Quick Start Guide

Quick Start Guide

This quick start guide introduces the essential workflows in PinPoint Registration Tool and PinPoint Modeler. You’ll learn how to:
  • Set up your system and start a new project
  • Import scan data from devices like the BLK360 SE
  • Align and register multiple scans into a clean point cloud
  • Clean and inspect your data for quality assurance
  • Evaluate scan data with tools for measurement, projections, sections, orthophotos, surface sampling, and flatness analysis
  • Export results in common formats for further use or reporting
Whether you’re just getting started or looking to streamline your workflow, this guide helps you turn raw scans into meaningful results - quickly and efficiently.

System Requirements

PinPoint System Requirements and Compatibility

Installation

Start by downloading the PinPoint software from here. Install the software by following the directions in the InstallShield Wizard.
  • Note: You must have administrative privileges on your computer to correctly install and license PinPoint.
  • It is recommended to verify the graphic card settings of your computer after the installation has been completed.

Software Activation

Leica Entitlement ID (EID)

After successfully installing the software, the next step is to activate your license. You’ll need your Leica Entitlement ID (EID), which can be found in one of the following:
  • Your invoice
  • The delivery note included with your BLK360 SE Essentials package
  • A separate entitlement certificate, either in printed or digital form

Activation

To activate PinPoint:
  • Open the PinPoint Registration Tool.
  • A welcome message prompting license activation will appear.
  • Insert the license Entitlement ID and click on Activate.
Note: License activation can be also done from the Modeler.
You will see a prompt indicating that CLM (Client License Management) software is required. Click Yes to proceed with the installation.
  • Note: An internet connection is required for license activation
  • If CLM is already installed on the computer, it will be automatically detected, and this step will be skipped.
CLM (Client License Management) software will be downloaded and installed. Once installation is complete, your license will be activated, and you’ll gain access to both PinPoint Register Tool and PinPoint Modeler.

General Navigation

Rotate

PinPoint supports two distinct rotation modes: Target Mode and Panorama Mode
  • In Target Mode, the model rotates around a fixed 3D target point. This mode is ideal when inspecting a model from the outside or rotating around specific objects.
  • In Panorama Mode, the model rotates around the viewer’s position. This mode is commonly used when navigating from inside a model and looking outward.
The default rotation mode is target. It can be modified to Panorama by holding the Shift key.
To rotate the view, press and hold the right mouse button while moving the mouse. The rotation starts around a fixed 3D point.
Rotating while holding Shift will switch to a panorama-style rotation.

Move

Clicking the right mouse button on any point in the 3D view moves the camera toward that point.
In the default mode, target mode, this sets a new center of rotation.
If the clicked point is a scan position, the view transitions to that position, showing a panoramic image. To rotate in the panorama, hold the Shift key while using the right mouse button.
Holding the mouse wheel while moving the mouse enables panning, which allows to move the camera horizontally or vertically, parallel to the scene.

Zoom

Zooming is the process of changing the perceived size of objects.
  • It can be realized by either moving the camera closer to them (dolly zoom).
  • Or by adjusting the field of view (FOV zoom).
PinPoint uses both types of zooming.
Using the mouse wheel, the type of zoom applied depends on the current rotation mode:
  • In Target Mode, zooming with the mouse wheel results in a dolly zoom
  • In Panorama Mode, holding Shift and using the mouse wheel, results in a field of view zoom.
Dolly zoom can also always be performed by holding Ctrl + right mouse button and moving the mouse forward or backward.
Note: When using dolly zoom or target rotation while in a Panorama, the user will move out of the panorama.

PinPoint Registration Tool

PinPoint Registration Tool is a high-performance 3D tool for turning raw laser scans into precise, visually rich point clouds. Using advanced splat rendering for superior visual quality, it lets you effortlessly import, align, and register point clouds. Manage projects, clean up data, and export to most common CAD and BIM applications - all in an intuitive workflow from scan to final result.

User Interface

At the top, you will find the main workflow sections:
  • The Register section is all about aligning your scans. Here, you will position individual scans relative to each other and bring them together.
  • The Control section gives you the tools needed for verification and inspection. Use it to visually and statistically assess the quality of your registration.
  • Once everything is in place, head over to the Deliver section. Here you will find export options for sharing or further processing your project - whether as individual scans, a merged model, or a PinPoint Modeler project.
On the left side panel, you will find essential tools for working with your data. Create clippings to isolate and focus on specific parts of your scan. Apply cleanups to remove unwanted geometry or split your model into meaningful parts. Use the data panel to organize your imported point clouds into logical groups.

Create & Import

  1. Let’s start by creating a new project in PinPoint Registration Tool. Click on Create, then choose a project name and set the file location.
  2. Once created, the project will open. Now let’s import data.
  3. Connect your BLK360 SE to your computer using a USB-C cable.
  4. Then go to File → Import → BLK → BLK360 SE. Press Connect and you’ll see a list of available scans.
  5. Select the ones you’d like to import - by default, they’ll be brought in with imagery. Click Import and let the process complete.
  6. Once import is completed, a notification indicating the number scans successfully imported will be shown.
The scans will be imported aligned and positioned as they were in the Cyclone Field 360 App.
You can always add more scans later. For example, if your scanning session was split over multiple days, you can reconnect the device again and PinPoint will automatically preselect only the new scans which are not yet added to the project.
Now that all scan data has been imported, you’ll see the scans listed in the Scene panel. From here, you can move on to the registration workflow.

Registration & Quality Check

Now that the scans are imported, let’s move on to the registration and quality check.
At first glance, the scans appear to be well aligned as per the pre-alignment done from the Cyclone Field 360 App.
To further optimize this alignment, we will perform a bundle alignment.
  • Start by selecting Register → Scans. Then make all scans movable — click Move for the entire Scene.
  • Select Snap Scans to trigger the bundle alignment across all scan positions.
To review the result, open the registration statistics by clicking Statistics.
In the case of having one or more scans in the job that were not correctly pre-align in the Cyclone Field 360 App you will notice it here.
In this example we can see that Setup 24 stands out in the error metrics.
Let’s investigate further:
  • Select Setup 24, then toggle between the selected scan and all scans by pressing the space bar.
  • It looks like the scan fits nicely the window area - but doesn’t align with the rest of the room.
  • To resolve this we start by setting only Setup 24 as movable.
  • Now we can pull it out for inspection using the left mouse button. Hold Shift + left click to rotate it around its center.
  • Visually, it becomes clear where the scan should go. We roughly place it back into the correct room,
  • then re-run Snap Scans to register it more precisely.
The statistics update immediately. A reduced error and a small cloud-to-cloud distance of just 2 mm confirm the scan is now correctly placed.
To finish up, we run the bundle alignment one last time, this time using very close cloud distance settings. This lets the Snap Scans algorithm fine-tune the final alignment.
For a final visual confirmation, switch to Section View - either by clicking the icon or pressing T on your keyboard. You’ll see a clean pointcloud, without double lines for walls across all rooms - a clear sign of precise alignment.
That’s it! Your registration is complete.

Clean

A basic cleanup starts by removing scanned geometry outside your region of interest - for example, trees, street areas, or parts of neighboring buildings.
To make this process easier, it’s often best to switch to a top-down, orthographic view. You can activate this by selecting View → Orthographic Projection in the menu, or simply pressing the O key. Then use the right mouse button to rotate the view and look straight down.
To start, click the + icon under Cleanups in the left panel. This activates a set of cleanup tools on the left, while modifiers and actions appear on the right side of the screen.
The lasso tool is the most commonly used, and it’s preselected by default.
  • Just use the left mouse button to draw around the building.
  • A red outline appears, and all points inside it will be selected.
  • Double-click to confirm the selection.
  • If you missed a spot, simply draw a new polygon - it will extend the existing selection.
  • To remove from the current selection, draw a lasso while holding the Shift key. The green outline indicates, that this operation will deselect points.
  • Since we want to remove the outside, click Invert on the right panel to flip the selection. Then, click the trash bin icon to flag the selected points for deletion.
We can continue the cleanup process using the lasso tool from different viewing angles, gradually refining our dataset.
Comparing the point cloud before and after cleanup highlights how distractions are removed and a more professional dataset is created - ideal for sharing with clients or exporting to other tools.

Deliver

Once your point cloud is clean and properly registered, it’s time to deliver the results.
PinPoint offers three main export options, depending on your workflow needs:
  • First, Export Scans exports each individual scan position using the original scan data. The scans are positioned according to the registration and include any cleanup deletions. Based on user selection, the export can either include one file per scan or a single file with all scans. This method preserves high detail but results in larger files - best suited for cases where maximum fidelity is required.
  • Next, Merged Model creates a compact and resampled 3D asset. All scans are merged into a single, optimized model - without scan position metadata. This option is ideal for exporting to third-party software and is available as a resampled pointcloud and/or a texturized mesh.
  • Finally, the PinPoint export option creates a PinPoint Modeler project, allowing you to seamlessly continue processing in PinPoint Modeler, including modeling, annotation, and documentation workflows.

PinPoint Modeler

PinPoint Modeler is a powerful 3D tool for extracting structured data from point clouds with precision and ease. Whether you’re measuring, slicing, creating orthophotos, or projecting geometry, PinPoint streamlines every step. Its name comes from its intuitive corner snapping - simply “point and pin” to build accurate models. Create floorplans, sample surfaces, analyze flatness, and export your results in common formats - all in a clean, purpose-built interface designed for speed and clarity.

User Interface

The PinPoint interface is organized into three functional groups:
  • The Modeling section focuses on creating and editing 3D polygons for compact representation.
  • The Generate section allows users to map 3D data onto 2D sketches through projections and intersections.
  • The Measurements section provides tools for extracting lengths and angles from 3D data, as well as generating color-coded error meshes.
On the left panel, users can find a summary of all inspections performed on the 3D model, including sketches, helper planes, and more:
  • Each entry can be toggled for viewing.
  • Additionally, entries can be deleted,
  • or exported into appropriate formats.
  • Selecting the hand symbol, an asset can be used as input for further inspections.
  • Regardless of the selected tool, the Instruction Bar in the lower-left corner provides guidance on expected inputs and available hotkeys.
When starting a project in PinPoint Modeler, you’ll notice that surfaces appear in different colors. Each color represents a group of 3D points lying on the same plane. This is the result of PinPoint’s preprocessing.
If scan colors are available, they can be displayed using the function keys:
  • Pressing F3 will show the “real colors”.
  • To switch back to the “surface colors”, press F2.
“Colored planes” are recommended for better visual guidance in most workflows.
PinPoint visualizes a 3D point cloud, despite surfaces appearing solid.
By reducing the point size - using Ctrl and the mouse wheel, you can see through these surfaces. Each point is a small disc aligned with the surrounding surface, which gives PinPoint its distinct presentation.

Plane Intersection

Most interactions in PinPoint Modeler rely on selecting 3D corner points defined by the intersections of 3D planes.
The mouse pointer acts as a 3D selection tool. When hovering over surfaces, they are highlighted for selection.
A left-click selects a region. Hovering over a second region creates a 3D line at the intersection of two planes. After selecting a second plane, any additional interaction is restricted to a point on this line.
Selecting a third plane fully defines a 3D point, which can then be used for precise measurements and modelling.
Note that the mouse-pointer is actually a 3D ball, which automatically intersects all touching surfaces. This makes the 3D point selection process fast and straightforward - just “point and pin”, which is where PinPoint gets its name.

Create Measurements

PinPoint allows for a variety of measurement types. First, select the Measure tool in the top bar:
  • Selecting two points measures the distance between them.
  • Selecting two planes measures the angle between them.
  • Selecting a point and a plane shows the orthogonal distance from the point to the plane.
  • Selecting a point and a line shows the orthogonal distance from the point to the line.
Use the 3D mouse pointer ball to intersect all connected planes at once when defining 3D points by plane intersections. Hold Ctrl to freely select points in the 3D point cloud.
To complete the measurements section: PinPoint also makes it easy to measure and inspect modeled surfaces. Simply click on a modeled surface to reveal its edge lengths and area.

Create Sketches

Sketches in PinPoint are 2D projections derived from the 3D model, and they can be created even without prior modeling.
To create for example a slice of the 3D pointcloud, click the button Point Projection:
  • To define the orientation of the projection, select a base plane.
  • There are alternative methods to define a boundary planes. One method is to hold Ctrl while moving the mouse to freely define a plane, and another is to enter a precise plane distance using the keyboard.
  • Next set the position of the lower boundary plane by moving the mouse while holding Ctrl and then fix the position with a left mouse button click. Confirm plane position with the green checkmark.
  • For the second boundary plane we enter the precise distance from the base plane on the keyboard. The distance is shown in the lower right corner. Confirm the second plane with the green checkmark.
  • Let’s create a 2D point projection of 3D measurements between these planes projected onto the middle plane. Select the settings and confirm by pressing OK.
  • Adjust the density filter to refine the visualization by moving the filter slider.

Modeling a Room

To model a room, follow these steps:
  • Start by selecting the Add Surface function. Click on the desired plane - in this case, the floor - then click the Fix or Release Plane Constraint icon. This sets the floor as the working plane, meaning the walls will be intersected with this plane.
  • Next, define the boundaries of the base surface by selecting the edges of the surrounding walls. As you click, polygon lines will appear on the floor plane, outlining the base shape of the room.
  • Close the polygon by clicking the Close Polygon icon, pressing the Enter key, or selecting the first corner again.
  • Now, activate the Extrude function. Select the base surface you just created, then pull it upwards by clicking on the ceiling. Complete the extrusion by clicking the Accept icon. This single operation generates all vertical walls and the ceiling in one step.
To inspect the modelled room, first exit the Extrude function by pressing Esc or clicking the tool again. Then open the Inspector View by selecting it from the View drop-down menu or by pressing the V key.

Export

All created assets are listed in the left panel.
To export data: Click the disk icon next to an asset. Choose the desired format for export:
  • You can export 3D assets to common formats such as OBJ
  • You can export 2D assets to common formats such as DXF.
With these fundamental tools and workflows, you are now ready to get started with PinPoint Modeler!

Keyboard Shortcuts (Hotkeys)

Keyboard shortcuts (hotkeys) for Register Tool and Modeler
Keyboard shortcuts (hotkeys) for Register Tool
Keyboard shortcuts (hotkeys) for Modeler

Troubleshooting and Support

Graphic Card Settings

To ensure optimal performance, it is required to configure the graphics card to high performance for each PinPoint module.
  • Go to the graphic card settings on Windows settings.
  • Windows Settings → System → Display → Graphic settings.
  • From desktop app browse PinPoint software.
  • Located by default in this path: C:\Program Files\Leica Geosystems\PinPoint
  • Once added, change the option to High Performance

Return a License

  • From the Registration Tool or Modeler, go to Edit → Settings → License → Return.
  • Confirm the license return by clicking on Yes

How to Collect Logs

PinPoint logs can be collected individually within each module user interface:
  • Go to Help → Show Log.
  • In the logs window, click on Download logs icon and select the storage path.
  • All the session logs will be downloaded on a zip file.
Please share the file with the technical support team.

Contact Support

Do you have questions or experiencing issues? Contact our technical support team by clicking here.
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