Frequently Asked Questions

What is Geomagic Studio, and what does it do?

Geomagic Studio is a digital shape sampling & processing (DSSP) software application for engineering and design professionals to create accurate digital models from any physical part.  Geomagic Studio accepts data from any 3D scanner in the form of a point cloud, and can process this data into polygons and NURBS surfaces suitable for export and use in downstream applications for design, manufacturing, analysis, and visualization.

Who uses Geomagic Studio?

Geomagic Studio is used by engineers, designers, and technicians around the world.

What are the primary applications or industries using Geomagic Studio?

Geomagic Studio is used in a variety of applications, including:

  • Aerospace
  • Automotive
  • Consumer Products
  • Turbines and Power Generation
  • Heavy Industry
  • Medical Devices

What are the main benefits of Geomagic Studio?

Geomagic Studio provides a comprehensive set of tools for digital shape processing, from scan acquisition to surface exporting. With automation and simplicity without compromise, you can bypass tedious, labor-intensive tasks and increase throughput. For more about the benefits of Geomagic Studio, see Geomagic Studio: Benefits.

Do I have to change my workflow to use Geomagic Studio?

No. Geomagic Studio is a complement to existing CAD and CAE systems, providing the unique input of real-world geometry as opposed to screen-designed CAD data

Will Geomagic Studio support my scanner?

Geomagic Studio is compatible with any 3D scanner or digitizer. The majority of 3D scanner file formats can be read natively, and some scanners have direct hardware support for data acquisition via Geomagic Plugins.

How much data can Geomagic Studio handle?

Geomagic Studio uses intelligent memory mapping and disk caching with available hard drive swap space to handle very large data sets.  Multiple scans totaling over 100 million points can be registered and merged on a machine with 2 GB of RAM. After creating the merged model, polygon decimation is used to reduce the triangle count while retaining accuracy.

How accurate is Geomagic Studio?

Geomagic Studio uses double-precision floating point numbers to retain all of the accuracy of the original input data. This is sufficient for ~15 digits of numerical precision.

The deviation of the final NURBS surface to the original input data depends on the steps used in the process, including sampling, noise reduction, decimation, and control points density. A comparison tool allows you to visualize the deviations of the model at any stage relative to the original input data.

Do I need to have a scanner to use Geomagic Studio?

Geomagic Studio can be used for editing and repair with a variety of data sources other than scanners, including most polygonal and CAD file formats. See the technical specifications section for a list of supported formats.

Can Geomagic Studio process CMM data?

Yes, Geomagic Studio can work with any type of point cloud, including sparse datasets from conventional CMMs or denser data gathered from CMMs equipped with scanning probes.

What services and support are available to ensure my success?

The Geomagic Services group provides support for custom software development, consulting, implementation services, and training

What are the three modules of Geomagic Studio?

The three modules of Geomagic Studio are: Geomagic Capture, for data acquisition, registration, and merging; Geomagic Wrap, for polygon repair and editing; and Geomagic Shape, for producing high quality NURBS surfaces. For more information, see Geomagic Studio: Modules.

Can modules be purchased separately?

Yes, modules can be purchased separately or together for bundle prices. Please contact your sales representative for details.

How do I purchase Geomagic Studio?

Geomagic Studio is available from resellers throughout the world. Visit our website to find a reseller closest to you.

What is a NURBS surface? Do I need to create NURBS surfaces for my application?

A NURBS (Non Uniform Rational B-Spline) surface is a mathematical model used for generating and representing the surface of a model. This model is continuous, as opposed to the discrete polygon model composed of triangles and vertices.

NURBS surfaces are the standard method for importing and exporting data to CAD, CAM, and CAE applications, with ‘IGES’ and ‘STEP’ being two of the most common file interchange formats. Some applications can also accept polygon models, often using the ‘STL’ format.

In most cases, the need for using NURBS or polygon models will be decided by the downstream requirements and applications.  Geomagic Studio can produce either representation.

How can Geomagic Studio support my FEA and CFD needs?

The watertight, continuous surfaces created by Geomagic Studio are ideal for meshing in FEA and CFD applications. Users can export scanned objects as IGES files to analyze, or use Geomagic Studio’s functionality to resurface an existing CAD model to repair overlaps, gaps, and trimming issues prior to meshing. Visit our Success Stories section to see how some of our customers have used Geomagic Studio for analysis applications.

What are the system requirements for Geomagic Studio?

Geomagic Studio requires Microsoft Windows 2000 or XP, a processor speed of at least 733 MHz, and 1 GB or more of RAM is recommended. For detailed information, see Geomagic Studio: Technical Requirements.