XGRIDS Pro Guide™ / Module 8: LixelStudio

Module 8 Quick Field Guide

Pipeline stages, processing requirements, processing mode selection, export format reference, and Map Fusion limits for LixelStudio point cloud processing.

Section 1

LixelStudio Pipeline at a Glance

LixelStudio processes L3, L2 Pro, and K2 raw scan data into point clouds. PortalCam data goes through LCC Studio only. The two pipelines share no intermediate files and cannot be combined.

Stage

What Happens

Key Consideration

1. Import

Transfer raw scan folder from device to workstation SSD. Create new project from the integrated Home Page and point it at the scan folder.

Import to NVMe SSD. SATA SSD increases total processing time by 15 to 25%.

2. SLAM Optimization

LixelStudio reconstructs the trajectory and point map from raw LiDAR and IMU data. The High-Precision Optimization toggle auto-corrects horizontal and vertical alignment for indoor structured scenes in relative coordinates.

Set Windows Power and Sleep to Never before starting. A sleep interruption corrupts the processing run.

3. Coordinate Transform

RTK, PPK, or GCP data is applied to place the point cloud in a real-world coordinate system. Coordinate setup includes fast search of common and built-in coordinate systems.

For LAS to E57 conversion: use pose.csv if no absolute coordinates, pose_no_offset.csv if absolute coordinates are present.

4. Color Mapping

LixelStudio substantially improves color rendering and low-light performance. The L3 colors its point cloud in real time during the scan, from one forward camera and two panoramic cameras on a 1/1.3-inch sensor with 4K HDR. K2 produces real-time true-color point clouds from its 3 built-in cameras (2 fisheye + 1 forward-facing, 200°×200° panoramic coverage) during scanning. L2 Pro uses its 2 onboard 48 MP panoramic cameras, stitching to a maximum 56 MP panorama, with color mapping applied during processing.

Coloring requires CUDA 11.6 or later and an NVIDIA 20-series or newer GPU. Both published configurations already exceed that floor.

5. Quality Review

Check point density, coverage, noise, and control point residuals in the LixelStudio viewer. Run Accuracy Check against known control points.

Verify a known dimension. A 16 ft (5 m) corridor reading as 26 ft (8 m) indicates tracking drift, not measurement error.

6. Export

Export in E57 (unstructured or with panoramic data), LAS/LAZ, PLY, RCP/RCS, .ilas, OBJ/OSGB mesh, DXF vector drawings, or slice PNG/TIFF. Volume Calculation and Volume Comparison produce report exports.

A LAS filename used in LAS to RCP or LAS to E57 conversion must be 20 characters or fewer, or the conversion fails, hangs, or crashes.

Section 2

Processing Requirements

Memory is not where the two tiers differ. XGRIDS publishes 64 GB for both the Minimum and the Recommended configuration. A machine with 32 GB is below the published minimum regardless of how strong its CPU and GPU are, and memory is the constraint that ends long single-scan runs. Check that row first when sizing a workstation.

Component

Minimum

Recommended

Windows 10 or 11, Professional or Home

CPU

Intel i7 11th gen

Intel i9 12th gen

GPU

RTX 3060 or higher

RTX 3070 or higher

Memory

64 GB

Storage

1 TB

1 TB SSD

AMD GPUs are not supported at either tier. For Map Fusion work above 60 minutes of total scan duration, plan above the Recommended tier: see 5.0 Module 5 Field Guide.

Scan Duration

Est. Processing Time

5 minutes

100 to 150 minutes

20 minutes

7 to 10 hours

60 minutes

20 to 30 hours

Planning estimate of 20 to 30 times scan duration on Recommended-tier hardware with NVMe storage. XGRIDS does not publish a processing ratio; treat these as our guidance. K2 datasets are smaller and faster to process than L2 Pro data.

Section 3

Processing Mode Selection

The Mode dropdown sits on the Project Settings panel of the Project Processing dialog. Camera mount is a separate setting on the same panel: Handheld, Backpack, Vehicle, or UAV, matched to how the device was carried.

Mode

Use When

Risk

Standard

General scenes. Standard is the default Mode and the first choice for the initial processing attempt in typical interiors and exteriors.

May fail in degraded scenes, intense motion, or sensor interference. If it fails, try Robust before concluding the data is unrecoverable.

Robust

Scenes requiring higher processing stability. Switch to it after a Standard failure, particularly when the processing report shows "LIO Too Few, Please Try Robust Mode."

A recovery step, not a first choice.

Narrow Space

Tunnels, mine shafts, long corridors. Raises the success rate within approximately 1,640 ft (500 m). For longer runs, segment into multiple scans and use Map Fusion, with control points on the L2 Pro and K2.

Risks failure in regular environments. Only for tight, structurally constrained geometries.

Vehicle

Vehicle-mounted capture.

Set Camera mount to Vehicle to match.

UAV

Drone capture (L2 Pro Drone Mode data).

L2 Pro only. K2 is handheld only and is not drone-mountable.

High-Precision Optimization is a toggle on the Basic Parameters panel, not a processing mode. Enable it for indoor structured scenes processed in relative coordinates (no RTK, no PPK, no GCP). It auto-corrects horizontal and vertical alignment, reducing manual leveling work after processing.

Greyed out? Uncheck the Coordinate Transformation module. High-Precision Optimization and Coordinate Transformation are mutually exclusive, and the control is the module checkbox next to Coordinate Transformation in the left sidebar. Unchecking GCP or GNSS inside the panel is not enough. A run georeferences or it runs High-Precision Optimization, never both. Full walk-through on 8.2 Single Scan.

Section 4

Export Format Quick Reference

Format

Best For

Key Constraint

E57 (unstructured)

Revit, AutoCAD, Navisworks. Industry standard for BIM workflows. Exported directly from File > Export.

No panoramic images and no scan positions. Direct export takes no pose file and has no filename limit. Use the LAS to E57 tool when the deliverable must be structured E57.

E57 (structured)

BubbleView-compatible workflows in Autodesk, Leica, FARO platforms. Merges point cloud with panoramic photos along the acquisition path.

Requires a colorized point cloud that has already output panoramic images, and its pose data. Converted via the LAS to E57 tool in LixelStudio. The LAS filename must be 20 characters or fewer, or the conversion fails, hangs, or crashes. Select the correct pose file: pose.csv (no absolute coords) or pose_no_offset.csv (with absolute coords). See 8.5 Export Formats.

LAS / LAZ

GIS platforms, CloudCompare, ReCap Pro. LAZ is LAS compressed 80 to 90% with no quality loss.

Filename must be 20 characters or shorter for downstream RCP or E57 conversion workflows.

PLY

General 3D tools, research, custom pipelines.

Large files. No built-in coordinate system metadata.

RCP / RCS

Autodesk ecosystem: Revit, AutoCAD, Navisworks.

Produced by the built-in LAS to RCP converter, which handles up to 10 LAS files and targets AutoCAD and Recap 2020 or later. No separate ReCap Pro licence required. LAS filename limit applies.

.ilas

Internal XGRIDS format for processed point cloud data transfer between LixelStudio instances or XGRIDS ecosystem tools.

Not compatible with third-party software. Use LAS, E57, or PLY for external delivery.

OBJ / OSGB

Textured 3D mesh models, generated through the Coloring and Mesh panel during processing.

Source colored LAS data must be under 50 GB. Requires panoramic images in result folder. L2 Pro upsampled chunks cannot be used.

DXF

2D vector line work for CAD. Floor plans and section drawings extracted via Plane Draw / AI-Extract.

Vector quality depends on AI-Extract parameters and source point cloud density.

PNG / TIFF (slice exports)

Direct image output from Horizontal Slice and Vertical Slice tools for downstream drafting and documentation.

Image-only output. For point cloud data of the slice, export as LAS or RCP instead.

Volume Reports

Volume Calculation produces stockpile measurement reports with cut/fill/volume data. Volume Comparison compares two periods.

Volume Comparison requires registered point clouds with consistent base plane between the two periods.

Section 5

Map Fusion Quick Reference

Map Fusion in LixelStudio combines multiple scan segments into a single registered point cloud. These are field collection hard limits: plan segments against them before the first scan. Full procedure on 8.3 Map Fusion.

Limit

Value

Maximum segments per job

Maximum duration per segment (LixelStudio)

Under 20 minutes

Maximum total duration per job (LixelStudio)

200 minutes combined

Device consistency

All segments must be from the same device model. L2 Pro and K2 cannot be mixed in one fusion job. L2 Pro 16-channel and 32-channel variants also cannot be fused together.

Connection method

The L3 does not require control points for Map Fusion: its sessions are matched by region selection. L2 Pro and K2: RTK valid for every project, or at least one matching control point name per adjacent pair (case-sensitive). Names must not duplicate across projects.

Minimum overlap between segments

50 ft (15 m) of shared, feature-rich geometry; 50 to 100 ft (15 to 30 m) recommended

LCC Studio equivalent (3DGS)

10 segments and 200 minutes combined, with no per-segment cap. L3, L2 Pro, K2, and PortalCam

Both pipelines cap a fusion job at 200 minutes combined. What differs is the per-segment rule: LixelStudio also holds each capture session under 20 minutes, while LCC Studio sets no per-segment cap at all. Plan the segment breaks against the pipeline that will process the job, and the total against both.

Section 6

Critical Warnings

Data loss Set Windows Power and Sleep to Never before any processing run. A sleep or hibernate event during SLAM optimization corrupts the project. The run must be restarted from import.
Silent failure A LAS filename longer than the limit makes LAS to RCP and LAS to E57 conversion fail, hang, or crash: keep it to 20 characters or fewer. Rename the file before converting. The limit is documented for the LAS file used in conversion, not for direct export.
Silent failure Wrong pose file selection in LAS to E57 conversion produces unusable coordinates. Use pose.csv for scans without absolute coordinates. Use pose_no_offset.csv for scans with RTK or GCP absolute coordinates. The software does not warn you if you pick the wrong one.
Data loss Pause/Resume Transmission does not pause the scan, and the data it skips is not kept. The control sits in the Remote Transmission real-time view and pauses the point cloud stream to your workstation. Scanning is a separate control on the same panel. Data skipped while transmission is paused is not saved in LixelStudio, so click Save before closing if you need the real-time cloud. No XGRIDS scanner can pause a scan at all: start and stop only.
Warning 64 GB of memory is the published minimum, not the recommended figure. Both configuration tiers specify 64 GB. A 32 GB workstation is below spec no matter how strong the rest of the build is.
Warning High-Precision Optimization stays greyed out until the Coordinate Transformation module checkbox is unchecked. The two are mutually exclusive: a run georeferences or it runs High-Precision Optimization, never both. Uncheck the module checkbox in the left sidebar of Project Processing; unchecking GCP or GNSS inside the panel is not enough.
Warning Narrow Space mode risks failure in normal environments. Use it only for tunnels, mine shafts, or long corridors. Standard is the mode for regular interiors and exteriors.
Warning If processing fails in Standard mode, switch the Mode dropdown to Robust before concluding the data is unrecoverable. Robust handles scenes that need higher processing stability. If a scan fails in Standard, re-run in Robust before submitting diagnostic logs.
Warning SATA SSDs increase processing time by 15 to 25%. For large projects or tight delivery timelines, NVMe SSD is the correct storage choice for the processing workstation.
Warning AMD GPUs are not supported in LixelStudio. LixelStudio requires NVIDIA GPU architecture with CUDA. There is no driver update or workaround for AMD GPUs.
Warning Drone Mode is L2 Pro only. A drone mount for the L3 is in development for the DJI Matrice 400. K2 is handheld only and is not drone-mountable. Process drone captures with the Mode dropdown set to UAV, and verify LixelStudio is current before importing Drone Mode scans.
Warning Map Fusion segments must use the same device model. L2 Pro and K2 cannot be mixed in one fusion job, and L2 Pro 16-channel and 32-channel variants cannot be fused together.
Warning Do not size a 3DGS job against the LixelStudio numbers on this page. LCC Studio sets no per-segment cap but enforces a hard 200-minute combined cap across 10 segments, and the PortalCam runs LCC Studio only.

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