Photoneo's PhoXi Control 1.18 Doubles Scanning Speed in Fast Mode

Photoneo claims scanning speeds up to twice as fast as its standard Scanner mode for the MotionCam-3D Color, courtesy of a new Fast Scanner Mode shipped in PhoXi Control and PhoXi Firmware 1.18. The figure is a vendor claim tied to static scenes, so treat it as a datasheet number until you benchmark it on your own parts.

The release bundles three strands: faster acquisition for static scenes, improved point-cloud completeness via multi-exposure HDR, and a batch of usability changes in the PhoXi Control software itself.

What does Fast Scanner Mode actually buy you?

Fast Scanner Mode targets static scenes where you want high-resolution 3D data but the cycle clock is unforgiving. Photoneo says the mode delivers up to 2× the speed of standard Scanner mode while keeping detail high. Your mileage, as ever, depends on the surface.

Two new coding strategies — Fast Normal and Fast Interreflections — arrive with it. Each offers three coding quality levels, so you trade speed against detail and performance per application. Interreflection handling matters because structured-light scanners (which project coded patterns onto a part and decode the deformation) get confused by light bouncing between surfaces; a strategy that compensates in less time is worth having.

The obvious home is logistics and bin-picking, where detailed object data must land inside short cycle times. Takeaway: bin-picking lines just got a speed knob.

How does Multi Capture HDR fix difficult surfaces?

Multi Capture HDR combines multiple captures taken at different projector power settings into a single output. The principle is the same as HDR photography: fusing exposures increases the signal-to-noise ratio and extends dynamic range, so dark, reflective or otherwise awkward surfaces stop dropping out of the point cloud.

The feature works across all Photoneo sensors and operating modes, again restricted to static scenes. Photoneo also flags a logistics-specific wrinkle: moving personnel, robot arms or vehicles at the edges of an otherwise static scene inject noise, and the fused capture suppresses it. Clever use of a limitation, that.

Takeaway: fewer holes in scans of shiny black plastic, which is most of logistics.

What changed in the software?

PhoXi Control 1.18 leans toward measuring where you already are. The highlights:

• A distance measurement tool directly in the 3D viewer — no more hopping to texture or depth-map views.
• A new White – Shaded display style that shows scanned geometry without texture clutter.
• Rectangular region-of-interest selection directly in the 2D colour-camera view.
• Point-cloud mesh preview before saving, inspectable with or without texture, with live feedback on the minimum triangle angle.
• PLY import with saving to Photoneo's PRAW format.
• A keyboard-shortcut menu listing available commands.

The Settings Assistant has also been updated to incorporate the new firmware features, nudging users toward suitable scanning configurations. Small things, but they compound. Takeaway: fewer context switches between acquire and verify.

Compatibility and deployment

The firmware updater package shrinks to roughly one third of its previous size — relevant if you deploy across many sensors or sites with limited internet connectivity. PhoXi Control 1.18 adds Ubuntu 26.04 support, and developers get a PhoPrawExtractor.exe utility plus an accompanying DLL (the shared library third-party apps call) for reading PRAW files outside Photoneo's own stack.

Photoneo recommends updating both PhoXi Control and sensor firmware to 1.18 to get the complete feature set. The release covers MotionCam-3D, PhoXi 3D Scanner and Alpha 3D Scanner families, subject to individual hardware and firmware compatibility — check your specific units before scheduling downtime.

The open question for integrators: does a claimed 2× speed gain and HDR-fused point clouds move your cycle-time and first-pass-yield numbers enough to justify a coordinated controller-plus-firmware update across the fleet? For static-scene bin-picking cells, probably. For everything else, run the trial first.