BLK360 shipping

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steves01x
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Re: BLK360 shipping

Post by steves01x »

As this seems to be the main BLK thread i thought i would add to it. :D

We had a trial of the BLK360 last week when returning to an ongoing project which has been scanned primarily with P40 (all externals, larger buildings etc) and the Faro X330 for the smaller buildings (small ish family home size).

My first thoughts on the BLK is that its an excellent little bit of kit but it does have quite a few flaws which stop it from working smoothly and efficiently. I was doing around 2x the amount of set ups to the BLK per hour with P40 (no imagery / iStar only adds 30 seconds per set-up) and there were around 30 scan positions the BLK could not do due to range.

I know there is a massive difference in price from P40 to BLK but here are some issues i found with it:
  • Using the iPad to change the settings is a pain and i couldn't find a way to put the HDR imagery on via the app?
  • Wifi downloading of the scans is so slow - cant even leave it on over night as the battery needs replaced to get a days work off it.
  • Its too slow even with the images off - if your only scanning the odd smaller building / house then you probably wont notice but on larger projects it would really start to show.
  • Outdoor use is very limited, you wont get any roof coverage if its more than 2 levels high.
  • But the data that is captured, within its short range at medium/high is fairly good and it loads up in Cyclone really well.
  • Didnt even attempt Re-Cap register, straight in to Cyclone
Ultimately it is an excellent bit of kit that has really shaken up the entry level market and prices and im sure they will be working on something else that bridges the gap from BLK to the P-Series. My BLK improvements would be:
  • A bit bigger and heavier
  • Faster scanning when not taking photos
  • Slightly longer range (50m to 100m) with data quality improvements
  • Android support
  • Download via cable
  • Full control of all settings via app but ideally be able to do this on the scanner
As i said its not for us but i would most certainly recommend anyone looking at that price range of scanner to check it out with Cyclone. The entry level Faro also looks like a good alternative to the BLK.

Job well done to Leica on creating something so small at a reasonable price that will appeal to many smaller building surveying and architect practices.
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Re: BLK360 shipping

Post by markscan »

gsisman wrote: Thu May 03, 2018 8:58 pm
Oatfedgoat wrote: Tue Apr 24, 2018 8:19 am There's a couple of other familiar names there now.

Very interested to see what direction they go in with the freedom of a startup. Also, who is now going to post on this forum from Autodesk? ;)
Heard at a seminar this week (from an industry insider) that the entire Recap team from Autodesk was laid off a month ago and some part of the ReCAP program was being moved to China. Could be a rumour, but wondering whether these guys were former Autodesk employs. I see Seth was
More than a rumor, it seems real to me. ReCap mobile hasn’t received any update since December '17.
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Re: BLK360 + MATTERPORT

Post by markscan »

dhirota wrote: Wed Mar 21, 2018 11:34 pm I just received this email, but still have not received my thermal sensor working on my BLK360 since I received it on Jul 20, 2017.


03-21-2018 01-18-25 PM.jpg
I think this is a partnership done as a consequence of Multivista purchase by Hexagon.
Multivista had a partnership with Matterport, now Hexagon (through Leica) has strengthened this partnership pushing the BLK360 on Matterport markets.
I believe it's a very good marketing move.

I discovered that Matterport is powered by PrimeSense sensors, owned by Apple. I don't believe Matteroport scanners will have a long life, since Apple will push PrimeSense researches and technologies into iPhone and iPad cameras, that will probably become our entry level 3D scanner devices in the near future.

What I really don’t understand is: why is the Matterport-PrimeSense HDR so good compared to the BLK360?
Why does the Matterport-PrimeSense stitch photos together better than the BLK360?
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Re: BLK360 + MATTERPORT

Post by eric-schleicher »

markscan wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 10:21 am
What I really don’t understand is: why is the Matterport-PrimeSense HDR so good compared to the BLK360?
Why does the Matterport-PrimeSense stitch photos together better than the BLK360?
The camera on the pro2 matterport isn't the RGB on the primesense unit. and that camera is significantly nicer than the one on the BLK. It stands to reason the it's HDR photos are better.
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Re: BLK360 + MATTERPORT

Post by markscan »

eric-schleicher wrote: Wed Jun 27, 2018 6:56 pm
markscan wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 10:21 am
What I really don’t understand is: why is the Matterport-PrimeSense HDR so good compared to the BLK360?
Why does the Matterport-PrimeSense stitch photos together better than the BLK360?
The camera on the pro2 matterport isn't the RGB on the primesense unit. and that camera is significantly nicer than the one on the BLK. It stands to reason the it's HDR photos are better.
I haven't found much specifications about BLK360 HDR or Matterport Pro2 accuracy:
In order to compare the two photo-scanners I've just found that the BLK360 takes 150Mpx full dome Pano, while the MP2 takes 134Mpx Pano.
The MP2 has 5 HDR exposures, nothing is reported about BLK360 HDR.

The BLK360 takes 360.000 points per second;
The MP2 takes 4 million points per scan.
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Re: BLK360 + MATTERPORT

Post by gsisman »

markscan wrote: Thu Jun 28, 2018 1:24 pm
eric-schleicher wrote: Wed Jun 27, 2018 6:56 pm
markscan wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2018 10:21 am
What I really don’t understand is: why is the Matterport-PrimeSense HDR so good compared to the BLK360?
Why does the Matterport-PrimeSense stitch photos together better than the BLK360?
The camera on the pro2 matterport isn't the RGB on the primesense unit. and that camera is significantly nicer than the one on the BLK. It stands to reason the it's HDR photos are better.
I haven't found much specifications about BLK360 HDR or Matterport Pro2 accuracy:
In order to compare the two photo-scanners I've just found that the BLK360 takes 150Mpx full dome Pano, while the MP2 takes 134Mpx Pano.
The MP2 has 5 HDR exposures, nothing is reported about BLK360 HDR.

The BLK360 takes 360.000 points per second;
The MP2 takes 4 million points per scan.
That all being said. We've deduced that the Camera on each of our BLK360's 3 lenses to be 5mp, much less than a good cell camera. The BLK takes 10 position scans at three pictures each. that is 30 pictures for 150mp total. The new RTC130 seems to have a 12mp array of three cameras with higher resolution photos than the BLK or the older P series. And supposedly can acquire a full dome full HDR set in 60 seconds and 2m points per second. I'm from Missouri-so I'll have to believe it to see it.
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