Software Package and Technology Will Enhance 3D Point Cloud Offering

North Kingstown, Rhode Island. January 21, 2009. Hexagon Metrology (London, UK) has announced the acquisition of Technodigit SARL, (Lyon, France), developer of 3DReshaper® software, a software package designed for 3D point cloud and 3D mesh manipulation for reverse engineering, rapid prototyping, product design and industrial inspection. 3DReshaper brings powerful capabilities to the organization and manipulation of the millions of data points created with high speed laser scanning systems such as Hexagon Metrology's ScanShark laser probe, and the Leica T-Scan.

Ken Woodbine, president of Wilcox Associates, the Hexagon Metrology software development group and publisher of PC-DMIS® measurement software, said: "The great promise of laser scanning in industrial measuring applications has always been the enormous amounts of high density data that is collected. However, working with the vast amount of 3D data points that you can now collect in a matter of a few seconds can be a challenge. The file sizes are enormous, and in raw form, the data isn't necessarily organized in a way that's useful. That's where the software comes in. The 3DReshaper Application is a fully-realized 3D package on its own, with powerful features like the ability to import point clouds of unlimited size, mesh shaping and editing and 3D surface comparison for inspection. Many customers have been asking us for these kinds of capabilities as they push further into the requirement to characterize free-form surfaces. Customers in the aerospace, medical, dental, surveying, automotive, power generation and die & mold markets will appreciate the wide variety of capabilities that 3DReshaper brings to the table."

"In the short run, the acquisition of Technodigit will enhance our existing portfolio of software solutions dedicated to point cloud acquisition and manipulation. 3DReshaper already has existing interfaces to certain ROMER portable arm packages, as well as compatibility with Leica Geosystems products, said Woodbine. "The longer view is that the core technologies and algorithms can be selectively incorporated into the PC-DMIS engine to create greater flexibility and functionality in our core software package, which is the de-facto standard software for dimensional inspection at many of our worldwide customers."

Pascal Lefebvre-Albaret, president of Technodigit said: "Hexagon Metrology companies have been good customers for us for many years. Gradually, this relationship has transformed into a partnership and ultimately we were asked to join the Hexagon Metrology family. We are very proud to be part of the world's leading metrology group, with the ability to offer our advanced technology as part of Hexagon's portfolio of software solutions."

The acquisition is effective immediately, and the Technodigit development team will join the Hexagon Metrology software development group, which employs more than 100 in-house developers worldwide.

About Technodigit

Technodigit is the software developer of the 3DReshaper® package which is distributed around the world through resellers and integrators. 3DReshaper software takes 3D data from scanning devices and allows point cloud processing, surface reconstruction, and geometric shape extraction. The software is used in many applications including custom medical and dental appliance manufacturing, land surveying and topography, architecture and cultural heritage conservation, and CAD-CAM applications for industrial markets. A software development kit (SDK) is available for integrators who wish to apply a library of C++ functions to create their own custom applications using the 3DReshaper platform. The company may be found online at www.Technodigit.com.

About Hexagon Metrology

Hexagon Metrology serves the high precision measurement and inspection needs of worldwide manufacturers with its extensive line of metrology hardware, software, accessories, and customer services. The company's name-brand portfolio of quality assurance products include Brown & Sharpe, CogniTens, Leica Geosystems, ROMER, Sheffield, PC-DMIS, DEA, Leitz, and TESA. Hexagon Metrology has an unrivaled installed base of more than 1.5 million handheld, stationary and portable measurement devices, and over 30,000 seats of PC-DMIS metrology software.

The company is a subsidiary of Hexagon AB (Nacka Strand, Sweden), a publicly-traded company (OMX Nordic: HEXA B). The Hexagon group consists of about 8,000 employees located in more than 30 countries.

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