Specialised software made for laser scanning

Laser scanner system is a portable, computerized measurement device that creates a high-resolution, 3D, digital 'photograph' can be operated through application-dedicated software.

FARO Technologies, the world's single source for a complete line of portable CAM2 laser scanning systems, has released a set of specialized software packages that enhance the capability of its popular Laser Scanner LS product line.

"The software packages enable us to cover at least 80% of the LS' broad market potential," FARO president and co-CEO Jay Freeland said.

"Each package offers a specialized solution for professionals in product design, quality assurance, re-engineering, architecture, historical preservation, forensic investigation and tunneling and mining as well as process and power plants and asset management".

"In order to deliver the most effective solutions to our customers, we partnered with the leading software in each industry: Autodesk, ATS, Inn.Tec-JRC, INOVx, BitWyse, Geomagic and others." The FARO Laser Scanner LS is a portable, computerized measurement device that creates a high-resolution, 3D, digital 'photograph' by scanning everything in its 360 deg path up to 80m away.

It collects 120,000 points/s with up to 3mm accuracy, while the system's laptop computer draws and records all of the object's 3D measurements.

The captured data can then be used to create a digital model, or to perform evaluation and analysis against an existing model for anything requiring highly detailed 3D measurements, including factory planning, business information modelling - as well as specialized applications ranging from land surveying, recreating accident sites and crime scenes, to digitally preserving historical sites.

The FARO LS' rapid data collection increases productivity by dramatically reducing the amount of on-site scanning time, and the new, industry-specific software packages enable users to process and present their results quickly and more effectively.

The eight available software packages include the following.

* FARO Architecture with Autodesk ADT is powerful and widely used to quickly model buildings.

The comprehensive Object Library not only speeds up the modelling process, but also fills its database with all the items in order to create quick statistics of the used building components for cost calculations and reports.

* FARO Heritage with JRC's Reconstructor meets the archaeology-, architecture- and artwork-digitizing needs of Historical Preservationists.

Its time-saving features include target-less registration, coloured Multi-Resolution-Meshing, Orthophoto, and AutoCad export with FARO Cloud.

* FARO Design Studio with Geomagic's Studio 8 supports the reverse-engineering and design of large products, statues and other freeform shaped objects.

It automatically generates an accurate digital model from a point cloud.

* FARO Compare with Geomagic's Qualify 8 enables the instant comparison of large products and other freeform shaped objects with their original CAD file.

It is used to optimize first article and production inspection, tool validation and spring-back analysis.

* FARO Forensic enables investigators to quickly dissect crime scenes with advanced functions such as Blood Spatter Analysis, Shooting Trajectories Calculation, Hi-Res Photo Overlay with accurate measurements, and more.

* FARO Process, Power and Piping with INOVx's PlantLINx empowers Petrochemical, Chemical, Food, Power and other Process Industries to load scan data, then recognize pipes, steel elements and other primitives in order to design a process-plant model.

It allows the export of the modelled systems to AutoCAD, Intergraph and AVEVA.

* FARO Process, Power and Piping with BitWyse's LASERGENSuite is also designed for the Process, Power and Piping Industries, but specializes in the export and management of point clouds.

It provides a direct link to Microstation, AutoCAD, Aveva and Intergraph.

It also provides clash detection, pipe recognition and data management of large point clouds.

* FARO Tunnel and Mining with ATS's RR-Tunnel and Mining software simplifies and speeds the comparison of tunnel point clouds to the original design file.

It provides well organized contour lines, profiles and slices, as well as fast reports.

All these tools cooperate directly with FARO Scene, the Company's high-performance, user-friendly software for viewing, administrating, calibrating, filtering and managing large, 3D point clouds collected with the FARO Laser Scanner LS.

"There are so many industries with so many uses for our LS technology, but the applications are so diverse that a single software can not fit every market's need," FARO director of LS Product Management Bernd Dietmar-Becker said.

"Thanks to very hard work by our software development teams and the cooperation of leading software companies, the FARO Laser Scanner LS can now provide an even faster return on investment for more markets than ever before." * About FARO - With more than 10,800 installations and 4,900 customers globally, FARO Technologies (NASDAQ: FARO) and its international subsidiaries design, develop, and market software and portable, computerized measurement devices.

The Company's products allow manufacturers to perform 3D inspections of parts and assemblies on the shop floor.

This helps eliminate manufacturing errors, and thereby increases productivity and profitability for a variety of industries in FARO's worldwide customer base.

Principal products include the FARO Laser ScanArm; FARO Laser Scanner LS; FARO Gage and Gage-PLUS; Platinum, Digital Template, Titanium, Advantage FaroArms; the FARO Laser Tracker X and Xi; and the CAM2 family of advanced CAD-based measurement and reporting software.

FARO Technologies is ISO-9001 certified and ISO-17025 laboratory registered.

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