3DF Zephyr Development Status Progress – Dragonfruit – Part 2

posted in: News

With today’s development update, we shed some light on 3DF Scarlet, our laser scanner data management tool.3DF Scarlet is a dedicated standalone software that allows you to have separate projects for your laser scanner data, with the native integration in Zephyr, which ensures a smooth and organized workflow.

Both 3DF Scarlet and 3DF Zephyr can load all most common laser scanner formats (e57, pts, ptx, ply, etc) as well as native formats: our plugins have been updated and improved adding support to many more laser scanner devices from Faro, Z+F and RIEGL. These plugins are not yet available for download as they are not compatible with the current version of Zephyr, but of course as soon as Zephyr 5.0 is out, the plugins can be loaded both by Zephyr and Scarlet.

While 3DF Zephyr will not lose its current laser scanner tools (alignment, ICP, multi ICP, etc) 3DF Scarlet offers an even more pleasant overall experience when handling laser scanner data, especially when considering huge amount of data.

  • Better Alignment Tools

While the workflow you are already used to in Zephyr (coarse alignment and fine alignment) can also be done in Scarlet, you will be able to leverage tools specifically designed for laser scanner scenarios with many, many scans. Not only you will be able to align scans using control points or gizmo, 3DF Scarlet also features an automatic alignment algorithm that will automatically extract and match features in between scans.

In the example shown below, almost all 45 scans have been automatically aligned by 3DF Scarlet for a total of 693813465 points. Scans that are not automatically aligned are saved as separate groups and can then eventually be aligned manually.

3DF Scarlet’s manual alignment via transform tools
 
Alignment via control points workflow
  • Better Performances in a modern environment

The 3D viewports natively supports dynamic loading and unloading of different scans, allowing for a smooth, pleasant experience when navigating the 3D space.A modern environment, with the userfriendly UI style that you already know and love from 3DF Zephyr, allows you to maximize your productivity when dealing with scan registration in one software only.

Of course most actions support undo and redo as well as an autosave, so you can always work relaxed – your work is safe.

3DF Scarlet empowers your photogrammetry workflow – or it can be your go-to solution for laser-scan-only jobs as well: tools from 3DF Zephyr can also be applied to unstructured point clouds, so you can easily go from Scarlet to Zephyr and resume your work in just few clicks.

693813465 points from a total of 45 scans
 
Uniform color visualization