As-b

built to BIM: De
etailed Reality
y Captu
ure for R
Revit
Scott Dia
az kubit USA
A
Jrg Braunes kubit GmbH, Germ
many

RC6768

This classs will review effective methods for mod deling point clo
oud data with hin Revit softw
ware. Learn h how
easy it is
s to explore annd manage point clouds withw ReCap so oftware and prrepare the da ata for work in
nside
Revit sofftware. In Revvit software yo
oull discover various meth hods for extraacting intellige
ent 3D elemen nts
from billio
ons of points.. Demonstratiions will include effective p
practices you can use for d dealing with p
project
coordinaates, separatinng point cloudd regions, reppresenting thee data in varioous styles, annd extracting 3
3D
geometry y from the sca
an data. A ma ajor focus of the
t demonstra ation will be tthe generationn of new famiily
content (such
( as wind
dows or doors s) from laser scans.
s Learn effective pracctices for creaating various
shapes, as-built comp ponents, family objects, and more. This session will ffamiliarize you with the mo ost
compreh hensive point cloud and mo odeling metho ods in Revit s oftware, and you will learnn how to impro ove
your daily workflow with third-partyy software.

Learnin
ng Objectiv
ves
nd of this class, you will be able to:
At the en
Unde
erstand the fu om field to BIM model
ull process, fro
Learrn how to inse
ert, manage, and
a crop poin
nt clouds in Re
evit software
Learrn how to crea
ate custom families and co
omponents fro
om scan data
Learrn how to apply an effective
e workflow to create any s hape desired
d for building e
elements

About tthe Speake

er
Scott is director
d and owner
o of kubitt USA in Hous ston, Texas OOver the pastt 7 years Scottt has been
promotinng, developingg and teachin ng Autodesk based
b reality ccapture and rreality computing workflow ws
throughoout various ind
dustries. He anda his team have setup m major reseller relationshipss throughout thhe
US which h support kubbits efforts in offering Auto
oCAD and Re vit based pro oducts for as-b built capture a
and
design. Scott
S has a ba
ackground in business management an nd marketing with an MBA from Lamar
Universitty. He workedd previously asa technical marketing
m man nager for an AAutodesk 3rd party develop per
focused on industrial facility
f design n.
z@kubitusa.c
scott.diaz com

Jrg Braunes is produ uct manager at a kubit GmbH H in Dresden,, Germany. F For the past tw
wo years Jrg g has
managed d the develop pment of Reviit based realitty capture prooducts at kubiit in Dresden, Germany. Be efore
his activiities with kubiit, Jrg worke
ed as research h assistant att chair of com
mputer sciencee and architeccture
at Bauha aus-University y Weimar, Ge ermany. For over
o seven yeears he has ed ducated stude ents in realityy
capture techniques
t as
s well as conttributed in varrious researchh projects. J
rg holds a deegree in
Architectture from Bau uhaus-Univers sity Weimar with
w specializa ation in compputer-aided deesign and plan nning
methods s.
joerg.braaunes@kubit.de
 As-built to BIM: Detailed Reality Capture for Revit

Contents
Learning Objectives ................................................................................................................................... 1
About the Speaker ..................................................................................................................................... 1
Reality Computing the process from field to BIM ................................................................................... 3
How does 3Daser Scanning work?...................................................................................................... 4
Registration ............................................................................................................................................ 4
Managing point clouds in Revit ................................................................................................................. 5
Preparation of Scan data with Autodesk ReCap ................................................................................... 6
Additional ReCap pro features ............................................................................................................... 7
The point cloud in Revit ......................................................................................................................... 7
Positioning options ................................................................................................................................. 8
Behavour of point clouds in Revit .......................................................................................................... 9
Workflow: Scan to BIM ............................................................................................................................ 10
Define vertical sections in the point cloud............................................................................................ 10
Define levels for floor plans ................................................................................................................. 11
Modelling the overall geometry ............................................................................................................ 11
Define additional sections and elevations for detailing ........................................................................ 11
Creating new families and in-place components ................................................................................. 12
Enhanced Workflow using 3rd Party Applications ................................................................................... 13
What can Revit not do with point clouds? ............................................................................................ 13
VirtuSurv with Revit link ....................................................................................................................... 14
What can we expect in the future? .......................................................................................................... 15
Pattern recognition of building elements.............................................................................................. 15
Consideration of design conditions ...................................................................................................... 16

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 As- built to BIM: D
Detailed Realitty Capture forr Revit

Reality Computin
ng the prrocess from
m field to BIM
Reality Coomputing includes the proc cess, the metthods and the e results to ca
apture and mo odel real world
objects in a digital enviironment. Sta
ate of the art methods
m of re
eality capture are terrestria
al laser scanning,
multi-view
w photogramm metry or rangee cameras.

Figure 1: Laser
L s3D X (left) and
scannerr FARO Focus d range camerra DotProduct DPI-7 Handhe
eld 3D Imagerr
(right)

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 As- built to BIM: D
Detailed Realitty Capture forr Revit

How does 3Daser Sca

anning work
k?

Figure 2: To
T capture a single
s 3D coorrdinate the las
ser scanner m
measures for each point the distance, a
horizontall angle and a vertical
v angle..

Registration
During a complete
c projject the laser scanner is us
sually placed on multiple ppositions to ge
et a complete
documenttation from all sites. Every single scan creates
c a sing
gle 3D point ccloud.

In a next step
s each inddividual point cloud
c is regis
stered to each
h other. As a rresult of the rregistration
process one
o point cloud data set witthin one coorrdinate system m is created. TThis registere ed point cloud
d is
now ready y to use for ev
valuating in AutoCAD.
A

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 As- built to BIM: D
Detailed Realitty Capture forr Revit

6 indiv
vidual scans Registerred Point Clou
ud

To registe
er the individu
ual scans toge
ether identicaal objects in eaach scan are needed. Dep pending on the
covered object
o and the
e needed preccision this is usually
u done b by placed targgets. The targ
gets need to b
be
placed onn site before th
he scanning process
p starts
s so that theyy are part of th
he point cloud
d.

An alternaative to targetts is to use na

atural objects (planes, corn
ners, etc.) witthin the scan a
as reference
objects fo
or the registrattion process.

Managiing point cclouds in R

Revit
A typical laser scanning process is divided
d our main partss:
into fo

Capturing
C the data
d on site
Registration
R off each individuual scan into a common re
eference coorrdinate system
m
Cleaning
C and filtering
f the ra
aw scan data
Evaluating andd modelling

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 As-built to BIM: Detailed Reality Capture for Revit

Usually a pre-processing tool that is shipped with the scanner hardware is used for registration and
filtering the scan data. In the Autodesk world there is now a new product that is used to prepare the point
cloud called Autodesk ReCap Pro.

Preparation of Scan data with Autodesk ReCap

Autodesk ReCap is the company's latest tool for reality capture management. Including support for both
laser scanning and photogrammetry, ReCap is the starting place for projects involving existing conditions
survey data.

Figure 3: Autodesk ReCap with imported point cloud and scan view

Autodesk ReCap provides a powerful interface for managing reality capture projects throughout the
Autodesk product portfolio. The ability to handle billions and billions of points at high resolution makes it
the perfect interface for scan management and project planning. ReCap also produces the new standard
point cloud formats for Autodesk products. These formats are the RCS (reality capture scans) for
individual scan files and RCP (reality capture project) which references all RCS positions.

If the scanner manufacturers software is used for scan registration, the user must import all registered
files to the Autodesk ReCap program file formats. The program supports most major scanner
manufacturer formats as well as many industry neutral/standard formats. ReCap will convert all scan
positions from the scanner manufacturers format to Autodesks native RCS formats. When conversion is
complete, the user should save the newly imported scans as a new RCP project file.

Besides the conversion from raw scan data to the RCP format, ReCap provides powerful tools for
cropping parts of the point cloud and organizes these in named regions. ReCap can also be used to
measure distances and angles between planes that are automatically recognized in the point cloud.

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 As- built to BIM: D
Detailed Realitty Capture forr Revit

Unfortunaately at the mo
oment it is no
ot possible to get access to
o the named rregions once the RCP projject is
inserted in
nto Revit. The
e only way to work with smmaller parts off the point cloud in Revit is to export the
e
cropped parts
p into new
w RCS files that can be inse erted into Revvit.

Additiona al ReCap Pro features

In addition
n to the free ReCap
R feature
es for import//conversion/sccan manipula
ation, the pro version also
supports the
t registratio on of raw scann data.

Unlike traditional scann ning and regisstration, Auto

odesk ReCap Pro does nott require physsical targets in n the
ovides a direc
field. It pro ct and seamle ess workflow from raw sca an data, to reggistered, alignned and desig gn
ready poin nt clouds usable within varrious Autodes sk products. RReCap Pro usses so-called cloud to clou ud or
scan to sc can registratio
on to align the
e scans to each other, thuss creating one e consistent ppoint cloud off an
object sca anned from multiple
m positio
ons. There aree no targets rrequired, but ttargets are sttill supported to
improve point
p cloud ac
ccuracy.

The pointt cloud in Rev

vit

After prep
paring the point cloud data in ReCap it iss possible to insert the RC
CP project or tthe single RC
CS
scans into
o Revit as a linked file. This
s way, the po
oint cloud is no
ot saved toge
ether with the Revit projectt.

To
T hide/unhid de all point clo
ouds in all vie
ews at once, u
users can eassily Unload a
and Reload the
point
p cloud in the Manage e Links Dialog.

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 As- built to BIM: D
Detailed Realitty Capture forr Revit

Next to the RCP/RCS insert it is also possible to choose differrent raw data formats. In th
hat case a hiddden
ReCap sta arts in the background to index the raw scan data. T The resulting R
RCP can then n insert into R
Revit.
ReCap as s desktop app plication is not necessary but
b it is stronggly recommennd because ussers have bettter
control ov
ver resulting point
p clouds as
a well as addditional croppi ng and mana
agement capa abilities.

Positionin
ng options
Various option are avaailable in the link point clou
uds dialog op
ptions regardiing how the p
point cloud sh
hould
d in the projec
be placed ct:

Origin
O to Origin
n
Revit
R places thhe point cloud
d's world origin, i.e., (0,0,0)) point, at the Revit projectt origin that ca
an be
se
een as a proje ect base poin
nt in the site plan.
p
Center
C to Centter
Revit
R places thhe center of th
he point cloud d bounding bo ox at the centter of the bounding box of the
model.
m
Shared Coordiinates
Revit
R assumes s that the coordinates in the point cloud file are speciified in the sh hared coordinate
sy
ystem used in n the model. As
A a result, th he point cloud d origin will be
e placed at the origin of thee
sh
hared coordin nates that cann be accessed d through the e Survey Base e Point. The ppoint cloud wiill be
orriented so thaat the north diirection in the
e cloud file (0, 1,0) will be m
mapped to thee True North o of the
Revit
R model.
Origin
O to last placed
p
Revit
R places thhe next importted point clou ud consistentlly with the pre eviously impoorted point clo oud.
This option bec comes enable ed after one point
p cloud is inserted.

gly recommen
It is strong nded not to us
se Center to Center! Poin nt clouds are measuremen nts in a define
ed
coordinate e system. If using
u the Cennter to Centerr option userrs will lose the
e reference to
o survey
coordinate e system.

The best way

w to work with
w real world
d coordinates
s is the option
n by shared ccoordinates a
after defining such
a shared system.
s

Use
U the follow
wing workflow
w to define a shared
s coordi nate system:

1. Perform th
he point cloud
d registration with real-worrld coordinate
es in the prefe
erred pre-
processing tool

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 As-built to BIM: Detailed Reality Capture for Revit

2. Create a simple CAD file with the same coordinates (e.g. in AutoCAD with the loaded point
cloud to the WCS)
3. Link this CAD file into Revit with the Center to Center option
4. Now move and/or rotate the CAD file so that the project north is aligned to the building
outline

5. In the Revit Manage Ribbon choose Project Location Aquire Coordinates and
select the linked CAD file. Now the shared coordinate system is aligned to the internal
coordinate system of the CAD file
6. Insert the point cloud with the by Shared Coordinates option.

Acquire Coordinates is a nice feature to set up the shared coordinate system based on a linked file.
Unfortunately it doesnt work with linked point clouds directly. But it is possible to use a simple Revit
Macro to acquire coordinates from point clouds. This macro source code can be found in the additional
class materials.

Behavior of point clouds in Revit

Point Clouds in Revit behave as any other model element. Users can select, move, rotate and even
mirror (do this only if needed) point clouds. The presentation of the point cloud is view dependent. That
means users can adjust the presentation in each single view with the View Visibility/Graphics
command. If working with ReCap project files (RCP) it is possible to control the visibility of each single
scan. The following different color options are available for point clouds:

RGB the point clouds is presented with the colors taken from the scanner camera
Single Color
Intensity the intensity from the reflected laser beam
Elevation color coded elevation of each point cloud point
Normals normal are calculated during the indexing process in ReCap. Each normal color
represents a different planar orientation of a point cloud region.

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 As- built to BIM: D
Detailed Realitty Capture forr Revit

The visibility of the poin

nt cloud can be
b adjusted with
w the view rrange of clipp
ping box properties.

Workflow: Scan tto BIM

For each as-built project in Revit users will follow
w several step
ps to prepare the data befoore modelling can
begin. This workflow shhould be adapted to each project, but in n principle the
e process is a
always the same.

Define vertical
v Define levels Modelling overall Define a
aligned Families and in-
sections geometry
g elevattions p
place compon nents

Most actio
ons in Revit are
a based on a planar view
w (plan view, ssection or elevation). Thesse views mustt be
setup befo
ore modellingg can commen
nce.

Define ve
ertical section ns in the poinnt cloud
If starting with a stan
ndard Revit teemplate prede efined levels are already eestablished. UUsers
may ad dapt these levvels to the poiint cloud data
a or create neew levels if ne
eeded. The be est
way of doing this is tot start with a new section through the p point cloud. L
Limit the view
range ofo the section line in the ma anner that soo the elevation
n of each leveel is easy to
recognize in the resulting section view.

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 As- built to BIM: D
Detailed Realitty Capture forr Revit

Define lev
vels for floor plans
In the section
s view begin
b adaptin
ng the predefi ned levels annd move them m to the point
cloud; or create new w levels. The view range shhould also be e adapted in tthe floor plan view.
Set a small
s offset to
o the bottom range
r to hide all point cloud points on th
he floor. This will
make walls
w more dis stinguishable.

Modelling g the overall geometry

or plan view users
In the floo u can eassily start to tra
ace over the wwall, columnss and other ve
ertical
ascending geometry. As A a modellin ng assist, Revvit provides twwo different snnapping typess:
point snaap and planar snap. The firrst snaps dire ctly to a singlle point cloudd point. The
second options
o searchhes for a poin
nt on an avera age plane in tthe point cloud
d which is
perpendic cular to the active work pla
ane. Revit use es the planarr snap optionss automaticallly if it
finds a pla
ane, but userss can also togggle between these option s with the [tab b] key.

Both
B options work
w only on the active woork plane! In a floor plan view this is typ
pically the leve
el for
which
w that the
e view is base
ed on. If work
king in a 3d vie
ew it is also p
possible to usse the snappin ng
options,
o but only
o on the ac
ctive work plan
ne.

Define addditional secttions and elev vations for deetailing

To inserrt all other buiilding element it is essentiaal to define addditional secttions and interior
elevations. To create e aligned elevaations to partts of the pointt cloud, start wwith a referennce
plane. Go
G to a floor plan
p where the
e part of interrest is visible and draw a re eference plan ne
which is
s aligned to the point cloud points (dontt forget to use e point cloud ssnapping). Tyype a
name foor the referenc ce plane in the properties p palette. This is important to o attach the
elevation to the referennce plane. No ow add a new w elevation. If choosing the option Attacch to Grid the e
elevation will snap to th
he named refference plane e.

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 As- built to BIM: D
Detailed Realitty Capture forr Revit

Create aligned elevatio

ons as often as
a possible to
o get planar viiews to everyy needed part of the point
cloud. In the
t sections and
a elevation views tracingg directly overr geometry is simple while using point ccloud
snapping..

Creating n
new families and inplace e componentss
g with point clo
If working ouds from old may be requirred to create many individual
d buildings it m
building elements
e and new families which are no ot already in th
he existing R
Revit databasee.
With seveeral aligned elevations it is easy to crea te in-place coomponents. W With the Far CClip
Offset prroperty (foundd in the prope
erties palette o
of the elevatioon view) userrs can adjust tthe
thicknesss of the slice through the pooint cloud tha
at seen in the elevation view w.

Have a look to the follo

owing pictures
s. To create the roof of the
e awning, the design starte
ed with severa
al
reference planes and aligned
a elevattions:

The Far Clip

C Offset was
w set to only y a few centimmetres to get thin slices. Th
he roof was then modelled d as
an in-plac
ce mass with several
s profile
es. After finish
hing the masss element the e roof could b
be created eassily
with the R
Roof by Face tool.

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 As-built to BIM: Detailed Reality Capture for Revit

If users need to create new, loadable families from point cloud data, a similar workaround in Revit is
needed. Revit is not able to insert point cloud data directly into the family editor; however, it is possible to
start with an in-place family. Model some elements needed for the family and create a group from these
elements (it is important to create this group within the in-place family editor). Now save this group: in the
project browser open the Groups Model entry and click on the group name with right mouse button
Save Group. This group will be saved as a RFA file that will open as a loadable family or insert in a
loadable family template.

Enhanced Workflow using 3rd Party Applications

What can Revit not do with point clouds?
The previous topics illustrate the basic functionalities on how to model from point clouds in Revit. Besides
these great capabilities Revit also has limits:

No real 3d snapping to point clouds

The point cloud snapping works only on the active work plane. Users must first define a plane
before snapping directly to the point cloud

No scan view available

A scan view is the presentation of all points that one scan has captured in a photo-like
representation. A scan view provides often a more intuitive and easier navigation compared to a
complete point cloud

No point cloud support in the family editor

While working in as-built projects much time will be spent modelling new, custom families.
Unfortunately, Revit cannot load point clouds into the family editor. The previous topic illustrates a

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 As-built to BIM: Detailed Reality Capture for Revit

workflow to create loadable families via grouping of in-placed family objects, but this method is
awkward.

VirtuSurv with Revit link

VirtuSurv is one example of 3rd party software which can eliminate all of these limitations in Revit.
VirtuSurv is a standalone application that works only with scan views. The Revit link connects these scan
views to Revit and gives users the possibility to create major architectural elements like walls, doors,
beams or columns with a few clicks in the scan view.

Figure 4: How VirtuSurv with Revit link works: Sending of coordinates and commands directly to a Revit
addin

Besides the building elements users may also create modelling guides (model lines, construction points
or free work planes) for easily detailing a Revit model. The guides are drawn in 3D so it is not necessary
to first define a work plane. Modelling guides can also be used directly inside the family editor. Clicking
within the VirtuSurv scan view sends 3d model lines and work planes to the Revit family template.

Beyond this, it is also possible to import point clouds regions directly into the family editor to use it as a
modelling reference.

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 As-built to BIM: Detailed Reality Capture for Revit

Figure 5: Modelling of a window family with loaded point cloud regions into the family editor

What can we expect in the future?

Pattern recognition of building elements

The paramount wish on the software developer is no doubt for fully-automatic and flawless pattern
recognition of building elements: the software should analyze the whole point cloud, locate all of the
elements, recognize their type and fit the position and parameters optimally onto the observed data. This
is a rather appealing notion, but unfortunately rather unrealistic.

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 As-built to BIM: Detailed Reality Capture for Revit

However an implementable solution would offer semi-automatic pattern recognition, where the specific
acceptance of the position, size and/or type of the building element to be recognized by the system would
be predefined by the user. The function of the system is to minimize the distance between the surface of
the object and the point cloud by adjusting the objects parameters.

Even architectural components possess, through their diversity, a large number of parameters which
results in a very time consuming optimization process. Optimized workflows are therefore required. The
amount of user input is reduced to a minimum, but at the same time the object should be recognized
quickly and robustly by the software.

Consideration of design conditions

Scan-to-BIM means more than the precise positioning of the right building elements and types. The
resulting BIM-model has to follow typical design conditions that are imposed by a design software like
Revit.

For example:

Orthogonal wall axes

Minimal number of different building element types
Compliance of wall alignment

Under these conditions it will be the tasks for the future to find workflows to get the precise shape of all
building elements with little manual effort and with consideration of design conditions at the same time.

The industry and the kubit team on the way to find the solution.

Happy scanning!

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