Leica Geosystems Introduces the AI-Powered Cyclone 3DR

Today, Leica Geosystems, part of Hexagon, the global leader in LiDAR technology, announces its AI-powered tool Cyclone 3DR for use in filmmaking, game development, animation, virtual reality and more. Productions can now take a LiDAR capture of a real-world location and use proprietary AI-powered tools to automatically identify individual objects, edit them and even create their own digital assets for later use, all within the scan itself.

LiDAR scans offer the best possible way to create realistic digital environments, but their quality and complexity can make them tricky to use without the proper tools, said Yannick Stenger, product manager at Hexagon. Our ongoing research into AI has made it possible to do things most never even considered possible, and in doing so, we can bring this technology to a much wider audience than ever before.

Currently, creators in the entertainment industry are using LiDAR scans for tasks like building immersive VR locations, animating real-world environments and supporting pre- and post-production. However, the complexity of these scans often demands additional tools and specialized expertise. Using the new AI tools within Cyclone 3DR, those same teams can now work directly within the LiDAR scans, edit and remove unwanted objects vehicles, trees, industrial structures, etc. and export them in any file format they choose, creating a personal library of photorealistic, scalable assets. But the first step is identifying the objects.

Users can pair Cyclone 3DR with a NVIDIA RTX PRO GPU to access AI-powered features, beginning with AI Classification. LiDAR scans are typically composed of millions or billions of small points of data, collectively grouped into a point cloud dataset. That gives the scans incredible realism and depth in a 3D model, but it also makes it difficult to edit individual objects directly. With the AI Classification tool, Cyclone 3DR can identify the points and classify groups into a recognizable asset.

From there, users can work directly with the object to clean it up, edit it or even remove it completely using the new AI Segmenter tool something that would not have been possible without painstaking hours of work. The object can then be added to a library and redeployed later in a future 3D project. To further simplify the process, users can also choose to use the internal automated process for quick results, or create custom scripts and filters that fit with existing workflows.

The AI tools are the latest success of Hexagon's Artificial Intelligence Hub. Hexagon first began experimenting with AI in 2012 as a way to build on its earlier work with machine learning, with the goal of "assisting, not replacing. In 2021, the company took it one step further and officially launched its own AI group, bringing on professionals dedicated to improving user experiences, while simultaneously offering new ways to take advantage of other advanced technologies, including LiDAR.

With Cyclone 3DR, production teams can upload a LiDAR scan of a real-world environment and choose from six AI-powered models. Four are tailored for commercial use cases heavy construction, indoor construction sites, industrial plants and roads while two others cover more general indoor and outdoor environments. Each model has been extensively trained on thousands of ethically sourced datasets, including point clouds, 2D images, and 3D models relevant to its environment. From there, users can choose to continue working directly with the point cloud data or opt to use Cyclone 3DR's advanced meshing algorithms to generate high-quality meshes, complete with additional data including volume calculations, deviation analysis and more.

Cyclone 3DR is currently being used by major streaming studios, virtual production stages and other teams across the entertainment industry. Individual case studies will be announced in the future.

Pricing and Availability

While Cyclone 3DR was designed and tested with the Leica portfolio of 3D laser scanners including the Leica BLK2GO, Leica BLK360, and Leica RTC360 it is hardware agnostic. Cyclone 3DR is currently available as a standalone product, and can also be obtained as part of a bundle with a Leica Geosystems LiDAR scanner. Rental scanners, including the Cyclone 3DR, are available. For a full listing of pricing options, please contact Leica Geosystems directly.

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