Method
Scan, photograph, register, balance, align, mesh.
No single instrument does it. The method is choosing the right mix for the accuracy, budget and timescale in front of us, then processing it into something you can actually use.
- 01
Laser scanning
LiDAR, from a tripod or a drone, records millions of measured points in minutes. Terrestrial scanners resolve architectural detail; aerial LiDAR covers landscape at speed. Geometry you can rely on.
- 02
Photography and photogrammetry
Overlapping photographs solved into 3D. Texture, colour and reference for everything we scan, and a complete method in its own right for objects, people and whole environments. From a drone it gives the view nothing else can.
- 03
High-resolution metrology
Handheld structured-light scanners for the small and the complex: props, components, vehicles, faces. Combined with photogrammetry for production-ready assets at fine detail.
- 04
Processing
Scans registered, images balanced to a colour chart, everything aligned in one solve. Several specialist packages, because no single one does it all. The output is one dataset with a known accuracy.
- 05
Deliverables
2D CAD and BIM. Registered point clouds. Textured meshes with UDIMs. Digi-doubles and LED-wall environments. 3D Gaussian splats. Whatever your pipeline takes, in the format it takes it.
How a scan happens.
- 01 · Brief1 call
Understand the question
What are you rebuilding, for whom, and to what tolerance? That decides everything downstream.
- 02 · CaptureHours
Laser, camera, drone
Terrestrial LiDAR for geometry, photogrammetry for texture, UAV for scale, handheld structured light for the small and the strange. Often all four in a day.
- 03 · ProcessDays
Register and reconstruct
Point clouds aligned, imagery solved, everything merged into one dataset with a known accuracy.
- 04 · DeliverYour format
CAD to Gaussian splat
2D drawings, BIM, textured mesh, digi-doubles, LED-wall environments, 3DGS. You own the right to use it; we keep it safe.
Questions we always get asked
01Where are you based?
A few minutes from Stansted Airport, between London and Cambridge, with the road, rail and air links that implies. Most of our work is wherever the subject is.
02Which countries can you work in?
Almost anywhere. We travel, and we draw on a trusted network of licensed pilots and scanning specialists across the UK, Europe and further afield when a job needs local permissions or extra hands.
03How do you price a project?
There is no single rate card. Day rates, weekly rates or a fully inclusive package, whichever fits the scope and the budget in front of us. Tell us what you need and we will propose a shape.
04How much notice do you need?
We have mobilised within hours, including for crime scenes. That said, the best projects get a sensible lead-in for planning, and any drone work needs time for permissions, which are set by the regulator and not by us.
05How do you decide which technology to use?
By understanding what you need at the end. Then we choose the mix: laser scanning for geometry you can trust, photography for surface and colour, handheld structured light for the small and the awkward. Usually more than one, often all of them.
06How long does the capture take?
Hours or days, not weeks. Short capture windows mean less disruption and consistent light and weather across the dataset. On big jobs we run several teams at once for the same reason.
07Is your equipment portable?
Everything is built to come to you: a village, a hangar, a set in Bulgaria, a quayside in the Mediterranean. Precise, professional, portable.
08Is there anything you cannot scan?
Given time and preparation, very little. Glass, mirrors, very dark surfaces and anything that moves or flexes are harder, and there are techniques for each. Say what it is and we will tell you how.
09How long does processing and delivery take?
As long as you have. Shorter schedules mean more of us working in parallel. On Under Salt Marsh, a first-pass model was ready within hours of leaving site so coverage could be checked before the full model was built.
10What formats do you deliver?
Most recognised 2D, 3D and 4D formats: CAD drawings, BIM, registered point clouds, textured OBJ or FBX with UDIMs, digi-doubles, LED-wall environments and 3D Gaussian splats. Tell us what your pipeline wants and that is what arrives.
11Do you keep the data after delivery?
Yes, unless you ask us to destroy it, which happens and which we honour. Otherwise raw and delivered data stay in multiple copies on our secure network, so a project can be revisited years later.
12Who owns the data?
The contract decides. Absent a prior agreement, we retain the intellectual property in the captured data and you, as the commissioning client, hold the right to use it for the purpose it was made. Yours to use, ours to keep safe.