Most dimensional inspection measures points. A CMM probe touches a feature, records a coordinate, moves to the next. It is accurate, it is trusted, and it is slow — which means in practice you inspect a sample of parts against a sample of features, and hope the gaps do not matter.
Optical scanning inverts that. Instead of selected points, you capture the entire outer surface and compare all of it to the model.
Capturing the whole surface at once
Polyrix uses a 360° array of cameras that images the complete outer surface simultaneously, rather than scanning in passes and stitching the results. A part is captured in about 40 seconds, producing a dense 3D model, for objects from a few centimetres up to 6.5 metres.
Because nothing touches the part and nothing has to be repositioned, the measurement is repeatable in a way that hand-guided scanning is not — which is what makes it usable on a line rather than only in a metrology room.
What full-surface data gives you
- Deviation across the whole part — a colour map against CAD rather than a list of point measurements
- GD&T at production speed, so geometric tolerancing is checked on more than a token sample
- Reverse engineering, where no current model exists
- In-line and near-line metrology, with results available while the process can still be corrected
The last point is the commercial one. Inspection that reports days later documents scrap. Inspection that reports in seconds prevents it.
Outside or inside?
This is the distinction to be clear about, because it decides the instrument.
Optical scanning measures the outer surface — geometry, form, deviation from model. It cannot see inside a part, and no amount of resolution changes that.
If the question is internal — porosity in a casting, a void in a weld, delamination in a composite, an assembly defect hidden under a housing — that is computed tomography, or in composites often ultrasound. The two are complementary: scanning verifies the shape you can see, CT verifies the structure you cannot.
A reasonable test
If your current inspection samples parts because measuring all of them would be too slow, and scrap is discovered downstream rather than at the station, that gap is what full-surface scanning closes.
We can scan your own parts on a demonstration system in Israel — get in touch.