GLOBAL digital reality solutions provider Hexagon has unveiled a brand new high-productivity structured light scanner.
Built on a completely re-engineered platform, the SmartScan VR800 is the first optical 3D scanner on the market with a motorised zoom lens that enables users to adjust data resolution and measurement volume entirely through software settings.
This greatly improves the productivity of quality inspection while further facilitating workflows with more efficient post-scanning alignment processes, including the ability to combine scans of different resolutions within a single project.
Whereas conventional structured light scanners have a fixed optical configuration, the combination of dual stereo cameras and optical zoom-enabled projection makes the SmartScan VR800 far more flexible by allowing users to define in exactly which form they collect their data.
Three new software functions – Smart Resolution, Smart Zoom and Smart Snap – allow the user to customise inspection resolution and measurement volume with no mechanical alterations to the system.
That means data-heavy high-resolution scans can be focused on the feature-rich areas that matter most, while other areas can be covered more efficiently by larger and/or lower resolution scans.
The new system simplifies the scanning process from start to finish:
- Easily adjust scan detail and size with software, no manual changes needed;
- Mix detailed and broad scans into one model for faster results; and
- Process scans quicker by cutting down on excess data while keeping the essential detail they need.
“The need to change optics for different use cases has always been a key challenge when implementing structured light scanning inspection solutions,” commented Hexagon’s general manager (portable metrology devices) Pirmin Bitzi.
“Finding a solution to that industry-wide problem was a key motivator for us – we wanted a way to meet the demands of the many applications where it’s not efficient to scan everything at high resolutions and neither acceptable to scan everything at lower resolutions. That’s what we’ve strived to achieve with the VR800.”
Structured light scanning, otherwise known as white light scanning or simply optical 3D scanning, is a camera-based measurement technology that can deliver extremely high-resolution part data in seconds.
Other structured light scanners on the market are stereo-camera systems with typically two 5-16 MP camera units. The VR800 uses four 20 MP cameras in a dual stereo set-up for a wider range of measurement volumes.
This is uniquely combined with an optical-zoom digital projection unit that makes it possible to measure different volumes (three from each camera pair) as well as vary the resolution within each volume. – March 7, 2024
