Faro x130 temperature issue

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callidus
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Re: Faro x130 temperature issue

Post by callidus »

Apologies for the necro post...

With the recent hot weather we've had some issues with the scan quality. The resolution seems to have dropped away with an 8 minute scan taken in the heat versus an 8 minute scan taken from the same spot a month earlier. (Other scans taken away from the heat are fine).

So, anyone with experience of this? I'd like to know if the issue is light/optical effects of direct sunlight/heat-haze/mirage etc.., or if this is hardware being affected.

Any thoughts?

Thanks.
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Re: Faro x130 temperature issue

Post by jcoco3 »

If I understand you correctly, you are saying that the scan resolution dropped as a result of the scanner getting too hot in the sun? Not saying that is impossible, but highly improbable. We frequently scan in very hot areas, and have never seen an effect as you described. In extreme heat we have seen the scanner's interface become laggy and almost unresponsive. Sometimes when changing from one resolution to the another then going back to the home screen too quickly the new setting will not "stick" and the scanner reverts back to the previous resolution setting. Since we are somewhat sensitive to this issue now, we know that before switching back to the home screen in a hurry it is best to give the scanner a few seconds to adopt the setting change. This might be what happened to you, but it is just a guess.

Right click on your problem scan and check the resolution settings in the properties dialog just to make sure you had actually scanned at the correct setting. Reload the raw scan to make sure you did not accidentally apply too much filtering. Check your default filtering settings also.

Hope this helps :)
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Re: Faro x130 temperature issue

Post by wgrimes »

I have not seen that happen. A couple of years ago I ran some tests with a 120 and a 330. Temps in 105-110 range compared to scans at 70-80 degreesF. I ran 248 tests to see if accuracy was affected and found that it made very little difference. There was something like 1/8 inch difference over 100 feet when scanners were in yellow temperature warning mode.

Don’t quote me on the exact difference, I don’t have the data in front of me. There was a difference and the difference was very small. In fact in looking at comparing all the scans to each other I felt like the variation in setting up the scanner, picking the point, the objects expanding due to heat, etc. may have been the difference I was seeing.
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Re: Faro x130 temperature issue

Post by 3DForensics »

If anyone would know, Wes would! I think if you dig deeper you will likely figure out what is going on. Compare all the scanner settings and ensure that you don't have something like "near distances" turned on or perhaps you used a wrong profile by mistake. I'm sure you'll figure it out.

If you can post a couple of images, that would be helpful too.

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Re: Faro x130 temperature issue

Post by jcoco3 »

We definitely need some clarity on the question as we are talking about two different things now.

Scan quality/Accuracy or Resolution?

I can easily see accuracy being effected with temperature change, but not resolution.
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Re: Faro x130 temperature issue

Post by Scott »

jcoco3 wrote: Tue Jul 10, 2018 4:25 pm We definitely need some clarity on the question as we are talking about two different things now.
Scan quality/Accuracy or Resolution?
I can easily see accuracy being effected with temperature change, but not resolution.
I've seen roof areas expand a great deal from early morning until the afternoon (using both a Disto and tape). I imagine the electronics suffers with excessive heat (why have a fan, otherwise?) but I have never seen image resolution affected.
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Re: Faro x130 temperature issue

Post by callidus »

Thanks all for your responses.

So, I now understand what is happening. If I had to give a particular thumbs-up it will be to jcoco3. Having checked the properties in Scene between the two scans it appears the second 8-minute scan was achieved with a lower resolution and higher quality than the other. We had already checked the raw FLS file sizes and they were very similar between scans so had assumed that the settings must have been the same.

Lesson learned: focus on resolution, not scan time!

Many thanks all.
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Re: Faro x130 temperature issue

Post by jcoco3 »

(We) are glad you got it figured out :P

Another quick tip in regards to scan time. There are a few instances on the Faro scanner's where the scan times are exactly the same for wildly different scan settings, so you are better off paying attention to the resolution and quality settings than just glancing at the scan time. Scan time is good for manhour estimates and letting you know if you have the time to run to the restroom between scans, but that is about it :lol:

1/4res 4x and 1/2res 2x have exactly the same capture time(8:04)...true on the older focus models, not sure if the new S models use the same time scheme.

Traced my memory back to an unrelated post when we discovered those matching scan times:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=8024&start=10#p51402

Not relevant that for your current delimea, but still good info to learn if you have the time.
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