Welcome

This blog is intended as a resource site for those wanting to learn how to use the Leica BLK360 laser scanner … which also includes me.   There is already a large amount of information on this machine online but it’s ‘disparate’ – what I am trying to do here is pull together the information, specifications, instructions and anecdotal observations together in to one readable and highly graphic blog.

To get you interested why not have a look at this 3 minute video that shows my first multi-scan project – the amazing outside staircase at the McManus Gallery in Dundee, Scotland – 150 years old in 2017.

mcmanus_stair_small

The scan shown in the video has not been tidied up in any way – I will cover that in subsequent posts, nor has it been converted to a mesh – more on that process later too.

I learned a heck of a lot in the 3 hours it took to record these scans – the 3 main ones:

  • buy a power-brick for the iPad.
  • buy or make some heavy white targets to help with registration – heavy so they don’t blow away like my bits of paper did.
  • take somebody with you to keep an eye on gear and let you go to the loo if you need to.

What is the BLK360?

This is a compact, easy to use laser scanner device which can capture coloured 3d point cloud data and comes with a great ‘bespoke’ version of Autodesk’s Recap Pro software (running on the iPad Pro) which allows you to register (join together/overlap) your scans in the field.