Faro Creaform 3D Scanners Integrated With Polyworks|inspector

Industrial OEMs can now stream scanner output straight into PolyWorks|Inspector, staying within a single workspace while drawing on both partners’ advanced 3D metrology toolsets to simplify inspection workflows.When capture, analysis, and reporting live in the same inspection environment, teams reduce handoffs, spot issues sooner, and get more repeatable results across operators and shifts.

Creaform and InnovMetric Announce Native Capture in PolyWorks|Inspector

Faro Creaform, a worldwide supplier of 3D scanners and portable CMM systems, together with InnovMetric, the independent developer behind PolyWorks, announced that acquisition from Faro Creaform’s self-referencing, multi-line 3D scanners is now built directly into PolyWorks|Inspector. Teams gain live visualization during capture along with the platform’s full dimensional analysis and quality-control toolkit in real time. In practical terms, this can improve day-to-day metrology projects by letting operators confirm coverage and deviations while scanning (and immediately rescan missed areas), helping engineers standardize inspections with repeatable alignment and automation routines, and giving managers cleaner handoffs from first-article inspection through ongoing production checks.

Shaped by customer input, the release preserves established practices for manufacturers that standardize on PolyWorks|Inspector for dimensional inspection. Direct capture inside the software lets users keep the trusted tools and automation they rely on while adding higher-performance scanning. For different roles, this typically means operators spend less time switching tools and redoing steps, engineers can reuse measurement strategies and macros to keep results consistent from part to part, and quality managers can tighten workflow efficiency by keeping acquisition, analysis, and documentation within one controlled process.

For post-processing and inspection deliverables, PolyWorks|Inspector is commonly used to clean and organize captured data (for example, managing point clouds and inspection objects), run alignment and comparison workflows (including scan-to-CAD and feature-based methods), perform dimensional analysis (features, GD&T-style checks, deviation and color-map evaluation), and generate inspection reports using templates. Reporting and downstream sharing typically includes exporting results in common formats such as PDF and spreadsheet-friendly outputs like CSV or Excel-compatible files, depending on the reporting method configured in your environment.

To connect a Faro arm to PolyWorks|Inspector, start by installing the required Faro arm drivers on the workstation and confirming the arm is recognized by the operating system. Connect the arm via the supported interface (commonly USB or Ethernet, depending on the model) and complete any device warm-up, calibration, or probe qualification steps recommended for your arm and probe setup. In PolyWorks|Inspector, open the device or hardware connection tools, add/select the Faro arm as the active measurement device (using the appropriate device plug-in if your PolyWorks installation or licensing requires it), then confirm units, active probe/stylus definition, and compensation settings. Finally, run a short verification routine on a known artifact or reference to confirm the arm is tracking correctly before starting production measurements.

For importing data into PolyWorks|Inspector, commonly supported inputs include CAD exchange formats such as STEP and IGES, mesh formats such as STL, OBJ, and PLY, and point-cloud style formats such as ASCII XYZ/CSV and other scanner-exported point formats (availability can vary by configuration and installed translators). For the most reliable list in your setup, check the Import/Open dialogs in PolyWorks|Inspector and the installed translators in your deployment, since supported formats can depend on licensing and installed components.

For support using Faro or Creaform products with PolyWorks, use the official support portals and helpdesks provided by your vendors: Faro support channels for hardware connectivity, drivers, and device troubleshooting; Creaform support resources for scanner-specific guidance; and InnovMetric’s PolyWorks support resources for software configuration, device plug-ins, and workflow questions. You can also typically find knowledge-base articles, troubleshooting guides, and community discussion via official user forums and vendor knowledge bases accessible from each vendor’s support site and within the PolyWorks help resources.

For PolyWorks|Inspector resources and training, look for official manuals and in-application help, getting-started tutorials, structured training courses, and webinar-style learning sessions provided by InnovMetric. Many deployments also include downloadable documentation (user guides and release notes) and built-in examples that help teams standardize measurement strategies, reporting templates, and automation practices.

Computer requirements for running PolyWorks|Inspector vary with part size, point-cloud density, and reporting complexity, but a typical minimum baseline is a 64-bit Windows workstation with a modern multi-core CPU, at least 16 GB of RAM, available SSD storage, and a dedicated graphics card suitable for 3D visualization. For heavier scanning and large datasets, a recommended configuration is a higher-core CPU, 32–64 GB of RAM, faster NVMe/SSD storage, and a more capable dedicated GPU with up-to-date drivers; standard production use also benefits from a stable network connection if you store projects or templates centrally.

Recent product updates relevant to the integration focus on enabling native acquisition from supported Faro Creaform self-referencing, multi-line scanners directly inside PolyWorks|Inspector, along with ongoing device-driver, firmware, and software plug-in updates that improve connectivity and workflow stability. For the latest official details, consult the vendor announcement pages and release notes provided by Faro, Creaform, and InnovMetric, as well as the release notes available within your installed PolyWorks environment.

Faro Creaform generally refers to Creaform-branded portable 3D metrology hardware (such as handheld 3D scanners and related measurement solutions) offered through Faro’s commercial and support channels in this context, while Faro Insight typically refers to Faro’s own software environment for measurement/inspection workflows. The key difference is that Faro Creaform denotes the hardware product family and its acquisition capabilities, whereas Faro Insight is a software platform; PolyWorks|Inspector is a separate metrology software environment that can be used to capture (with supported devices), analyze, and report inspection results.

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