The big buzz among those interested in laser scanning was Leica’s BLK360 laser scanner (pictured above as demonstrated to xyHt editor Gavin Schrock). The small, affordable ($16k) scanner was originally jointly announced by Leica Geosystems and Autodesk at AU 2016 in November. At HxGN LIVE 2017, attendees learned that scanner shipments had begun.

The BLK360 buzz was similar to the market’s excitement when Faro first announced their first small, inexpensive scanner, but interest in the BLK360 announcement has been further heightened by Leica’s collaboration with Autodesk. Autodesk demo’ed their wireless BLK360 iPad Pro interface for Recap Pro for Mobile, which features automatic registration in real time in the field on the iPad.

Leica also announced new registration software—Cyclone REGISTER 360—tailored to BLK360 users, many of whom are expected to be new to scanning. The new software provides a friendlier user interface in the office and much faster registration than Leica’s standard Cyclone REGISTER software (which is also planned to receive the speed upgrade).

However, surveying and measurement professionals should note that neither Autodesk’s Recap Pro nor Cyclone REGISTER 360 is a magic bullet; if scanning isn’t done properly in the field, registration can still be problematic no matter what registration software is used.

Of final note, Leica also announced TruView Cloud as a new cloud-based portal service (hosted by Leica Geosystems) for TruViews and other content. One customer presenter spoke to the benefits of TruView Cloud of not having to deal with various IT issues that can come into play when you try to provide this type of data-heavy service yourself.