IMAGINiT Civil Solutions Blog

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Reducing Point Cloud File Size With Autodesk Recap

When saving out a RCP or RCS file from Autodesk's Recap, the default resolution is 5 mm between points. This can make for quite large files and raises questions on how to best store these massive files. When exporting entire scans, do you really need that tight resolution? Typically the scan is only for reference and only a few points are selected off of a wall to determine the line or plane. Point cloud file sizes can be drastically reduced by changing the spacing between the unified points. 

Specify this point spacing during the export to RCP\RCS process. Start the Export command and specify what the exported file will be called and where it will be saved. Then this message box appears. But many are unaware of the spacing option hidden behind the little gear icon. Clicking on the gear slides out the spacing slider. The slider goes from 1 mm to 100 mm. The default is 5 mm.

For this example, I scanned a house using Leica's BLK360 laser scanner.
This has the default 5 mm export from Recap brought into AutoCAD. 

And this is 90 mm spacing.

Now to zoom in and see the actual difference between the grid sizes. Here is a cropped view of the side wall at various grid sizes.
This is the default 5 mm.

This is 25 mm

This is 50 mm

This is 90 mm

And finally to compare the different file sizes. 
The original project straight from the BLK is 18 GB after deleting the unnecessary points around the property. 
The export to RCS at the default 5 mm creates a 2.75 GB file.
Changing the grid to 25 mm drops the file size to 200 MB!! And looks very close to the 5 mm in quality. 
Changing the grid to 50 mm drops the file size to 60.2 MB.
Changing the grid to 75 mm drops the file size to 29.6 MB.
Changing the grid to 90 mm drops the file size to 18.5 MB. 

Hopefully this helps you better manage you point clouds that are being referenced in other software.

Infrastructure Industry Trends Survey 2019

Kevin Breslin | ISD/RCS Services Manager

For the last several years, IMAGINiT has been running an annual industry survey to gauge the pulse of the industry to better understand what’s working, what’s not working, challenges, concerns, etc.

In this year’s survey we received feedback from 240 individuals and learned the following. . . 

Services Provided:

For the last 4 years running, the industry seems to continue its growth into different facets where land development (incl private development) has grown over 20% since 2015.  We are also seeing a near 20% growth into municipal consulting; however, the big chance has happened with reality capture services where the number of organizations offering these services has more than doubled since 2015!

Technology:

Based on the growing trends over the last several years, it was no surprise to learn that more than ever, organizations are relying on Autodesk Civil 3D as their primary design tool, with AutoCAD holding its place as well.  Also, after several years in the shadows, Autodesk Infraworks is seeing a strong bump in use as a secondary design tool.  Also, after 10 years, it appears that the long-retired Land Desktop is no longer ranked as a primary or secondary design tool.

CAD/BIM Management:

This is another topic that has remained mostly static over the last few years, where the number of organizations with a dedicated CAD/BIM manger is still around 50%.  Those same organizations report that most of the time their CAD/BIM managers are in a reactive mode (addressing issues that come up from users) vs being proactive (education, standards development/maintenance, internal education, etc.). 

Another seemingly unchanged situation with CAD/BIM managers is that the allure of billable work is still in play, often keeping those who should be working towards keeping the organization on the path to efficiency and high-levels of productivity, distracted with project work and as such, unable to do the things that are of a greater long-term, strategic value to the organization.

Data Sharing/Collaboration:

Not surprisingly, this is another topic that has continued its rise.

In 2019 when asked “Who do you share data with on projects?”, the majority of the respondents (~84%) noted “With everyone involved (internal and external)”.  In 2015 that number was 62%.

The means and challenges related to Data Sharing/Collaboration have also increased, where in 2019, for the first time, we’re seeing a growing number of organizations currently using or considering cloud-based tools like Autodesk BIM360.

One unchanged aspect of Data Sharing/Collaboration is that PDF is still the preferred file format for sharing (i.e. “printed” files) with external sources.

Business:

Once again, it seems that optimism remains strong in the industry where organizations are evaluating their fees every year and over half (51%) are increasing staff/hiring.

Business Challenges:

While optimism remains strong and many organizations are hiring, the challenges related to profitability and the ability to remain competitive are still present.

As we have seen in the last few years, some of the greatest challenges related to technology adoption is time and the cost of the implementation.

While some are able to stay on top of the latest and greatest technologies, in many cases this topic was noted on the subject of CAD/BIM Managers not having the necessary support from management, the necessary time, or the budget to implement (optimize, educate, rollout) a new design technology.  This inability to leverage the best in class technologies in many cases is a self-limiting factor, throttling an organizations ability to achieve greater levels of productivity and a competitive edge within their respective markets.

Training:

Free “training” (no surprise) is the leader when it comes to education.  Sources like YouTube are what most rely on to keep up on the latest technology.  While some state this meets their needs, many state that while free and available, the quality, accuracy and applicability of most of the free sources of education are insufficient.  Add the often-excessive time spent searching for the correct, free sources of information, and you have a perfect storm of mediocre, inefficient, incomplete and often unanswered questions leading to poorly educated users.

Takeaways:

Generally speaking, business is good for most.  Challenges remain a mix of the usual suspects (time, competition) and a continuously growing percentage of organizations are leveraging power of the tools found not only within Autodesk Civil 3D, but also other tools within the AEC Collection (e.g. Infraworks) as well as a growing adoption of BIM360.

Finding the best education solution is still a challenge, while everyone loves the idea of “free”, the stubborn realities that “you get what you pay for” hold true for many.

Options:

As you would likely expect, I’m going to make the obvious and helpful suggestion that for those who are struggling with any of the following challenges:

• Education
• Support
• Standards
• Implementation
• Assessment and Recommendation services
• CAD Management Consulting

Keep in mind that these are ALL things that IMAGINiT does and we are ready, willing and very able to help.

If you or your organization are struggling with any of these issues, or if you have a process, standards, workflow, collaboration, performance, issues that you need help with. . . . . contact us.

This is what we do.

If you are interested to learn more, IMAGINiT recorded a webcast on the topic which can be found here

Publishing and Viewing a ReCap Project in the Cloud

James Branagan | Applications Expert

One of the cool features included in Autodesk’s ReCap Pro software is the ability to share your project with people not on your network, or people that don’t have the ReCap Pro software on their computers. The files can be stored on Autodesk’s cloud and are tied to your A360 account.

Once you have registered and cleaned your model, you can publish it to Autodesk’s cloud. Hovering over the House and the Cloud icon you have three options.

• Publish
• Designates who can access the current project from your Autodesk 360 account
• Launch recap.autodesk.com in web browser

Clicking on Publish will open a dialog box which will tell you the space requirements, ask you to name the project, and give you the option to display sharing options after you publish.

• Choosing “publish” will begin the process of publishing your project to the cloud. A progress bar will be displayed in the top right hand corner. If you have chosen to display the sharing options after publishing the sharing dialog box will appear. The same dialog box can be opened by hovering over the House and the Cloud and choosing the second option (Designates who can access the current project from your Autodesk 360 account)

In this dialog box you can invite new people to view the project and set their permissions. The options for permissions are View, View + Edit, and View + Edit + Control. At the bottom of the dialog box is the link that can be sent to anyone with a web browser. To activate the link, slide the toggle on the right hand side to On.

To open the project either copy and paste the link into your favorite web browser, or hover over the house icon and the cloud icon and choose the third option, Launch recap.autodesk.com in web browser.

The web version of ReCap looks similar to the desktop version with much less functionality. Only the photospheres are available to view, we can not see the 3D point cloud.

Hovering over the house there are two options: Recent, which will show recent projects and Settings which will change the units of measure.

Hovering over the monitor will allow the size of the mirror balls to be adjusted

Below the monitor is search and finally, below that is a way to provide feedback.

To view a photosphere either select one of the black dots in the plan view or select a scan location from the list on the right hand side.

Inside the scan location, you can navigate through the scan locations by selecting one in the list on the right or selecting a dot on the plan, you also have the ability to select a mirror ball. Any of the measurements or notes that were added in ReCap before the project was published are transferred. You also have the ability to add your own measurements and notes.

While the tools are limited, this is a great way for you to share your ReCap projects with clients or anyone else that doesn’t have a full version of ReCap.

 

 

 

Pointcloud Cleanup in ReCap

James Branagan | Applications Expert

One of the nice features of Autodesk’s ReCap Pro software is the ability to clean up point clouds by removing any points you don’t want to remain in your model.

You have two options to complete this task.

• Clipping
• Deleting

Clipping:

Clipping is hiding extra points without removing them. Essentially, they are just being turned off.

To clip points, the first step is to select the points to be clipped. This can be done directly or with the help of limit boxes. In this case a limit box has been placed around a trash can.

Click on Limit box and Pick

Select points within the object you wish to clip and adjust the limit box

Confirm the limit box and use the selection tools to select the unwanted points

Choose the Clip Inside tool to clip the points

Reset the limit box to see the Pointcloud without the clipped points.

To reset the clips there are two options.

• Unclip all – which will remove all the clipping
• Unclip Last – which will remove the last clipping

Deleting:

Deleting will permanently remove points – kind of.

As with Clipping, the first step in Deleting points is to select the points to be clipped. This can be done directly or with the help of limit boxes

Select the points and click Delete

However, you can still bring the points back. If you delete points by mistake, click on the Undo button or Ctrl+Z immediately after deleting the points; this will bring back those specific points. If you move to another command all points deleted from the project will have to be collectively restored.

To recover deleted points use the Recover Deleted points tool

Saving the project with either method will retain the option to restore clips or recover deleted points. When using the Save command you have the option to optimize the project. Optimizing will remove any current undo/redo history but you will still be able to restore points.

Doing a Save As will permanently delete the points from the project with no way to recover them

 

Shaping Up Your Point Cloud Data with 3DReshaper

Whether I am attending a seminar, attending a point cloud seminar or teaching a class on how to use point cloud data, one question always seems to come to the surface.  That question is centered around how to use the point cloud data for different uses.  You see, some people simply want to use the data to show and measure existing conditions via some measurement tools.  That is perfectly fine but others want to use the data to create something to show or model from.  Different types of modeling can be done in different types of software like creating a piping in Cyclone Model or using CloudWorx for AutoCAD to create a Civil 3D digital terrain model.  For a long time, people have used different softwares and used them well but for whatever reason have skipped over 3DReshaper.  

3DReshaper is created by a company called Technodigit who is part of the Hexagon partnership of companies.  You may know some of these companies (especially if you do business with IMAGINiT Technologies) like Leica Geosystems and their HDS Scanners.  3DReshaper has the ability to cross all verticals and businesses so I would like to show just a few of those in this post. 

I am going to start with a civil engineering application.  When a 3D scanner is used outdoors where we can't control the wind, weather, trees animals and even traffic, we often run into a problem where our point cloud includes so much unwanted data that it can be rendered useless.  In the image below we see a very short project that has many overgrown trees and many cars that have run through our scene.  This often requires a ton of time to clean or to create a traditional survey.  However, using 3DReshaper's Surveying Tab, we can easily clean up the data to create a surface from. 

Using the Ground Extractor modeling tool we can make tell the software to only weed out the ground points.  The results are a mesh that include only points running along the ground.  The rest of the points are still available but are currently turned off.

This data can be exported as a LandXML. 

 

This software can be used in a variety of ways.  Another example of its versatility is using it to inspect existing objects.  In the next example, a mesh has been created from a scan and we now want to be able to inspect this mesh for any abnormalities.  A project gets created creating the cylinder for the tank.  Once this is done we are able to assign a color map to view any errors that might be there.  

When completed we see there are areas that are raised from the cylinder that was created and there are areas that are pushed in.

 

As you can see, there are many uses for 3DReshaper.  I hope to cover more of these uses in future posts.

 

Using Cutplanes and Half-Spaces in Leica Cyclone

Jay Meszar | RCS Solutions Consultant

For those of you out there that are using Leica’s Cyclone product for everyday use, you may already know about the features mentioned in this blog post.  However, there may be many of you that are new, or just haven’t figured out what these features do in the software. 

Leica’s Cyclone product is easily one of my favorite software packages to use.  Sure, I know Cyclone Register 360 has a cool new interface and is pretty easy to use, but Cyclone was made to do so much more.  One of those things is added features to view at and analyze data in the software in many different ways.  Using these tools can help view the data from different angles or assist in the cleanup of point cloud noise. 

Let us begin with the Cutplane tool in Cyclone and the Half-Space mode.  These tools work in conjunction with the selection tools found on the Modes toolbar.

If we turn our attention to the image below, the red box designates the area I am interested in looking at or modeling. 

In order to see everything inside that box, I need to remove the data outside the box.  I can do this by deleting the data outside the area of interest, but I could also use the Cutplane tool.  This tool can be found in a few locations.  First, we can look at the menu bar at the top of the screen.  Using the Half-Space mode, requires a single pick point where we want a limit of the point cloud to stop.  For instance, in the case of the red box, if I want to use the upper limit of the red box as the point where I want the upper limit of my point cloud, I would simply click in the area of that red line.  Notice the red dot on the image.

By using the menu option below, we can remove the top portion of our scan temporarily and only focus on the basement area of our building.  

The result is below.

This tool is not limited to the Z axis, it can be done on the X & Y axis as well.  It also can be done it the positive and negative directions.  Tools for Cutplane can be found on the Cutplane toolbar as well.

The other mode with in the Cutplane option is to view the point cloud in a Slice.  To view the point cloud this way, we will need to use two clicks using the Multi-Pick tool.  In the image below, notice that while I am viewing the Half Space and have used the single pick tool (to clear the other pick selected) and then the Multi-Pick tool to pick the limits of the slice.  Using the Tools menu>Cutplane>Set Slice from Picks>X Axis will provide the result of only displaying the data in between the two selected points.

Result:

Once again, these tools are available on multiple axis. 

Once a Cutplane is created, it can be managed using several tools.  For the Half-Space tool, we can raise or lower the Half-Space using the Raise and Lower tools.  The Slice tools can be used to adjust the thickness of the slice.  For example: If the slice you initially create does not include a piece of equipment you would like to see, you can adjust the thickness by opening the Set Thickness dialog box.

These tools can be very valuable in the clean up and analysis of a point cloud. 

 

What’s App-ening?

Matt Miyamoto | ISD Team Manager

As we become more and more mobile and the Internet of Things (IoT) keeps us easily connected, mobile applications are becoming increasingly popular.  Mobile computing power and faster wireless connectivity is allowing us to do more without the need for a PC.

With that in mind, here are a few of the currently available Autodesk mobile applications geared for the AEC industry with a short description of what they do.

AutoCAD Mobile – Create, view, edit and share DWG files through your mobile device.  AutoCAD mobile is currently available on the App Store, Google Play and Windows Store.  Non-Autodesk customers can create a user account to access existing drawings from email or via Dropbox, Google Drive and OneDrive.  Full subscription customers can use existing Autodesk user credentials to access Premium Features and create new drawings through the mobile application.

App Store: https://goo.gl/ig3pAE

Google Play: https://goo.gl/tYXwLJ

Windows Store (Surface Tablet): https://goo.gl/uZEuss

 

ReCap Pro – Made for the Leica BLK360 Scanner, ReCap Pro for mobile is only available from the App Store for iPad and iPad Pro.  This one is specifically for Leica BLK360 users, so if you own one, this is for you.

App Store: https://goo.gl/UjHhvY

 

A360 Mobile App – Share, view and comment 2D and 3D files from AutoCAD (.DWG and .DWF), Navisworks and Revit through your mobile or web connected device.  Sign in with your Autodesk User account to access your files from A360.  A360 Mobile is currently available on the App Store, Google Play, and via the web. 

App Store: https://goo.gl/2H1fKg

Google Play: https://goo.gl/Wt44B9

Web Based: https://goo.gl/hGcXVp

 

BIM 360 Field, Glue & Plan – From the BIM360 family of products, Field, Glue and Plan are all available for iPad on the App Store.  Use your Autodesk User account to access files and information from your BIM360 projects.

BIM360 Field: https://goo.gl/5XDRtw

BIM360 Glue: https://goo.gl/Jy9XPA

BIM360 Plan: https://goo.gl/d5ccag

 

BIM360 Docs – Access BIM360 docs on your mobile devices to view and manage construction plans, models and documents without your PC.  Sign in with your Autodesk User account to access your BIM360 project documents.  Available for iPad and iPhone on the App Store and Android devices on Google Play.

App Store: https://goo.gl/8kneXM

Google Play: https://goo.gl/tPCgqu

 

Autodesk FormIt – For conceptual 3D modeling and design via your mobile device, Autodesk FormIt is available for iPad and web connected devices.  No Autodesk account required for basic sketching and model creation, but an Autodesk account is required to export the model out of the mobile app or web interface.

App Store: https://goo.gl/C9mPYM

Web Based: https://goo.gl/iHyDbc

 

TinkerCAD – For those interested in 3D printing, TinkerCAD offers a quick and easy way to create CAD models that are ready for 3D printing.

Windows Store (Surface Tablet): https://goo.gl/3f1LBZ

 

All mobile applications are free to download, but as you can see from the descriptions, an Autodesk User Account is likely required to access the app or activate full functionality.  In some cases functionality may not be available to those who do not have current Autodesk Subscriptions or product licenses.

Additional information and more apps available from Autodesk can be found here: https://goo.gl/6Xrq9d

 

 

Leica JetStream Explained

Jay Meszar | Reality Capture Services

I love speaking with clients about Leica software.  Showing potential users the ins and outs of Leica Cyclone Register, Survey, Model or even Leica Register 360 will often results in “oohhs and ahhs” over one feature or another.  However, one of the items I struggle to stress the importance of is Leica JetStream.  Why?  Well, the product does exactly what it is built to do, but it doesn’t seem to have that “Whiz Bang” feature that shows the increase in productivity it offers.  It is my believe that the use of JetStream is of paramount importance for users to have a truly good experience, not only with Leica HDS equipment, but also with point clouds in general. 

Let’s begin with what Leica JetStream is.  JetStream is one of the many powerful tools within the Leica suite of software for working with High Definition laser scanning.  The primary function of JetStream is to make the large to very large datasets smaller, faster and more manageable.  Without the use of JetStream, large point cloud datasets (the majority of them) lead to serious performance lag when the point cloud data is being used in other CAD software for existing conditions information to design from.  JetStream does this by compressing the point cloud data (with little to no data loss) so it is more manageable when used in CAD/BIM programs.  After prospective users are told that this is and what it does, I will often hear, “We don’t need that…”.  It’s not until weeks after they actually start their scanning projects that I will receive a call from those same clients asking how they can not only make their datasets faster but manage their location better so the data is accessible to more than one person at a time.  I only ask one question at that time, “Do you remember that JetStream software we talked about?”.  That’s when we go into a more basic explanation (which is where I start the conversation now) that I received from a co-worker.  JetStream is essentially NetFlix for point clouds.  The compression of the point cloud eliminates buffering so we can stream the data more quickly than if the cloud were not compressed. 

Now that we have reviewed what the software does, let’s talk about the difficult part.  That is the licensing for the software and why it is sold in pieces.  There are 4 pieces to this particular software package:

1. JetStream Publisher (or Leica Publisher Pro)
2. JetStream Enterprise
3. JetStream Connector
4. JetStream Viewer

Beginning with JetStream Publisher, it permits a user to send the point cloud to JetStream Enterprise Server.  One would think that this is a given with the Enterprise Server, but Leica has decided to sell it separately for now.  More on why the software is sold separately later.

JetStream Enterprise is our storage container that can be centrally located on a server on an organizations network.  This permits all potential consumers of the point cloud data to access the data across the network without having to store the data on a portable hard drive and copy it from machine to machine. 

A JetStream Connector license provides access to the stored data from a supported CAD environment.  For example: A civil engineer who is using Autodesk Civil 3D, might want to access scan data of a roadway or bridge to create a survey or a surface.  They can accomplish this with a Connector license and Cloudworx for AutoCAD. 

What if I have a project manager who is not well versed in any CAD environment and really doesn’t have a good background with technology?  That is where JetStream Viewer can be deployed in an office. I know what you are thinking, Oh great!!  Another software license and more money to spend to get up and running.   Well that might just be the best part of the viewer, it doesn’t cost a thing.  JetStream Viewer is free and can be installed on any system.  It connects directly to the JetStream Server or can consume a .JSV file exported from the Enterprise Server or a registration software. 

I know what you are thinking, so many software licenses for each user in my company is going to make my company broke!  If you don’t pay attention to anything else in this post, read this next few sentences.  Many times, a company will import data, register it and then pass it on for CAD users to use.  In many instances, a company can purchase one license of Publisher, one license of JetStream Server and then purchase a connector license for however many people will need to access the data at the same time.  Remember, the licensing works just like many other shared software licenses where if a user is in the software and then exits, the license becomes available to someone else to use.  Or, more simply put, you only need as many licenses as would be necessary for the maximum number of concurrent users, not one for every user that may use the software at any given time. 

I hope this helps clarify how Leica JetStream works and is licensed so you too can enter the world of using JetStream to make your data run much faster in a CAD environment. 

Creating a UCS in Leica Cyclone Register 360

Jay Meszar | Reality Capture Services

3D Scanning is becoming more of a mainstay in today’s engineering projects.  The process of 3D scanning is becoming easier, as such, many firms often think they can successfully utilize this technology without proper training.  By doing so, they often don’t learn some of the important ins and outs of how to accomplish the little things that ultimately make a big difference in how they work.

Probably one of the most asked questions I get about taking a point cloud into CAD software is “How do I line up my scan with my CAD project?”.  To provide an example, I would say the simple answer to this is very much like using AutoCAD which is to set a coordinate system or create and manage a UCS (User Coordinate System).  There are two ways to manage and create coordinates of a point cloud in Leica's Cyclone Register 360.  This post will cover one of those methods, because I believe it is the most common method people will use.

The image below shows the beginning layout of an office project.  If everything was measured correctly, we should be able to line up our point cloud with the linework in the AutoCAD drawing.

IMAGE1.jpg

Notice how the drawing is rotated to be square with the bottom of the drawing area in AutoCAD.  However, when I look at the scan data, the data is rotated based on where the scanner started its first scan. 

 

IMAGE2.jpg

To fix this so the two line up in AutoCAD, I need to create a UCS in Cyclone Register 360 and reimport the data into AutoCAD.  Of course, this can be tricky because I need to make sure the origin location is in the same location.  The issue with this is that we often think we just need to rotate the scan and everything will be fine.  We need to keep in mind that our project can be at a location other than 0,0,0 and that is where we need to be careful when trying to rotate the point cloud.  The cloud can be rotated by selecting a scan location (highlighted in red in the image above) and creating a UCS. 

 

IMAGE3.jpg

This process is very easy but if we look at the white circle with the plus in it, that is the scan’s 0,0,0 origin point.  Importing that scan into AutoCAD will place the white plus at 0,0,0 within AutoCAD.  So, in order for us to make this all line up, we need to get the coordinates from AutoCAD and set them appropriately in Cyclone Register 360.  Using the ID command in AutoCAD, I can identify the X,Y,Z coordinates that I can use in Cyclone Register 360. 

 

IMAGE4.JPG

Once I have these coordinates, I simply copy and paste them into Cyclone Register 360.  I like to give my coordinate system a name rather than accepting the default.  It is important to note, if you are updating the coordinate system in Cyclone Register 360, the data needs to be republished if it has previously been published. 

IMAGE5.jpg

Now that the data is in Leica JetStream, it can be imported into a Leica CloudWorx project.  In this example, I am importing into Leica CloudWorx for AutoCAD.  Using the Open JetStream button on the Leica ClouWorx ribbon panel, and then clicking the ellipsis button to select the project (already done in the image below).  Notice the named coordinate system is selected under Coordinate System in Point Source. 

IMAGE6.jpg

The result:

IMAGE7.jpg