ReCap Pro offers ‘snap’ registrations of point clouds which allows a user to graphically select common areas from different setups, in a picture based bubble view, and align the point cloud data together. To the HDS industry, this is commonly known as using Cloud-to-Cloud constraints within a projects multi-setup registration. Although cloud-to-cloud registrations are not a new concept, the user interface that ReCap Pro offers is spectacular.
First Import data…
ReCap offers a simple interface for importing generically formatted point cloud data. Imports can be made by selecting individual files, a folder location, or simply by a drag and drop of files into the ReCap UI.
ReCap will accept data from almost every scanning manufacturer in the market as long as the data is broken down to a simplistic format and contains setup information. If you are using Leica equipment, take note that there is not a direct link to raw P20/C10/P15 project data. The data does need to be exported out of Cyclone to a .PTX file in order to play nicely with ReCap Pro’s registration abilities.
After Import, Register
Once the files are imported and processed, the user can move horizontally across the top menu from the home icon, to the import icon, and over to the Register function. ReCap will populate a view of the first imported file, but allow the user to select which setup should be used as the setup to align all other setups to. Once this correct setup is selected, the user should press ‘ENTER’ and thus selecting this setup.
Then the display will split. We will continue to see the base setup view on the left, but the remaining ‘non-registered’ setups will be in the view on the right.
The user can then simply navigate both views to find 3 common areas from both setups. The navigation through this user interface could not be easier. It does a brilliant job of allowing the user to find these common areas, keep the user organized, and process the setup by setup registration.
As the user walks through the multiple setups, the required 3 pairs of pick points will be color coded in Red, Green, and Blue to ensure the user understands which pick is associated with its partner in the next setup window. If one of the picks is a ‘known’ point, then the user can hover over the pick, select the ‘map marker’ icon, and give the pick its coordinates. This is known as making the point a ‘survey’ point, yet with only a graphical view to pick it, I would not trust it for actual survey control.
Upon registering setup 2 with setup 1, the registered scan list grows on the left pane to allow the user to register the remaining right pane scans with any left pane scan. The registration of any two scans can be checked for an accurate alignment before accepting its move from the right to the left pane.
After approving the cloud alignment, the user can simply walk setup by setup through all of the data imported into ReCap pro to finalize their entire project.
Lastly, Index scans and Launch Project
After all the scans are aligned, the user continues to work through the top horizontal bar which will give a number of import options such as coordinate systems, decimation grids, and more. These can be found in the ‘scanner’ looking button to the right of ‘Register Scans’ in the image above. Once the registration is complete, the user can click on the rocket ship button to index their scans, thus creating and populating their .RCS files from each file imported file within their .RCP (ReCap Project), and launch the .RCP into the typical ReCap interface…which is now ready to be published to ReCap360 or imported into any design application.
By: Dan Chapek