LiDAR scan

LiDAR scan reads an object with a laser. A thin sheet of light sweeps across it, with a bright line where it cuts the surface, and behind the sheet the solid is replaced by what a 3D scanner would make of it: first a triangulated reconstruction mesh, then only the raw point cloud, which finally drops out. Reversed, it plays as a capture: points appear under the sheet, the mesh forms between them and the solid object resolves.

How it works

The points are samples of the surface that fall on the sheet's scan lines, so they line up in rows the way real scanner data does. With Disappear off, the default when you keep it on an object, the laser sweeps the whole object and leaves it in scanned mode, mesh and point cloud together. While it holds, the points twinkle and a faint re-scan line drifts across now and then.

Settings

- Sweep: left to right by default, also right to left, up or down. - Laser: the colour of the sheet and the cut line. - Point colours: Depth, Laser, or Surface colours. - Mesh density: how many triangles across the object. - Points: from 10,000 to 200,000. - Laser sheet: show or hide the plane of light. - Duration: 4.2 seconds.

Use it for

Architecture and real-estate scans, engineering and survey stories, tech launches, the digital capture of a product. Related: Hologram scan and 3D print.