Support of Leica RTC 360 Scans

Cintoo Connect has been updated (version 1.8+) to support RTC 360 big images coming from Leica Cyclone’s E57 export.

What has changed with Cintoo Connect 1.8+?

• Before Cintoo Connect 1.8+, scans captured with the Leica RTC 360 and exported via Cyclone in E57 format would show dark edges, no sky and low-resolution panoramic images when uploaded to Cintoo Cloud.
• Coming with Cintoo Connect 1.8 (April 2nd, 2020) and further versions, scans captured with the Leica RTC 360 and exported via Cyclone in E57 format would no more show dark edges, will show the sky and high-resolution panoramic images (even if scanned with 160 million points per scan).
  
  

What about projects already uploaded to Cintoo Cloud with previous versions of Cintoo Connect (before version 1.8+)?

• Scans from RTC 360 that have already been uploaded to Cintoo Cloud with prior version of Cintoo Connect (before 1.8+) will need to be re-processed and uploaded again with the new Cintoo Connect 1.8+.
• You do not need to export again your E57 file from Leica Cyclone.
• Your existing E57 should work with Cintoo Connect 1.8+.
• IMPORTANT: If you have used Cintoo Cloud’s alignment tool to move some scans, deleting and re-importing them again with the new Cintoo Connect 1.8+ will restore the original positions (prior to the use of the alignment tool).
  

Setting your image resolution when registering your RTC 360 scans with Leica Cyclone or Register 360
Be aware that you can set the image resolution when importing your source RTC 360 scans into Cyclone or Register 360 prior to registration. This image selection cannot be changed then when exporting the structured scans in E57 once the registration is completed..

• In Cyclone, check the ‘Cube Images Resolution’ at the bottom of this window:
  
  

• In Register 360, check the ‘Pano Image Resolution’ in this window.
  
• The 5120×5120 (aka 5k image) is the highest resolution, leading to the 200Mpx panoramic image that Leica refer on their documentation (HDR resolution https://leica-geosystems.com/en-us/products/laser-scanners/scanners/rtc360-image-resolution-white-paper).
• Note that 5k x 5k pixels is the resolution of each one of the 6 faces of the cube (cube map panoramic type). The resolution of the equivalent spherical panoramic image is computed like so: width = 4 × 5k, height = 2 × 5k, leading to a 20k x 10k resolution image (or more precisely 20480 × 10240 pixels).
• If you use the regular 2k (2048 × 2048) resolution for the cube image setting, it will lead to a 8k x 4k pixels spherical image, which may be lower than the scan resolution (40Mp, or 10k x 4k grid for example).

The image resolution of the E57 export from Cyclone or Register 360 is the same as the one set on the import flow as there’s no option on the export menu to choose the resolution

Be sure to select the ‘cube map image’ export option when exporting to E57. See below.

Exporting E57 files from Leica Cyclone 2020 (or higher)

• Leica Cyclone 2020 offers an option to select the type of panoramic image when exporting E57 files.
• Please make sure to select ‘Cube Map’ to benefit from Cintoo Connect 1.8+ capabilities:
  
  

Installing the latest Cintoo Connect

• Click on “My Projects” in the top bar and click on the project in which you want to upload data.
• The new and latest version of Cintoo Connect is available directly from Cintoo Cloud web app by click-ing on this icon here:
  
• Please download and install the latest version and follow the instructions to run the installation.
  

Uploading scans

• Please follow the steps listed in section ‘Uploading Scan Data’.