A method of adaptively positioning a scanner [10] within a three-dimensional scene identifies an optimal next position for the scanner [40] based on analysis of a data point cloud that mimics the scanned portion of the scene. Occluded areas [38] are delineated from scan data and scans made at different locations in the scene are registered to a reference four-coordinate system. The fourth coordinate corresponds to the hue observed by the scanner at each data point.