10.8 FAQ

The three devices are not interchangeable. They differ in scan range, accuracy, storage, output type, and intended project scale.

L2 Pro is the flagship. It covers campus-scale environments (tens of thousands of square meters per battery), has a 1 TB internal SSD, and delivers 3 cm RMSE absolute accuracy with RTK. Runs on LixelStudio (point cloud) and LCC Studio (3DGS).

K1 is the mid-range option, suited for single buildings (several thousand square meters per battery). Uses a swappable 256 GB TF card. Same dual-software pipeline as the L2 Pro, lighter and more compact.

PortalCam is the 3DGS-focused device with the highest visual fidelity. 96 LiDAR channels, 512 GB internal eMMC. Runs on LCC Studio only. Does not produce point clouds and does not support absolute georeferencing. If your project requires measured deliverables or coordinate-registered data, the PortalCam cannot fulfill that need.

See 10.5 Device Specifications for the full comparison.

No. All three devices are rated IP54, which protects against light water splashes from any direction but does not support operation in active rain. Use the device only after rain has stopped.

Beyond the hardware risk, scanning in rain degrades data quality. Raindrops cause laser refraction and reflection that introduce complex noise into the scan and can corrupt SLAM tracking. Data from a rainy session is rarely recoverable to a usable standard. Any malfunction caused by water ingress is not covered under warranty.

L2 Pro and K1: -20°C to 50°C (-4°F to 122°F). PortalCam: -20°C to 45°C. Sustained temperatures above the rated maximum may affect reliability.

Cold weather reduces battery runtime by approximately 20% below 5°C. Add one extra battery to any cold-weather kit. Do not attempt to power on the device when the battery is below 5%: this can damage the mainboard and cause a constant blue LED flash with no successful startup. From firmware version V3.0 onward, the device automatically prevents startup under low battery conditions.

Runtime: L2 Pro and K1 approximately 90 minutes per charge. PortalCam approximately 60 minutes. Cold weather reduces runtime by approximately 20%.

Lifespan: Rated 300 to 500 charge cycles before capacity drops to 70 to 80% of original. Batteries remain functional below that threshold but runtime is reduced.

Storage rules:

• Fully charge after each day of use.
• If fully charged but unused for an extended period, recharge within 3 months.
• If critically low or fully depleted, recharge within 3 days. Failure to do so causes irreversible damage not covered under warranty.
• Store in a cool, dry environment.

Yes, through map fusion. Scan in segments of up to 20 minutes each, swap batteries between segments, and stitch the segments together in post-processing using Map Fusion in LixelStudio or LCC Studio.

Map fusion supports up to 10 segments with a combined maximum of 200 minutes of scan data. Segments must overlap by 15 to 30 meters at their boundaries. All segments must be from the same device type. Plan the segment break points before scanning, not after.

LixelGO (L2 Pro and K1): Android with 8 GB RAM minimum, Snapdragon 8 series or above preferred. iOS with A12 Bionic or later.

LCC Scan (PortalCam): Android 8 GB RAM minimum, iOS 17.5 or later recommended. Bluetooth 5.0 and WiFi 5 required.

Both apps require personal hotspot capability for RTK/NTRIP. Use simple hotspot names with no special characters or spaces to avoid connection failures. If the phone cannot create a hotspot, use bridge mode (phone and scanner both connect to the same existing WiFi network with internet access).

It depends entirely on your deliverable.

LixelStudio (free with hardware) produces point clouds: georeferenced, measurable, compatible with Revit, AutoCAD, Navisworks, and GIS platforms. If your project requires dimensional verification, BIM modeling, or survey deliverables, you need LixelStudio.

LCC Studio ($2,500/year premium) produces 3D Gaussian Splat models: photorealistic, immersive, suited for client presentations, virtual tours, web sharing, and digital twins. You cannot take accurate measurements from a Gaussian Splat model. If your client needs a visual experience rather than measured data, you need LCC Studio.

On L2 Pro and K1 projects, the same raw scan data feeds both pipelines simultaneously. Plan for both before you scan. The pipelines cannot be retroactively applied from raw data that was not designed for them. The PortalCam produces Gaussian Splat output only and does not connect to LixelStudio.

No. LCC Studio requires an NVIDIA GPU with CUDA support. AMD GPUs are completely unsupported with no workaround. LixelStudio also requires NVIDIA. If you are purchasing or building a processing workstation for XGRIDS work, NVIDIA is the only supported GPU brand for both applications.

Yes, with appropriate specifications. Minimum supported laptop GPU configurations are RTX 3080Ti (16 GB VRAM) or RTX 4080Ti (16 GB VRAM). Laptops with less VRAM or lower CUDA capability will fail on medium and large scans.

Desktop workstations outperform laptops on sustained processing loads because they run at full TDP without thermal throttling. For production work on large scan projects, multi-segment fusion, or aerial-ground fusion, a desktop with an RTX 4090 is the recommended configuration. Both LixelStudio and LCC Studio are Windows-only. macOS is not supported.

Each device includes three activation codes. Codes are bound to specific machines at activation and cannot be unbound. Once all three codes are used, contact your XGRIDS sales manager for additional codes. Temporary codes are also available through your sales manager for short-term use cases such as loan machines or workstation upgrades.

No. These are fundamentally different data structures. A Gaussian Splat model cannot be converted to a measurable point cloud. A point cloud cannot be turned into a 3DGS model after the fact.

If both outputs are needed from the same physical visit, run both pipelines from the same raw scan data before any processing. L2 Pro and K1 raw data supports both LixelStudio and LCC Studio from the same source files. Do not discard raw data until both pipelines have been processed and verified.

The Portability setting (also called Cross-Platform Optimization) simplifies the lighting model in the reconstruction so the output file runs smoothly on lower-powered hardware including mobile devices and web browsers. It reduces file size 30 to 50% compared to Portability Off.

Enable Portability when the output will be shared via web link, viewed on mobile, embedded in a WebGL viewer, or sent to a client without high-end hardware.

Disable Portability when maximum visual realism on a workstation is required, or when USDZ export is needed (USDZ requires Portability Off).

This setting is chosen before reconstruction begins and cannot be changed after processing without restarting the reconstruction.

The LiDAR component works in complete darkness because it generates its own light pulses. Point cloud geometry captured in the dark is geometrically valid.

However, the cameras require ambient light to generate color data. In complete darkness, color information will be absent or very poor. For LCC Studio 3DGS workflows, camera image quality is critical: scanning in the dark produces unusable visual output even if the underlying geometry is fine.

For dark environments, bring portable supplemental lighting, reduce speed to 0.5 m/s or slower, and increase scan passes to compensate for reduced SLAM feature recognition in low-texture dark scenes.

No. SLAM requires continuous motion to generate coverage and update the tracking map. Standing in one place does not improve reconstruction quality at that location. The system cannot use idle time to accumulate additional data at a single point.

The exception is the required 30-second static initialization period at scan start, which is a system initialization step. After initialization is complete, move continuously. Remaining stationary wastes scan time without adding data.

No. RTK is required only when the deliverable needs absolute coordinates tied to a real-world geographic coordinate system.

Without RTK or GCPs, SLAM produces accurate relative geometry within the scan but the model has no connection to any external coordinate system. For interior documentation, BIM modeling from a single session, or facility management work where the client does not need georeferenced coordinates, SLAM without RTK is often sufficient.

For exterior work, multi-session campus projects, or anything combined with geospatial data, RTK or GCPs are required. See 10.3 Accuracy Reference for guidance on which positioning method to use for a given project type.

This is caused by drastic light contrast when transitioning between areas with very different ambient light levels, most commonly between interior and exterior spaces, or between a bright room and a dark corridor.

Camera sensors adjust exposure during the transition. Frames captured during that adjustment produce motion-blurred or over/underexposed imagery that the Gaussian Splat reconstruction cannot cleanly resolve.

To minimize this: turn the scanner sideways through doorways so one lens faces in and one faces out; turn on all interior lights before scanning; slow to 0.5 m/s or slower before each doorway threshold; and use PPR set to High in LCC Studio to reduce residual clouding in the model.

Firmware V3.0 and later auto-saves scan data when the battery drops critically low. On older firmware, an unexpected shutdown during data save can corrupt the project file, and the data from that session may be unrecoverable.

Monitor the battery indicator throughout the scan. Stop the scan and save properly when battery reaches approximately 15 to 20%. Do not wait for an automatic shutdown.

The scanner operates in direct sunlight but camera imagery quality is significantly better on overcast days. Overcast conditions produce uniform diffuse light without harsh shadows. Direct sunlight creates high-contrast shadows that reduce coloring quality and can cause visual SLAM tracking issues in feature-dense scenes.

The recommended time for outdoor scanning is around midday on cloudy days. When direct sun is unavoidable, scan in early morning or late afternoon to reduce shadow severity, and plan multiple scan passes from different directions to reduce shadow coverage in any single pass.

Plan one scan segment per floor, keeping each segment under 20 minutes. Scan stairwells with both ascending and descending passes to capture full coverage of the connecting space. Loop at each landing before continuing.

Place ground control points on each floor within the same control network so floors align correctly in post-processing. Use Map Fusion in LixelStudio or LCC Studio to stitch floor segments. Up to 10 segments can be fused in one project, with a combined maximum of 200 minutes total.

See Module 5: Project Scale for detailed multi-floor scanning procedures.

The most common causes in order of frequency:

• Insufficient RAM. LixelStudio requires approximately 2 GB RAM per minute of scan duration. A 30-minute scan needs approximately 60 GB of available RAM. If the system runs out, the process crashes. Minimum 32 GB RAM required (supports approximately 15 minutes of scan); 64 GB recommended for standard workflows; 128 GB for scans over 30 minutes.
• Project path on the system (C:) drive. Both applications should write to a dedicated data drive, not the Windows system drive. The C: drive frequently lacks sufficient free space for processing temp files.
• Insufficient disk space. Processing requires 2 to 3 times the raw data size in temporary workspace. A 60 GB raw scan may need up to 180 GB of free space during processing.
• Other memory-intensive applications running simultaneously. Close browsers, office software, and any other applications before starting a long processing run.
• Version mismatch. Using LixelStudio 2.4.5 or earlier with device firmware 1.4 or later causes processing failures. Update both software and firmware before reprocessing.

For the "LIO Drift" error specifically, enable Robust Mode in the processing settings. See 10.2 Error Messages for a full error reference.

On recommended hardware (RTX 3070 or better, 64 GB RAM):

• LixelStudio: 20 to 30 times the scan duration. A 10-minute scan takes 3 to 5 hours.
• LCC Studio (Medium Quality): approximately 20 minutes of processing per 1 minute of scan. A 10-minute scan takes approximately 3.3 hours.
• LCC Studio with HD Enhancement: add 50 to 100% to the base time.
• Map Fusion (up to 10 segments): several hours. Plan overnight runs on anything over 5 segments.
• Aerial-Ground Fusion: 24 to 48+ hours. Do not use the processing machine for other work during this run.

An RTX 4090 processes 3 to 4 times faster than an RTX 3060 for LCC Studio workloads. See 10.6 Project Estimating for the full breakdown.

Yes, with caution. Running both simultaneously is the most efficient way to produce a point cloud and a 3DGS model from the same field session.

Both consume significant RAM. Running both on a 64 GB machine is likely to cause one or both to fail on scans longer than 10 to 15 minutes. On a 128 GB machine, simultaneous runs on scans up to 30 minutes are generally stable if no other heavy applications are open. Monitor RAM usage in Windows Task Manager during the first few minutes to confirm available headroom before committing to an overnight run.

A timeout error means the SLAM optimization exceeded the maximum allowed processing time for a segment. This typically occurs when the scan data has high complexity: large open spaces with repetitive features, very long corridors, or difficult lighting transitions that cause the solver to run many iterations without converging.

Solutions: break the scan into shorter segments, enable Robust Mode, add control points to anchor the trajectory in problematic areas, or review scanning technique to identify areas where coverage was insufficient for reliable SLAM tracking.

Color misalignment between geometry and camera imagery is usually caused by one of three things:

• Camera synchronization issue. In LixelStudio, verify that the correct video coloring option is selected and that the camera video files transferred completely from the device. A missing or corrupted video file causes incorrect timestamp mapping.
• Inconsistent lighting during the scan. Scanning through areas where lights switched on or off, or through large window areas where outdoor light shifted significantly, creates exposure changes that misalign with the LiDAR geometry.
• Walking speed too high. At speeds above 1 m/s, camera frames and LiDAR points are captured at slightly different moments. The temporal offset creates color bleed at fast-moving transitions between surfaces.

Accuracy depends on the device, positioning method, and scan execution quality.

See 10.3 Accuracy Reference for the full breakdown.

No, not from a standard reconstruction. The LCC Studio measurement tool provides approximate distances but these are not survey-grade and should not be used for construction, permitting, or dimensional verification.

The Gaussian Splat model is a visual representation. The underlying ellipsoids represent appearance, not precise geometric surface positions. For measured deliverables, process the same scan data through LixelStudio to obtain the point cloud, which is the appropriate source for dimensional measurement.

Ask the client what software they use before you scan. The format choice affects how you configure processing.

• Autodesk Revit (BIM modeling from point cloud): RCP from LixelStudio, or E57 via Recap.
• Navisworks or AutoCAD: RCP or E57.
• ArcGIS, QGIS, or GIS delivery: LAZ with georeferenced coordinates.
• 3DGS visualization or web sharing: LCC (smallest, XGRIDS ecosystem) or PLY (broadest compatibility).
• Unreal Engine or Unity: LCC via XGRIDS SDK, or PLY via community plugins.
• Cesium or WebGIS digital twin: 3D Tiles (requires absolute coordinates and model under 4 million Gaussian points).
• NVIDIA Omniverse: USDZ (requires firmware 3.0+, single-scene, Portability Off).

See 10.7 Platform Compatibility for the full decision reference.

LiDAR cover: Use the included cloth, wipe gently in one direction. Small amounts of dust generally do not affect LiDAR performance significantly. Small amounts of isopropyl alcohol are acceptable on the LiDAR cover.

Camera lenses: Camera cleaning is essential. Clean before and after each use. A dirty camera lens directly degrades both point cloud color quality and 3DGS visual quality. Clean before every scan session.

Device body: Do not use alcohol on the aluminum body. It causes paint damage and discoloration. Wipe with a dry or lightly damp cloth only.

Firmware updates for L2 Pro and K1 are delivered through LixelGO. For PortalCam, through LCC Scan. Connect the scanner, navigate to device settings, and check for available updates.

Check for updates before every major project. Keep LixelStudio and device firmware versions matched: using LixelStudio 2.4.5 or earlier with firmware 1.4 or later causes processing failures. Never interrupt a firmware update by powering off the device. See 10.4 Firmware Updates for step-by-step procedures.

Format through LixelGO (L2 Pro and K1) or LCC Scan (PortalCam). Do not format using Windows or macOS disk utilities. Formatting via the app ensures the correct file system structure is maintained for the scanner firmware.

Verify that all scan data has transferred successfully to your workstation before formatting. The operation is irreversible and removes all project data from the device.

For hardware issues, firmware problems, or processing errors not covered in this guide, contact XGRIDS Technical Support through xgrids.com/intl/technical-support or your authorized XGRIDS reseller. When reporting a hardware issue, have the device serial number ready and prepare a video of intermittent faults if possible.

For Alpine Reality Capture clients, contact support through alpinerealitycapture.com.