Early this week, reality capture leader FARO Technologies announced the release of their new Hybrid Reality Capture, what they deem as a “first-of-its-kind solution.” The new scanning solution, which is now the newest scan mode available for Focus Premium Laser Scanner users, is targeted towards large-volume projects and promises faster scanning speeds without sacrificing accuracy, thanks to FARO’s “proprietary smart upscaling algorithms.” Hybrid Reality Capture will be available as an add-on subscription in the company’s Stream app for the Focus Premium scanner.
According to the company’s release of the news, this new solution can improve scanning speeds by up to 100 percent, noting that Hybrid Reality Capture only requires 30 seconds per scan thanks to FARO’s new Flash Technology, which powers this new release. Combining the accuracy of a static 3D scanner with the speed of a panoramic camera, FARO says, is how it’s able to incorporate that efficiency without having to sacrifice crucial accuracy. They say this combination, as an example, will allow a project that typically takes two weeks to be completed in one. With their aforementioned proprietary upscaling algorithms, FARO says Hybrid Reality Capture’s output includes “all collected points, with images that look crisper than the same resolution scans with traditional methods.”
It goes without saying that these claims are game changers for many industries, with FARO specifically looking at AEC, operations and management, and public safety as the main beneficiaries of this new solution. Matthew Davies, a senior account manager with FARO, shared some results he’s gotten with the new solution on LinkedIn. In the post, he says the entire scanning process took just 12 minutes and 51 seconds, with that process including a total of 15 scans, including a 3.5-minute calibration scan, as well as tripod moves throughout the scene. Davies reports that processing, registration and project point cloud creation took another 30 minutes and 38 seconds.
Given the trends we’re seeing particularly in the AEC industry, it’s these kinds of more efficient solutions that are going to be needed in the coming years. Obviously, more efficiency is always welcome, but it’s particularly welcome in the current industry climate. Specifically, the industry is facing something of a crunch with a shrinking workforce which continues to be an issue being combined with projections indicating an already increased demand for urbanization only strengthening over the next decade or two.
If the industry is going to keep up with that growing demand even amid a shrinking workforce, technology will need to be at the center, particularly tools like this which can make that workflow more efficient without having to worry about less accurate results. That Hybrid Reality Capture is being noted by FARO for its utility in large-scale projects is even more encouraging for those urban projects which will be necessary as more people move into already dense centers.
"Hybrid Reality Capture is a best-of-both-worlds innovation that will improve on-site productivity and deliver state-of-the-art colorized visual clarity at a highly affordable price," said FARO President and CEO Michael Burger in a press statement. "Industries that have made tradeoffs between capturing 3D data accurately or quickly have been waiting for this hybrid solution and we are excited to bring it to our markets."
