How A Laser Scanner Works by Leica 

Thank you! We can't take credit for it, but we agree that it's the best video we have seen as well. The video was produced by Leica, who is the company that manufactures the scanners.

I'll be honest, it's over my head as well. 🙂It is mind blowing that the scanner is able to know which pulse is coming back when and record it, especially at up to 2,000,000 measurements per second. Keep in mind, not all of the pulses come back so it's not like you can just assume that they come back in serial, not to mention some pulses hit objects closer and therefore bounce back sooner. I've been doing this a long time and it still amazes me.

think i may have an idea, at first i was confused by the same thing as well. How can the scanner read the light reflecting back if its already rotated away? then I remembered, were dealing with light here. The fastest thing in the universe. We may think the scanner won't b able to pick up the reflected beam, but in light years, light has PLENTY of time to bounce off any surface in the vicinity and return back to the scanner before the scanner's even moved a nanometer. Or at least that's how I understand it. My question is: How does the scanner read the returning light if the laser hits something at an angle, and simply bounces away rather than bouncing back into the scanner? I would think if it strikes an object an angle besides perfectly perpindicular, it would shoot off. This is what confuses me.

@@TruePointScanning think i may have an idea, at first i was confused by the same thing as well. How can the scanner read the light reflecting back if its already rotated away? then I remembered, were dealing with light here. The fastest thing in the universe. We may think the scanner won't b able to pick up the reflected beam, but in light years, light has PLENTY of time to bounce off any surface in the vicinity and return back to the scanner before the scanner's even moved a nanometer. Or at least that's how I understand it. My question is: How does the scanner read the returning light if the laser hits something at an angle, and simply bounces away rather than bouncing back into the scanner? I would think if it strikes an object an angle besides perfectly perpindicular, it would shoot off. This is what confuses me.