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I am lost on what each scan contains, but in general - import "top" into "middle" and "bottom" into "middle" You can show ref. points and with ctrl you should be able to select, then click to add ( should be that button just under list of ref. points on left side ) But this is not Inspect, so i don't know if this will work at your SW

Link to a couple of older posts with some more details, this seems to have been an issue for a while:

Yeah, the last few years we had been scheduling out calibrations about 6 months in advance after we got in a scheduling bind when we reached out our usual three months in advance and they gave us a five month lead time that would put our CMMs out of calibration for a couple months. Company ownership was very displeased. Additionally, we have two machines and we used to get both done once a year during the same visit from the Zeiss calibration tech, it seemed to work well and helped reduce calibration costs. Then a few years ago Zeiss started charging double the travel time even though it was two machines done in the same visit that required an extra day, maybe two on site. We didn't mind paying the cost of those extra couple of days but double dipping on the the travel expenses was kind of a slap in the face. In spite of this we wanted to stick with the original manufacturer of the machines for calibration services so we switched to calibrating our machines every other year, alternating machines, so a tech was in annually to calibrate one machine one year and the next year the other. There was now a two year calibration cycle on our CMM's but we felt like the cost/risk benefit was within our tolerance. Unfortunately it also seems like the quality of both communication and the calibration techs has gone down the past couple of years as well, at least those they send to our area. We had an issue of a tech really not seeming to know what he was doing - always on the phone working through the calibration process, taking significantly longer, and when he was done had screwed something up that required a more experienced tech to then make the trip to fix it. With all of this in mind company ownership opted to get a third party CMM calibration service in this year. It went smoothly and the tech was very knowledgeable and the cost was significantly cheaper. I had significant reservations about moving away from Zeiss for our calibration services but the cost was becoming prohibitive for our smaller shop and the risk of a bad calibration tech showing up was becoming a real possibility. Thankfully this outside tech was able to calibrate the CMM without any problems and was pleasant to work with but if there is a larger issue that requires significant adjustments or hardware fixes we'll still plan to rely on Zeiss. I would be curious if others have had similar experiences. I have worked with many Zeiss techs over the years and many were great but the past couple of years were rough.

Well, not so common, I suppose. We have been receiving our quotes with plenty of time to schedule, in the past... and I've been scheduling calibrations through Zeiss for the last 10+ years, and it has never been an issue.

@Keith Forche I thought this was common knowledge? Zeiss told us to schedule AT LEAST 6 months out for the CMM, better if we could do 9 months. I set a reminder on the calendar. They just need a PO at scheduling time as a placeholder.

Fun story.. We received our quote for calibration, and had the PO issued within 2 weeks. I just got an email stating that the technician isn't scheduled to be on site until a month (4 weeks) PAST the CMM calibration due date. There was NO chance of getting the CMM scheduled on time. Not even if we jumped through 20 hoops to get a PO out the same day... it's basic math. Better email your reps 6 months in advance, if you want a chance of having your equipment scheduled on time...

simple enough:) Thanks

Based on your screenshots, I think you've hit a limitation of the Transform by Common Reference Points workflow in ATOS Professional V8. Once Scan 1 is transformed into Scan 2, V8 appears to expect any additional scans to use that same reference point constellation. Since your Bottom and Top scans don't share common reference points, I'd try importing all three scans into a fresh project before performing any transformations. Otherwise, you may need to use the Middle scan as a bridge or use a geometric alignment for the final merge. I'm not sure whether V8 supports chaining multiple independent reference point transformations, so I'd be interested to hear if anyone has successfully done this in V8.

Just select different axis direction in second alignment.

Occasionally I need to remove a planar rotation feature to measure a half finished turned part whiteout the feature that will be used later to clock the part, and once I do that the trihedron is flipped 180 degrees and the clearances seem to get screwed up, the stylus runs into the part in tight corners, ( no damage, it's just annoying ) and I go thru the whole program to fix the clearance moves, that were otherwise good. Why does this happen? and what can I do to avoid it?

Thanks for your responses and helps. Do you know how can I request that? I couldnt find it in the ZEISS Quality Suite.

@Chad Watton For each of your project files perhaps you could create the solid files from the volume, then use initial alignment>prealignment. Once aligned to the segment of the CAD you need (top, middle, bottom), export the STL in this alignment. New project file, bring in all 3 of your newly aligned STL files. Select all STL files, export as one surface.

For reference, I'm going to Acquisition>Measurement Series>Transform by common reference points.

Okay, this was my idea at first; But I can't figure out how to create a second reference point alignment. Usually I can get these in two scans. So I don't have much practice combining when I use 3 scans.

Based on your diagram, I think the issue is that the Bottom and Top scans don't share any common reference points. Once Bottom + Middle are aligned using one reference point constellation, the software expects additional datasets to use that same constellation. My thought would be to use the Middle scan as the bridge: Align Bottom ↔ Middle using their common reference points. Keep the Middle scan in the project. Import the Top scan. Create a second reference point alignment between Middle ↔ Top using their shared reference points. In theory, this should allow the transformation chain to propagate Bottom → Middle → Top without requiring Bottom and Top to share reference points. If that isn't possible in ATOS Professional V8, could you share a screenshot of the project tree after combining Bottom and Middle? That should help determine whether this is a workflow limitation or a project setup issue.

This is zeroing in on my issue. Each measurement series is in a separate project. You are correct in that I created the reference point alignment, and Inspect is expecting my 3rd scan to use the same reference point alignment, but it doesn't. It seems like this should be possible, but I can't figure it out. I have an idea of combining two of them using reference points, then turning it into CAD, and then using geometric alignments to combine them, but it seems like I should be able to do this with reference points. Below is a breakdown of what I have:

Not the exact same situation but this KBA may help as well CALYPSO: GD&T Engine: Simultaneous Requirements

I think updating the PC and the software will be a great advancement for your workflow. Please reach out if you need any help along the way with that as well.

Hey Chad, It sounds like the issue may be related to how the reference point alignment was created. Are all three scans in the same project, and do the same reference points exist across all of them? If the third scan uses a different set of reference points than the first two, a slightly different workflow may be needed. My first suspicion is that you're creating a single reference point alignment that contains only the points used for Scan 1 ↔ Scan 2. Once that alignment exists, INSPECT expects all measurement series participating in that alignment to use the same point set.

Hi Chad, Maybe your problem is about measurement dependencies? https://techguide.zeiss.com/en/zeiss-inspect-2026/article/dlg_edit_mlist_dependency.html

Close, but that's Calypso and I need this for my GOM scanner using Zeiss Inspect. Actually, I'm using GOM ATOS Professional V8. Which has pretty much the same interface as Zeiss Inspect. Random side note, soon I'll be getting a new computer for my GOM and latest version of software.

Hello Chad. I think this is the method; if you are combining multiple curves into one curve select all of them then Right click and select: ADD RANGE LIMITS

This one should also be helpful. https://techguide.zeiss.com/en/zeiss-inspect-2026/article/cmd_sys_export_csv.html

You can try to set Autorun to keep the CAD view open at all times (tools menu). This setting did the trick for some other imaging-related issues we had on our O-Inspect. Unfortunately our O-Inspect is in CMM heaven now, so I can no longer investigate...

This might be a beginner question, But I have 3 separate measurement measurement files I want to stitch together and I'm having problems. I fully understand how to combine a top and bottom scans using common reference points. But when I try to import the 3rd scan, it won't let me choose different reference points to stitch that 3rd scan to the two I've already combined. I feel like its something obvious I'm missing here. I can provide more details and screenshots if needed.