I am back :D

[James]

Hi all,

Havent been on here for a long time, and thought i would check in

I have a new job now, using Revit/BIM in a different environment to new build/extension/refurbishment architectural drawings. I am now drawing up existing surveys from Point Cloud data and it is great fun

If you have any queries/questions regarding this type of work, please ask away!

James

[Revit Zone]

Hi there!!!!!!

Glad to see you back. I'm sure we'll all have loads of questionds re point cloud data

Cheers,
Ian

[James]

cheers Ian.

It is good and it is amazing how accurate the Point Cloud is.

[PeterC]

Hi James,
I came across your post regarding point cloud to bim modelling that you are doing. I have been asked to do the same for a client of mine and I am looking for a few bits of advice if you don't mind ? my queries are as follows -
1. when I take in a point cloud file (pcg file) - the orientation of the point cloud usually isn't orthographic to the default views - How do you change the cloud to make it easier to draw on plan - ie so it's orthographic on the screen? I saw something about true north and project north -but not sure if I should rotate either of these or not, as I don't want the 'true' orientation of the point cloud to change.

2. I have seen some Youtube demos where they actually move the point cloud down to Level 0 before commencement of the project model - Do you do this? Does this not affect the true co-ordinates of the model ?

3. Do you use section boxes to crop the cloud - or is there other ways to do it?

4. Do you use any 3rd party addons as a guide to help create the walls and opes etc

5. Finally do you use generic families to create walls , doors and windows for your surveys?

I am sorry about all the questions - I am quite new to revit never mind point clouds, but I have been offered some work of this type and it looks very interesting.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated -

Thanks,
Peter

[James]

hi Peter.

some of these are quite lengthy to explain. where are you based?

or do you have skype etc?

**of course Ian, when im not pressed for time i can write a lengthy reply. also if you would like an article etc on revit/bim/point cloud a director @ Plowman Craven is more than willing to provide some literature etc.

[James]

Hi James,
I came across your post regarding point cloud to bim modelling that you are doing. I have been asked to do the same for a client of mine and I am looking for a few bits of advice if you don't mind ? my queries are as follows -
1. when I take in a point cloud file (pcg file) - the orientation of the point cloud usually isn't orthographic to the default views - How do you change the cloud to make it easier to draw on plan - ie so it's orthographic on the screen? I saw something about true north and project north -but not sure if I should rotate either of these or not, as I don't want the 'true' orientation of the point cloud to change.

this is very dangerous to do, if you are using other addons - ie cloudworx as it will kill the co-ords of the model. in general we leave it sitting where it comes in.

2. I have seen some Youtube demos where they actually move the point cloud down to Level 0 before commencement of the project model - Do you do this? Does this not affect the true co-ordinates of the model ?
nope, as the level will be OS level and we leave it at that.

3. Do you use section boxes to crop the cloud - or is there other ways to do it?
yep, in 3d and 2d

4. Do you use any 3rd party addons as a guide to help create the walls and opes etc
not really, use sections etc to work it out

5. Finally do you use generic families to create walls , doors and windows for your surveys?
depends on clients requirements, ie inplace, families, massing etc

I am sorry about all the questions - I am quite new to revit never mind point clouds, but I have been offered some work of this type and it looks very interesting.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated -

Thanks,
Peter

[PeterC]

Thanks James for your excellent advice. I really appreciate it- One last one if you don't mind - Do you use the Cloudworx plugin for revit or do you use the built-in point cloud feature in Revit ? The built-in point cloud feature is a bit slow for me, I have seen Cloudworx in action with autocad, but haven't used it in Revit.

Kind regards
Peter

[James]

hi i have clouudworx plugin to, but i prefer to use PCG.

we are moving over to 2014 soon so will be using recap

[PeterC]

Thanks again, ReCap looks really interesting. PCG - do you mean just importing the cloud using as a PCG directly? it seems slow for me.

Regards
Peter

[James]

hi Peter,

its not really smooth but works. it is best to keep PCG to under 5GB or it eats resources. on average, Revit uses about 8gb of ram on my PC.