THE HAGUE, The Netherlands – One of the most talked-about new releases here at SPAR Europe was Leica Geosystems’ new Leica CloudWorx for Revit, a plug-in that will allow Revit users to more efficiently use point clouds within Revit as they create models in the scan-to-BIM workflow. Similar to CloudWorx for AutoCAD, the software was designed to make laser scan data much more useful to design professionals.
On the SPAR Europe floor, this reporter had a chance to interview Julian Norton, Leica’s HDS business development manager, EMEA, about the reasons behind the new product release:
Here are some of the specific Revit tools announced:
- Direct access to Leica Cyclone projects – with its underlying point cloud management utility – which avoids time-consuming export/format conversion/import steps and enables efficient viewing of point clouds of unlimited size via Revit’s display engine
- Faster loading and display of higher density point clouds , for more precise modeling, including a “Regeneration” tool for automatically displaying point clouds at higher density
- Ability to set Levels (i.e., floor elevations) directly from scan points or surfaces created from point clouds and automatically create plan view slices
- Create “Limit Boxes” for working only with scan data in specific, desired areas
- Create slices of point cloud data in X-axis and Y-axis, in addition to Z-axis
- Automatically cut point cloud slices into convenient half-sections
- Set Revit “Work Planes” by directly fitting a plane or flat patch to point cloud data – this enables users to create walls in Revit that can reflect a true, out-of-plumb existing condition
- Automatically fit & extract pipe centerlines and diameters from scan data for constructing intelligent pipe models
- Accurately determine pipe tie-point locations by fitting scan data
- Save and manage point cloud Slices and Limit Boxes via a “Clipping Manager” utility
- Save a convenient “CloudWorx Project” which consists of point cloud data, plus whatever has been saved in the “Clipping Manager”