FARO RevEng vs Point Cloud Library

FARO RevEng is Windows software for creating and editing meshes and CAD surfaces from 3D point clouds. It supports reverse-engineering, further design and 3D-printing workflows. RevEng connects with FARO ScanArms and the 8-Axis Quantum ScanArm, including real-time capture, and imports point-cloud data from PC, ASC, XYZ, PTS, E57, NPTS, VTX, PCS and PWN files. Mesh inputs include STL, PLY, OBJ, OFF, OM, GLTF and GLB. Tools provide automatic mesh fixing, repair, adjustment, smoothing and fitting. The Sketch Tool can produce editable NURBS surfaces from point clouds. Hole filling, simplification, offsets and shell operations help prepare watertight meshes for printing. Exports include the listed point-cloud and mesh formats plus STEP. The recommended system is Windows 10/11 64-bit with an Intel Core i7 or equivalent sixth-generation processor or later, at least 16 GB RAM and 1 GB free disk space. Virtual-machine installation and remote desktop access are supported. Pricing is on request, with no free plan; FARO offers a fully functional 30-day trial. A license is complimentary with new CAM2 Scan Professional or Expert purchases.

Point Cloud Library (PCL) is a free, open-source project for processing 2D and 3D images and point clouds. Its algorithms cover filtering, feature estimation, surface reconstruction, registration, model fitting, and segmentation. They can be used to reduce noise, join point clouds, divide scenes into segments, find keypoints, calculate descriptors, create surfaces, and visualize point data.

PCL is divided into smaller code libraries that can be compiled separately, supporting distribution on systems with limited computing capacity or storage. Prebuilt binaries are available for Linux, Windows, and macOS, and the project recommends package managers to distribute PCL and simplify installation of its third-party dependencies. It supports OpenNI 3D interfaces for acquiring and processing data from devices such as PrimeSensor cameras, Microsoft Kinect, and Asus XTionPro. The API reference includes public methods and classes, code snippets, and links to scientific publications. PCL uses the 3-clause BSD license and is free for commercial and research use.