Industries that benefit the most from 3D scanning services

Many, many industries enjoy the benefits of 3D scanning technology. But some industries rise above the rest, with the potential benefit of 3D scanning services being much higher than others. Here we look at some of these industries.  

AEC (Architecture, engineering and construction)

The fit for 3d scanning services in the AEC industry is so good, one might think that 3d scanning was invented for it. When a building is being re-purposed or renovated, it is quite useful to be able to scan the building before any work begins and create “as-built” drawings that can be used as a basis for planning the renovation. Having an accurate set of as-builts as so many benefits to the engineering company. They can create designs that area actually based on factual information, rather than theoretical or assumed dimensions. They can also have these plans created in a much shorter period of time. In this industry, speed directly affects how many jobs a company can do in a year.

Accident reconstruction

 OcThere are so many car accidents every year that if you are an attorney dealing with these you will have no shortage of business. Attorneys use video evidence in court, and preparing these videos is made much easier using 3D scanning services. Much of the effort goes into capturing the environment, something that 3d laser scanners to nearly automatically. Closely related to this would be accident investigation, where law enforcement officers use 3d scanning services to capture the accident scene. This is a no brainer because the speed with which 3D scanners work enables LEO’s to capture the site quickly, which is important for obvious reasons. It makes so much sense that many law enforcement agencies maintain their own scanners. 

ballas water treatment system retrofits

The shipping industry was forced to meet strict new regulations that involve treating the water that is expelled from its ballast tanks. The ballast tanks are a way for the ships to add or remove weight to the vessel. Why would you want to add weight to a ship? Well, take for example an oil tanker. It is designed to transport heavy loads of oil over the ocean. When all of that oil is removed, the ship may be too light and unstable. So they pump seawater into the ballast tanks after offloading to stabilize the ship’s weight somewhat. The problem is that seawater that was taken in in Japan is from a different aquatic ecosystem than say North America. So the new rules force the ships to filter out harmful organisms while dumping the water. 3D scanning services allow the precise capture of the ballast tank and pump areas of the ship so that the necessary water treatment facilities can be installed. 

Gaming

The new Unreal Engine gaming platform is able to utilize point clouds to render a background in a scene. This is huge because it allows the capture of real life spaces to be used as game environments. There is nothing more compelling in a game than realism, and 3d scanning services permit the capture of actual real world spaces. So instead of spending weeks or months carefully creating an artificial scene, one can be created nearly automatically using a 3D laser scanner. The movie industry is a close parallel. Many in the movie business utilize 3D scanning and are adept at 3D technologies in general. 

Signs

If you are in the commercial sign business and sticking large signs on buildings, you know that 3D scanning services are your best friend. When you are in a service business of any kind, the ability to turn jobs around quickly and have a system that works every time is critical. We call it “running the drill”. 3D laser scanning services capture the side of a building like nothing else can. Walls that should be vertical and flat are frequently misshapen, and when you need to bolt a flat sign to a wavy building, there needs to be some compensation behind the sign. 3D laser scanning can capture the exact shape of the building and all of its surface variations, allowing sign makers to fit and install a sign quickly.

What about your industry?

Does 3D laser scanning, benefit your industry? Do you seen opportunity to benefit from lightning fast capture of a physical space? We’d love to hear from you and explore how 3d scanning services could give you a competitive advantage.