I bought a Raptor pro last week and have spent the week putting it through its paces ready for a video comparison I'm putting together. I thought you guys might be interested in my thoughts on how they stack up next to eachother.
A bit of background to me; I've been 3D scanning for around a decade and have used everything from the very first Pop scanner through to things such as the Einscan HX. I've owned most scanners from Revopoint, a couple from Einscan including the SP and the Einstar, and previously a Creality Raptor, now a Raptor Pro. Both the MetroX and the Raptor Pro I am using I bought with my own money. I backed MetroX on Kickstarter after being involved in the beta and it's been my workhorse scanner since then.
Software:
RevoScan is much more feature complete than CrealityScan. CrealityScan is OK but it doesn't really give the user much control over the fusing or meshing process like RevoScan does. In terms of performance, on PC I found RevoScan to run about the same as CrealityScan (using the GPU accelerated new version) but on Mac I found CrealityScan to be marginally faster. What I did get were some very wierd software issues with CrealityScan on Windows that I couldn't solve. For example, switching from Cross lines to Parallel lines frequently resulted in a crash and the app suddenly claiming that my graphics drivers were out of date (they are not). I didn't get the same issues on Mac. I like with CrealityScan the ability to remove data I don't want before fusion wherreas on RevoScan I have to fuse and then remove the data. RevoScan has more tools for data removal (plane cut, polygon, lasso, rectangle) where as CrealityScan only has rectangle and lasso. I also had issues with merging scans in CrealityScan. I found that feature alignment produced what can be described as a StarTrek transporter malfunction considerably more often than RevoScan. However, both have really good point picking alignment modes so it's not really a major issue.
Scanning speed:
There is nothing in it. With the GPU accelerated version of RevoScan scans were completed in pretty much exactly the same time as with Raptor Pro. I think with earlier version of RevoScan it was considerably slower but it looks like Reopoint have sorted this out now.
Scanning quality in laser modes:
Again, there is nothing in it. I've put them through torture tests of black objects, shiny objects, big objects, small objects, and they both produce stunning scans with very little skill from the user. Accuracy seems to be very close with MetroX being everyso slightly more accurate but we're talking fractions of a mm here over a 200mm wide object. Surface quality I will give the win slightly to RaptorPro but I think this is actually because of a smoothing algorithm in the fusion rather than actual data because when comparing unfused clouds, the surface quality is very similar. It's only after fusion that Raptor looks smoother.
Note, the Cross Lines scans above were all captured at the maximum settable in the software. This is 0.15mm with MetroX and 0.1mm with Raptor Pro.
Flexibility:
Hard to call but I think if I could only have one scanner I would choose MetroX over Raptor Pro simply because of the additional scanning modes it offers. Auto-turntable and full-field modes are extremely useful to me and produce stunning scans. Raptor Pro can be used wirelessly which does give some additional flexibility but this needs an addon in the form of the ScanBridge. I found wireless scanning to work well but the screen mirroring to phone I couldn't get to work no matter what I did. In the end I gave up with that. Raptor Pro does have NIR mode as an additional option but the results are not great. If you are buying Raptor for the NIR mode then I suggest you buy something like Otter or Pop3 instead as both will be better for the sort of work that requires NIR (people, non-marker scans of big things).
Raptor can produce colour scans when using laser modes wehere as MetroX can only do this in auto-turntable mode. Colour scans aren't something I'm particularly interested in but it's worth noting nonetheless.
RaptorPro can be used with a phone if you have the ScanBridge but the scan quality is very poor when doing this. The phone simply doesn't have the power to capture the amount of data that a laser scanner produces.
Value:
MetroX standard package comes with a tripod, dual-axis turntable, markers, calibration board, and a very sturdy flight case. Raptor comes with markers and the calibration board. If you want a turntable then that's something you will need to buy extra. Raptor also comes with a very sturdy flight case.
MetroX currently retails at £960 but it can be had for £850 from time to time
Raptor Pro currently retails at £1600 with the wireless package pushing that up to £2000
All things being equal, I think both scanners are exellent. They both have their strengths and weaknesses but I think whichever one someone buys they will be happy with it. However, with Raptor Pro being twice the price of MetroX and offering less in terms of stuff as a package and fewer scanning modes, I'm not sure whether the price difference can be justified.
Objects for reference:
A bit of background to me; I've been 3D scanning for around a decade and have used everything from the very first Pop scanner through to things such as the Einscan HX. I've owned most scanners from Revopoint, a couple from Einscan including the SP and the Einstar, and previously a Creality Raptor, now a Raptor Pro. Both the MetroX and the Raptor Pro I am using I bought with my own money. I backed MetroX on Kickstarter after being involved in the beta and it's been my workhorse scanner since then.
Software:
RevoScan is much more feature complete than CrealityScan. CrealityScan is OK but it doesn't really give the user much control over the fusing or meshing process like RevoScan does. In terms of performance, on PC I found RevoScan to run about the same as CrealityScan (using the GPU accelerated new version) but on Mac I found CrealityScan to be marginally faster. What I did get were some very wierd software issues with CrealityScan on Windows that I couldn't solve. For example, switching from Cross lines to Parallel lines frequently resulted in a crash and the app suddenly claiming that my graphics drivers were out of date (they are not). I didn't get the same issues on Mac. I like with CrealityScan the ability to remove data I don't want before fusion wherreas on RevoScan I have to fuse and then remove the data. RevoScan has more tools for data removal (plane cut, polygon, lasso, rectangle) where as CrealityScan only has rectangle and lasso. I also had issues with merging scans in CrealityScan. I found that feature alignment produced what can be described as a StarTrek transporter malfunction considerably more often than RevoScan. However, both have really good point picking alignment modes so it's not really a major issue.
Scanning speed:
There is nothing in it. With the GPU accelerated version of RevoScan scans were completed in pretty much exactly the same time as with Raptor Pro. I think with earlier version of RevoScan it was considerably slower but it looks like Reopoint have sorted this out now.
Scanning quality in laser modes:
Again, there is nothing in it. I've put them through torture tests of black objects, shiny objects, big objects, small objects, and they both produce stunning scans with very little skill from the user. Accuracy seems to be very close with MetroX being everyso slightly more accurate but we're talking fractions of a mm here over a 200mm wide object. Surface quality I will give the win slightly to RaptorPro but I think this is actually because of a smoothing algorithm in the fusion rather than actual data because when comparing unfused clouds, the surface quality is very similar. It's only after fusion that Raptor looks smoother.
Note, the Cross Lines scans above were all captured at the maximum settable in the software. This is 0.15mm with MetroX and 0.1mm with Raptor Pro.
Flexibility:
Hard to call but I think if I could only have one scanner I would choose MetroX over Raptor Pro simply because of the additional scanning modes it offers. Auto-turntable and full-field modes are extremely useful to me and produce stunning scans. Raptor Pro can be used wirelessly which does give some additional flexibility but this needs an addon in the form of the ScanBridge. I found wireless scanning to work well but the screen mirroring to phone I couldn't get to work no matter what I did. In the end I gave up with that. Raptor Pro does have NIR mode as an additional option but the results are not great. If you are buying Raptor for the NIR mode then I suggest you buy something like Otter or Pop3 instead as both will be better for the sort of work that requires NIR (people, non-marker scans of big things).
Raptor can produce colour scans when using laser modes wehere as MetroX can only do this in auto-turntable mode. Colour scans aren't something I'm particularly interested in but it's worth noting nonetheless.
RaptorPro can be used with a phone if you have the ScanBridge but the scan quality is very poor when doing this. The phone simply doesn't have the power to capture the amount of data that a laser scanner produces.
Value:
MetroX standard package comes with a tripod, dual-axis turntable, markers, calibration board, and a very sturdy flight case. Raptor comes with markers and the calibration board. If you want a turntable then that's something you will need to buy extra. Raptor also comes with a very sturdy flight case.
MetroX currently retails at £960 but it can be had for £850 from time to time
Raptor Pro currently retails at £1600 with the wireless package pushing that up to £2000
All things being equal, I think both scanners are exellent. They both have their strengths and weaknesses but I think whichever one someone buys they will be happy with it. However, with Raptor Pro being twice the price of MetroX and offering less in terms of stuff as a package and fewer scanning modes, I'm not sure whether the price difference can be justified.
Objects for reference:
