Photoneo has released PhoXi Control and PhoXi Firmware 1.18, adding a Fast Scanner Mode to the MotionCam-3D Color that scans static scenes up to 2x faster than standard Scanner mode. The update also introduces Multi Capture HDR, which Photoneo says "greatly improves" point cloud completeness on difficult surfaces and runs on all of its sensors.
Fast Scanner Mode shows up in the software as two new coding strategies under Scanner mode settings, Fast Normal and Fast Interreflections. They sit beside the existing Normal and Interreflections strategies, and each offers three coding quality levels. Photoneo points to logistics and bin picking as the fit, where a static scene needs both fine detail and short scan times. For automation engineers tuning a picking cell, the mode adds another way to trade speed against detail and dynamic range, alongside Camera mode and Scanner mode.
Multi Capture HDR merges several captures taken at different power settings into one output, which raises signal-to-noise ratio and extends dynamic range. It works in every operating mode on any sensor capturing a static scene. Photoneo says that in Camera mode it keeps the point cloud clean when people, robot arms or vehicles move at the edges of the scene, a common condition on busy logistics sites.
Both packages need to be on 1.18 to use the new features. PhoXi Control 1.18 adds full PhoXi API support for them, including a Scan Multiplier setting for Camera mode across the MotionCam-3D family. The Settings Assistant now factors the new options in when it searches for a scene configuration.
The 3D viewer gains a distance tool. Measurements were previously possible only in the texture and depth map views. A new White – Shaded style shows geometry without texture. Photoneo describes the tool as meant for quick checks, not as a replacement for dedicated metrology software. Other changes include drawing a rectangular color-camera ROI directly in the 2D view, previewing the meshed point cloud before saving a PLY, opening PLY files and saving them as PRAW, and a keyboard shortcuts menu.
The firmware updater package is now about one third of its previous size, which Photoneo says helps when updating many sensors or sites with slow or no internet access. Firmware Updater 1.18 supports the MotionCam-3D (Color), PhoXi 3D Scanner Gen3, PhoXi 3D Scanner Gen2 units made after November 2021, and the Alpha 3D Scanner. PhoXi Control is now fully supported on Ubuntu 26.04. A PhoPrawExtractor.exe utility lets developers open PRAW files inside their own software, for example by drag and drop, and its DLL exposes only the data needed to use the scan.
