Investigation and Comparison of 3D Laser Scanning Software Packages

Laser scanning technologies has become an important tool in many engineering projects and applications. The output of laser measuring is the point cloud, which is processed in a way that makes it suitable for different applications. Processing of point cloud data is achieved through laser scanning software packages. Depending on the field of application, these packages have many different kinds of functions and methods that can be used. The main processing tasks used on a laser scanning software package include registration, modelling and texture mapping. Investigation and comparison of two laser scanning processing packages (Leica Cyclone and InnovMetric PolyWorks) are performed in this study. The theoretical and mathematical backgrounds of the above functions are presented and discussed. The available methods and functions used by each of the packages for these tasks are addressed and discussed. By using sample data, these functions are trailed and their results are compared and analyzed. The results from registration tests show the same results on both packages for the registration using target methods. Although, the results of cloud-to-cloud registration show some deviation from target registration results, they are more close to each other in both packages than to the target registration results. This indicates the efficiency of cloud-to-cloud methods in averaging the total registration error on all used points, unlike target registration methods. The modelling tests show more differences in the accuracy of generated models between the two packages. For both fitting and surface construction methods, PolyWorks showed better results and capabilities for three-dimensional modelling. As a result, the advantages and disadvantages of each package are presented in relation with the used task and methods, and a review of data exchange abilities is presented