We’ve spent a lot of time talking about HP over the course of the past year, and for good reason – their entrance into the 3D printing industry with the groundbreaking Multi Jet Fusion 3D printing system was huge news that is still generating headlines. In all of the hype surrounding HP’s 3D printing plans, it could be easy to forget that the global corporation is doing a lot more than just building the Multi Jet Fusion system, but while they’re now turning their focus more towards 3D printing, HP still has plenty more than just printers going for them.
Other than their dramatic entrance into the 3D printing industry and their multiple business acquisitions, one piece of HP news we closely followed last year was that of the developing Sprout ecosystem. In January of last year, the company announced the release of the Sprout Pro, the upgraded version of their innovative 3D imaging PC, and now, as CES 2017 kicks off in Las Vegas, HP has unveiled the next generation: the Sprout Pro G2.
The G2 is slightly taller and slimmer than its predecessor, but the changes HP has made to the Sprout go far beyond aesthetics. In terms of hardware, the Sprout Pro G2’s Touch Mat has been transformed into a 21.3″ diagonal Projected Touch Display with full HD, matching the HD resolution of the vertical screen and eliminating the distortion that previously messed with the scale of images dragged from the vertical display to the lower-resolution Touch Mat.
The G2’s stylus has also improved, as the new HP Active Pen, featuring palm rejection and 2048 pressure levels, replaces the more-passive, lower-pressure Adonit Jot Pro. The Sprout Illuminator, the Sprout’s core feature that acts as both a projector and a 3D scanner, has been upgraded with a high-resolution FHD projector and Orbbec downward-facing depth camera, + a 14M high-resolution camera, replacing the Intel RealSense camera used with previous models.
In terms of software, HP has added several new features that improve ease of use and workflow. A new button allows users to bring up Sprout apps, or WorkTools, within Windows 10 Pro, appearing at the bottom of the display rather than taking up the entire screen. The much-anticipated Windows 10 Creators Update, which will feature, among other things, enhanced 3D design capabilities, goes hand in hand with the upgraded Sprout Pro G2, which will work with any Windows app that supports a digitizer.
“We spent a lot of time trying to hide Windows, but we found people wanted to work with it anyway,” said HP Distinguished Technologist Brad Short. “…We’re exposing the features of Sprout in the apps they’re familiar with.”
The user interface for the HP 3D Scan Software Pro v5 has been redesigned for an improved scanning experience, which can be utilized either with the built-in 3D scanner or a third-party 3D camera.
Additional features include:
- 7th generation Intel Core i7-7700T Kaby Lake CPU
- Intel HD Graphics 630
- Nvidia GeForce GT 960M mobile GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 memory
- 23.8-inch Full HD vertical display with 10-point touch
- 1TB PCIe SSHD storage
Pricing hasn’t been announced yet, but the Sprout Pro G2 is expected to begin shipping in March of this year. Discuss in the Sprout Pro G2 forum at 3DPB.com.
