Faro Freestyle 3D Quick Start Manual

FARO® Scanner Freestyle

3D

Quick Start Guide

Standard Equipment

Transpo rt and ca rry c ase

Quick Sta rt Guid e

Freesty le

3D

USB sti ck with the S CENE Cap ­ture, SCEN E Process a nd SCENE

instal latio n les, Qu ick Star t

Guide a nd the Use r Manual

Red micro SD card to save sca n
project s, and gre en micro SD
card whi ch provide s the cali ­bration plate number.

Calib ration p late whic h may
also be u seful whe n it comes to
placement and measurement

Tabl et PC

Tablet hand-holder

Optical c leani ng kit

USB card rea der

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Equipment

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Start/Stop bu tton and sta tus LED l ight

USB lin e with USB 3.0 plug

Infrared cameras

Infra red projec tor with cl ass 1 las er

LED stro boscope l ight

Color camera

That’s Freestyle

3D

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Connect Freestyle3D to the computer

The blu e and the red L ED wil l light up. O nce the
device is d etected by the sof tware, th e red LED
light w ill tu rn off.

Ready to ca pture
Blue LE D will l ight up.

Not ready t o capture
Red LED wi ll lig ht up.

While recording

Blue LE D will  ash.

Tracking lost

Red LED wi ll ash . After trac king res umes, the re d
LED wi ll be tur ned off, and th e blue LE D will a sh

again.

Getting Started

We recommen d using th e tablet com puter wh ich is
shipp ed togethe r with Free styl e3D. The SCEN E Capture
softwa re is already in stalle d on it.

Before you s tart captu ring, inser t the microSD card i nto
the tabl et computer. Your sca n project w ill be sa ved to
this mi croSD car d.

Tap the SCEN E Capture ti le to start the sof tware. SCE NE
Capture s tarts w ith the Ho me screen by d efault. Its P ro­ject Sel ector pres ents all t he scan proj ects kno wn at that
time.

Plug the F reesty le

3D

USB cabl e into a USB3 p ort on yo ur
compute r. The red Status LE D will l ight up. If th e speak­ers of you r compute r are switc hed on, you w ill hea r an
acoust ic signa l as well.

Wait until t he SCENE Ca pture detect s Freest yle

3D

. SCENE
Capture w ill show a l oadin g messag e. As soon a s Free­style3D is ready, the red Stat us LED li ght wil l switch of f and
the blu e LED wil l light up.

Keep in min d that the ta blet compu ter (or your
own tablet o r notebook co mputer) m ay be not
as ruggedized as Freestyle3D and may become
damaged under certain environmental conditions.
When scan ning outd oors o r in dir ty sur roundings,
protect bot h Freest yle3D and the tab let compute r
from li quids an d humid ity, but als o from dus t and
dir t which ma y damag e the elect ronic com po­nents an d the seal ings. Tem peratur es lower tha n

0°C an d highe r than +40 °C may al so inue nce the

perfo rmanc e of both devices .

!

Star ting up Start Software

Home Screen and Project Selector

The soft ware starts w ith the Proj ect Sele ctor wind ow by default. T he Project S elector p resents a ll
the scan p rojects k nown to the sof tware at that tim e.

Toolb ar – prov ides a qui ck and eas y way to access th e features w ith the mo use or, on
tablet co mputer s, by tappi ng.

Project selection bar – contains t he dial ogs with t he proje ct comman ds.

Available scan projects – open an existi ng scan pro ject by dou ble-ta pping on i ts preview

picture.

Project information – If the mo use pointe r or, on tablet com puters , your nge r moves over

one of the ava ilab le scan pro jects, mo re infor mation to t his scan p roject is d ispla yed here.

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SCENE Capture

NOTI CE

Every t ime Freestyl e3D is detected by SC ENE Captu re, you will be asked w hether to cal ibrate
the device. I n general, you sho uld per form On site cali bratio n as well as t he Device Wh ite
Balan ce. Check the F reesty le3D User Man ual for those two fe atures.

!

Save

Save the
scan pro ­ject. In

additi on to
that, SCEN E Capture
saves your wo rk auto ­matically.

Home

Closes a ny

open scan

projects

and opens

the Project

Sel ector.

Calibrate

Shows the c alibra tion stat us.
Tap the butto n to open the
Calibration dialog.

Help

Shows the U ser Man ­ual

(a pdf le).

Device White Balance

Device Whi te Bal­ance: is used to a d­just th e color cam ­eras in F reesty le3D.

Abor t the funct ion
with th is button .

Measure

Opens a measurement
function. Measure dis­tances bet ween scan

points i n a scan. Tap
the scan po ints wit h the tablet ’s
pen, dou ble-ta p to nish m eas­urin g. In SCEN E Capture, th e
measu rement is not s aved with
the proj ect.

Abor t the funct ion wit h

this button.

Options

Check the t wo tabs for these
setti ngs:

Depth Rang e set the max. scan
distan ce, start ing from 0 .5m.

Marker Detection: activate
this if yo u want to use the
marke rs of the cal ibrati on
plate for p lacing t he scans o r
for measurements.

Follow Camera: when deac­tivated, th e Point Clou d View
does not sh ow the came ra
movement.

Flash: swi tches the  ash- light

to automat ic, on or off.

The as h-l ight is a st robe

light an d can be haz­ardous to p erson s who may
be suscept ible to epi leptic
seizures.

In case of do ubt, switch th e

ash -lig ht to OFF.

Auto: Fla sh-l ight is
switch ed on if the ca m-

era detects t hat the li ght is not

sufc ient. As soon as t he light
situat ion gets bett er, the ash -

light i s switche d off agai n.

Flash light is
always s witched o n.

Flash light is n ever
switched on.

Saving location: save to
microS D card (defaul t), or tap
the butto n and enter a sa ving
location.

Project B ase Name: I f re­quire d, delete the d efault
name an d enter a new one.
This na me must n ot includ e
spaces o r some spec ial cha r­acters.

Process

Tap this bu tton to
process
the enti re scan
project, a s elected
cluste r, or a scan.

Start or stop captur ing

Opens th e captur ing
wi nd ow.

While ca pturi ng, the
button look s like th is.

SCENE Capture Toolbar

!

Expor t Points

Tap this bu tton to
expor t all point
clouds o f a scan
proj ect.

Commonly used terms

Scan

Frame
The set of th ree photos, take n at the same
time wi th the inf rared pro jector an d the
infrar ed camera s, is call ed a frame.

Features
The soft ware detects useful e lement s like for
exampl e corne rs in the co lor pict ure. Thos e
elemen ts are cal led featur es.

Tracking
Follo wing the fe atures f rom frame to f rame
is call ed tracki ng. With t racki ng, it is pos sible
to reconst ruct the m ovement of Free styl e

3D

in space, an d thereby p utting a ll 3D po ints
of the ind ividua l frames i n a common 3 D
context.

Scan
A set of frame s resulti ng from on e capturi ng
sequen ce is call ed a scan.

1. Star t capturi ng by press ing the

button on to p of Freest yle3D, or by
tappin g the butto n. After on e or two

seconds , a split w indow wi ll show up
with the Po int Cloud V iew on the left and t he
Video V iew on the r ight as wel l as a progress
dialo g. A messa ge box is sh own supe rimpo ­sed in the m iddle of t he wind ow. On the left

side, the  ashli ght butto n is shown. Tap i t to
switch th e ashl ight to on or of f. On the ri ght

side, the 3 D camera button is sh own. Tap it
to toggle b etween 3 D Point Clou d View on
the left a nd the 2D V ideo Vi ew on the ri ght
(default), or o nly 3D Poi nt Cloud Vi ew, or
only 2D V ideo Vi ew. The soft ware wil l create
a scan proj ect call ed Freest yle and s ave the
scan data to the m icroSD card.

Make sure t hat the obj ect of intere st is wit hin

the spec ied max imum ran ge and tha t it is

not close r than the m inim um range of
the sensor.

WAR NIN G

Eye inju ries caus ed by lase r beams. Al ­though Freestyle3D is clas sied as a l aser
class 1 d evice, it coul d be dange rous
if the las er beam s are pointe d towards
a perso n’s eyes. Be careful w hen scan ­ning pe ople or a nimal s. Do not ai m at
your eyes or s omebod y else’s eyes from
a “close -up” dis tance at anyt ime.

NOTI CE

Static dis charge - D o not touch the m e­tal rin gs aroun d the gla ss covers on th e
lower si de of Freest yle3D. Always h old
Freesty le3D by its hand le. Do not g rab
the device by o ne of its ar ms. Freesty­le3D is a high -precision m easur ing de­vice. Even th e slighte st bendi ng of the
housi ng will r esult in i naccurac ies.

Stable scan ning req uires ob jects an d en­viron ments wit h enough co lor st ructu re.
Avoid havin g only pl ain- colored sur faces in

the device  eld of view. Obj ects mus t not

move whil e they are capt ured.

Move the devi ce slowly a nd cons­tantly. Avoid jerky movements. Fast
and jer ky moveme nts may le ad to
inaccurate data and tracking may
be lost. Avoid ca pturi ng longe r

sequen ces. Try to move t he device in c ircles

or loop s. Try to ni sh captur ing at the starti ng

place.

If track ing is lo st (by too fast mo ­vement or few re cognize d featu­res), you may resu me it. Try to move
Freesty le

3D

so that the V ideo View
and the vi ew in the sm all wi ndow match.
Then, a g reen and red c ross-s haped ico n
appea rs in the l ive video p icture. Tr y to move
Freesty le3D so that the r ed and gree n crosses
in the li ve video pi cture match . Trackin g
should then resume automatically.

Ambient light conditions

In scenes w ith too bright il lumi nation (cl ose
to lights o r outdoors), the Frees tyle3D will
produce n o 3D data or it m ay only s how with
a limite d distan ce range. If t he numbe r of
features g ets crit ical, tr y to move the device

eld of vi sion to are as with mo re stru ctures.

2. Finish yo ur scan by pre ssing th e button on

the top of Fre estyl e3D again , or by tappi ng or
click ing the bu tton.

SCENE Ca pture wil l now need some
seconds to p repare you r captured
data. Freestyle3D uses the b uild

in senso rs to level the scan auto ­matical ly. Once th e capturi ng of a scan is
complete d, the scan p roject wi ll be saved
and you wi ll get the fo llowi ng str ucture in t he
project’s workspace:

Workspace

Folde r Scans: Contains all s cans.
Folde r Scan -x: Conta ins the sca n and, subo r­dinated , its scan pat h.
In front of t he scan nam e, an icon sym boli zes
which p rocessi ng step was a lready do ne.

Doubl e-tap a sca n. The 3D View will be
shown.

Repeat the s teps 1 and 2 as o ften as req ui­red. It coul d be favorab le to capture a v iew
more tha n one tim e because it w ould im ­prove the poi nt densi ty and th e coverage of
the who le object o r scene.

Close th e scan proj ect.
You will be a sked to save the s can
proj ect.

Close SCE NE Captur e.

Scan

!

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What’s next?

The nex t step would b e process ing the sca ns,
and mayb e furt her step s like pla cement and
color ad justments. F or this, releas e the microSD
card from t he tablet com puter and p lug it
into a work station with SCE NE Process i nstal­led. As s oon as you op en SCENE Pro cess, you
will b e asked if you w ish to open t he scan
project. A ll those s teps are de scrib ed in the
Freesty le3D User Manual.

Initialization

Move scanne r slowl y until th e sign

disappears.

Movement

Scanne r is moved too fast.

Video b lurr y

Less featu res, vide o image g ets

bl urr y.

Contrast Problems

Proble ms with con trast in t he video.

Light Problems

Proble ms with too m uch / not

enough l ight in the video.

Trackin g is lost

Low storage space

Fini sh the scan a s intended . You do

not need to sto p capturi ng immedi-

ate ly.

No 3D dat a

- insuf cient 2D o r 3D stru cture,

captur ing coul d not be init iali zed.

- Invalid device calibration

Start scanning butto n.

Stop scanning button.

Buttons and displays

This over view shows the bu ttons and d isplays
offered by SC ENE Captu re. SCENE Pro cess
offers m ore butto ns and fun ctions w hich are
not expla ined in this Qu ick Start G uide. You

will  nd those in th e Freest yle3D User Manual.

Options

Opens th e a dialo g with t wo tabs
which of fers s everal setti ngs you
shoul d check befo re or whi le captur­ing. You can cha nge the Fo llow Cam­era and Fl ash sett ings wh ile captu ring.

Manual

Opens th e User Manu al as a PDF le.

Close th e PDF by swi ping fro m the top
to the bottom o f the pdf doc ument.
Switch to SCEN E Capture by swipi ng
from the l eft to the r ight of the pd f
document.

Home

If a scan pro ject is op en: Closes
scan proj ect and ope ns Proje ct
Sel ector.

Save

SCENE Capture saves automatically.
Tap this bu tton to save the scan pro ­ject whe never you feel the need to.

Calibration status

Grey: No dev ice detected.
Red: Device i s not calib rated.
Yellow: Device needs re-calibration.
Green: Dev ice is cali brated.

Device Wh ite Balance

Is used to ad just the color ca meras
in Freestyle

3D

.

Process

Tap this bu tton to proces s
the enti re scan proj ect, a selecte d
cluste r, or a scan.

Expo rt Poi nts

Tap this bu tton to expo rt all p oint
clouds o f a scan proj ect.

Measure

Measu re distan ces betwee n scan
points . In SCENE Ca pture, mea sure­ments wi ll not be saved with th e

An object d oes not app ear in my sca n, or is
hardly visible.

Problem

Not enoug h distan ce to the obje ct (< 0.5 m).

Solution

Need la rger dis tance. Fr eesty le

3D

cannot

capture close-up objects.

Problem

Large di stance (> 3m , depend ing on li ght
situation)

Solution

Take several scan s of a scener y or an object,
but in di fferent di stances.

Problem

Object h as caviti es like ho les, slot s, etc.

Solution

Larger d istance i n combin ation wi th scan­ning th e object f rom diffe rent pers pectives
may imp rove the resul t.

Problem

Highl y absorbing s urfaces .

Solution

Use develo per spra y (as used for cr ack
detection).

Problem

Shiny surfaces.

Solution

Use anti-glare spray.

Problem

Too much li ght, especi ally wh en scanni ng
outdoors.

Solution

Avoid scanni ng in glarin g sunli ght.

Problem

Not enoug h light.

Solution

Use lig ht sources w hich prod uce bri ght,
diffused light.

Buttons

Capture Buttons

Displays while scanning

FAQ

Quick Overview

SCENE is sp ecical ly desig ned for all FARO las er scanne rs.

The soft ware processes a nd manag es scanned data both
efcie ntly and eas ily by usin g the automati c object recog ­nition and scan registration.

SCENE is a n extremely use r-friendl y softwa re that allows
scans to be au tomatica lly comb ined. The result ing point
cloud can b e viewed in three di mensions. Al l the scans are
availa ble in col or and as high -contra st intens ity ima ges.

SCENE Capture and SCENE Process

▪ Automated target-less scan registration
▪ SCENE Web Share Clo ud integra tion
▪ Super-crisp visualisation
▪ Easy pro cessing of larg e scan proje cts
▪ Plug- Ins for extende d functional ity
▪ Homogenisation of point clouds

SCENE Ca pture prov ides everyth ing you nee d to record
your scan s. It is des igned to r un on a tablet co mputer and is
pre- installed on th e tablet computer in cluded in the Fre e­style

3D

kit. The sca n data is stored on a mic roSD card which

makes it ea sy to trans fer the data to an other computer.

SCENE Process provides ever ything you nee d to process

and nal ize your ent ire scan proj ect. Record your scan s

with the ta blet computer and SC ENE Captu re, transfer the
data and cont inue wor king with SCE NE Process . Because
process ing 3D data is a heav y operation for a com puter,

we recomme nd you ins tall SCEN E Pro­cess on a wor kstation or on a n otebook

PC with suf cient per formance.

Software Options

Freesty le3D and the SCE NE soft ware are
compatible with the most common
CAD soft ware app licati ons and can
be used to exp ort sca n data to over 50
common software solutions.

SCENE Software

Hear fro m indus try ex pert s on emerg ing tren ds in
3D documentation, advancements in 3D metrology
and por table CMMs and bes t practi ces witho ut

ever leavi ng the of ce. If you are u nable to at tend

any of our l ive webina rs, they a re all reco rded and
uploa ded as podca sts here a nd are sea rchabl e by
broadcast date.

www.fa ro.com/webin ars

FARO Web ina rs

General information

In the 3D A pp Center you w ill n d softwa re dedica ted to

the FARO 3D Do cumentati on worl d. The sho p is devide d
into two ma in catego ries: Stan d-al one apps a nd plug -in
apps:

http://3d-app-center.faro.com

FARO 3D App Center

With SCE NE WebSha re Cloud, FARO of fers a comp re­hensi ve servi ce to provide u sers wi th simp le access to 3 D
docume ntation. Ne ither tec hnical t raini ng nor spe ciali st
skil ls in 3D l aser scan ning a re necessa ry to wor k with th e
intuiti ve user inter face.

Digita l data, such a s 3D docum entation, of ten has to be
availa ble to many d ifferent p roject pa rtne rs. Previ ously,
users h aving th eir own i nternet se rver, coul d use SCEN E
WebShare to p resent the ir lase r scan proj ects to cli ents
and proj ect par tners . Now FARO goes con sidera bly
furt her, offer ing the SCE NE WebSha re Cloud solutio n, a
hosti ng ser vice with va rious p ackages at d ifferent p rices .

▪ Easy data s haring and co llabo ration
▪ Mini mal set up an d mainten ance effor t
▪ Best pos sible secur ity level
▪ Persistent measurements & annotations
▪ Hosti ng ser vice offer ed by FARO
▪ Suppor t for mobile dev ices

Check it out o n our dem o serve r at:

ww w.web sha rec lou d.co m

SCENE WebShare Cloud

Find mo re infor mation a nd helpf ul tips on t he use of the
Freesty le3D and SCEN E in the Inte rnet at:

http://tutorial.faroeurope.com

Online Tutorials

Notes

United States and Canada

On the ph one: Our cu stomer s ervi ce staff is a vailab le
from 8:0 0 am to 7:00 pm (EST) f rom Monda y to Frida y.

Toll Free: 1- 800 -736-27 71
E-Mail: [e-mail]

Europe

On the ph one: Our cu stomer s ervi ce staff is a vailab le
from 8am to 5 pm (CET) from Mond ay to Fri day.

Free cal l number : 00 8 00 3276 7378
E-Mail: [e-mail]

Asia

On the ph one: Our cu stomer s ervi ce staff is a vailab le
from 8:3 0am to 5:30 pm (SST) from Mon day to Fri day.

Free cal l number : 1800 511 1360
E-Mail: suppo rtap@fa ro.com

Onli ne-Supp ort Cen ter: w ww.faro.com/suppor t

Customer Service

You are in good hands

www.faro.com/freestyle3D

Revised: xx Xxx 2016 | © 2016 FARO | EU-04REFxxx-xxx-EN

FARO Offices

Distribution (EMEA)

FARO Swiss Holding GmbH
Wiesengasse 20
8222 Beringen
Switzer land
[e-mail]
www.faro.com/distributors

European Headquarters

FARO Europe GmbH & Co. KG
Lingwiesenstrasse 11/2
70825 Korntal-Münchingen
Germany
[e-mail]
Tel: [phone]

FARO Technologies UK Ltd

Great Central Way
Butlers Leap
Rugby
War wickshi re
CV21 3XH
United Kingdom
[e-mail]