Tech Talk: Exploring Leica BLK360 SE Essentials with Simon Mark, VP of Strategic Innovation

Simon Mark is one of the pioneers of the original landmark Leica BLK360, and, as the VP of Strategic Innovation at Hexagon Geosystems, is now a principal behind the new BLK360 SE Essentials. We sat down to talk to him about this new solution and why it matters for BLK customers past, present, and future.

 

Let’s get right to the first question on everyone’s mind. What is BLK360 SE Essentials?

It’s a new solution comprised of the BLK360 SE, the Leica Cyclone FIELD 360 (BLK Edition) app, and PinPoint processing and modeling software. In short, it’s a complete package for reality capture, in AEC and other industries. It provides an end-to-end solution, ready to go, so users can get started with reality capture right away.  

Since 2016, we’ve seen that an effective terrestrial laser scanner that was simple to use was something people needed and wanted. In addition, thousands of BLK360 customers reached out to us to ask, “Do you have something that’s an end-to-end solution? Something that does the job and has all the tools you need to get started scanning and modeling right out of the box?”

We listened to them, and we built it. BLK360 SE Essentials is that solution.

 

Who’s the ideal user for this?

Mainly, I’ve recognized this need from building professionals who haven’t yet explored the power of reality capture in a way that fulfills their work. These users have a profession and a task at hand to complete. Their work can consist of many different things, but reality capture can help them. It might be a small part of the overall work they do, but they discover it can make a big impact. For example, I think of a carpenter who needs to capture data of an area, and they need accurate data. They need a template of what they do, and with a laser scanner, they can really increase their efficiency, taking data to help them produce, place, and install materials. But that’s just one application; there are many others.

 

What are the biggest benefits for the user?

Simplicity first and foremost. You get a powerful scanner, the software you need both for the field and office, and most importantly, a fast way to create deliverables for your business. With the BLK360 SE Essentials solution, you can model a floor in 2D or a building in 3D. You can generate orthophotos or floorplans, or hand that model over to your CAD system or your system of choice—it works with most software in the CAD world. It’s really built for people for whom the point cloud is a means to an end – a model that can do what it needs for them, whether that’s planning the next step in a building process, fitting new elements to a project, and beyond.

 

Which kinds of projects do you think the BLK360 SE Essentials will be best for?

As the name states, it’s an “essentials” package. It is made for small and medium-sized projects. Users often only need to capture one scene, floor, or small building, and we see small- to mid-sized projects as ideal for this solution.

 

This is a solution containing three products, so let’s discuss them. What can you tell me about them and how they function together?

The BLK360 SE is about the essence of laser scanning—it provides all the functionality to start with professional-grade laser scans for small- to medium-sized projects. It has a slower data capture speed compared to the BLK360, and it doesn’t have VIS technology, which automatically connects scans from one to the next based on visual tracking. But it’s about the fundamentals, giving people what they need to get started if they don’t need the BLK360’s more advanced features that provide greater efficiency in the field. At the same time, the Cyclone FIELD 360 app connects to the BLK360 SE, guiding you on-site, helping you align data and adjust settings, and making your data fast to process back at the office. Finally, PinPoint is our point cloud registration and modeling software. The data workflow is pretty similar to what customers of other point cloud processing software are used to, but the BLK360 SE is completely integrated with PinPoint. You’ll see that in PinPoint, walls snap into place, doors snap into place, and you can generate floor plans as well. There are automatic alignment tools, analysis tools, measurements, and data cleaning. And you can import and export to a wide variety of file formats.

 

Any final words?

Our hope is that this solution is open for everyone to start scanning. We’re building the BLK story by making real-world 3D data available to a wider audience than ever before. Just as we promised with the first BLK360, we’re continuing to democratize reality capture.