FARO SWIFT scanning today

[LPaulCook]

I needed to topo about 700' of sidewalk and roadways in a busy shopping area today, Christmas Eve day. Arrived at 7am, left st 8:15am. No parked cars and no shoppers in the way!
I love my FARO SWIFT SYSTEM!
Control points measured earlier...
Merry Christmas!

[dmanning]

Nice, how long have you been up and running with the swift?

[LPaulCook]

I got my SWIFT system and onsite training in July 2021. This system speeds up scanning tremendously if you are scanning in or with 150' of buildings. I captured scans in 42 locations in 1 hour last week for example. The SWIFT system is not good if the job is on rough ground or not near buildings or objects with irregular planes to track. Use the right tool for the job at hand.

[Augusto 3D]

I got my SWIFT system and onsite training in July 2021. This system speeds up scanning tremendously if you are scanning in or with 150' of buildings. I captured scans in 42 locations in 1 hour last week for example. The SWIFT system is not good if the job is on rough ground or not near buildings or objects with irregular planes to track. Use the right tool for the job at hand.

Hey Paul, are you still getting value of your SWIFT system?

[LPaulCook]

In the coming weeks I have two projects that the SWIFT system is going to save me days of scanning time. One is on a retreat 40AC site were I am to map about 10 separate areas including trees with there accurate drippings and diameters chest high. We flew the full site in 2016 and all this detailed work is to be on the same coordinate system as the 40 scale topo we did. We have set 3 control points at each sub areas which I will put a checkard target on when I scan that area with the SWIFT system. This will allow me to georeference each scanned area to the 40 scale topo. Control was set by RTK method wich will be plenty accurate enough for this project.

The other job is a 3 story Hotel, fully occupied. Scanning inside and outside, all 3 streets and the parking areas.

Each unit will only take a couple of minutes.
All of the outside areas, parking and streets etc will take just one day.

We will use a drone to cover the pitched roof.

We also are surveying the boundaries and preparing a topographical survey map from the scanned data.

So, yes, the SWIFT system is still saving tons of scanning time when the situation is correct for its use. Not all sites are though.

[Augusto 3D]

In the coming weeks I have two projects that the SWIFT system is going to save me days of scanning time. One is on a retreat 40AC site were I am to map about 10 separate areas including trees with there accurate drippings and diameters chest high. We flew the full site in 2016 and all this detailed work is to be on the same coordinate system as the 40 scale topo we did. We have set 3 control points at each sub areas which I will put a checkard target on when I scan that area with the SWIFT system. This will allow me to georeference each scanned area to the 40 scale topo. Control was set by RTK method wich will be plenty accurate enough for this project.

The other job is a 3 story Hotel, fully occupied. Scanning inside and outside, all 3 streets and the parking areas.

Each unit will only take a couple of minutes.
All of the outside areas, parking and streets etc will take just one day.

We will use a drone to cover the pitched roof.

We also are surveying the boundaries and preparing a topographical survey map from the scanned data.

So, yes, the SWIFT system is still saving tons of scanning time when the situation is correct for its use. Not all sites are though.

Are you using the push cart, or are you employing the ancho scan workflow?
We have a historic building next week. My boss is debating on using our swift or Navvis - we are going to set control with a robot either way and scan them in just like you. The quick views from Swift just don't look very detailed (naturally), but we have the flexibility to do normal scans too.

[LPaulCook]

I have never used the Navvis scanner.

I do use the 360° camera on my FARO S350 scanner. Then after regular process SWIFT scans I process panoramic scans. The resulting clarity and color is remarkably better.

However, if you export .rcp files from the pano scan set and then view them in ReCap there are no spherical view bubbles available but there are if you export the color non-pano scans.

After making pano scans you will then have both sets of the same scans so you can export either or both as needed.

I always use the SWIFT system on the trolly but I also make non SWIFT scans with the scanner on the trolly, depending on the job.

You should use settings on the SWIFT system to match the needed level of density of scan points. You can go up to 1/4 settings and 20 second anchor scans. You can also do more stationary scans which take about 2.5 minutes to run on the SWIFT system.

Access rout of travel needs to be clear to be able to run the trolley through. I do have a second, smaller trolly for tighter spaces.

You need to follow standards for documenting historical sites, if the site is truly historic.

Hope this is helpful for you.

[Augusto 3D]

I have never used the Navvis scanner.

I do use the 360° camera on my FARO S350 scanner. Then after regular process SWIFT scans I process panoramic scans. The resulting clarity and color is remarkably better.

However, if you export .rcp files from the pano scan set and then view them in ReCap there are no spherical view bubbles available but there are if you export the color non-pano scans.

After making pano scans you will then have both sets of the same scans so you can export either or both as needed.

I always use the SWIFT system on the trolly but I also make non SWIFT scans with the scanner on the trolly, depending on the job.

You should use settings on the SWIFT system to match the needed level of density of scan points. You can go up to 1/4 settings and 20 second anchor scans. You can also do more stationary scans which take about 2.5 minutes to run on the SWIFT system.

Access rout of travel needs to be clear to be able to run the trolley through. I do have a second, smaller trolly for tighter spaces.

You need to follow standards for documenting historical sites, if the site is truly historic.

Hope this is helpful for you.

We don't have the trolly, we use "anchors" 1/8 and 1/4 and then full scans every here and there. I guess you could create panoscans which I hate how they just duplicate the whole project wasting space. We really use the intensity view when we use the Faro scanner most of the time. Color is just for the client and on rare occasions if we need to identify a pipe or something not typical.

The VLX is comparable to the swift scans, much faster but it has its own set of challenges. I prefer scanning with a TSL and Swift (which in a way, the way we use it, is very similar to the new "flash" offering"

help me out, please. share more details on how you are getting good checker scans.

[LPaulCook]

See above.

Also, I know that you can make a "selection" of the target then right click and create a target. I haven’t done that in a long time.

Or, just set a point on the target and name it the target name.

I have stuck 11x17 targets on the back of aluminum no parking signs and screwed them to trees for long shots. Buy the signs in a hardware store or online. They are 12x18.

You can print your own targets at FedEx if you don't have a laser printer. Maybe use card stock.

Lately, I have just been taping 8x11 targets to the control point in the pavement or nailed them to CPs in the dirt. Then scan them from about 6' away to be sure they are not in the dead zone under the tripod. I cut a hole in the center of the target to see the point.

Never scan them straight on. Laser reflection becomes an issue.

Hope some of that's helpful.

[Justin Richards]

You can go up to 1/4 settings and 20 second anchor scans.

You might have a firmware update available. I think the most recent firmware updated to 25 seconds.