You simply can’t go into a cathedral, petroleum refinery, or metropolitan multi-use entertainment facility and measure with rulers and expect to get the accuracy you need to confidently design renovations.

Laser scanning is the only way to do it.

Up until recently, BIM users would take a set of “asbuilt drawings” put them into a 3D modeling program and create a computer model to work from. Now, after several years of doing that, the harsh realization has surfaced that there are many discrepancies between the “record drawings” and the actual environment to be constructed.

If it’s sheetrock and wood, it can be adjusted to fit. But if it’s glass, steel, concrete or mechanical equipment, a seemingly small error can grow very costly as it is much harder to warp and bend. (Putting expensive new equipment into an area that is too small is a nightmare for the installer, designer, engineer and the insurance company.)

These new 3D laser scanning technologies have dramatically changed the surveying industry – and they have changed it fast. But to really understand the evolution, let’s take a step back….

2004: 360-Degree Scans

The first 360-degree scanners came onto the scene around 2004. Before that, if you wanted to scan something above your head, you had to tilt the scanner back and scan at a steep angle, as most only had a 120-degree scan ability on the vertical axis. Several companies came out with full straight scanners about this time that made it much easier.

2006: Time-of-Flight Scans

The next evolution was time-of flight scanners. In 2006, a time-of-flight scanner took about 45 minutes to one hour for a complete 360-degree scan. If you could do 8-10 scans a day, you were doing very well. Today, the same can be done in about 12-15 minutes, depending on the density you want a scan.

At our firm, our first scanning projects were roads. In a very complicated area, we would scan 1”X 1”. The time-of-fight scanners back then could collect 4,000 points per second. Now they can easily collect 50,000 points per second!

2008: Phased-Based Scans

Today’s phase-based scanners collect 2,000,000 points per second and can create a ¼-inch x ¼-inch pattern at a distance of about 100 feet. This is incredible and as fast and dense as the average user needs. The hardware will eventually get better, faster and cheaper, but phase-based scanning is effective, stable, and provides the ability to scan almost anything in a reasonable about of time.

Present: Scan to BIM

Today, the big research money is going towards Scan to BIM technology, which converts billions of points in the point cloud into useful data.

Several companies have begun addressing this including small independent companies like Pointools, which came up with a way for scanners to recognize flat surfaces. (As small as this may seem, it is a huge advancement.) The program will also recognize pipes and model them automatically about 50% of the time. (Another major advancement.)

Now many of the pipe programs are getting to the same place and advancing the ball. Currently, we are at what I call the “Model T Ford” in software programs, but every year the programs get better.

The next evolution

Having now scanned may very complex areas in industrial sites, we have had a chance to compare them to the asbuilt drawings. In the horizontal view, they are generally close geometrically to the actual. But in their vertical axis, the pipes and duct work in the asbuilt drawings are rarely correct.

There are many reasons for this, but most often it is because the process is so difficult that when an installer sees an easier path, he generally takes it.

“Record drawings,” or asbuilt surveys, are rarely done after the work is complete. Typically, the conversation goes something like this: “Here are the design drawings. Redline any changes that you made.”

There is not a lot of motivation to do a totally new survey. But if a design team takes these documents and models them into their computer programs, they are unknowingly creating multiple problems for the contractor on the new job.

We recently took a set of asbuilt documents for a complex project, modeled them and then compared them to the point cloud to do a clash detection to determine potential interferences. The outcome was eye opening.

Few of the pipes, ducts, waterlines or fire lines in the ceiling were in the place shown on the record drawings. If these documents had been used, the MEP contractors would have spent ten times our fee “field fitting” the new utilities inside the old.

With the utility and cost of laser scanning, it would be smart to use one on every renovation project. If for nothing else, insurance! Just one field fit can sometimes cost far more than the scan itself.

If you scan the environment and put the proposed design into the point cloud, you can tell in just a few minutes where the major interferences will be. We have found conflicts that would have taken upwards of $100,000 to fix if they had to be field-changed during construction. Some were fatal flaws in the required design clearance that could not have been achieved and a totally new design would have had to been submitted.

Scanning to BIM is a big and extremely important step in surveying. Right now, it is the design software that is trying to catch up with the scanning potential. Already this year, several new programs have come out that are much better at accepting point clouds and computer models, but they still have a long way to go.

Not having a design based on a laser scan of the actual environment is a risk that few designers should take. I know I wouldn’t want to tell an owner that there is a construction problem that could have been avoided with a relatively inexpensive laser scan.

Laser scanning has evolved from a “luxury” to a best practice and it’s not a step that any prudent designer should skip.

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Tate Jones has over 40 years of experience in land and aerial surveying and was one of the country’s earliest adopters of 3D laser scanning technology. A nationally recognized expert in the field of 3D data capture, he has worked with hundreds of clients in the engineering, architectural and construction industries. Contact him at tjones@lasurveying.com or visit www.landairsurveying.com.

Fast-forward to February 2010.

In a small, little known rock shelter at a national park in Idaho, vandals used spray paint to deface ancient Nez Perce tribal pictographs, estimated to be some 2,500 years old. In addition to having both cultural and spiritual significance to the Nez Perce tribe, the rock shelter is located in a national park on federal land, which makes it a very serious crime.

LandAir Surveying worked with the Archaeological Damage Investigation and Assessment (ADIA), the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers, and the FBI to assist in a federal investigation to prosecute the vandals and document the destruction.

This wasn’t your everyday survey.

Our crews packed up their gear and boarded a plane to Idaho. Then they rented a car and drove to an access point on the Snake River in Hells River Canyon, where a jet boat was waiting to take them to the crime scene. The ride down river was exciting and rigorous, and the drop-off point was a small piece of land in the middle of the wilderness.

The colors and materials used to create the ancient drawings made it very difficult to capture all of the detail in the pictographs. After multiple scans – using a combination of laser scanners and GPS – over two trips, our crew was able to collect enough data to create detailed images of the rock face, as well as the defaced pictographs themselves.

Once processed, the data was presented to the Nez Perce elders, many of whom were very angry as they were seeing the vandalism for the first time. When we returned, we created color drawings, digital files and spherical photography that was used to evaluate and document the damage.

But ultimately, just two years later, justice was theirs.

Two Idaho men were eventually arrested and prosecuted for willful injury or depredation of U.S. property and were sentenced this February to federal prison and fines of more than $33,000 each for defacing the pictographs. A third man is set for sentencing in June.

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Tate Jones has over 40 years of experience in land and aerial surveying and was one of the country’s earliest adopters of 3D laser scanning technology. A nationally recognized expert in the field of 3D data capture, he has worked with hundreds of clients in the forensic engineering, law enforcement, criminal defense, architectural and construction industries. Contact him at tjones@3DForensicScans.com, division of the LandAir Surveying company.

Engineers use laser scans to work with real-world conditions in complex industrial as-built and plant environments. Construction companies use them to gather precise data on site terrain and renovations, and architects use them to check proposed design models against existing conditions to fine-tune their designs.

Even insurance companies and law enforcement have gotten on board, utilizing the technology to recreate large-scale accident scenes.

Why is it better? For one, laser scans are incredibly precise. Images are created from a “point cloud” of millions of points that can be measured precisely including the distances and elevations between points. They are also versatile. The scans, when used with digital color photos, can produce survey-quality files, videos or even 3D animated computer models and are so intuitive that even a novice can understand the information.

Laser scans are also fast. In 2006, when we bought our first scanner, it took almost an hour to produce a full dome 360 degree scan. Now we can scan in 6-8 minutes. This allows us to take many more scans and capture more detail than we did before.

Scanning almost always pays for itself. It is cheaper in the long run because you can revisit the original scan multiple times from your computer desktop without having to revisit the project site. Also, because the technology is so precise, the need for construction reworks and expensive retrofitting is minimized or removed alltogether.

For firms thinking about getting involved with this technology, there are currently three ways to capture 3D data on large scale projects: Airborne LiDAR (Light Detection And Ranging), Mobile LiDAR, and Terrestrial Scanners, which all produce LiDAR data.

Typical projects for terrestrial scanners are large pipes and tunnels, manufacturing facilities, plant process facilities, airport conveyor systems, bridges, buildings, towers and construction projects. (Our firm focuses on terrestrial jobs, as most cannot be readily scanned from airplanes or cars.)

The cost of entry into this kind of scanning is generally between $150,000 to $250,000 for the first units and software. (Although less expensive scanners are now available, software packages can still be expensive and the cost of training should also be considered.)

Aerial platforms and Mobile Platforms start at $500,000 and go up to $5,000,000. These units are constantly being upgraded with newer and better digital sensors and data management enhancements. We currently work with service contractors on these types of jobs, which are typically focused on documenting civil infrastructure on a much larger scale than terrestrial scans.

Projects could include scanning 100 miles of road to prepare a pavement analysis, mapping 1,000 miles of rail line, or mapping the City of Atlanta and producing 3D models of all the buildings.

If the cost of these units seems intimidating, keep in mind that firms that have already invested in these technologies are often open to partnering opportunities with smaller firms.

Small scanning focuses on objects the size of a Volkswagen all the way down to the mechanical components inside of a watch. The applications in this field – commonly referred to as “reverse engineering” – include quality control of manufactured parts or data capture for a manufactured process. A typical project could be scanning an ornate stair rail so that an exact replica can be created from wood, metal or composite.

This scanning method is so precise that you could dissemble a toaster, rifle or carburetor, scan the parts, manufacture duplicates, and they would all work when re-assembled.

What can be scanned?

If it can be built, it can be scanned. There is virtually nothing built that cannot be duplicated and modeled with current scanning techniques.

In addition to the engineering, construction and manufacturing industries, this technology is also being used by insurance companies and law enforcement to reconstruct accident scenes – like when a highway bridge falls during rush-hour traffic or a multi-car pile-up – and even on Hollywood sets. There are companies that make their living scanning elaborate movie sets before and after they are constructed.

To give you an idea of the wide-ranging capabilities of this technology, in the last month, we have scanned a 120-foot pipe in Chicago, a 737 aircraft in Delaware, a luggage system in LaGuardia, and the interior of a peppermill in Virginia. This technology is everywhere!

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Tate Jones has over 40 years of experience in land and aerial surveying and was one of the country’s earliest adopters of 3D laser scanning technology. A nationally recognized expert in the field of 3D data capture, he has worked with hundreds of clients in the engineering, architectural and construction industries. Contact him at tjones@3DLaserSurveys.com or visit www.3DLaserSurveys.com.

When the dust settled, 13 were dead and more than 145 injured.

The bridge was Minnesota’s fifth busiest, carrying 140,000 vehicles each day. Eventually, the NTSB cited a design flaw – plus additional weight on the bridge at the time of the collapse – as the likely cause. It was one of the country’s worst infrastructure accidents in history.

When most people think of “forensics,” images of CSI and police dusting for fingerprints immediately come to mind. But do you also think of accident reconstruction and lasers?

In 2007, at the time of the bridge collapse, our firm was one of the first to use 3D laser scanning technology. When we heard about the bridge, we made some calls to the local authorities and offered our scanning services. The response was very positive. (Because of the magnitude of the disaster, the FBI ended-up scanning the site.)

The advantage and need for laser scanning in a case like this is to preserve the scene exactly as it is. On that evening in Minneapolis, the scene was changing, literally, as the rescue was taking place.

Cars were being checked and retrieved, pieces of the bridge were being moved, and all of this was taking place in a river. The precision of high-definition laser scanning and the ability to stay out of the way of first responders and rescue teams was very important.

Once scanned, the data files and photos of the scene could be sent directly to forensic engineers, the Department of Transportation, structural experts, bridge experts and many other engineers and contractors to begin collaborating on the information and building 3D computer models and animation.

Reconstruction is a critical because understanding how the bridge landed could be an excellent predictor of how it originally fell, which could lead to the point of the initial failure and ultimate collapse.

Unfortunately, these types of structural accidents happen all of the time. Recently, there have been several events here in Atlanta where this 3D scanning technology was used or could have been used.

Remember the bus accident on I-75 at Northside Drive, also in 2007? Six were killed when the bus carrying the Bluffton University baseball team tumbled over the highway overpass and hit the ground 30 feet below. The scene was scanned to run a simulation of what might have happened. Investigators later determined that the driver mistook the exit ramp for a lane and went into the curve at full speed.

Or what about the collapse of the elevated pedestrian bridge at the Atlanta Botanical Gardens in 2008 that killed one and injured 18? This is another example of a site similar to the Minneapolis bridge collapse, but on a much smaller scale.

Another example was when a 170-foot section of the railing and fencing along Atlanta’s 17^th Street Bridge came loose and crashed to the interstate below in 2011.

All of these are good examples of where 3D laser scanning technology was (or could have been) an excellent choice.

Tate Jones has over 40 years of experience in land and aerial surveying and was one of the country’s earliest adopters of 3D laser scanning technology. A nationally recognized expert in the field of 3D data capture, he has worked with hundreds of clients in the forensic engineering, law enforcement, criminal defense, architectural and construction industries. Contact him at tjones@3DForensicScans.com.

The contractor hired for the renovation had a seemingly impossible task: build a new conveyor system while the old one was still in operation. No matter what, the luggage movers had to keep going.

Together, the contractor and a team of laser surveyors spent seven days scanning the site with high-speed scanners. They worked at night, when airport traffic was lightest, and when the final registered point cloud was compared to the proposed 3D model of the new conveyor system, critical clashes were detected.

By uncovering the interferences early, the contractor saved thousands in construction and re-manufacturing dollars.

Click here for the full case study.

High-definition scanning is changing the construction, architecture and engineering industries. The beauty of laser scanning is its ability to gather detailed data that the client doesn’t even know they need at the time, but will prove useful down the road.

In addition to being incredibly precise, scans can be used to produce point clouds, digital color photos, survey-quality files, computer models and videos from the scans of multiples views. You can insert animation or virtual buildings, roads and people to show proposed areas; or insert design drawings from BIM to check for clash or interference.

And once the site is scanned and processed, anyone – from analysts to engineers – can access it anytime. All you need to check and recheck engineering quality data is a desktop computer.

The cost savings of avoiding reconstruction and re-engineering far outweigh the cost of the scan itself. And, as with most things, isn’t it cheaper to get it right the first time?

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Tate Jones has over 40 years of experience in land and aerial surveying and was one of the country’s earliest adopters of 3D laser scanning technology. A nationally recognized expert in the field of 3D data capture, he has worked with hundreds of clients in the engineering, architectural and construction industries. Contact him at tjones@3DLaserSurveys.com or visit www.3DLaserSurveys.com.

First, surveying with a scanner is not the same as with a total station or GPS. For one, there are no field notes – just lots of data points and photographic files.

Another important distinction is the line of site requirement. When a survey crew sets up a survey instrument, they are typically looking for a line of site to the next point. That’s not the case with a scanner, which requires a more focused coverage. Some setups may only be 15 feet from the last if you need to get more views of a complicated structure.

With laser scanning, it is common to gather data that the client does not need at the time, but may need to use later. Once a site is scanned and post-processed, engineers and analysts can check and re-check engineering quality data on a desktop computer any time.

Computer power plays a significant role in successful laser scanning. The post-processing of laser scanned data is critical and can be tedious on older computers. Before buying into scanning technology, invest in at least 64-bit machines with fast graphics cards and as much RAM memory as possible.

You may want one computer to process the scan data and another to process the photographic data. Laser scanners create enormous files that must be managed carefully in a consistent workflow. (Our exterior projects normally have 1 to 10 gigabytes of data and a major industrial facility can have over 150 gigabytes of data.) Create to processes and work flows to store and back up everything.

Finally, don’t expect clients to beat down your door, demanding a 3D laser scan. Buying a scanner won’t make jobs magically appear. The market is just learning about this technology and though it is well worth the investment for those firms willing to do the legwork to find the clients who want and need its special capabilities, you will have to do a lot of educating and demonstrations of what the world of 3D can bring to clients.

The key is listening to your clients and understanding their needs. Keep in mind that many potential clients don’t know what questions to ask. Until laser scanning becomes as common as GPS, surveyors will have to educate owners, architects, engineers and contractors about the benefits.

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Tate Jones has over 40 years of experience in land and aerial surveying and was one of the country’s earliest adopters of 3D laser scanning technology. A nationally recognized expert in the field of 3D data capture, he has worked with hundreds of clients in the engineering, architectural and construction industries. Contact him at tjones@lasurveying.com. To learn more about 3D laser surveys, visit www.3DLaserSurveys.com.

Riegl Scanner Mounted On Automobile

Leica C10 Terrestrial Scanner

Having worked many years with terrestrial lidar platforms, I have had the unique experience of watching the industry grow and expand.  I have attended Leica conferences and Spar conferences in Texas and California every year since 2005 and I have been very impressed with seeing the innovations in 3D Laser data collection platforms. In this article I have purposely decided not to discuss the airborne platforms of fixed wing and helicopter, I will save that for another time. I have spent a lot of time with the tripod based Leica Scanning systems of the last 6 years.  At the same time, at the Spar conference and other equipment shows I also studied the Trimble, Faro and Riegl products as well as others that are excellent systems.  The point of this article is to compare the conditions and cost analysis of using a fixed tripod base 3D Laser Scanning system compared to a mobile truck or automobile mounted system for scanning road way corridors in database preparation for Federal, State, and County transportation projects.

General Project Specifications

While specs change from state to state these are the key factors:  Typically the engineer will request a corridor that is 200’ wide, centered on the existing roadway.  Sometimes it is wider and sometimes narrower.  The spec for vertical accuracy is normally about .10 foot or less accuracy on “hard” pavement and concrete surfaces including the paved shoulder.  All other surfaces in the corridor have to be within 6” vertical accuracy including bare ground, grass, overgrowth and thick vegetation.  Horizontal accuracy is standard second order.  Within the corridor you are expected to pick up all man made features- water valves, power poles, fire hydrants, pavement striping etc. In addition to this, the specifications you are required to have are a second order control point every 3000’ (sometimes closer), and a project control point every 1000’.  So this is the scope we are working toward for comparison of the two 3D Systems.

Comparison and Capabilities

The first thing to remember is that Laser Scanning is very precise on hard surfaces like pavement, houses, and power poles and not very good in vegetation.  I know that many software packages are offering “ bare ground” programs and in a commercial areas, with sparse vegetation that may be relevant but the test we have run using Lidar in foliage showed that the results consistently did not meet the spec of 6” vertical accuracy of the true ground when compared to standard 2^nd order topographic survey methods.  So the value of the laser is on the pavement not with the foliage with either system.

The second consideration is that the cost of a tripod mounted 3D laser scanning system is in the $100,000 range, with software, probably $120,000 and can go as high as  $180,000.  A good mobile system with an Inertial Measurement Unit, GPS, two precise laser scanners, video cameras and a mobile computer controller system that allows the data to be captured at 40 or 50 miles per hour can cost between $500,000 and $1,200,000. The best mobile systems are $2,000,000 or more.  This is one of the biggest differences in the systems. So the billable charge per day is more for the more expensive system.

Daily Production Rates

Both systems require fixed survey control points to achieve the most accuracy.  However the effort to put the control in place is the same for both systems.  So while that is a very important factor, it is not a determining factor on which system to use.  The production rate of the systems is vastly different. Using a tripod mounted system for scanning and a two man crew, you can scan 3000 to 4000 feet of high quality data per day depending on density and congestion.  Billing a scanning crew at $3000 per day for data collection and adding another $1000 per day for data registration and feature extraction the cost comes to about $4000 so say it is $1.00 per foot.

Example of Mobile Laser Scan Data

A mobile vehicle mounted system on the other hand can scan more than 50 miles of roadway per day. That is an enormous difference.   But this system  has the same limiting factors as the tripod system of being less effective in heavily congested areas. It is standard procedure on mobile scanning projects to run the travel lanes multiple times to get the best results.  So the production rate per day of the Mobile is 10 times (or more) greater than the tripod mounted system.

So on the face of it the mobile system sounds better, faster, and most efficient.  That is not always the case.  On real projects where we have compared systems to systems the cost for less than 10 miles of roadway is the same or a little less for the tripod mounted systems and the time frames is about the same for the completed deliverable.  Above 10 miles our experience has shown us that the mobile vehicle mounted system is probably more cost efficient.  Why? The mobilization cost of getting a Mobile system on site. Much like an aerial lidar job, sometimes the biggest cost is getting the aircraft over the site.  The same is true for mobile mapping.  The cost to get a mobile unite on your job can be $5000, or more, for the first mile.  The other factor is that it cost more to process the mobile data as you need to analyze and the various systems and make sure that the GPS and satellites are all working and collecting correctly.  Generally some type of test run is recommended.    I recently priced a job both ways and if you included all the variables 6 miles of road way came in at just under $30,000 and with mobile the cost was closer to $40,000 and I had some prices over $50,000.

There are still two other factors to consider.  As a surveyor I don’t get many transportation projects that are over 8 or 10 miles.  It is just that most projects, because of construction cost and size and cost generally stop at less than 10 miles.  There are exceptions, like long paving jobs that go 40 or 80 miles but they may or may not require highly detail surveys.

Bridge Interchange Project by LandAir Surveying

The other factor is speed.  If speed is important because of urgency to a project or danger there are many application where the data should be collected with a mobile unit.  Two examples;  First a 10,000’ runway project on a busy airport.  Normally the client will not allow you to close that type of runway for long periods of time for any reason. So for situations like this typically a mobile system is preferred.   Another example is a very complicated area where there is a necessity for a very fast turnaround of the data.  Some fast track projects require asbuilts data before the next phase of a project can be started.  In these cases mobile scanning has some advantages and the difference in cost maybe worth the savings in time.

Conclusion: Both systems can get good survey grade data if they are used by experienced technicians that understand what they need to be successful.  On actual projects I have priced, projects less than 8 or 10 miles are more cost effective with Tripod mounted systems and projects longer than this are faster and usually less expensive with the Vehicle mounted systems.  One last note! It is important to remember that collecting the hard pavement surfaces is only about 20% to 25% of a normal transportation job.

H. Tate Jones PLS

7.11.2011

Revit BIM Modeling, does it increase efficiency in designing?  That has always been the big question.  I talked to several contractors who provided services creating BIM models and most said they could save as much as 30% of the cost from designing the old way with 2D paper drawings. The payback came by using the modeling through the complete project to save time on the construction details and other tedious time consuming task.  Again the more experienced designers got the biggest benefit.

Automated Pipe Modeling

ClearEdge3D has come through again.  In the automated modeling world they were one of the first to come out with a software that detected flat surfaces for Architectural and structural modeling.  They have again raised the bar with their new release of EdgeWise Plant.  They have designed a plant and pipe software that can analyze a point cloud and automatically detect and model about 50% of the pipes in a minimal amount of time.  Users were reporting that the time to model was approaching 1/3 the previous time on the same types of projects.  There is still work to be done for total automation but remember 3 years ago there was not a point cloud to model automatic software!  Now we are able to detect flat surfaces and pipe shapes.  All will be improved as time goes on but what a great leap.  I talk to some of my associates in the modeling business and they were looking at investing in the product.  This was the first year some of them had considered making the step up.

RealityLinx is another program that specializes in the pipe industry and includes a pipe parts library and more importantly can export files into PDMS design software.  This software is used in the oil and gas industry as a standard design tool.  This software anticipates what parts the pipe are captured in the point cloud and saves a lot of trial and error in picking the right size bend etc.  Another software that we found interesting is 3D Reshaper.  Our firm purchased this software prior to the show and we found that it proves to be an excellent tool to complement the other software packages.  It is very good at cleaning noise in point clouds when using 3D laser scanning and creating smooth tin triangles so that surfaces can be smoothed efficiently.

These are real breakthroughs and will change the industry in a hurry. Just two weeks ago in one of my educational presentation I made the statement that “we were still in the model T ford days of point cloud software”.   I now feel like we are into the early 60’s model automobiles and heading full steam into the future models.  There was even talk of auto coding points in point clouds so that ceilings points knew they were ceilings and doors knew they were doors.  These programs are not there yet but they are on the way.  An interesting observation is that many of the small companies are driving the software innovation in addition to the traditional players like Autodesk.

Coolest Vendor I saw

At the end of the second day, I and a few other associates I have seen over the years went to the booth for XYZ RGB.  This stuff was so advanced that we had trouble understanding what made it work.  The technology uses a set of two digital cameras and an additional random dot projector and software and can capture an image and turn it into a point cloud of very fine mesh. He could even photograph objects using Apple IPHONES.  It is used in the movie, gaming and animation industries. It is excellent in small areas and does almost live animation of people. It can turn a photograph of a person into a model almost instantly. Very creative!  I am sure it has uses that have not been tried yet.

Spar 2011 was very beneficial and well worth the trip time and money.  Being in the 3D laser scanning industry, if I could only go to one show it would be SPAR.  There were more than 20 separate tracts to attend and they did a very thorough job of covering the industry.

H Tate Jones PLS