3D scanner manufacturer Occipital announced they’ve acquired Lynx Labs, another 3D scanning venture.
Lynx Labs was a startup that built an all-in-one 3D scanning device that we thought was quite innovative, in that it included all required hardware in one box, while most competitive offerings required the addition of separate computing power, be it a PC attached by cables or clamped to a tablet.
Occipital has been quite successfully marketing their “Structure” sensor for some time now – and it requires attachment to a tablet. We’ve personally seen the Structure sensor in action and found it to be quite good for the price point – the resulting 3D models are suitable for immediate 3D printing.
But now these two companies are together, and one can speculate that their technologies will be merged together in some innovative manner. Perhaps we’ll see an inexpensive, standalone 3D scanner of high quality? Occipital explains:
Lynx has contributed enhancements to the Structure Sensor’s firmware and drivers that result in improved depth accuracy for all users of the Structure Sensor, regardless of platform or industry. Proprietary IP developed by Lynx can reduce the error of 3D sensors by up to 90%, which brings the Structure Sensor in line with professional-grade technologies like LIDAR, but at a much lower price.
But there’s one other interesting twist to this. Occipital previously acquired Skanect, a powerful software product for transforming 3D sensor data into usable 3D models. With this second acquisition, it appears we have a company on the move with cash to acquire competitors and complementary products. At the very least, they now have a lot more people working to build new products, if this image of their personnel tell us anything.
It’s possible we may see Occipital emerge grow into a leading 3D scanner company if they keep this up.
