Integrated BIM tools, including Revit, AutoCAD, and Civil 3D
Professional CAD/CAM tools built on Inventor and AutoCAD
Any referenced datasets can be downloaded from "Module downloads" in the module overview.
Transcript
00:01
INSTRUCTOR: In this lesson, we'll
00:02
explore the possibilities of using reality capture
00:06
to capture the existing conditions of a Brownfield
00:09
facility.
00:17
During this lesson, we're going to focus
00:19
on the use of laser scanners, Point Clouds,
00:22
in the Autodesk ReCap application.
00:26
It is amazing how fast reality capture techniques have
00:29
changed, how design workflows are accomplished in modern CAD
00:32
applications.
00:34
In early CAD designs, everything was
00:36
created using conventional 2D practices.
00:38
Design workflows changed to include the advances
00:42
in 3D solid modeling.
00:44
Now, our workflows are evolving again
00:45
to include laser scan Point Clouds and various forms
00:48
of reality capture.
00:51
Reality capture techniques are now
00:52
commonplace in many aspects of layout design.
00:55
If you utilizing the factory design utilities to arrange
00:58
equipment in an existing Brownfield facility,
01:00
a laser scan of the old facility is almost expected.
01:04
Of course, you can manage the project with a 2D AutoCAD floor
01:06
plan, but nothing provides as accurate
01:09
a representation of an existing space as a laser scan Point
01:12
Cloud.
01:16
Laser scans may be new to some of us.
01:18
A laser scanner records a space by shooting a beam of light
01:21
out and recording the time of its return.
01:24
This process is repeated thousands of times a second.
01:28
The result is a list of points that when viewed properly
01:31
display the exact position of all objects in a space,
01:35
building, or landscape.
01:38
The scanning process requires multiple setups.
01:42
Eventually, the scans from each setup
01:43
are brought together in a process called registration.
01:47
This creates a large Point Cloud consisting of scans
01:50
from multiple positions.
01:54
I have a Point Cloud loaded in my Autodesk ReCap application,
01:58
and I'm going to zoom in and I want
01:59
you to notice these circular areas on the floor.
02:04
These circular areas actually where
02:06
the skin are set during one of the setups.
02:10
You have to understand that the scanner can see everything
02:12
in the room except for what's directly underneath of it.
02:16
So you can actually see that this scan is actually
02:18
created from several setups.
02:28
Without additional software, the only way
02:30
to utilize laser scan data with the product design
02:33
and manufacturing collection is through the Autodesk ReCap
02:36
application.
02:38
Autodesk Inventor in AutoCAD only
02:40
recognize the Point Cloud scan formats generated
02:44
by the Autodesk ReCap app.
02:47
You can only insert an rcp, just ReCap project file
02:51
or an rcs, a ReCap scan.
02:56
It is important to note that the Navisworks application does
02:59
recognize Point Cloud formats from various laser scanners,
03:03
but the layout techniques used in the Inventor in AutoCAD
03:06
applications utilize ReCap scans exclusively.
03:13
Point Clouds provide the ability to accurately capture
03:15
the real world conditions of an existing building or space.
03:20
These scans allow factory designers
03:22
to develop machine layouts in context of reality based
03:25
conditions.
03:27
No critical dimensions or details
03:29
are missed like the legacy documents mentioned
03:32
in the previous lesson.
03:36
The factory design workflow traditionally
03:38
utilizes Point Clouds to represent the outside defining
03:41
limits of the layout space.
03:44
Scans are typically used to represent the walls, floors,
03:47
and ceiling of the area under development.
03:50
However, it is also possible to turn the scanner inward,
03:54
creating a Point Cloud containing the size and shape
03:57
of a piece of equipment.
03:58
This leads to the possibility of using
04:00
a Point Cloud scan as a factory asset instead of a solid model.
04:06
The prevalence of reality capture and Point Cloud
04:09
technology is much more common in today's manufacturing
04:12
environment.
04:13
Point Clouds and scan the meshes are
04:16
becoming a regularly used design tool for modeling applications
04:20
and 3D printers.
04:21
In many cases, you can produce a fairly good quality Point
04:25
Cloud with pictures from your camera phone.
04:28
While not discussed in this lesson,
04:31
Autodesk ReCap photo is capable of creating scan data
04:35
from a group of pictures that are stitched together.
04:41
Autodesk ReCap serves several critical purposes
04:44
in the general factory utility workflow for utilizing Point
04:47
Clouds and the Inventor in AutoCAD environments.
04:50
Its primary purpose is to translate the Point Cloud
04:53
so it can be imported into the applications.
04:56
Its secondary purpose is equally important.
04:59
Autodesk ReCap allows users to clean the Point Cloud
05:02
and isolate the points that are necessary
05:05
to the overall design.
05:08
It is important to remember that a large number of points
05:11
will slow down the performance of the Inventor
05:13
in AutoCAD applications.
05:15
So any points that can be removed from the imported scan
05:18
will increase your overall performance.
05:22
ReCap has several point selection and isolation
05:24
tools that can be used to remove or hide
05:27
points and a Point Cloud.
05:32
I have opened up my Autodesk ReCap application
05:35
and I want to review several options for deleting or hiding
05:39
points in Autodesk ReCap.
05:44
The first thing I'd like to show you is adjusting the limit box.
05:50
When it comes down to the bottom the screen under limit box
05:53
and click Edit.
05:55
You'll see a bounding box that appears around the point
05:57
clouds.
05:59
Now, for this example, I'm simply
06:00
going to drag downwards and hide all of the roof and HVAC
06:07
information.
06:12
I'll click confirmed to finish the command.
06:18
Now, I'd like to delete all of those floor points.
06:22
There are several selection options here.
06:26
I'm going to jump over to the plane option.
06:29
Using this option requires you to select several points that
06:32
are on the floor.
06:37
I'll go around and pick several of these,
06:42
and then I'm going to hit the Enter button.
06:46
You can see my preview here for the plane depth.
06:49
If I'd like to increase that, you'll
06:52
see that more points are selected.
06:55
I can click Delete to erase those points.
07:00
Now, don't worry about a racing points.
07:02
You can always bring them back up here under the Home tab
07:06
and using this option to recover deleted points.
07:17
I'm going to adjust my view to the top,
07:19
and you can see that I'm looking at this Point
07:21
Cloud in orthographic mode.
07:25
If you need to set your screen to orthographic mode,
07:28
you can use the Display tab.
07:30
Come over to the eyeball and uncheck perspective.
07:36
Another common selection tool is the window tool.
07:41
It simply allows you to draw a rectangular window
07:45
around a set of points.
07:52
I can reach down and click Delete to remove those points
07:55
from the cloud.
07:59
You also have a fence option.
08:02
This allows you to draw a polygon around a set of points
08:13
and delete them in that fashion.
08:37
Autodesk ReCap can also align and orient the laser scan
08:40
with your overall factory layout project.
08:43
The update origin command allows you
08:45
to establish the coordinate system
08:47
based on the features displayed in the cloud.
08:50
This coordinate system is honored
08:52
when the cloud is inserted into a CAD application.
08:56
Remember from our previous lessons,
08:58
how important it is to use a common origin
09:00
point throughout the entire factory layout process.
09:04
Autodesk ReCap allows you to match
09:06
the origin of your reality capture
09:08
to the digital drawings and models used in your layout
09:10
project.
09:14
I'm back in Autodesk ReCap, and I
09:16
want to set the origin of this cloud.
09:20
To do that, I'm going to go up here to the Display tab.
09:23
Underneath the points option, I'm
09:25
going to select Update origin.
09:28
Now, you'll see a little yellow dot where the origin is.
09:31
You can select any point in the file
09:34
to establish that particular point.
09:37
For this example, I'm going to leave it right where it is.
09:40
I want to use the side of this garage door
09:42
as the origin of this design.
09:47
Now, if you read the instructions
09:48
at the bottom of the screen, you'll
09:49
see that you need to click to update
09:51
the location of the origin, press Enter to confirm
09:54
or tab to update the origin of the coordinate system.
09:58
I'm going to use the Tab option here.
10:01
When I click tab, you'll see the x, y, and z origin indicator.
10:06
Now, it prompts you here to set the z-axis.
10:09
And honestly, most modern scanners
10:11
do a very, very good job of establishing
10:14
z through the onboard components of the scanner.
10:18
So I'm simply going to enter to accept the z orientation.
10:23
Now, I'm prompted to select some points to set the x direction.
10:27
You can select any cluster of points you'd like.
10:30
Now for this example, I'm going to click this cluster of points
10:34
on this back wall, because I want
10:36
the x-axis to run as parallel to this wall as possible.
10:41
Might help during this step to look
10:43
at it in an orthographic view and see
10:48
that the x-axis is roughly parallel to this back wall.
10:59
I'm going to hit Enter to confirm the x-axis,
11:02
and now my origin is set.
11:05
I am prompted here to optimize the file.
11:07
There is never any issue if you choose to optimize a file.
11:10
You can always get back to the original points.
11:24
One of the main features of recap
11:26
is its ability to export the scans
11:29
into an appropriate format for use
11:31
in the Autodesk Inventor in AutoCAD applications.
11:35
You can choose to link your design to a recap project file
11:39
a .rcp or an individual scan, a .rcs.
11:44
These are the only point cloud files recognized by Inventor
11:47
in AutoCAD.
11:50
We're going to finish up this lesson by exporting our Point
11:53
Cloud to a single rcs file.
11:56
Before I do that, I'm going to go back down
11:58
and reset my limit box.
12:00
This will bring back those points
12:02
that I temporarily hid earlier.
12:06
To export the file, you go to the Home tab,
12:09
come over to the import option and then down to the Export
12:13
option or click Export, and I'll be
12:16
prompted to save my file as an rcp, which is a recap project
12:21
file.
12:22
A project file can consist of many, many scans
12:27
or we can save it as a single unified rcs file, just
12:31
basically a single scan.
12:33
For this example, that's what I'm going to do.
12:36
And I'm going to save it, we'll give it a name.
12:44
We call it Point Cloud Clean and we'll click Save.
Video transcript
00:01
INSTRUCTOR: In this lesson, we'll
00:02
explore the possibilities of using reality capture
00:06
to capture the existing conditions of a Brownfield
00:09
facility.
00:17
During this lesson, we're going to focus
00:19
on the use of laser scanners, Point Clouds,
00:22
in the Autodesk ReCap application.
00:26
It is amazing how fast reality capture techniques have
00:29
changed, how design workflows are accomplished in modern CAD
00:32
applications.
00:34
In early CAD designs, everything was
00:36
created using conventional 2D practices.
00:38
Design workflows changed to include the advances
00:42
in 3D solid modeling.
00:44
Now, our workflows are evolving again
00:45
to include laser scan Point Clouds and various forms
00:48
of reality capture.
00:51
Reality capture techniques are now
00:52
commonplace in many aspects of layout design.
00:55
If you utilizing the factory design utilities to arrange
00:58
equipment in an existing Brownfield facility,
01:00
a laser scan of the old facility is almost expected.
01:04
Of course, you can manage the project with a 2D AutoCAD floor
01:06
plan, but nothing provides as accurate
01:09
a representation of an existing space as a laser scan Point
01:12
Cloud.
01:16
Laser scans may be new to some of us.
01:18
A laser scanner records a space by shooting a beam of light
01:21
out and recording the time of its return.
01:24
This process is repeated thousands of times a second.
01:28
The result is a list of points that when viewed properly
01:31
display the exact position of all objects in a space,
01:35
building, or landscape.
01:38
The scanning process requires multiple setups.
01:42
Eventually, the scans from each setup
01:43
are brought together in a process called registration.
01:47
This creates a large Point Cloud consisting of scans
01:50
from multiple positions.
01:54
I have a Point Cloud loaded in my Autodesk ReCap application,
01:58
and I'm going to zoom in and I want
01:59
you to notice these circular areas on the floor.
02:04
These circular areas actually where
02:06
the skin are set during one of the setups.
02:10
You have to understand that the scanner can see everything
02:12
in the room except for what's directly underneath of it.
02:16
So you can actually see that this scan is actually
02:18
created from several setups.
02:28
Without additional software, the only way
02:30
to utilize laser scan data with the product design
02:33
and manufacturing collection is through the Autodesk ReCap
02:36
application.
02:38
Autodesk Inventor in AutoCAD only
02:40
recognize the Point Cloud scan formats generated
02:44
by the Autodesk ReCap app.
02:47
You can only insert an rcp, just ReCap project file
02:51
or an rcs, a ReCap scan.
02:56
It is important to note that the Navisworks application does
02:59
recognize Point Cloud formats from various laser scanners,
03:03
but the layout techniques used in the Inventor in AutoCAD
03:06
applications utilize ReCap scans exclusively.
03:13
Point Clouds provide the ability to accurately capture
03:15
the real world conditions of an existing building or space.
03:20
These scans allow factory designers
03:22
to develop machine layouts in context of reality based
03:25
conditions.
03:27
No critical dimensions or details
03:29
are missed like the legacy documents mentioned
03:32
in the previous lesson.
03:36
The factory design workflow traditionally
03:38
utilizes Point Clouds to represent the outside defining
03:41
limits of the layout space.
03:44
Scans are typically used to represent the walls, floors,
03:47
and ceiling of the area under development.
03:50
However, it is also possible to turn the scanner inward,
03:54
creating a Point Cloud containing the size and shape
03:57
of a piece of equipment.
03:58
This leads to the possibility of using
04:00
a Point Cloud scan as a factory asset instead of a solid model.
04:06
The prevalence of reality capture and Point Cloud
04:09
technology is much more common in today's manufacturing
04:12
environment.
04:13
Point Clouds and scan the meshes are
04:16
becoming a regularly used design tool for modeling applications
04:20
and 3D printers.
04:21
In many cases, you can produce a fairly good quality Point
04:25
Cloud with pictures from your camera phone.
04:28
While not discussed in this lesson,
04:31
Autodesk ReCap photo is capable of creating scan data
04:35
from a group of pictures that are stitched together.
04:41
Autodesk ReCap serves several critical purposes
04:44
in the general factory utility workflow for utilizing Point
04:47
Clouds and the Inventor in AutoCAD environments.
04:50
Its primary purpose is to translate the Point Cloud
04:53
so it can be imported into the applications.
04:56
Its secondary purpose is equally important.
04:59
Autodesk ReCap allows users to clean the Point Cloud
05:02
and isolate the points that are necessary
05:05
to the overall design.
05:08
It is important to remember that a large number of points
05:11
will slow down the performance of the Inventor
05:13
in AutoCAD applications.
05:15
So any points that can be removed from the imported scan
05:18
will increase your overall performance.
05:22
ReCap has several point selection and isolation
05:24
tools that can be used to remove or hide
05:27
points and a Point Cloud.
05:32
I have opened up my Autodesk ReCap application
05:35
and I want to review several options for deleting or hiding
05:39
points in Autodesk ReCap.
05:44
The first thing I'd like to show you is adjusting the limit box.
05:50
When it comes down to the bottom the screen under limit box
05:53
and click Edit.
05:55
You'll see a bounding box that appears around the point
05:57
clouds.
05:59
Now, for this example, I'm simply
06:00
going to drag downwards and hide all of the roof and HVAC
06:07
information.
06:12
I'll click confirmed to finish the command.
06:18
Now, I'd like to delete all of those floor points.
06:22
There are several selection options here.
06:26
I'm going to jump over to the plane option.
06:29
Using this option requires you to select several points that
06:32
are on the floor.
06:37
I'll go around and pick several of these,
06:42
and then I'm going to hit the Enter button.
06:46
You can see my preview here for the plane depth.
06:49
If I'd like to increase that, you'll
06:52
see that more points are selected.
06:55
I can click Delete to erase those points.
07:00
Now, don't worry about a racing points.
07:02
You can always bring them back up here under the Home tab
07:06
and using this option to recover deleted points.
07:17
I'm going to adjust my view to the top,
07:19
and you can see that I'm looking at this Point
07:21
Cloud in orthographic mode.
07:25
If you need to set your screen to orthographic mode,
07:28
you can use the Display tab.
07:30
Come over to the eyeball and uncheck perspective.
07:36
Another common selection tool is the window tool.
07:41
It simply allows you to draw a rectangular window
07:45
around a set of points.
07:52
I can reach down and click Delete to remove those points
07:55
from the cloud.
07:59
You also have a fence option.
08:02
This allows you to draw a polygon around a set of points
08:13
and delete them in that fashion.
08:37
Autodesk ReCap can also align and orient the laser scan
08:40
with your overall factory layout project.
08:43
The update origin command allows you
08:45
to establish the coordinate system
08:47
based on the features displayed in the cloud.
08:50
This coordinate system is honored
08:52
when the cloud is inserted into a CAD application.
08:56
Remember from our previous lessons,
08:58
how important it is to use a common origin
09:00
point throughout the entire factory layout process.
09:04
Autodesk ReCap allows you to match
09:06
the origin of your reality capture
09:08
to the digital drawings and models used in your layout
09:10
project.
09:14
I'm back in Autodesk ReCap, and I
09:16
want to set the origin of this cloud.
09:20
To do that, I'm going to go up here to the Display tab.
09:23
Underneath the points option, I'm
09:25
going to select Update origin.
09:28
Now, you'll see a little yellow dot where the origin is.
09:31
You can select any point in the file
09:34
to establish that particular point.
09:37
For this example, I'm going to leave it right where it is.
09:40
I want to use the side of this garage door
09:42
as the origin of this design.
09:47
Now, if you read the instructions
09:48
at the bottom of the screen, you'll
09:49
see that you need to click to update
09:51
the location of the origin, press Enter to confirm
09:54
or tab to update the origin of the coordinate system.
09:58
I'm going to use the Tab option here.
10:01
When I click tab, you'll see the x, y, and z origin indicator.
10:06
Now, it prompts you here to set the z-axis.
10:09
And honestly, most modern scanners
10:11
do a very, very good job of establishing
10:14
z through the onboard components of the scanner.
10:18
So I'm simply going to enter to accept the z orientation.
10:23
Now, I'm prompted to select some points to set the x direction.
10:27
You can select any cluster of points you'd like.
10:30
Now for this example, I'm going to click this cluster of points
10:34
on this back wall, because I want
10:36
the x-axis to run as parallel to this wall as possible.
10:41
Might help during this step to look
10:43
at it in an orthographic view and see
10:48
that the x-axis is roughly parallel to this back wall.
10:59
I'm going to hit Enter to confirm the x-axis,
11:02
and now my origin is set.
11:05
I am prompted here to optimize the file.
11:07
There is never any issue if you choose to optimize a file.
11:10
You can always get back to the original points.
11:24
One of the main features of recap
11:26
is its ability to export the scans
11:29
into an appropriate format for use
11:31
in the Autodesk Inventor in AutoCAD applications.
11:35
You can choose to link your design to a recap project file
11:39
a .rcp or an individual scan, a .rcs.
11:44
These are the only point cloud files recognized by Inventor
11:47
in AutoCAD.
11:50
We're going to finish up this lesson by exporting our Point
11:53
Cloud to a single rcs file.
11:56
Before I do that, I'm going to go back down
11:58
and reset my limit box.
12:00
This will bring back those points
12:02
that I temporarily hid earlier.
12:06
To export the file, you go to the Home tab,
12:09
come over to the import option and then down to the Export
12:13
option or click Export, and I'll be
12:16
prompted to save my file as an rcp, which is a recap project
12:21
file.
12:22
A project file can consist of many, many scans
12:27
or we can save it as a single unified rcs file, just
12:31
basically a single scan.
12:33
For this example, that's what I'm going to do.
12:36
And I'm going to save it, we'll give it a name.
12:44
We call it Point Cloud Clean and we'll click Save.
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