Current users of VxScan know pretty well the Scanning Volume… Well, remember it fondly because it is now gone. It has been removed and replaced by a simple Resolution setting which allows to control the resolution over the entire part at once.

So you can now scan large parts like this car door at a high resolution and you won’t need to do many scanning boxes if the part is needed in high resolution.

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Fortunately, the Handyscan 3D positioning system allows us to proceed to this adjustment quickly and easily. Since the reference system for the positioning of the scanner is linked with the positioning targets on the part, it is possible to use them to build our positioning model first and then acquire the surface data.

1. Once the object is correctly prepared, scan the positioning target model and save it in a text file. This file contains all the information which the Handyscan 3D needs for positioning.
2. Select the resolution which you need for the scan from the Sensor Parameters expanding panel.
3. Uncheck the Automatic Volume Positioning in order to position the scanning volume correctly around the part of the object which needs to be scanned first.
4. Proceed to the scan as usual and export the facets once the scan is completed.
5. Re-open the positioning model which was saved in step 1 and place the volume at the place where the first acquisition stopped.
6. Scan that part of the object and export it.
7. If you still need to scan other parts, rinse, lather, repeat.

Since all the partial scans are using the same positioning model, they will be registered correctly automatically and no need for an alignment in any post-processing software. The only thing left is to merge the different scans, which is usually pretty straightforward in any modern post-processing software.

Starting from here, the sky is the limit. We’ve seen some huge scans, such as the Tourny Fountain in Quebec City or whole cars.

I recently received a question merging scans of a car in order then extract the symmetry plane of the resulting scan. Using Geomagic Studio 11 this task is pretty simple and is presented below. In this case, we assume that we have several scans which have to be merged together (for example, if the body of the car and the wheels were scanned separately).

1. Clean each partial STL and make sure you have only relevant data (i.e. remove the blocks under the wheels and noise which might be floating around). In order to clean noise easily, it is possible to use the Open Manifold command.

   

2. Since the scans were scanned in the same referential with the Handyscan 3D, there is no need for an external alignment of the different scans together. When each scan is imported in Geomagic Studio, they will already be correctly aligned, but will be present as separate objects.
3. Try to make sure that you have as less overlap as possible in order to minimize the risks of having overlapping layers of scan which might cause problems during the merge of the scans. This is especially true when you have scans with different resolutions (e.g. coarse resolution on the car body and a higher resolution mesh for the wheels).
4. In order to merge the scans together, what we usually use is the function Merge, located in Polygons | Combine | Merge. When using this function, make sure that Global Registration is unchecked (as the registration is already done directly in the scan) and that point spacing is check with an appropriate value for your STL. This will sample the points on the surface and rewrap it in order to make smooth transitions. Some adjustments might be needed in order to find the optimal settings for you data. Also, make sure to check Keep Original Data so you can go back to the original data in case something goes wrong.

   

5. When the scans are all merged, it is possible to create a symmetry plane. In Tools | Datum | Create Datum, there is an option for the symmetry plane. You will need to place manually a plane which would be close to the real symmetry plane of the object in order to help the software in its calculations. Then, click on Apply and Next in order to save the plane.

   

6. Finally, in order to create an alignment, you can do it directly in VxScan 3.1, if it is not to late. In the Entities menu, theAlign function will automatically put a reference system in the center of the object, relative to the main axes of your object. Then, when importing the object in Geomagic, it is important to keep it pinned and make sure that all other scans are aligned to this part. If for whatever reason doing this manipulation in VxScan is not an option, it is possible to do it in Studio with the Alignment to World function.
   1. First, 3 datums will need to be created: one plane, one line and a point. These will allow to define the orientation of the axis system.
      1. If the origin has to be located at the center of the scan, the point has to be created with being the Centroid of a selection, in this case, the whole scan.

      

   2. When all the datums are created, it is now possible to align the scan to the world referential with the Tools | Alignment | To World function. Then, create pairs between the world reference system and the datums which were created earlier.

      

      The end result will be the STL file, with the symmetry plane in the middle and aligned to a coordinate system located in the middle of the scan.