Ok, I’ve gone through several this looking at whats going on, and honestly I don’t know what is going on. It seems to me as someone just starting out and trying to get information and get involved. Where to start? Is my first question. I was interested in the “Academy” thought I could learn where to start and the lingo how to work and processes, yet Where is it, is it a class setting or just a community experience sharing? It seems very stiff and controlled. Ive been following the Rock over a year spoke with someone along time ago. Yet you cant find prices without talking to someone, it sounds like you cant even process deliverables without talking to somebody. I dont know, I’m getting that ole second thoughts. It seems the rock is in command. Does the 360 work other processing systems? It feels and from what Ive been reading like an extreme HOA. I’m very impressed with their products, but the business model not so much. Like I said I’m new and talking as someone who doesn’t know but wants to. Ive gone through this and still can’t figure where without having to talk with somebody what I need to do. Ive have several related courses and this is the first that is like a hit and miss when it comes out to getting information. I know call them right? Lol 
hate feeling ignorant. So I’ll call.
Hello, this is Andrew with the ROCK Support Team, thanks for your post. ROCK Academy can be access from this link. ROCK Academy is set up to be allow registrants to view video training modules that show workflows for data collection, processing, and analysis.
If you have an interest in learning about pricing for ROCK’s Hardware and Software Solutions then I’d recommend joining a ROCK Expert meeting, which takes place three days a week, Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday at noon Mountain Time . If you would like to join for a particular session, please email support@rockrobotic.com, and we can get you an invite.
For ordering deliverables, you are required to submit a quote request, where a member of our Sales Team will provide you with a cost for the deliverables as well as a time frame for when they could be completed.
I hope this all helps, if you would still like to discuss any of this in greater detail please feel free to email support@rockrobotic.com and we can work to set something up in order to best address your questions.
Hi @RDS I’ll give you my experience as new user of Rock R3 Pro.
I too had been following for a while, since the R2A was released. When R3 Pro v2 was annoucned I decided it was time to commit.
Until now, I fly a lot of photgrammettry but had never really had any experience of collecting and processing LiDAR.
Buying
After deciding I wanted to buy, I needed some prices and want to see what options are available as its not 100% clear.
The sales process was fustrating, I simple wanted some information and pricing, but they just wanted to ‘book a call’.
I did eventually get prices and various options. There are a few things on the options list that may lead to more questtions such rock cloud vs desktop, rock photogrammetry, rock slam etc
In May I placed an order and the kit arrived to the UK within a few days, quite impressive!
I’ve got the equipment, now what?
Once the order is placed, it will initiate an onboarding sequence and you receive various emails with links.
The main on demand learning is via Rock Academy which I think is only available once you have purchased.
You can also see a lot of the information in the knowledgebase learn.rockrobotic.com which I think is openly available.
The Rock Academy is quite useful in giving you everything you need to get upto speed.
Once you perform your first flight, you will probably have more wuestions / queries, problems, thats where you can email Rock Support and usually get a response in 12 - 24 hours.
Day to Day with Rock
Onto the day to day with Rock R3 Pro.
Its a great piece of kit but I have had a few problems with both Rock Desktop and Rock Cloud. It feels a little like its still in beta, things dont always just work as they should, but on the whole its usable.
Frustrating given the price tag on the software.
Do not expect to be deliverable awesome results on the first day, there is a bit of a learning curve but it took me a couple of test flights and I was happy with the on site process.
Then you;re onto processing with Rock Desktop and Rock Cloud.
On that note, you will always need Rock Desktop for initial trajectory processing and point cloud generation, its proprietary to the R3 Pro.
From there, you can take your data into Rock Cloud and add GCP’s, manually clean up and inteact with the data.
At this stage you can order Rock Deliverables which pricing does seem on the high side. So the other option is to skip Rock Cloud and process deliverables yourself if you are able using a third party software such as LP30, Lidar 360 or Terrasolid, this of course is another cost and another workflow to learn.
So, for speed, if you’re busy, Rock cloud is not a bad option if you ever need it.
Once you have your deliverables either from Rock services or elsewhere, you can share your deliverables in the cloud with Rock Cloud. Share with clients etc which is useful.
TL; DR
On the whole, i’m happy with the Rock eco system. It is frustrating at times when not everything works the way it was made out in marketing videos, but i’m sure it will get better over time.
Support is great and always on hand if you’re stuck.
Thr forum is a great resource but does not seem very active.
Let me know if you need any ‘real world’ perspective! 