SmartLab 3 offers continued refinement of the original ease of use features awarded the R&D 100 Award in 2006: automatic alignment, component recognition, cross beam optics and a five axis goniometer. Award winning guidance software recognizes installed components and seamlessly integrates them into data collection and data analysis methods. The Cross beam optics module offers permanently mounted, permanently aligned and user selectable optical geometries for various diffraction experiments. As an example, one can choose a Bragg–Brentano and parallel beam combination for measurements of both powders and thin films without the need for instrument reconfiguration. One could also choose a Bragg–Brentano and focusing transmission combination to measure organic materials in both transmission and reflection modes. The fifth axis or in-plane axis of the SmartLab allows the measurement of structures that are in the surface plane of the sample. This allows the measurement of extremely thin films and depth profiling in coatings. The SmartLab 3 system further extends application capability with the HyPix-400, a next generation 2-D detector. This hybrid pixel array detector offers the highest resolution and count rates available today. It is fully manufactured and integrated into the SmartLab 3 system by Rigaku and, as such, offers the superior ease of use pioneered by Rigaku in the original SmartLab system model. The SmartLab 3 configured with a HyPix-400 detector operates in 0-, 1-, and 2-D models without the need to exchange a detector.