I have been using various types of CAD and Reality Capture softwares for many years now and one thing that I have found to stay constant over those years is as a user, I am almost always wishing for more. Those wishes are hopes for a feature that may save me time or simply make a task easier or faster. Unfortunately, software companies can't just read my mind and make it happen. I have filled out one software suggestion after another only to never see those features come to fruition. Lately, I have been getting a little concerned that maybe, just maybe Leica is listening to my Google home or has my house bugged because every time I wish they had something in their software, it seems to come out within a few releases! Of course, I am joking there but it is quite the coincidence the features I am looking for always seem to appear. Field 360 version 4.1.0 has provided us with a list of excellent new features.
The first feature to discuss is something I think anyone who has been using Field 360 has wanted for a long time. Calculating redundant links to close loops now allows us to create closed loops between scan setups. Previously unavailable, closing loops now saves us office work if the person scanning the project takes the time to create the loops. The data can then be checked utilizing the link creation criteria in Register 360.
With this version of the software, Leica has really shown their focus is on being able to complete the majority of the processing work in the field on a mobile device. Continuing that theme, you can now optimize an entire bundle while in the field. While it's not a the most amazing new feature, it does help us adjust our field registration to be the best it can be on a mobile device.
Once the data has been optimized, we can use another new tool to check how well or how poorly the registration has been optimized. Probably my favorite new tool with this release is the Slicing Tool. By slicing the point cloud we can show only a thin portion of a cloud in order to see how the data fits together. The image below shows a cloud thinly sliced where I have purposely moved a scan so the registration will be off. The left image shows what the cloud looks like when it is not sliced and the right shows with the slice. As you can see, it is much easier to tell my registration is off looking at the slice.
Every once in a while I will hear some say they wish there were more points to look at in the Visual Alignment tool. Those people have gotten their wish! Leica has upped the level of detail in the linking and alignment modes. I do have to admit that it is very nice to have the extra detail.
In older versions of the app, we had the capability to send individual scans to an E57 or PTX file. Version 4.1 offers us the ability to send entire bundles to these file formats. This can be valuable if you have to get the data off to a client but are in the field without access to a computer. Your client can then import the data to another point cloud processing software if they need to.
Speaking of exporting, we now have the ability to save single or multiple jobs to an archive file (RAF) file. I have to admit when I saw this feature, I thought "eh, who is really going to do that?". After thinking about it for a bit, this feature could be a real game changer for people trying to get the data from the field to a computer back at the office without processing the data on a computer. Even though point cloud data can sometimes be very large, a cellular device could begin an upload as soon as a project is completed without person collecting the data making the trip back to the office. That RAF can then be imported to Register 360 in the office, optimized and cleaned up for other uses.
Continuing the exporting thought, Leica's parent company Hexagon is creating a cloud storage site known as HxDR. While the site is not yet fully operational it looks like it will be a fantastic solution in the future. I am not leaking any secrets, you can look for yourself at hxdr.com. I hope this will be released this year!
I follow a lot of different people on LinkedIn. Many of those people are clients or connections who also work within the 3D laser scanning world. Every day that goes by it seems more and more of those connections are receiving their BLK360 G2 scanners. This is relevant to this article because the new version of the Field 360 app has the option to store only LWPO (Light Weight Proxy Object) data on their mobile device. Utilizing this feature conserves space on the mobile device so we aren't filling the storage with point cloud data. LWPO data on your mobile device certainly does conserve the space but it does also comes with some trade offs. For instance, using LWPO means we have to remove the data from the scanner using the USB cable and not the ipad. I like the tradeoff here because I prefer the speed of the USB cable anyway.
If you have worked with point cloud data at any point during your career, you know the file size can be rather large.
What's New:
- Calculate redundant links to close loops
- Optimize bundles
- Increased level of details in linking and alignment mode
- Slicer tool to inspect registration results
- Export registered bundles to .e57 and .ptx
- Publish registered bundles to HxDR
- Save single or multiple jobs to an archive file for later import to Cyclone Register360 or another instance of Cyclone FIELD 360
- Option to store only light-weight data on the mobile device for the all new BLK360 scanners
- HD mode for the LiDAR functionality on capable devices with more than 10 GB of RAM
- Data security indicator mirrored from RTC360 scanners
- Option to remove stored scanners from the list
- Various bug fixes and stability improvements
About the Author
Follow on Linkedin More Content by Jay Meszar
