integrates pulse-based time of flight and phase-based technologies to achieve very "clean" and accurate scan data. Best wishes, Nick Re: Tips & Tricks: Automatic registration of laser scans Hi Oliver,Although I do not own a Faro yet, I am a regular reader of your tips and tricks series. For this specific example, I would like to know what is the unit of measure for the mean tension (meters?).Thanks Re: Invitation to participate in a study I would be more than happy to partake, this is an area close to my heart. Invitation to participate in a study Hello, Let me first introduce myself then describe the study. I am a graduate student at the Geomatics Department of Purdue University, IN, USA, and am currently embarking on a research project involving Terrestrial Laser Scanning. I am conducting a study on “Automatic Registration” and am inviting particpation from the scanning community. Interested persons can access the instructions for the study at: ftp://ftp.ecn.purdue.edu/dsgrant/TLS_study Much thanks for your participation, Darion Grant Geomatics Department Purdue University dsgrant@purdue.edu Re: FPSO - LASER SCANNING AND PDMS MODEL Tanjung-3DLS wrote:JOB: FPSO CONVERTION 7DAYS MODELING CYCLONE 2DAYS CONVERTION PDMS Could you explain more detailed the way to export Cyclone models to PDMS? Tips & Tricks: Automatic registration of laser scans Hello Scanning Community! Right before the weekend I would like to post another episode of our Tips & Tricks. This time the article is introducing the new fully automatic scan registration which was introduced with the latest release of our FARO Scene software. Best regards, Oliver Bürkler Re: New Member, New Equipment, New Problems! Hi greg,We have always used Leica, and found the kit and the software to be very good for our needs. There is a lot of choice out there, and I know it is difficult to decide which Scanner/software to use as they are all very good. I cant really say choose this, or choose that, because Leica is the only stuff I have really known during my career in laser Scanning.Good luck.Matt Re: 2D and 3D CAD PointCloud Processing Hi Jason,Not sure about some of these points as I only produced the images and text. will have to talk to IT.It is possible to print the pages using the Icon in the bottom right. As for downloading, there may be a setting for that and it was not used yet.You can expand the whole thing using the icon in the lower left and gives me full screen, but may depend on your resolution?Probably will lose the demo tag when we are happy that we will continue to use the formmat.Thanks for the feedback.Matt Re: Netbooks on the HDS3000/SS2 Phill wrote: Has anyone tried using these new netbook things (you know, those cheap tiny laptops) to run the HDS3000? One of the main gripes about the SS2 is having to hook a laptop up to it. We carry around a generator to deal with when the laptop's batteries go flat. Being smaller, these things should use less power right. Could we power them from either the scanners batteries, or even better, conventional total station batteries? This samsung looks pretty good to me and the battery life claims to be about 7 hours. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/3568 ... eview.html Re: Netbooks on the HDS3000/SS2 We discuss about laptop power before: viewtopic.php?f=58&t=760 Maybe it will helpful for you. Re: very, Very, VERY interesting news:) coolest thing i have seen since Flash Lidarvery intaresting, I wonder if this is the system that was doing the rumer sounds last year as beeing tested at white sands Re: very, Very, VERY interesting news:) What prevent you to do it now? Re: New Member, New Equipment, New Problems! Hi Guys!This is NO advertisment posting - I am sure everybody of the scanner users can give very good hints to help Greg with his decision.I just need to improve one statement form Paul Burrows with a few facts:FARO Photon scanners DO have built in inclination sensors.They are active by default and have a working range of +/-15°. The information of the inclination sensor is used automatically to level the scan data. If needed, the user can turn the use of the inclination sensor off in FARO Scene.With this tool built in you may save some targets on-site as the scans are already levelled and you thus need only at least 2 reference points to define position in space and orientation.Best regards,Oliver Bürkler Re: 2D and 3D CAD PointCloud Processing Hi Matt,I like the 'flipping' book Excellent content and graphics well thought out.Heres some comments :O)1. book needs to be bigger...even when expanded full screen. Found myself always zooming in and out to read text and flip page.2. when zoomed in the booklet is cropped and not 'zoomed extents'.3. need to loose the 'demo' tag.4. would be neat if you can download the 'flipping book'...didnt find any option too?5. back page blank?6. Can you embed URL links etc in a flipping book?Hope this helps and look forward to the next issue :0)Best regards, Netbooks on the HDS3000/SS2 Hello allHas anyone tried using these new netbook things (you know, those cheap tiny laptops) to run the HDS3000? One of the main gripes about the SS2 is having to hook a laptop up to it. We carry around a generator to deal with when the laptop's batteries go flat. Being smaller, these things should use less power right. Could we power them from either the scanners batteries, or even better, conventional total station batteries?They look small enough to be mounted on a little shelf on the side of the tripod.CheersPhill Re: Scan Registration Problem I don't know the scene software very well but as it can use planes and pipes for the registration may i sugest you have a look at the geometry of the pipes. most registration software will only use the pipe to lock one axis. you will need 3 pipes in 3 differant directions for it to work. as you have 1 ball 2 extra pipes would be needed still in differant directions. Re: very, Very, VERY interesting news:) I´m wondering when I will start doing Land Surveying using google earth! Re: Scan Registration Problem Hi John.It is a bit hard to give really helpful hints without seing the data.So if you wish, I would offer you to send me an email with some screenshots - even better a link to download your data - and I would take a look at it.Best regards,Oliver Bürkler Re: Crafting Quality Laser Scan Animations Using Cyclone Thanks, Matt! And I agree, Cyclone is definitely a good tool for creating animations to show-off the work.Cheers,Justin Scan Registration Problem Good afternoon everyone-Looking for a solution to a problem I'm having registering my scans. I was scanning an area near a pipe bridge. Poles were spaced ~8 meters along a 100m run, and I had the balls mounted on the poles at various heights. Unfortunately, a gust of wind knocked one of the balls down mid-scan. I thought I could use the pipe fit comand to register, but I can only get a yellow light on the ScanFit. Has anyone else had this problem? Is it better to treat each pole as one long (7m) pipe, or should I break the pipe into sections? I have one ball registered, the others are too far to register.Thanks for the help.Cheers-John Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone stevenramsey wrote:Compared to all the other software I use not just scanning ones at least Cyclone crashes gracefuly with out lossing all your hard work. Thank god for that database system I have been playing with the Isite software that also crashes gracefuly, also a databse system Agreed. The data base is a Life Saver. I just started getting fed up with it while i was doing a demo infront of 50 clients and i kept getting this error. Made the system look unreliable. Other then that, Cyclones been great Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone Phill wrote: Question: To the people who this happens alot for, do you run twin screens? The other single screen computers in my office don't seem to have the same issue. Phill I seem to have it on dual screen or single. If that were a factor it would be a video card issue. Untill you mentioned you had this problem for a while i was going to say it might be a Version issue. My problem didnt start till the last upgrade i did Re: "Unrecoverable Error" Dear Alexander , Thank u for your help and then i fixed it the problem. Anyway, I am so happy now.All the best.Schumi Re: very, Very, VERY interesting news:) I am really glad that I am now living in the SI-FI world I dreamed of as a child. This technology does look really interesting and I wonder what type of quantum calculations are involved in developing Fibre Pulse Lasers Im thinking realtime scanning for - Robots (eyes), interactive maps, anti collision devices for cars... etc etc Re: Crafting Quality Laser Scan Animations Using Cyclone Hi Justin,Thats a good starter tutorial for anyone new to Cyclone animation. Its really quite a good tool for animating cloud data and should not be underestimated.Matt Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone I think that the reason nobody steps up and mentions issues like this in Cyclone is because it is generally a very good peice of software. Its is frustrating these days that the chaotic world of computers and software moves so fast that having a generall standard for software/hardware compatability is almost impossible, as every developer has a different way of creating their software. I really think that Cyclone gets let down and is rarely seen to its full potential because of the vast differences between hardware configurations available. If every computer was made the same then I think Cyclone would never have an error issue again. Its not Cyclones fault, and I still love it Re: "Unrecoverable Error" Try this one: Cyclone initialisation problems.pdf Re: Creating points in Cyclone Delio, One more thing . As Russian said - good thinking comes after You have mentioned Excel wouldn't process more than 60000 lines. To avoid that, try to use MS Access. I suppose it's very easy to load hights into MS Access and calculate the average value with embeded function. "Unrecoverable Error" Hi all, I got ""Unrecoverable Error" from Cyclone when i started it. So , someone has the same problem and Who can tell me how to fix it ? It's so urgent. Thanks a lot. PS. I have not installed any spectical software for 2 month yet. Schumi Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone Compared to all the other software I use not just scanning ones at least Cyclone crashes gracefuly with out lossing all your hard work. Thank god for that database system I have been playing with the Isite software that also crashes gracefuly, also a databse system Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone This is all great news for me. These problems have been happening to me for years. I hardly even notice when cyclone crashes these days, I just start it back up again and continue on. I am glad that other people have the same issues, I can stop blaming Dell now (A poor workman always blames his manufacturer ). On a side note I have never been able to run autocad/excel/12d and cyclone at the same time or two cyclone modelspaces at the same time. I asume it is a gui or memory issue. This makes sense though, cyclone is loading millions of points all the time. Question: To the people who this happens alot for, do you run twin screens? The other single screen computers in my office don't seem to have the same issue. Cheers Phill Re: New Member, New Equipment, New Problems! Greg,As mentioned above there are a lot of factors to consider, the scanning is the easy part, what software do you have access to in order to process the data and what time scales are you looking at? I know that there are a few people at a loose end at the mo who would be in a good position to advise / help on your project for both the data capture and post processing.regardsAndy H Re: Creating points in Cyclone Thanks a lot for your help.To have sure of the results, I also used the option create a box in cyclone because this is a square tank and all the answers that you give me are very approximately with the excel result.To the people who would like to know why I need the average elevation is because I need to compare the real with the Tank project and I only have a old paper project that tell me the ground is flat so I used the average elevation to check the differences. Best regards,Delio Pontes Re: Registration targets HiPlease use window cleaner, this is the savest way or You can use plastic cleaner (likes for garden furniture). This works better. Please tryed this cleaner on a part of the sphere. Can be, that same cleaner is aggressive. ( My knowledge is based at 5 years as application- and support engineer by iQvoltuion and FARO)...Eric Crafting Quality Laser Scan Animations Using Cyclone Crafting Quality Laser Scan Animations Using Cyclone: 5 Tips from the CyArk Team http://archive.cyark.org/crafting-quality-laser-scan-animations-using-cyclone-blog Here's the latest entry to CyArk's small, yet growing, Knowledgebase. It's a 5 helpful tips to make better animations in Cyclone. Hope you find it useful--even if a bit basic . Cheers, Justin Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone Fair enough Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone stevenramsey wrote: Matt Young wrote: The messages only appear after closing a modelspace view and merging modelled objects back to an origional modelspace. There has been a note in most of the realse notes about closing copies of modelspace's, it may have something to do with that. With computers working quicker and modelers also getting quicker cyclone needs a bit of time to build the object being merged before you start the next operation. Your going to hate me for saying this but as an experiment try pauseing after closing the copy long enough for the data to apear and the screen to refresh. First, i hate qouting a qoute of a qoute........ When i do my merging i dont even touch the computer. Ive turned off DEP to allow for windows to not interfer as well. very, Very, VERY interesting news:) http://www.nist.gov/public_affairs/tech ... _lidar.htm NIST’s LIDAR May Offer Peerless Precision in Remote Measurements By combining the best of two different distance measurement approaches with a super-accurate technology called an optical frequency comb, researchers at the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) have built a laser ranging system that can pinpoint multiple objects with nanometer precision over distances up to 100 kilometers. The novel LIDAR (“light detection and ranging”) system could have applications from precision manufacturing lines on Earth to maintaining networks of satellites in perfect formation, creating a giant space-based platform to search for new planets. LIDAR transmits light through the air and analyzes the weak reflected signal to measure the distance, or range, to the target. NIST’s new LIDAR, described in Nature Photonics,* has a unique combination of capabilities, including precision, rapid updates from multiple reference points at the same time, and minimal “measurement ambiguity.” The system can update measurements to multiple targets simultaneously every 200 microseconds. Measurement ambiguity in a LIDAR system is due to the fact that, if the target is at long range from the instrument, the system can’t distinguish between two different distances that are multiples of its “ambiguity range.” The new NIST LIDAR has a comfortably large ambiguity range of at least 1.5 meters—large enough to check the coarse distance with widely available technologies such as GPS. No other ranging system offers this combination of features, according to the new paper. NIST’s LIDAR could enable multiple satellites to maintain tight spacing and pointing while flying in precision formations, acting as a single research instrument in space, the paper states. Formation flying has been proposed as a means to enhance searches for extraterrestrial planets, enable imaging of black holes with multiple X-ray telescopes on different satellites, and support tests of general relativity through measurements of satellite spacing in a gravitational field. The new LIDAR could enable continuous comparisons and feedback of distances to multiple reference points on multiple satellites. There also may be applications in automated manufacturing, where many parts need to fit together with tight tolerances, according to Nate Newbury, the principal investigator. NIST’s LIDAR design derives its power from combining the best of two different approaches to absolute distance measurements: the time-of-flight method, which offers a large ambiguity range, and interferometry, which is ultraprecise. The LIDAR relies on a pair of optical frequency combs, tools for precisely measuring different colors (or frequencies) of light. The frequency combs used in the LIDAR are based on ultrafast-pulsed fiber lasers, which are potentially smaller and more portable than typical combs that generate laser light from crystals. The two combs operate at slightly different numbers of pulses per second. Pulses from one comb are reflected from a moving target and a stationary reference plane. The second comb serves as precise timer to measure the delay between the reflections returning from the target and from the reference plane. A computer calculates the distance between the target and the reference plane by multiplying the time delay by the speed of light. Re: Registration targets I use this stuff - it seems to get rid of all of the dirt on the spheres without stripping the paint: http://www.astonishcleaners.com/product/orange-multi-purpose-cleaning-paste-500g/458/ (Mine doesn't have the nice orange smell though!) I guess touching the paint up should be OK, it's pretty tough stuff - our set of spheres are still going strong after 3 years, as long as they're given a clean and transported without the magnets on the base. Cheers Deri Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone Matt Young wrote: The messages only appear after closing a modelspace view and merging modelled objects back to an origional modelspace. There has been a note in most of the realse notes about closing copies of modelspace's, it may have something to do with that. With computers working quicker and modelers also getting quicker cyclone needs a bit of time to build the object being merged before you start the next operation. Your going to hate me for saying this but as an experiment try pauseing after closing the copy long enough for the data to apear and the screen to refresh. Re: Creating points in Cyclone If you did fit the patch as you were going to I suspect that the blue handle in the middle of the patch should be the average level even if the patch is slightly off level as the blue handle should be the centre of gravity of all the data. But to quote Matt Young I may be barking up the wrong tree. Re: HDS 6000 Hard Drive Issue Glad to have helped. If memory serves the hard drive will automaticly defragment, you may have seen a message once in a while when you boot up saying something like "checking file System please wait". the more data you have the longer this will taje. Re: Rhino Trim issue Maybe the problem is just a poor render mesh quality setup? Re: Modelling software If you want to work inside AutoCAD try CloudCUBE. http://www.cloud-cube.com Regards, Renzo Contarini http://www.cloud-cube.com Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone Cad isnt a variable in the problem. i do most of my modeling in cyclone. and dont use cad till the end of a project. Error appears when i: Merging model spaces together. Draging knodes on Solid Shapes. Re: Rhino Trim issue Thanks, but I have tried that.I don't know if it is properly fixed, but I have found that if I split the red surface into 3, going straight up from the verticals on the blue surface as a cutting edge then the bleed isn't there. I like to know why things work though and not just that they do. Re: Creating points in Cyclone I agree.For your case (surface is flat enough, without big holes) this method, I suppose, will give good result.If you have non flat structures with not regular point clouds, my way to get a result may be wrong.Second way you could use - take average values from different regions on your surface and take average values from average values. It will more comlex task, but any way....Also, 2 mm of deviation - excellent result for scanner measurement in this case.Good luck! Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone Does not make a difference for me if CAD is open or not. I think that the shared resource is related within the database itself and not to a resource shared by two or more programs, but I may be wrong. Re: Creating points in Cyclone Thanks Alexander,Your idea is not exactly what I need but I tested any way and I reach a values very near my Excel File ( 2mm diference).Definitive, the propreties path don´t give me the average elevation.Regards,Délio Pontes Re: Creating points in Cyclone anonimou wrote:Hi again, I need to calculate the average elevation from this ground. The project of the ground is leveled. I´m trying to do this in Cyclone using the tool Create a Patch and see later the proprieties of that patch but I think the elevation that show in the proprieties is not the average. Also I exported the ground to file xyz and open in Excel to calculate the average elevation, the problem is that excel only accept 60.000 points and I have mutch more 60.000... But using only the 60.000 points I have a elevation average +20mm from the patch elevation. Any one have a idea how I can see the ground average elevation in Cyclone? or this patch gave me the average elevation? Regards, Délio Pontes I think it's easy. Select the point cloud, go to Tools->Measure->Find High/Low point. Then input the search range exceeding your object. Then take average from 2 values. Re: Rhino Trim issue I'm novice in Rhino, but maybe you need to rebuild red surface? Re: Creating points in Cyclone Hi again,I need to calculate the average elevation from this ground.The project of the ground is leveled. I´m trying to do this in Cyclone using the tool Create a Patch and see later the proprieties of that patch but I think the elevation that show in the proprieties is not the average.Also I exported the ground to file xyz and open in Excel to calculate the average elevation, the problem is that excel only accept 60.000 points and I have mutch more 60.000...But using only the 60.000 points I have a elevation average +20mm from the patch elevation.Any one have a idea how I can see the ground average elevation in Cyclone? or this patch gave me the average elevation? Regards,Délio Pontes Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone That sometimes happens if we have the cloud open in cad and then we try to model something in cyclone on the same database, very rare though. Re: The down turn and has it affected you? no pressure Matt, as and when will be fine :O) Re: HDS 6000 Hard Drive Issue Thaks a lot guys for your responce. We have managed to get rid of the project now. Becouse we always used PDA to delete the data, you have to manualy type in the name of the project into the adress of the website. The trick was in the fact, that right at the end of the project name was someone typed in space... Connecting the scanner with a cable solved the problem, as Steve predicted Dan P.S. Knowing the format procedure would be nice as well, as the HDD must be getting fragmented quite a lot if it's heavily used... Re: The down turn and has it affected you? Im not sure how much I can say about it right now so will ask the question - if I can be more specific about it on the forum. Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone I get this error message a lot when modelling: Waiting for Shared Resource.JPG Then when I click 'Cancel Operation' I get this: Runtime Error.JPG Adfter pressing 'OK' Cyclone terminates. I have had this problem since version 5.8 on 32 bit and 64 bit XP The messages only appear after closing a modelspace view and merging modelled objects back to an origional modelspace. I just open Cyclone again and carry on where I left off. Its a pain but does not slow me down too much. Re: Modelling software Thanks everyone,Lots of food for thought there.I had better get some demos and start researching.Thanks againKatharine Rhino Trim issue I am having a trim issue in rhino that I dont think I have come across before. In the following picture, the red surface has been trimmed to the blue surface, and although the edge of the red surface now follows the cutting edge, the surface bleeds beyond its edge. I have tried a variety of different trim methods, all resulting in the same problem. Am I doing something obviously wrong? This is not simply a graphical glitch either, as it is still there on render. Re: HDS 6000 Hard Drive Issue Hi Dan,There is away to format the HDD. You should get in contct with the HDS support for the routine.The scanner has a flash card inside for the boot process. It doesn´t boot from the HDD.RegardsThorsten Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone stevenramsey wrote:Make sure you forward a defect report on to your support. Did before i posted here. They just got back to me and sent me a different install file and asked that i uninstall what i have and reinstall the new one... Hope it works......................... Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone Make sure you forward a defect report on to your support. Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone Its NVidia 8800I havnt had a problem with the video card before. and ive had cyclone on this computer for a while now.C++ errors are script associated. Cant be Video card Re: C++ Errors in Cyclone Could be a problem with your video card or associated GL drivers. I would start there. What card is installed on the machine? C++ Errors in Cyclone Hey,Im curious if anyone has any C++ errors. using Version 6.0.3Vista. and no previous versions of Cyclone installed on the computerits actully came to the point were the computer will crash as im in the middle of a scan. and modeling. and Cloud clean up.....and basically anything else. didnt start till i upgraded to the newest version. sicne then ive re formated my comp and re installed... still happening. Been talking to the local rep and hes looking into it as well for me. Re: HDS 6000 Hard Drive Issue Hi Dan,are you back up and running? Re: The down turn and has it affected you? Hi,There will be a proffesional body that will include Laser Scanning. I sorry that I can not say much at this early stage, but watch this space. Mattsounds interesting Matt, you will have to keep us posted :O) Re: Usage Statistics for laserscanning.org.uk Hi Phil,It will be interesting to see the stats for the end of the month :O)Cheers, Re: VZ-400 The quotes are from Phils original post: If you missed the VZ-400 in action at the several conferences across the world, here is your chance to get familiar with Riegl’s new instrument..... Please click here for the Point of Beginning Industry Update http://www.bnpevents.com/POB/EMAIL/Riegl0409/POB-Riegl0409.htm Re: HDS 6000 Hard Drive Issue Steve - Thanks for a quick call.I'll check your ideas as soon as possible.Cheers! HDS 6000 Hard Drive Issue Hello! We have a bit of a strange issue with our HDS6000. Recently one of our surveyors did a lot of scanning, all in one project. We use the PDA. He ended up with over 15 gig of data, all on the scanners HDD. We did managed to get the data downloaded, but we are unable to delete the job of the scanner. We tried to delete it using PDA. Since then we have 15 gig less to play with Is there a way to do a format on these things or does the whole device boot up of the HDD?? Any other ideas?? Thanks Dan Re: Modelling software Hi Katharine, Topcon's Imagemaster Pro software is a comprehensive package for producing 3D models from stereo photography taken with a standard digital camera, however it is also designed to interface with scanner point cloud data since the arrival of Topcons GLS-1000 scanner. It will work with any point data and has the following tools that may be of interest: - automatic generation of TINs from point clouds at user determined mesh sizes - contouring and cross sections of TINs - polyline and point construction - export of data in a wide variety of formats If photogrammetry and stereo imaging is not required, the STD version of Imagemaster will do all of the above and costs less. I've attached some screenshots and a demo version can be downloaded from: http://imagemaster3d.com/index.html Best wishes, Nick scan1.jpg scan2.jpg Re: The down turn and has it affected you? Matt Young wrote:There will be a proffesional body that will include Laser Scanning. I sorry that I can not say much at this early stage, but watch this space. Thats interesting Matt, we had an idea to do somthing simular with this domian/forum to become a proffesional body but we still havent moved the idea forward yet as we need more people to do this and more expereince in doing so. Re: The down turn and has it affected you? =It one of the main factors some industries go for a professional body to over see there work, would that help here I don't know Scanning is such a diverse area. But it would help if we had standardize practice customers could see that an accredited company or Individual can deliver high quality work or face there professional body. Will scanning get one, really thats down to us most professional bodies are paid for by the very industry they over see and that down to size, so we have to ask are we that size yet as an industry?There will be a proffesional body that will include Laser Scanning. I sorry that I can not say much at this early stage, but watch this space. Matt Re: Usage Statistics for laserscanning.org.uk pburrows145 wrote:Do you think the decline is due to more people out in the field actually doing work? Let's hope so... summer is nearly upon us! We have certainly been busy recently and have more on the horizon. Its hard for me to tell how many enquiries relate to use of the forum, but it is certainly helping. Re: Modelling software Hello Katharine Welcome to the forum! I see that you mentioned Rhino as a possible solution. Here are some links to examples of what can be produced using Rhino + Pointools4Rhino: http://www.laserscanning.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=594 http://www.laserscanning.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=711 http://www.laserscanning.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=845 http://www.laserscanning.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=56&t=934 http://www.pointools.com/gallery/ Re: PinPoint 3D Mmmmm... I will let people make up their own minds. Re: Modelling software See http://www.laserscanning.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=55&t=571&p=1777&hilit=ashton#p1777 for an idea of what GeoMagic is capable of... and http://www.laserscanning.org.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=46&t=921&p=3737&hilit=tunnel#p3737 for 3DReshaper.. Can anyone point me in the direction of a Polyworks example? Re: VZ-400 pburrows145 wrote:The VZ-400 has an integrated GPS receiver (with 2.5mm accuracy) I think that might be a typo! The spec sheet from the riegl website (attached) states it gets a 2.5 metre position using the L1 code only. Although, Joe from 3DLM might be able to clarify better! regards, Tim 10_DataSheet_VZ-400_18-05-2009_PRELIMINARY.pdf Re: VZ-400 Jason Warren wrote:From what I have read so far its a very impressive scanner....any forum members working with the VZ-400?...would like to hear from you :O) The VZ-400 has an integrated GPS receiver (with 2.5mm accuracy) The technology also allows for the penetration of dense foliage. This detail-rich information has allowed remarkable archeological developments. Even under difficult canopy the archeological features can be distinguished in detail with online waveform technology Cheers, Not sure on 2.5mm GPS accuracy??? Can anyone verify this? I assume this is due to nice average readings from being sat at one station for some time? Re: The down turn and has it affected you? I think what is telling here is that there are good times and bad times. Each company / group / individual will deal with it in thier own way. Some better than others. I have also heard of chinese whispers and the fact you heard of these issues so far away is quite impressive. Diversity is the key to these awkward situations and quality of service will keep clients coming back for more, repeat business is what a lot of people rely on. Re: VZ-400 From what I have read so far its a very impressive scanner....any forum members working with the VZ-400?...would like to hear from you :O)The VZ-400 has an integrated GPS receiver (with 2.5mm accuracy) The technology also allows for the penetration of dense foliage. This detail-rich information has allowed remarkable archeological developments. Even under difficult canopy the archeological features can be distinguished in detail with online waveform technologyCheers, Re: PinPoint 3D hows it going Paul?cheers, Re: Usage Statistics for laserscanning.org.uk pburrows145 wrote:Do you think the decline is due to more people out in the field actually doing work? Let's hope so... We still have a few more days left until the end of May so lets hope it picks up... We will have seen growth every month since the website was launched. Re: Usage Statistics for laserscanning.org.uk Do you think the decline is due to more people out in the field actually doing work? Let's hope so... summer is nearly upon us!Have a good BH everyone (well in England/UK anyway) Re: RealityLINx users? Thank you for your reply Sean.I had to say this in my first but I already knew this possibility. To model all this kind of elbows precisely to fit the scan data will be very time-consuming. I was hoping for a smarter solution to handle this.Martijn Re: Modelling software Hi Katharine I think, that autocad is a good solution for work. Normaly cloudworks shoud be enough for work. You can also look for pointcloud from kubit. This program is a autocad plugin and supported also camera picture in newest version. Alternativ program is luposcan for hertitage. More over this software on our website under software (http://www.laserscanning-europe.com/en/content/luposcan). A other hertiage software is JRreconstructor from Italy (http://www.reconstructor.it/index.php?lang=en). This software haves full functionality, including meshing over different scans, colorizing, orthophoto function and movie generator. The full version isnt cheep (over 10 TEuro). Geomagic Studio shape is a good software, if you like to scan monument or statue and like to create a surphase from that. To process and modelling a facade of a house with geomagic would be tricky. ..Eric Re: point cloud into 3dsmax Romuald wrote:Hello, Elmbo wrote:Hi Everyone, We will be releasing a beta for Studio Clouds for 3ds Max soon. If you are interested, post a request on our website http://www.alicelabs.com. Cheers, Elmer Did anybody have test this beta version ? Do you know if the date of the 1st june is still valide for the commercialization ? It try to reach them by there web site and E-mail but I did not have any answer. Thanks Romuald Romuald, I just sent you a reply on your request. Apologies for not having sent it sooner. Your request had slipped through unnoticed. My mistake! cheers, Elmer Re: point cloud into 3dsmax Matt Young wrote:im really excited about the plugin for Max and look forward to trying out the Beta version. Hi Matt, Sorry for the late reply. It´s been a bit busy with developments. We should be able to have beta´s of our upcoming photo/pano coloring module and point cloud editing module available in the next weeks as well. Feel free to put in a request on our website in the downloads section so I can send you a download link of the current Max beta. Cheers, Elmer Re: Usage Statistics for laserscanning.org.uk May09.bmp Re: Modelling software Check out:Raindrop Geomagic StudioTechnodigit 3D ReshaperInnovmetric PolyworksThere are plenty of others but these work well for me...Also, what is the purpose of these models? When you say 'solid-model' do you mean a CAD model? If so, carry on using Cloudworx for ACAD. The above packages produce excellent triangulated surfaces which can be made watertight for rapid-prototyping/3D Printing/3d deviation analysis etc. The benefits afforded by generating a mesh are well-documented, but be sure you actually need them before investing time in generating them.Have a good BH weekend! Modelling software Hello EveryoneThis is my first post so I apologise in advance...I am trying to find some software that can produce meshes and solid models from point cloud data.My firm mainly deals with buildings, historic and contemporary.I am currently running AutoCad 2010, Cloudworx and Cyclone Viewer Pro.I have started to look at Geomagic and Rhino but i'm not sure what the difference is between them.Does anyone have any recomendations? Many thanksKatharine Re: Lamborghini Reventon WIP I have to say Dan, that is one ugly Lambo! But a faithful recreation, looking good. The wheels and lights especially finish it off nicely. Looking forward to the final renders. Tips & Tricks: Import FARO Laser Scanner data into Geomagic Hello Community. This is another episode from our FARO Laser Scanner Tips & Tricks. In case you always wondered how you may get scan data in our binary format into Geomagic software, here is what you need to know. Learn where to download the FLS importer from Geomagic and how to use it. Best regards, Oliver Bürkler Re: Cyclone Memory Issue There is a 64 bit COMPATIBLE Cyclone, but that means that it only runs on 64 bit system, but does not use the 64 bit system capabilities... Something Leica should definitely work on.Dan Re: Cyclone Memory Issue Before you go out and buy more RAM (many mainboards are limited to 4GB anyway)... Any 32 Bit software (no matter under Win64 or 32) will only be able to use about 1.5GB of RAM. So if you you are using a 32Bit operating system, you won't reach 3GB or even 4GB of RAM usage, unless you have several applications opened. As far as I know, setting that switch for windows to use more than 3GB only helps on mainboards which can address more than 4GB of RAM. Otherwise a lot of the address space used for the hardware in the machine (it usually uses the space from 4GB downwards) will block a big chunk of the extra 1 GB of RAM. So in many cases, setting the switch does help a little but probably not as much as it should. Frustrating to buy 4GB and a big part of it can't be used...If there is a 64-bit version of your software, you could install windows64 (XP or Vista) on your machine and you aren't restricted to this 1.5GB limit anymore. As far as I know, you can do this on all machines with recent processors. Core2 duo processors should support 64Bit. But before you do, make sure, there are drivers for for your hardware on a 64Bit operating system.That leads me to another question, is there a 64-Bit version of Cyclone now? -Chris Re: The down turn and has it affected you? hcaner wrote:Dear Sean, It is not true that we have closed all of the 3D department. HCaner Hi Huseyin If that is the case then I'm more then happy to be corrected, I can only go by what I've been told, I'm sorry if this turned out to be wrong, as I say I was a bit shocked when I heard from a number of sauces that PCA 3D was closing the 3d Dep and/or being absorbed into the main body of the newly acquired PCA and that a large number of long term staff had been "let go". But if this is not the case then thank you for stating it here, I will say that PCA is one of the biggest and most respected Surveying companies in the Uk, so you can see why the shock, i should have been a little less shocked and a little more incredulous I feel. As you also pointed out theres are hard times and once they end I hope we all see growth once more. Yes I remember meeting you on set and fun it was to HDM was it not, that's the Oscar and BAFTA we the Uk VFX team got for the movie there in pic with me. Do you still have that cyberware body scanner of GG's don't envy you carrying that thing around makes most scanning kit look small. As for China its an Amazing and maddaning at the same time, Just a shame you can NOT get a good beef pie for love nor money. I'm thinking of Opening a Pie shop I realy am. Well let us know what you guys at PCA 3D are upto from time to time. all the best sean v Re: New Member, New Equipment, New Problems! HiEvery one has pretty much said what I would say, I would add this how everWhat kind of 3D model are they after, basic cad 3D or high level Graphics.Its a small point but you can be really court out by that small point alone.Post Processing time can eat into your Profit margin very easily.If you have not done so Brake down the scanning bid to its partsHigher of kit, operator and a day rate for post work.That way of the do change the spec you can just bill them the extra time. Re: Lamborghini Reventon WIP Some fresh views and renderings to show off new detail before I get back to working on my scene. New grilles, lights, logos and emblems. Tried for a license plate but it still needs some work. Lemme know what you think. Re: TruView Orientation Tools Once again a big thanks to Phil. Re: laser scanning from Wales, UK Welcome Dyfan You are not rare in the kit you use but have wisely stumbled across a forum where most of the members are involed in medium range scanning rather than short range. Your imput will be most welcome. And to quote a felow member "jump on board and grap a chair" laser scanning from Wales, UK Hi just introducing myself! I've been laser scanning a broad range of things for the last two years, so was glad to stumble across this site this afternoon! From looking around, the equipment i use seems to be quite rare? I chose a Cimcore arm, V5 Perceptron laser head, and Rapidform software (integrates well with Solidworks) and am very happy with it all. I get involved in a broad range of things, and have used the scanner for projects from ergonomic product design, to architectural/heritage, to heavy precision engineering QA, to RE of various intricacies like optics and turbines. Anyway, give me a shout if you have the same kit or are in similar lines of work in the UK. Developments in kit and software are always an interest, as are complimentary partners to plug into projects.All the best, Dyfan Re: Lamborghini Reventon WIP Did a little work on the wheels which included adding the brake calipers which were missing. Also made new tire and carbon fiber materials. Re: New Member, New Equipment, New Problems! He Greg,Being new to scanning myself our biggest hurdle has been communicating with the client to get an exact specification of what the deliverables are going to be. Knowing exactly what you are expected to produce and to what accuracey will have a big effect on which equipment and software to use! Re: New Member, New Equipment, New Problems! What type of work will you be carrying out and what type of jobs do you typically do? This is the key question... It's all very well and good buying a phase-solution (Photon/Z&F/Leica) if you want relatively short-range, high-quality data... however - none of these are levelled (therefore read visualisation tool rather than survey tool). Most have the benefit of being able to work with integrated batteries/storage/control (or wifi options) but require more 'skill' (for want of a better word) getting the data in the right place. More often than not, phase scanners work on pre-defined resolutions at given ranges, therefore you lose the ability to specify a given point-density on a surface. However, with a time-of-flight solution (Reigl/Leica/Trimble) some have dual-axis compensator's and allow for a survey-friendly work-flows. You can set up over know control, back-sight to existing R.O.'s or even run a traverse (open or closed). The other benefit is that you can see the data streaming in 'live' and make better judgements about what you need from your site/building etc. You can also leave site with an active registration - something which is a little harder with the phase solutions as you have to import the data - it is not instantly available. I am sure lots of people have their favourite scanners - I have tried to keep this unbiased (You'll see I am a Leica-Boy) Re: New Member, New Equipment, New Problems! Yea, sorry about leaving the details of the project vague. I got a bit excited there for a moment.The project is a Grade B listed building of about 2 stories high. Each of the 4 elevations are about 20m long. Our client requires a full 3D model of the bulding and associated out buildings, the surrounding surfaced parking area and boundary walls and have it referenced against the scanned frontages of the adjacent buildings for about 80m of public road.We are also carrying out a traditional topo survey and GPR scan of utilities over and above the scanning works. Re: Cyclone Memory Issue Dustan,I had similar problems on a 32 bit system. While Phil's suggestions are spot on, I noticed through watching my task manager that I was nowhere near maxing the machine out when Cyclone would want to reclaim memory (and crash).Turns out it was the memory on my video card that was lacking. I don't want to speak for everyone, but I personally saw a bigger improvement in performance from an upgraded video card than I did using the 3GB RAM switch.-Sam Re: Cyclone Memory Issue Another important performance trick is to put the Cyclone work directories on a separate hard drive than the OS and Cyclone. Even better is to put them on a small RAID array. Re: New Member, New Equipment, New Problems! Gregor, You did not mention what you will be scanning i.e building façade, oil refinery or internal rooms, nor did you mention the size scale of project, etc. All these facts would help to advise you what to do next. A few different manufactures offer different laser scanning solutions to your problem. Leica offer excellent help with projects and also hire out both their scanners (Phase & TOF). Z+F hire their scanner (Phase) with an operator who will register the data together but you would have to take this further to acheive a deliverable for your client. Faro would hire their new scanner (Phase) through a company called SCCS but you will need to process all the data yourself using their software. I am not sure about Topcon or Trimble you may need to contact them directly to see if they could help/hire while you decide if you need to buy. The other option is to contact another survey company with laser scanning experience to undertake the site work on your behalf and you go along and learn the whole process from them. I am sure lots of companies on here would offer this service for a fee i.e Apr services, Plowman Craven, Met Surveys, Halcrow, Warner Land Surveys, etc (please feel free for other people to add their company below) Re: TruView Orientation Tools Thanks Phill,I can focus now the object I want.Regards,Delio Pontes Re: Curb Lines Hi there, If you are a Leica user - have you tried using the edge-pick tool within Cyclone II Topo? Ask your local rep for a demo license - it's very easy to use, and for you, easy to extract the information you require. It's like Virtual Surveyor on Steroids... Re: New Member, New Equipment, New Problems! Hi Gregor,I have used Scanstation and HDS 4500 and will be using Z+F 5006i soon. I honestly think it all depends on the projects that you aim to use the scanner at. If you're thinking more like topographical work I believe scanstation help there but if you need more point densities in much more less time than I would suggest you the Z+F 5006i. And if you need you can also purchase it with a mounted camera. The speed as far as I see is good and also some of the noise that you used to get in HDS 4500 is cleared up here. And other than everything else is it is wireless. This used to be a really big problem with the HDS 4500. But again it all depends on the field that you're going to use it.Good luck with the new project. New Member, New Equipment, New Problems! Hi guy's,I have been a member for a few weeks now but I prefered to hide away on the fringes, reading all your posts and not wanting to get too involved by writing one of my own.. . unil now.I am VERY new to scanning, having never professionally used one in the field, but have been looking at it as an area I wanted to take our small surveying company. (Finances allowing).Today I was notified that I had been awarded my first scanning project. Not on the same scale as some of you out there, but its a start! Yee Ha!!! My quoted figures were obviously of interest. Hopefully they won't be too far away from my costs, and you never know I might not lose too much money with my first scanning job. But now to my biggest problem. What equipment should I be using. As of now I have had a trial of the Leica Scanstation2 and the Topcon GLS-1000. Both seemed great bits of kit (Z+F and Faro to come in the next couple of weeks). Naturally purchasing of the equipment is a big decision, but I have a job to do and as of yet no experiece in operating any of the equipment required for the scanning. Talk about running before I could walk...What do you all out there think I should be doing? (apart from worrying).Your thoughts would be much appreciated. Re: RealityLINx users? Hi Martijn,It is possible to change the bend radius and angle of an elbow to any dimension. To do this place a default elbow, then open it's properties dialog (right click properties), if it has a catalog remove it. once the catalog is removed the radius and bend angle can be changed to fit the scan data. See attached jpg.Sean Re: Cyclone Memory Issue I think that is a 32 bit operating system right? In that case I am pretty confident you wont be able to use more than 3G anyway. Re: Cyclone Memory Issue Here is my current setup. I had a better computer, but our office was robbed about a month ago and my computer was taken. We just put this together from what was lying around the office. I have to make it work for a while. pc.JPG Re: Cyclone Memory Issue How much ram you need is very subjective, and your computer may not even use more if you were to buy it. What is your current setup and operating system? Even if your system can use more ram, I doubt the software will use it. Curb Lines Just a quick question: What is the most efficient and precise method to create a curb? I need to create a breakline on the face of the curb, and the top of the curb. In the past, I have use the "fit edge" tool in cyclone, and I have also used "virtual survey" to pick points, and then create my curbs in AutoCAD. Just curious what methods other people have figured out to use, and if they are faster, and more precise than mine. Thanks in advance, Dustan Re: Cyclone Memory Issue Sorry for the rough description of my task. My goal was to create a surface for the roads, sidwalks, and curbs. I had to chop it up into sections, and I am working on putting those all back together now. I have been reduced to creating a surafce for each road intersection, and then separate meshes for the roads between intersections. It is going to take a lot longer than I anticipated, but as long as it all works, I'm happy. Thanks for the replies. I may have to tweek on my computer a little bit after this project is finished.Just one more quick question though, .. how many Gigs of RAM are you guys running? I've been fairly happy with my machine, and I have 3G of RAM. Would another Gig or 2 help tremendously? -Dustan Topcon Imagemaster Viewer Topcon's Imagemaster software is based on the accomplished PI-3000 photogrammetry package and brings additional functionality to those wishing to import point cloud data from laser scanners. The latest release of Imagemaster (v2) supports many proprietary scanner formats as well as ascii. The full version enables triangulation (TIN) of points, contouring, cross sections and polyline editing. The powerful 3D engine can handle in excess of 10,000,000 points. There is a free 30 day demo of the software available, but also a free unlimited viewer that enables third parties to view photogrammetry datasets created within Imagemaster, or the viewing of models of point cloud data including tools to carry out measurements and generate a selection of export formats. The download link is http://tinyurl.com/2z7h4o IM_screenshot.jpg Re: TruView Orientation Tools Hey all Attached is the updated truview programming files with the vertical angle added. Delio I am not going to write a program to setup the azmiuth . If you want to manually set the azmiuth of each truview, under the scanworlds folder open up CycloneXUI.xslt and at line 132 add the code CX_Control.setAzimuth(270); I have set the azmiuth to 270 in this case. To do a different azmiuth, change the number. The area around where you are putting the line in should look like this Mark3DXNameTxt.innerHTML = "ΔX:"; Mark3DYNameTxt.innerHTML = "ΔY:"; Mark3DZNameTxt.innerHTML = "ΔZ:"; updateToolBar(); setMaxNeighborsFromCookie(); CX_Control.setAzimuth(180); } Cheers Phill Scanning Community world wide This forum can make the world seem so small sometimes. To see someone online checking the post out on Wednesday morning their time while others are online Tuesday Lunchtime at the same time is amazing. Re: Cyclone Memory Issue Dustan Here is a list of things you can do to make your computer go faster If you have 3gig+ of ram 1. Right-click on “My Computer” icon found on your desktop and select “Properties”. 2. Go to the “Advanced” tab , and click the” Settings” button in the “Startup and Recovery” section. 3. Click the “Edit” button under the “System Startup” section. 4. Copy the last line of the boot.ini file and paste it on the next line. Change the string “Microsoft Windows XP professional” of the first line (the one you just copied) to something like “Microsoft Windows XP professional with 3GB switch”, the next time you boot , you’ll have 2 option like a dual boot , if nothing is picked within 30 secs , the first line is chosen. At the end of that line add /3GB like example below : Code: Select all [boot loader] timeout=30 default=multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS [operating systems] multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional with 3GB switch" /fastdetect /3GB multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINDOWS="Microsoft Windows XP Professional" /fastdetect If the OS doesn’t boot correctly, restart your machine and select the second OS when prompted (the one without the switch). Please note: The 3gb switch only works with Windows XP service pack 2. Make sure to copy the windows 32bit line, not windows XP 64 for example (if it's installed). Managing you virtual memory in windows: 1. Right-click on “My Computer” icon found on your desktop and select “Properties”. 2. Go to the “Advanced” tab and click the “Settings” button under the “Performance” section. 3. In the “Advanced” tab, under the “Virtual Memory” section , click “Change”. 4. Select the drive you want the paging file to be set to. (If you created a partition for the virtual memory select that drive) . 5. Select the “Custom size” radio button. 6. Now set the “Initial size (MB)” and the “Maximum size (MB)” to 4096. 7. Click the “Set” button. 8. If you created a partition, select the c:\ drive in the drive section, then select the “no paging file” radio button and click “Set”. Here we're telling Windows to set the paging file to another partition than the c drive. Improving windows performance: 1. Right-click on “My Computer” icon found on your desktop and select “Properties”. 2. Go to the “Advanced” tab and click the “Settings” button under the “Performance” section. 3. Under the “Visual Effects” tab, select the “Adjust For Best Performance” radio button. The updating of the paging file might help you with you memeory issues. There are also a couple of setting in cyclone that might help In Edit Preferences -> Point Cloud -> Make the "Point Chache: Maximum Cache Size" bigger Under the same page there is also "Computation: Max Points" and "Computation: Create TIN: Max Points". If you reduce these cyclone will use less points to calc it's tin. Hope this helps. Cheers Phill Re: Truviews will not load Some other of the bat thoughts.Firewall settings. (third Party)Copied files still read only.Vista or XPSome sort of compatibilty mode see if firfox in IE mode has the same issue.Contact support.Good luck, if you solve it let us all know. Re: Truviews will not load Ha haWe had checked that. We are both using IE7.0.5730.13CO. Good idea though.CheersPhill Re: Cyclone Memory Issue Before worring about running out of memory, you don't say what you are meshing, My guess is that it is the road surface. Try cutting the section you want to work on out in to a new modelsapce then unify putting in a reduce point count figure of about 1/2 you think you need the final mesh, If that cloud has more than 1.5 million points cut it in to sections then try to mesh it, each section can then be decimated and merged back together. Re: Cyclone Memory Issue Have you unified the scans and reduced the point count? the Undo/redo message really ought to say '"Cyclone is preparing to crash, buckle up." hint: If you hit no, it will crash faster and save a little time. you can also try reducing the number of points loaded into memory, it will make things go slower but might help avoid the crash. As you state If all fails, cut it up into pieces, mesh and put them back together in a 3D design program. What is your end goal? Cyclone Memory Issue I have scanned an entire city block, and registered my point cloud. I have cleaned the cloud, and I am ready to create a mesh. I get a message that Cyclone can try to regain memory from clearing the undo/redo command. I tell Cyclone to clear the undo/redo, but then I get a message that it has failed to regain enough memory. I have tried doing the maesh in parts, but am currently waiting to see if I get the same problem.Any suggestions for creating large meshes? I am going to fall asleep waiting for this dang computer to process.Thanks in advance,Dustan Re: Ortho image, Cyclone out of memory? We have had this problem if the ortho size was set wildly high. Cyclone in general is bad about running out of memory and crashing - guess thats why it has such a strong recovery routine. In hindsight we usually start to see more memory errors as the database get older from use (minor corruptions) and though it may seem like its the ortho export that is causing the problem, it never hurts to do a base level DB optimization when Cyclone starts acting up. Re: Ortho image, Cyclone out of memory? I had that before, but only usually when i tried to create ortho images of >10000. Usually found only going as far as 9000 seemed to sort it! Although the file sizes generated are pretty enormous what ever setting you seem to use! Tim Re: Ortho image, Cyclone out of memory? Try 7500px x 'whatever resolution your locked aspect ratio provides' with all points unselected and the point size set to 2.Ensure your load and display limits are set above the number of points in the scene eg, 12,300,000 points - set your load and display to this value.Try again - if it crashes, try it on another machine. 7500 should be high enough to provide a good-looking and useful ortho-image. Ortho image, Cyclone out of memory? I wonder if anyone can help. Were trying to export really high quality orth-images from a point cloud. However If I increase the image size to much I keep getting an out of memory error in cyclone. Is there a way to increase the allocated memory?Any tips on how to get the highest possible quality images out of cyclone would be much apprciated!Cheers,Ben Re: Introducing myself to this wonderful community. Welcome to the forum, Martijn. Thanks for sharing some of your work with us. -Frank BakerSE Missouri, USA Re: point cloud into 3dsmax Hi SeanGood to hear from you again - so your in China - cool ..Do get in touch again and i can bring you right up-to-date. speak to you soon.regardsP Re: "Super Camera" hi guys - here's our camera mounted on a tribrach - with a laser scanner adaptor mount. drop me a line for more info. regards Peter PS - do get in touch with us directly for all solutions and rental requests. Re: Truviews will not load Have you Turned on active content Which version of IE are they using as we have found some very specific versions of 6.???? 7 works fine it's just some V6 versions. See if both companies are using the same version. RealityLINx users? Are there users of the program RealityLINx here? I will have a meeting with someone from Inovx to talk about the program and the problems I have with it. If you work with RealityLINx and you have some questions about it, please post it here and I will discuss it with him.Creating straight pipelines/standard elbows is no problem at all. But when there is a non-standard bended pipesegment, there is no option to make it by yourself (for what I know and see in the Help-files). That is one of my questions. (See attachement for an example) Truviews will not load Hey all Has anyone else had any problems with the truviews not loading on some computers. I have followed the instructions about allowing active content which normally gets it running, but to no avail. This is the second companies computers that I cant get it to work on. I looks like Internet explorer will not load the cubemaploader.dll file. Any help will be good. Cheers Phill p.s. If anybody replies that I need to enable active content in the internet explorer setting they are going on my black list. Re: Introducing myself to this wonderful community. Hello and welcome. Pull up a chair and make yourself at home Re: Leica TruViews from Kinematic Scanner? That's a very interesting idea. Let us know how you get on please?How dense is the pointcloud? Will it be dense enough to produce meaningful images? I am assuming that there will be no photographs as the scan positions are not fixed. It would be interesting to see a screenshot typical of the dataset you will be working with. Introducing myself to this wonderful community. Hello boys, let's introduce myself.I'm Martijn Hoogerwerf, from the Netherlands. Right now working as a trainee at Cofely-GDF/Suez in Rotterdam. My object here is to get things started with the Faro Photon 80, Faro Scene/Scout and RealityLINx. I will found out sooner/later that we will need more software for specific objects.The 3D-LS will be used for:*scanning vessels *scanning technical installations*scanning plantsI attached some examples we did already.I hope we can share our experiences. Greetings,Martijn Hoogerwerf Re: The down turn and has it affected you? Dear Sean,I think I met you on set a couple of times, I hope you are keeping well.I just wanted to correct the information you have posted about Plowman Craven, so people joining this forum will have the correct information. It would be dishonest to say that Plowman Craven hasn’t been affected by the downturn. Part of the business, for instance dealing with property measurements, has been affected. As a result we had to cut back our spending and some of the staff that we had employed recently to accommodate predicted growth for the future years. It is not true that we have closed all of the 3D department. The fact is we are actually busier than ever with larger projects and are more productive with the most experienced staff we kept in-house. The fact is Plowman Craven has years of experience to deal with these kind of situations. The fact is “business is usual”I wish you all the best in ChinaHCaner Re: "Super Camera" I'm in Dalian China PM me and I can talk to you about this in more detail there are ways this can be done with less pain. Re: point cloud into 3dsmax Peter Taylor wrote:fyi - We have a new Autodesk Maya - 3D point reader. It allows our users to import 3d points directly from our Spheron HDR Viewer as a live link. http://www.spheron.com/en/intruvision/solutions/3d-measurement.html we also have a 3ds Max solution too I must say Peter it looks a lot better in Maya from the stand alone viewer we played with it last year, But is it any faster at the high rez settings say when your doing HDRI as well. Also Im going to Email ya about some thing, Re: point cloud into 3dsmax Faraz wrote:Could I take the opportunity to ask how many of you out there would like to see a plug-in for Max that enables you to import large volumes of scan data like our plug-ins to Rhino and AutoCAD with similar options? It is something we have considered but it depends on the demand for it. it was on my wish list 4 years ago but at the time most did not use 3Dmax, could I also have an Maya FBX and OBJ would be cool as well. As for max try VRML / STL / DXF (polys) for Poly mesh into MAX its basic but it works look out for the older 3Dmax's limit on of 64k polys per Object in the scene-graph A weld vertexes will fix that if you get the tolerance low. Re: The down turn and has it affected you? digitalsurveys wrote:Our main income comes from topo work and this really dried up in Jan/Feb. In fact they were the quietest months we've ever had. This lead to a bit of a price war locally to win jobs and has really undervalued the survey sector in our region. Things have started to pick up again now but are still a lot slower than previous years. Thats a really good point about price war driving down valued, I have seen it before in other industries when a "pinch" comes bids go down and corners get cut, some times leads to bad work and poor service which and again drags down the perceived value industry. To cut costs more younger and less skilled workers are sued and it and all end very badly with an industry really harming its self. what you can do about this I don't know, Unlike chartered surveying any one with a scanning scan set up in business. It one of the main factors some industries go for a professional body to over see there work, would that help here I don't know Scanning is such a diverse area. But it would help if we had standardize practice customers could see that an accredited company or Individual can deliver high quality work or face there professional body. Will scanning get one, really thats down to us most professional bodies are paid for by the very industry they over see and that down to size, so we have to ask are we that size yet as an industry? Re: Konica Minolta 910 Grate system I love it BUT heres a tip, the PCMCIA card that gos in the back of the 910 is fixed in place with plastic runners inside the system, now if the card is in and the system get knocked or banged from behind the card mount brakes inside the system, Open it to fix and there gos your warranty send away to fix and its costly, to save pain with this system use some Rubber blocks each side of the PCMCIA slot they act as buffers and save you the pain of replacing the PCMCIA mount. You can get Rubber shocks from any Electronic store there used for the underside of equipment. Or pop down your local hardware store the same kind of thing is used to put on the bottom of chair legs.Note the later systems dropped the PCMCIA card for Link to laptop.I still the the card system is better for remote use. Sean V Re: Konica Minolta 910 Please contact me off list. We represent KM for the Vivid line and have access to demo & used equipment. See DDI scanners page for addtional basic information and product brochures. Re: The down turn and has it affected you? It was very slow for us August through the middle of February, but have definetly seen a pick up since then. - In scan and non-scan parts of the operation. Konica Minolta 910 Does anyone know what he going price for a Konica-Minolta 910 is? Any opinions on this scanner? Any one have a spare they rent out or want sell? Re: TruView Orientation Tools Hi Phil Your edits to the truviews have gone down a storm I for one now have it set as default when creating truviews, Whats the chances of getting the vertical angle as well as the azimuth. Leica TruViews from Kinematic Scanner? Hello all,Thanks for all the interesting content on this forum, I read it whenever I can and find it very helpful. I am wondering if anybody has some experience of generating TruViews to display data captured from a Kinematic HDS 6000 (Mounted on a track trolley). My idea is to take the registered pointcloud, chop it in to chunks. Then generate fake scanner locations in the centre of each chunk. Then publish. I haven't tried it yet though....Any ideas would be much appreciated. ThanksMark Re: point cloud into 3dsmax I would suggest meshing your pointcloud and exporting as an STL file which will go into MAX. If he cannot import the mesh due to file size than you will simply have to decimate the mesh or split it into pieces and have him import and work on it one section at a time. Re: Trimble Scanning software The Surphaser scanner that Trimble are now selling captures 1million pnts/second. RWS just chokes on anything even modest in terms of modern scanning. If Trimble are not working on large point cloud support for RW I would be very suprised and they would be very silly. I imagine RWS will be updated to manage large point clouds quite soon at which point it becomes a feasible solution and alternative to Cyclone.btw, I don't have any significant inside information here, and Pointools has no alignment/allegiance to any manufacturer. Just my analysis Re: The down turn and has it affected you? Our main income comes from topo work and this really dried up in Jan/Feb. In fact they were the quietest months we've ever had. This lead to a bit of a price war locally to win jobs and has really undervalued the survey sector in our region. Things have started to pick up again now but are still a lot slower than previous years. Re: Trimble Scanning software Hi Daniel,We did a lot of research on the best software before purchasing and used both Trimbles Real Works and Cyclone. The main issue we had with real works were that it was painfully slow at handling even average size points clouds. We also found when trying to register large point clouds it would completley lock up making it impossible to process our results. We made the switch to Cyclone and although it is a bit more complicated to learn, in my opion it far surpasses Real works. We've have had no problems since and cyclone can comfortably handle large point clouds very quickly. If you check out some of the polls on here you'll see the majority tend to use cyclone. Re: The down turn and has it affected you? Our work load has slowed a bit but not much.The biggest change I've seen is in the amount of time and effort it takes to get paid by your clients after the work is completed! My referrals to legal for debt collection is up 60-70% over last quarter.-Sam Re: Easy Laser Scanning Project :))) Hi all, Surveying 3 cross sections with a Total station and comparing with the cross sections created by the HDS 3000, I have a average error +- 5mm. Very good for this project! (and I know my HDS 3000 after 6 years we bought, continue working well... ) Cross_Section1.JPG Scale: H. 1:1000, V. 1:50 Regards, Delio Pontes Re: point cloud into 3dsmax Hello, Elmbo wrote:Hi Everyone, We will be releasing a beta for Studio Clouds for 3ds Max soon. If you are interested, post a request on our website http://www.alicelabs.com. Cheers, Elmer Did anybody have test this beta version ? Do you know if the date of the 1st june is still valide for the commercialization ? It try to reach them by there web site and E-mail but I did not have any answer. Thanks Romuald Re: Cyclone 6 Features Video Thanks Kin,Thats exactly what i was after...i hadnt apperciated that all it was was using a camera!Tim Re: TruView Orientation Tools Thanks so much for the help.I am actually doing the photoshop editing and adding the code from Phil as the relationship between azimuth and cardinal directions are still a complete mystery to some clients!I will keep tweaking things a bit and post an updated version once the changes are significant enough to warrant. Re: Cyclone 6 Features Video I think this is the one that you are talking about. You have to skip to section 35 or 36. http://software.lgshds.com/public/cyclone/demo/ Cyclone 6 Features Video I remember seeing a promotional video for cyclone 6, showing the new features.I specifically remember seeing a part involving Dallas from the Kennedy Assasination, which involved looking into creating bullet trajectories, but also in viewing the pointcloud from a specific viewpoint. (I.e looking through lee harvey oswald's eyes from the bookstore, by selecting a floor point, and giving it a height).Does a) anyone know what i'm talking about?and b) know where i can see it again? I'm not sure if its just using the panorama function from views, but i'd like to be sure, or if there is something else i am missing!!Many thanks,Tim Re: problems rotating point clouds Hi SamView Pro does not allow you to move the clouds origin directly, this is what is you to be able to do to rotate around a more meaningful pointTo do this translate the cloud to the origin and re-export the pod file. Re-import and you can then rotate around the new origin Re: problems rotating point clouds Sam you don't state which scanner/software you are using, As I would think that it would be easier to re register the 2 data sets in you software using the tracks and the wheels as the constraints. Re: problems rotating point clouds Unfortunately, the rail car and tracks were scanned in two different states more than 1000 km apart so there is no common data. However, to move point clouds in pointools you select the cloud in the tree on the left side of the screen and then select "move object" under the "Tools" menu. An X, Y, & Z arrow set will pop up. Grab the arrow that points in the direction you want to move the point cloud and pull! Re: The down turn and has it affected you? Hi MattYou should see it soon... Re: The down turn and has it affected you? 6 years good 2 years bad... and on, and on we go.It would be very easy for me to rant on for hours on this subject so I wont.It would be nice to see a plugin for AutoCAD 2009 64bit Faraz. Re: TruView Orientation Tools Hi all,Exist any option or editing a file to change the first view in trueview?Example: when I open the truview the first pictures show me the north side, and I would like to show the west side.Regards,Delio Pontes Re: The down turn and has it affected you? Faraz wrote:Continuing to see growth quarter on quarter..business is better than ever and we are expanding This picture is not as simple as it is painted by the media # yes Faraz some how I think point tools is going to do weill cus its a good tool set, so where is my Beta test copy free upgrate ) Re: Point cloud selection Hello, First of all thanks to steven and Effectively the problems is coming with the fiting tools of spherical target. On some sphere, after the fiting, the clouds of point is still un pickable. It is working fine on some but not on all. Why ? Here is my feed back from the 2 solutions : stevenramsey wrote:rather than creating a new view try to create a new Modelspace. Right click over the modelspaces folder and go to create modelspace, this will create a new modelspace from the raw data in the scans folder. open the new models space and create the view, See if that if fixes the ones you are having a problem with. When creating the sphere from inside a modelspace using the fit from cloud option the data used for the sphere becomes un pickable. Try using the fence mode to draw around the area containing the sphere, right click and select copy fenced to new modelspace, do the fitting in the copy, When you close the modelspace window you will get 3 options select merge (to put the data back from where it came) and delete so you don't keep the copy. It is working and everything is ok. Clouds of point is complete and pickable, with the shere well recognize. Phill wrote:There is also a tool under the selctions menu "Select points inside fence". This may mean you don't have to create a stack of little modelspaces just for registering a couple of spheres. It is working also. After the fiting, the clouds of point is still pickable. But the clouds of points used for the fiting of sphere disapear. In every case, it solve my problem. I am able to finish the fiting of spheres missing and to run the registration. So, see you at the next step Romuald Re: The down turn and has it affected you? Continuing to see growth quarter on quarter..business is better than ever and we are expandingThis picture is not as simple as it is painted by the media Re: The down turn and has it affected you? Hi Sean,As far as I can see things are the same as they have always been. But thats just my eyes.Although the so called downturn has caused some very real problems for a lot of people, I believe it was not helped by the media. They kept mentioning the words 'Credit Crunch' and it suddenly became a reality.We must do our best to stay positive over the next year or so, and if possible reverse the damage that the media has done, by mentioning positive things to all those we meet.Developement in the UK seems to be continuing as long as the cost of materials is low. If the cost of things continues to rise along with the fears of people then we will be in real trouble.Save, Save, Save... and tear up the credit cards...Matt Re: TruView Orientation Tools Nice work guys! Re: TruView Orientation Tools So much better than my feably atempt.The atached files work fantasticly when you drop them in to every scanworld folder for Truviews already made.If you want to add the feature permanatly add them to the Truview folder (C:\Program Files\Leica Geosystems\Cyclone\TruView) after making a backup, this will add the feature to all future Truviews. Re: Point cloud selection Romuald There is also a tool under the selctions menu "Select points inside fence". This may mean you don't have to create a stack of little modelspaces just for registering a couple of spheres. Cheers Phill Re: Lamborghini Reventon WIP Faraz wrote:Dusk image looks great - has a great graphic feel about it Did you scan the interior of the car as well? Thanks Yes, I took the toy model apart so that I could also scan the engine bay and the interior. Re: any ideas how can i match a foto with a point cloud I like the look of JRC 3D Reconstructor, dont know i Tonys point tools has this now as well import image to other point set.As for taking Photo post scan here are three mad ways I have done it1: Do a POV render in gary scale of a poly meshed point set with the POV Being that of the scanner looking out into its field of captire, Print take on loaction with you and do a line off site Mach up v the SLR view finder, if its long range you can get real close with this basic way.2: late a laptop and a DSLR thats can link v Fire wire to it then used just image over lay to see you 3d data set and your DSLR feed mach and snap. no need for the total station.3: 2 1/2D root, (note this is hard core) you take a DSLR and a Pan and tilt head + laptop to the site,you take Gigapixel imags of view v a gride of nodes. to over the area of captuer, store data Back at base you biuld 1st Giga pixel pans of the vew per node then in 3D space render nodes from the images from the camiras POV overlay in 3D space the 3d data and Rotascope a mach, then biuld vurtaul camira nodes so that you can place the Vcam any where in the rage covered y the render nodes, aline to view and render. (like i said its nuts but has real use in the film biz) Re: problems rotating point clouds SamYou might know something that I dont. I wasn't aware you could move and rotate clouds. (Could be a new feature). I would suggest getting the coordinate systems to match first (with a couple of control points or a common feature) and then exporting a pts and reimporting it. A pts will export in the current user coordinate system.Hope this helps.CheersPhill The down turn and has it affected you? Well there is now hiding it now is there we are in a"Bit" of a dip, a down Trun, reassertion, depression or what ever the pundits like to all it or as they used to call it "Hard Times" But are they realy hard times and is every one affected I know it has affected me, plans i had for the end of this year had to be moved for would to the end of last, over the last few weeks I've been old about a number of teams cutting back, I was shocked to hear the new owners of PCA had reduced the size there 3D Dep to better weather the storm, and there not the only ones there seems of couse to be down sizing, cuts backs, back to core business every where. But is that true is it dark and bleack in every area, I have a friend who works in the area of Biometrics and he's says there doing grate same with another in CIS work (sorry just love the name). Have you cut prices, taken lower pay, put in lower bids, seen the work dry up or have things started to get better in new areas, are you using this brake to upskill or move out of 3d scanning. Me I had plains for China under way and just moved the forwould a year. So i am asking whats it been like in your area and have you been affected and how? Sean V Re: TruView Orientation Tools SamI gave it a crack. Find the attached files. Copy and paste them into every scanworld folder.This will add an azimuth textbox in the measure window. I unfortunatly I couldn't get it to update when the mouse stops moving, but if you pan, stop, and then click it will update. The azimuth it is decimal degrees, I was to lazy to convert it.My Java and xml skills are not so good, but I reckon they are not too bad for a surveyor. See if this is what you are looking for. CheersPhill Re: How to start a research center in 3D scanning Amit 1. Help the university to get up-to date with technology. 2. Document the historical monuments in india for the next generations. Sounds like a grate I dear Im In China at the Moment and trying to do the same pritty much as you say governments have other things to focus on and if its any think like china its slooooooowwww. Im lucky I have other things to do. The Pilot Project sounds a grate idea, and you can keep the costs down, some where in India there will be hardware resellers most if there worth any thing will have demos systems and do training. I say this because they will also have a list of who they have sold systems to and so you have a local users group. This is a very good thing to know and be part of as it where your operators are most likely to come from. I know a lot of manufactures are in this list some if you ask nice may give you contacts in India if not have a look at there we sites and look for there local resellers. Ok now you can not only talk about kits but try them out (always a good idea, I'm known for finding testing kit don't be pushed around any sales guy, talk to the guy who's to tech support there always more open and will be honest about any systems short fallings, its always best to know them BEFORE you sign up to do any paid work or pay for any kit.) Training, all sellers will give you basic put the Box training with the kit, some very basic in deed but most are good, that will get you started with the Help files, but for Medium to Expert training costs. There are two ways to get it, Hardware training that gos into software other than that with the system or Software Pipeline that has links to hardware input. Your going to need both how you get it well you can pay makers of systems and code or you can hire one to two good staff. Note they have to keep up to speed in there areas sp we are talking teacher researchers here. So we are talking costs, the golden rule "No Bucks, No Buck Rogers" What I would do in you place is look for a reseller and see if you could get them on side, you offer then preferred supplier status at the start its all down to you proving to them you can make a go of this but once your up and running and money and work is coming there way its good for a number for things. all systems brake you need to have a plan and they are always good or that. "Prestige" there is a critical mass point with projects like this where you can both gain Prestige, its good for them and good for you. The world is in the dumps at the moment that's why its such a good time to start project like this when things start to pick up you just scale up if it works now then it can only get better and like China India is on the rise. Well hope that helps im also going to PM you some stuff. Yours sean v Re: Lamborghini Reventon WIP Thats a great model. very slick. I can almost hear it! Re: Lamborghini Reventon WIP Dusk image looks great - has a great graphic feel about itDid you scan the interior of the car as well? Re: TruView Orientation Tools If memory serves me well all truviews open faceing North, if you can work out which cube image is associated with that view you could batch proccess all the .jpg files to add the n,s,e,w in each image.Img_1 = northImg_2 = eastImg_3 = southImg_0 = westUsing someing like Photoshop you can get it to add a N,E,S,W to each image. TruView Orientation Tools I am looking for a way to let my TruView users know the bearing or direction that they are viewing. As a work-around I am currently using markup tools to type "North", "South", and so on in the appropriate direction. Anyone else come up with a more dynamic solution? Re: Lamborghini Reventon WIP Playing with the lighting some more and messing with DOF a very little. Re: Point cloud selection rather than creating a new view try to create a new Modelspace. Right click over the modelspaces folder and go to create modelspace, this will create a new modelspace from the raw data in the scans folder. open the new models space and create the view, See if that if fixes the ones you are having a problem with.When creating the sphere from inside a modelspace using the fit from cloud option the data used for the sphere becomes un pickable. Try using the fence mode to draw around the area containing the sphere, right click and select copy fenced to new modelspace, do the fitting in the copy, When you close the modelspace window you will get 3 options select merge (to put the data back from where it came) and delete so you don't keep the copy.Give that a go for starters. problems rotating point clouds I am trying to place a rail car from one scan onto the tracks from a separate scan. Moving the rail car point cloud over is no problem, but when I try to rotate it to align with the tracks it seems to be rotating around its import point of origin. If I rotate it before importing the tracks the rotation works ok but the handles that are used to move the point cloud in the X,Y, & Z are offset so that I can not see them on the screen when I am zoomed in far enough to see the tracks. Any advice on how to to rotate and move two point clouds into alignment in PoinTools? Re: Creating points in Cyclone To Add to this short tutorial.If you need the newly created points to be on a perfect grid as in the x and y values to be on a even grid ie, 100.00,100.00 or 110,000 rather than 110.123,110,682 you can add a single vertex at the value you want just of the bottom left hand corner of the point cloud. When you create the mesh multi select the vertex as well, this will add the vertex to the creation of the mesh now when you create the grid it will be on the round numbers, Rember that there may be addition points created on sections of mesh created by adding the vertex these can be deleted. Re: CloudWorx point size Thanks for all of the suggestions, but I think I will predominantly create the linework in cyclone, all of the other options require exports and imports whereas I can get the linework straight away with cyclone.I may live to regret that decision but for now it stands! Re: How to start a research center in 3D scanning Hi Phil, it may sound weird.... basically, i have two simple reasons to setup the scan center 1. Help the university to get up-to date with technology. 2. Document the historical monuments in india for the next generations. the government at the moment has other things to focus on. Therefore, by doing a small demo project i want to demonstrate the value of such 3D documentation of archaeological sites. so before i can ask other people to join in on this effort, I wanted to see if I can get one object scanned modeled and used as a demonstration. It's not a commercial project. So I would appreciate any tips on how i can get this one properly at the lowest possible cost, I am financing this from my own pockets, and unfortunately, I don't have 100 mio. on my personal account. I hope this makes sense. Cheers, Amit Re: Hand Scanner Here is a bit more info about the FastScan. The price seems reasonable. http://www.virtalis.com/content/view/439/542/ Re: Creating points in Cyclone Yet another gem Steve. I learn something new every day. Re: Point cloud selection Im not really sure what the solution is for this one. I would suggest creating a new database, and importing the PTX file at the top level. By doing this from scratch it may eliminate the possiblilty that something got currupted the first time.If that does not work then I am sure that Leica will get back to you soon.Matt Re: How to start a research center in 3D scanning Hi there, the National Physical Laboratory (http://www.npl.co.uk/) here in the uk is starting to set up Freeform Metrology Centre using laser scanning among other things. I believe, with a view to having several different of scanning systems in one place. It sounds very similar to your project. The chap to contact is Dr Michael McCarthy: michael.mccarthy@npl.co.uk Regards Joe Parsons, ps thanks for the mention Sean Re: Point cloud selection Thanks Mark, This option is already ticked. I try to find the solutions by checking some others options. Anyway, is there any solutions to "re-load" the clouds of point ? If I try to do a new View, the clouds of point is not display. Is it normal ? Romuald Re: Creating points in Cyclone You are the Best Steven! Thanks a lot! tank1.jpg Regards, Delio Pontes Re: Point cloud selection One thing you could check is the view properties. Select 'View' from the dropdown menu and then select 'View Object as'. The check box for selectable on Point Clouds may need to be ticked. View Prop.jpg Other than that im not sure what it could be. Re: How to start a research center in 3D scanning Can I ask why you are setting this research center up and your thoughts behind the project? Re: How to start a research center in 3D scanning Hi Guys, thanking each one of you for the information! after looking at some of the information online, I need specialists who can actually conduct such surveys it is not enough to just buy the equipment and rely of less experienced people. How much additional training should i expect? If i buy products from leica, do you get some sort of training with the equipment or this is something completely different? At our university, there is not even a single person who has used such an instrument. We are still speaking about India here. assuming I want to showcase the entire technology, by lets say scanning one monument and hire some company to do the work. How much would it cost me? How many people do you need for such a scanning activity team of 2-3 or are we speaking 10-15 people? Cheers, Amit Re: Trimble Scanning software Hello Daniel, I will try to answer my best to all your questions. the_wu wrote:I never had the chance to check out the software packages that come with the trimble scanners. Can somebody tell me some pros and cons about the software? There is 2 scans soft : Pointscape for GS/GX scanner and FXControler for the FX scanner. Really 2 different kind of way to manage the 2 laser scanning technologys. the_wu wrote:Has anyone got experience with pipe modeler? No, I do not have it the_wu wrote:If there's somebody out there who used cyclone and the trimble stuff: which one is faster in processing (registration, e.g. approximation of pipes)? For registration Cyclone and RWS survey are doing same, it is just the way to obtain the result. Trimble Team is working very hard on Realworks survey to get new functions, quick results... I could tell tou more if you have any precise questions. But I do not have enough time to describe all the differencies. Globally, the avantage of each : Cyclone is able to load huge clouds of point /RWS is more friendly user interface and more powerful function. But maybe I am not very objectiv because my company have a link very strong with Trimble. the_wu wrote:Is it possible to compare a meshed cloud with a point cloud to compare geometrical deviations and to view them colour coded (inspection)? Yes, it is possible. Have a look of what I do with Realworks software on the web site of my companyhttp://www.urbica.net/en/processus/processus_topographie.php Do not hesitate for more details. Romuald Re: Point cloud selection Hello Matt,I have the Register licence and Publisher. That's all we need from Cyclone. My problem happens in the model space, when I want to pick the cloud to fit automatically the Sheric target.For information, the option selectable is available for the clouds of point, the clouds is display but no possibility to pick it.The Hotline of Leica did not have any solutions. They should call me back to tell me what to do but I am waiting.Romuald Re: VZ-400 I have read that this scanner can do precise fine scans of reflective retro targets. Does anyone know if this is true? Re: Crearing points in Cyclone DelioIf the ground surface is now clean, Copy the data to a new modelsapace and remove the wall's ( a region grow Smooth surface would do it) or manually delete the walls. then do youy unifiy to remove the extra data around the tripod.Create a tin mesh of the ground then you can create a perfect grid of the mesh from the Tools, Mesh, Sample grid option. Re: Crearing points in Cyclone Hi Delio,I dont think there is an option to automatically generate the points. You could try making a mesh of the data and then decimate the mesh, but you would still need to place vertex's manually. Re: CloudWorx point size You could export an ortho image of the data from Cyclone and then import the image into AutoCad. This should allow you to see the same detail you get with Cyclone. Re: Point cloud selection Romuald,There are different commands available with different licences. It may be that you need a model license, or it may be that the license you have is not loaded. You can check license information in the cyclone navigator under 'Help', 'Display License'.For the specific functions that you need and the correct license, I would contact Leica.Hope it helps,Matt Re: CloudWorx point size If you didn't want to use Rhino then Pointools Model allows you to increase the point size and works inside AutoCAD, so you could draw the way you want with the settings that you require. Point cloud selection Hello,I'm starting with Cyclone (my company buy one version to be able to do registration and Trueview).I import few PTX point clouds whitout any problems.Now, I am at the step to recognize the sphere. With main stations, I do not have problems. But for some of them, something strange appears and I do not know how to solve it :The point clouds can not be selected. I recognize sphere and Cyclone change the avaibility of the selection clouds. The icons in menu bar are not available, I can not center on the clouds... I do not understund what's happen.I do nothing else than go to view mode, pick mode, center and Fit to cloud sherical target.Is anybody have an idea of what is the problem and how to solve it ?ThanksRomuald Creating points in Cyclone Hi all, I will decimate the 3d points cloud to have between points 0.20m. But I need first, create points in the ground using the others around Exist any option in cyclone to create points automatic? Tank.jpg Regards, Delio Pontes Re: Close range scanners My favourite close range 3D scanner so far is the GOM Atos II. I haven't had the possibility to check the new ATOS III but it should be sweet as well: http://www.gom.com/EN/index.html If you want to have more information about the system, feel free to contact me. best regards from Perth, WA Daniel Re: How to start a research center in 3D scanning Hello, I have worked mainly in cultural heritage and archeology over the past 6 years and we had a bunch of scanners that we used: GOM Atos series Leica HDS 2500, 3000, 6000 Mensi S25 Riegl Z 640 Faro LS 880 Faro titanium arm with model maker x 70 and so on and so forth... we used many software packages and you'll probably have to develop some stuff on your own. Some results can be found here: http://www.i3mainz.fh-mainz.de/index.ph ... ekte_e.php best regards, Daniel Re: CloudWorx point size I am drawing white road lines onto a topo survey done by traditional methods. I was going to draw the lines in autocad onto the point cloud, but when I zoom in it is harder to see what colour the points are and I wanted to increase the point size just for clarity.Following our phone conversation I may well just draw the lines in cyclone itself and export them into cad for the drawing and then into n4ce for the moss model. Re: CloudWorx point size What are you trying to do to need an increase of point size. Re: How to start a research center in 3D scanning Hi yep every one has come up with some good stuff I would add, dont just look at lasers, you may need images based systems and dont for get old GPS when doing that kind of work. They work side by side and can realy add to the data pool. Dont forget in cost Post prosessing software and Hardware, big data sets need big PCs and lots of HD space. Editing tools dont tend to be cheap but as a academic based center you can cut a deal with Joint reserch I know I have in the past There are a lot of centers in the EU that have been set up along your lines have a look at http://www.liverpoolmuseums.org.uk/cons ... hnologies/ they not only scan but use the new laser cleaning tools which they say works grate I had a look around last year and very impreseve. University college London also has a good center with an Arius3d system (note not cheap) Dont forget old Cyberware there still in there for the smaller work. but best thing to start with is a link to industry and a nice fat reserch grant from some where. Biuld it from there, I have done a number of projects that way and its good if it works. hope that helps sean v Re: CloudWorx point size Well that's a pain. I may do it in rhino then. Re: CloudWorx point size Cloudworx for Autocad NoCloudworx for Microstation Yes CloudWorx point size Can you increase the point size in cloudworx like you can in cyclone, pointools et al? Re: Hand Scanner it looks very similar to this one (FastSCAN): http://www.polhemus.com/?page=Scanning_Fastscan does anyone knows where can i find IM merge manual? i try to do the merging and the file i want to merge consist of 70000points. after 2hours of merging pops out an error "small block memory size".help.... Re: Latest Scanning Project 2.5km of Pylons You drove past it today. Ha Ha Hand Scanner Does any one recognize the hand held scanner being used in this picture? fig10EEscanning.jpg This is the link to the full story. http://www.si.edu/mci/english/research/conservation/deer_stones.html Re: Latest Scanning Project 2.5km of Pylons stevenramsey wrote:Great to see it all finished, Great work Ben. It's still a bit sad that I can recognise which stretch of motorway it is. Seriously? You need to get out more (of your car) lol. Nice work Ben. Re: Latest Scanning Project 2.5km of Pylons Great to see it all finished, Great work Ben. It's still a bit sad that I can recognise which stretch of motorway it is. Re: Latest Scanning Project 2.5km of Pylons good work Ben... :O) Latest Scanning Project 2.5km of Pylons Re: Lamborghini Reventon WIP I am pretty sure now that I want to go with yellow but still not sure about a scene yet. Maybe a street scene with some buildings I have created in the past or inside a warehouse type environment which I would have to create from scratch. Here is something I created while messing around with sunlight. Re: Creating Cross Sections in Cyclone Some people use an image file... Create a vertical slice using 'set slice from picks' tool and set the slice thickness to whatever you desire. Then set the offset amount to 1m for example. When you then use the step forward/step back tool you will be jumping to view slices at 1m intervals. Once in side view, simply export as an ortho image (ensure you are in ortho-projection mode) and you will have an image and a twf file with orientation, position and scale info to drop into CAD should you so wish... you can draw over this or plot it out directly... Just an idea... Re: How to start a research center in 3D scanning If you are based within a University it might be worth checking out the VISTA Project at the University of Birmingham. This is who I used to work for - they have a very successful 3D data capture suite with a full range of different instruments, software and, essentially, people who know how to use it. See http://www.vista.bham.ac.uk/ Re: PinPoint 3D Just installing it now - will let you know how I get on... fingers crossed! Re: Easy Laser Scanning Project :))) Matt Young wrote:Delio, Looks like a nice job. How did your Total Station data compare with what you scanned? Matt Hi Matt, I still not start the office work of this project. When I finish I will show here the final results. I Hope that I will not have problems with this check... All the scanners were done in the top of the wall to not have a bad angle incision. Regards, Delio Pontes Re: File Splitter Fun you did remeber to put the .imp at the end of the output name? Re: Easy Laser Scanning Project :))) Delio,Looks like a nice job. How did your Total Station data compare with what you scanned?Matt Re: Lamborghini Reventon WIP Ive got to agree on the yellow, it looks the best. Re: File Splitter Fun Hi Phill,I dont think the origional file path should matter, its just a record of where the file came from before it was split.I have only used FileSplitter a few times myself, and have not seen the same error. Have you tried Leica Support?Sorry that I cant help.Matt Re: Lamborghini Reventon WIP It's a Lambo, Yellow it should be. File Splitter Fun Hey all I have only used the file splitter a couple of times, but I am trying to merg an old database. I keep getting the error "Given block file D:\Cyclone Jobs\Concourse combined.imp.001.csf was not created from" In the Oringinal File Path is just has a C which I cannot change. Has anyone had this error and do they know how to fix it. Cheers Phill Re: Lamborghini Reventon WIP Gunmetal all the way. Re: Lamborghini Reventon WIP Started hitting this thing with some color. Trying to decide if I want to use the gunmetal grey type color the Reventon comes in or to go with something else. I still have a long way to go but this is where I am at now. Re: Creating Cross Sections in Cyclone I don't know if you have access to the Cyclone II Topo module, but if you do, I found it to be much more useful for cross sections of buildings and other objects that don't mesh well. You have to alter the UCS to make the software think it is ground data, but you are able to trace point cloud data rather quickly at user defined intervals and the vertical exaggeration tool is also handy. Re: 2nd scanning job I just got back from Houston TX, I am going to start on the modeling next week. I will post final result soon.ThanksChris Re: How to start a research center in 3D scanning Hi Amit We do alot of heritage scanning recording / replicating of monuments etc. We specialise in close range scanning so feel free to ask regarding those types of scanners. We did some work a couple of years ago with english heritage and others that was published in this PDF it might be useful: http://www.helm.org.uk/upload/pdf/publi ... eprint.pdf Joe Re: Paper Targets The lamination really affects things poorly - bad at 90 degrees because of high reflectance, bad at an angle because of low reflectance and beam refraction. One trick we use is spraying a layer of aquanet (heavy hairspray) on the paper target after applying. This helps for a while when its very humid. We also had some of our paper targets printed on flexible magnetic material at a sign shop. These are real handy on flat steel surfaces. You can use a dry erase marker to add notations. they are water proof and will stay in place indefinitely. What we would like to find is a target with a "post-it note" style adhesive backing that will come off easier. The adhesive laser labels we use are very difficult to get off of anything really smooth. We had over three hundred adhesive paper targets in use on our last job, most of which were left in place. All were printed on a $200 inkjet printer (about half were printed at the hotel as needed). big cost savings, very handy to be able to put a target anywhere we though it would be helpful. Homemade Scanning Laser Color Projector/TV No MEMS micromirror, no AOM. In this project, by means of two mirrors (which can be tilted about two perpendicular axis) we deflect the laser beam so as to scan a rectangular screen and modulate the laser source to obtain a colored image on the screen. We don’t make use of sophisticated devices such as MEMS micromirror and acousto-optical-modulators. Max. speed of the fast axis mirror is 25 KHz. That corresponds to 50000 back and fro lines per second. In order to make use of the conventional video signal, the resonant frequency of the present scanner is tuned to 15625Hz. Therefore number scanned lines in each frame is 625. Refresh rate is 25 frames (50 fields) per second. Vibrations of both axis are resonant, therefore sinusoidal. Slow axis is driven by piezo. Fast axis is elecromagnetically driven. Laser modulation is analog. http://www.photonlexicon.com/forums/alb ... lbumid=104 And related videos on Youtube posted by sltvm2007 and sltvm2008 Re: Easy Laser Scanning Project :))) Delio,Thanks for posting this project, its great to see the HDS3000 put to good use in the rinery industry.Keep posting the images on your work, well done. Re: Creating Cross Sections in Cyclone