By the time you get the software these things are not cheap......brrrrr..
Congrats!
What setup did you go with??? Why?
before you start, sit down and figure out some of the details and NAMING schemes
we started 2 before we figured out the 'right' naming scheme
But You'll find it's well worth the investment! I've been working with them for nearly 10 years, my mum saw it 10 years ago and decided she had to have one as she could see so many potential uses for it. And she doesn't regret it at all! Although we were one of 5 scanners in the uk at the time, so it was easy to be impressed! Just remember to think beyond only using it for MBS! So which kit did you go for?
> By the time you get the software these things are not cheap......brrrrr..
What did you get and why? I recall you being a Trimble Guy, did you go that route?
Ralph
Faro. After studying them a lot, I decided that the Faro was best for me. It is apparently a lot faster and more accurate on short distances such as less than 175 feet. I was stunned at its accuracy, which I checked by shooting a structure from two different positions. The other scanners are better for extra long range, but I weighed the amount of time it takes to do more scans faster and considering view blockage. Spent a lot of time figuring out what I needed to do, and I hope I made the right decision. It is a phase-based scanner instead of a time-of-flight scanner, which apparently is MUCH faster. Overlays photos from its internal camera. Weighs only about 11 pounds. I can get a good 360 scan with huge density of points in about 30 minutes. I windowed a target on a side of a house in a scan, and the windowed area was about 4 ft square and it was not that close, and there were 70,000 points in it. With this thing, you push a button and get out of the way.
I got it mainly for my forensic work.
I'd love to know how you broke into the forensic market. I made contact with a few police agencies a few years back but none even acknowledged my pitch.
Mine is mostly engineering regarding lawsuits that have to do with failures of objects ranging from baby crib failures to structural failures to hydraulics issues. I still do survey boundary issues and accident scenes. I could not justify a scanner for accident scenes. Scanner is just one of a lot of tools.
I think almost ALL police agencies have a scanner these days or access to one from another regional or statewide office, in addition almost every PD of any size has a total station here on the west coast, every major crime or accident scene that makes the news has a photo of law enforcement personnel with surveying equipment.
One thing that technology has done is actually close some markets for surveyors. What I see is a trend where if a (potential) client or client group can buy equipment and do the work themselves, they will.
SHG
Faro is a good unit. Make sure unit is on a stable platform, vibration is the enemy !!
175' is ideal circumstances, full resolution.
50' is what we get at 1/4 resolution and it takes a high power pc to process...lots of ram and fast cpu.
jimbo
Forensic surveying
Contact the lawyers who specialize in accident lawsuits, both defense and plaintiff.
What size are the typical CAD files? I know.... "Depends". But on average, what is the file size and how much testosterone does my Dell need to process the data without bogging down? -thanx
We in our survey dept. don't do the cad. We create the point cloud and pass it on usually. We are generally doing industrial work with the FARO.
Ours is piping etc that is 3D modeled.
Ya need 16G ram - minimum (more is better) and as many MHZ in your multicore CPU as your wallet can handle. I have a laptop with 8G ram, and a 3MHZ 4 core Intel and it can handle about 6-8 scans (Faro 1/4 resolution) before crashing. It will put more together if your are careful loading and unloading when trying to register. Scans sizes progress virtually geometrically like areas and not linear.....1/4 is = size 1 so 1/2= size 4 so 1 = size 8 ROUGHLY.
I feel distances are stated for PERFECT conditions. Daytime in sunlight --> 1/4 resolution can do 50' but is GOOD at 30'±. 1/2 resolution at 60' is OK but can be sketchy. We have never done a full - time and PC power !!
I do not like the Scene self-registration - issues to complex to explain but it will get it wrong often when several scans are included.
The Spheres are OK but I like targets and surveyed targets to determine coordinates. Also issues in 4.xx with surveyd targets.
jimbo
I agree that the software is weak. I referenced two scans together yesterday, and they showed good rms statistic in couple millimeter range, but they were off several feet. Disappointing. I might have done something wrong, but I sure can't figure it out. Will try tech support. I will be using third party software.
merging scans goes better with a dual compensator on board and on the fly registration. Below are a couple CADD cloud screen shots. Of course you have to pay more for the functionality.
