Scan to BIM: The Evolution of Scanning Technology
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The simple truth is, scanning is the only cost-effective way to collect the existing world.
You simply can't go into a cathedral, petroleum refinery, or metropolitan multi-use entertainment facility and measure with rulers and expect to get the accuracy you need to confidently design renovations.
Laser scanning may be the only way to do it.
Until recently, BIM users would have a set of "asbuilt drawings" put them into a 3D modeling program and develop a computer model to work from. Now, after many years of doing that, the harsh realization has surfaced that there are many discrepancies between the "record drawings" and the specific environment to be constructed.
Whether it's sheetrock and wood, it really is adjusted to fit. But whether it's glass, steel, concrete or mechanical equipment, a seemingly small error can grow very costly as it is a lot harder to warp and bend. (Putting expensive new equipment into a location that is too small is really a nightmare for the installer, designer, engineer and the insurance provider.)
These new 3D laser scanning technologies have dramatically changed the surveying industry - plus they have changed it fast. But to essentially understand the evolution, let's take a step back....
2004: 360-Degree Scans
The first 360-degree scanners came onto the scene around 2004. Before that, in the event that you wanted to scan something above your mind, you'd to tilt the scanner back and scan at a steep angle, because so many only had a 120-degree scan ability on the vertical axis. Several companies came out with full straight scanners relating to this time that made it much easier.
2006: Time-of-Flight Scans
Another evolution was time-of flight scanners. In 2006, a time-of-flight scanner took about 45 minutes to 1 hour for a complete 360-degree scan. In the event that you could do 8-10 scans a day, you were doing very well. Today, the same can be achieved in about 12-15 minutes, with respect to the density you want a scan.
At our firm, our first scanning projects were roads. In a very complicated area, we'd scan 1"X 1". The time-of-fight scanners back then could collect 4,000 points per second. Now they can easily collect 50,000 points per second!
2008: Phased-Based Scans
Today's phase-based scanners collect 2,000,000 points per second and can develop a �-inch x �-inch pattern at a distance of about 100 feet. This is incredible so when fast and dense because the average user needs. The hardware will eventually get better, faster and cheaper, but phase-based scanning is effective, stable, and provides the opportunity to scan just about anything in an acceptable about of time.
Present: Scan to BIM
Today, the big research money is certainly going towards Scan to BIM technology, which converts billions of points in the idea cloud into useful data.
Several companies have begun addressing this including small independent companies like Pointools, which developed a means for scanners to recognize flat surfaces. (No more than this may seem, this can be a huge advancement.) This program will also recognize pipes and model them automatically about 50% of the time. (Another major advancement.)
Now lots of the pipe programs are receiving to exactly the same place and advancing the ball. Currently, we are at what I call the "Model T Ford" in software packages, but each year the programs get better.
The next evolution
Having now scanned may highly complex areas in industrial sites, we've had to be able to compare them to the asbuilt drawings. In the horizontal view, they are generally close geometrically to the specific. But in their vertical axis, the pipes and duct work in the asbuilt drawings are rarely correct.
There are many reasons for this, but most often it is because the process is so difficult that when an installer sees an easier path, he generally takes it.
"Record drawings," or asbuilt surveys, are rarely done following the work is complete. Typically, the conversation goes something similar to this: "Listed below are the design drawings. Redline any changes that you made."
There is Homepage to do a completely new survey. But in case a design team takes these documents and models them to their computer programs, they're unknowingly creating multiple problems for the contractor on the brand new job.
We recently took a set of asbuilt documents for a complex project, modeled them and compared them to the point cloud to accomplish a clash detection to determine potential interferences. The results was eye opening.
Few of the pipes, ducts, waterlines or fire lines in the ceiling were in the area shown on the record drawings. If these documents had been used, the MEP contractors could have spent ten times our fee "field fitting" the brand new utilities inside the old.
With the utility and cost of laser scanning, it will be smart to use one on every renovation project. If for nothing else, insurance! Just one single field fit will often cost far more compared to the scan itself.
If you scan the environment and put the proposed design in to the point cloud, you can tell in just a few minutes where in fact the major interferences will be. We have found conflicts that would have taken upwards of $100,000 to fix if they had to be field-changed during construction. Some were fatal flaws in the mandatory design clearance which could not need been achieved and a completely new design would have had to been submitted.
Scanning to BIM is a big and extremely important part of surveying. Right now, it is the design software that's trying to meet up with the scanning potential. Already this year, several new programs have come out that are much better at accepting point clouds and computer models, however they still have a long way to go.
Not having a design predicated on a laser scan of the specific environment is a risk that few designers should take. I know I wouldn't want to tell an owner that there is a construction problem which could have been avoided with a relatively inexpensive laser scan.
Laser scanning has evolved from the "luxury" to a best practice and it's really not a step that any prudent designer should skip.
You simply can't go into a cathedral, petroleum refinery, or metropolitan multi-use entertainment facility and measure with rulers and expect to get the accuracy you need to confidently design renovations.
Laser scanning may be the only way to do it.
Until recently, BIM users would have a set of "asbuilt drawings" put them into a 3D modeling program and develop a computer model to work from. Now, after many years of doing that, the harsh realization has surfaced that there are many discrepancies between the "record drawings" and the specific environment to be constructed.
Whether it's sheetrock and wood, it really is adjusted to fit. But whether it's glass, steel, concrete or mechanical equipment, a seemingly small error can grow very costly as it is a lot harder to warp and bend. (Putting expensive new equipment into a location that is too small is really a nightmare for the installer, designer, engineer and the insurance provider.)
These new 3D laser scanning technologies have dramatically changed the surveying industry - plus they have changed it fast. But to essentially understand the evolution, let's take a step back....
2004: 360-Degree Scans
The first 360-degree scanners came onto the scene around 2004. Before that, in the event that you wanted to scan something above your mind, you'd to tilt the scanner back and scan at a steep angle, because so many only had a 120-degree scan ability on the vertical axis. Several companies came out with full straight scanners relating to this time that made it much easier.
2006: Time-of-Flight Scans
Another evolution was time-of flight scanners. In 2006, a time-of-flight scanner took about 45 minutes to 1 hour for a complete 360-degree scan. In the event that you could do 8-10 scans a day, you were doing very well. Today, the same can be achieved in about 12-15 minutes, with respect to the density you want a scan.
At our firm, our first scanning projects were roads. In a very complicated area, we'd scan 1"X 1". The time-of-fight scanners back then could collect 4,000 points per second. Now they can easily collect 50,000 points per second!
2008: Phased-Based Scans
Today's phase-based scanners collect 2,000,000 points per second and can develop a �-inch x �-inch pattern at a distance of about 100 feet. This is incredible so when fast and dense because the average user needs. The hardware will eventually get better, faster and cheaper, but phase-based scanning is effective, stable, and provides the opportunity to scan just about anything in an acceptable about of time.
Present: Scan to BIM
Today, the big research money is certainly going towards Scan to BIM technology, which converts billions of points in the idea cloud into useful data.
Several companies have begun addressing this including small independent companies like Pointools, which developed a means for scanners to recognize flat surfaces. (No more than this may seem, this can be a huge advancement.) This program will also recognize pipes and model them automatically about 50% of the time. (Another major advancement.)
Now lots of the pipe programs are receiving to exactly the same place and advancing the ball. Currently, we are at what I call the "Model T Ford" in software packages, but each year the programs get better.
The next evolution
Having now scanned may highly complex areas in industrial sites, we've had to be able to compare them to the asbuilt drawings. In the horizontal view, they are generally close geometrically to the specific. But in their vertical axis, the pipes and duct work in the asbuilt drawings are rarely correct.
There are many reasons for this, but most often it is because the process is so difficult that when an installer sees an easier path, he generally takes it.
"Record drawings," or asbuilt surveys, are rarely done following the work is complete. Typically, the conversation goes something similar to this: "Listed below are the design drawings. Redline any changes that you made."
There is Homepage to do a completely new survey. But in case a design team takes these documents and models them to their computer programs, they're unknowingly creating multiple problems for the contractor on the brand new job.
We recently took a set of asbuilt documents for a complex project, modeled them and compared them to the point cloud to accomplish a clash detection to determine potential interferences. The results was eye opening.
Few of the pipes, ducts, waterlines or fire lines in the ceiling were in the area shown on the record drawings. If these documents had been used, the MEP contractors could have spent ten times our fee "field fitting" the brand new utilities inside the old.
With the utility and cost of laser scanning, it will be smart to use one on every renovation project. If for nothing else, insurance! Just one single field fit will often cost far more compared to the scan itself.
If you scan the environment and put the proposed design in to the point cloud, you can tell in just a few minutes where in fact the major interferences will be. We have found conflicts that would have taken upwards of $100,000 to fix if they had to be field-changed during construction. Some were fatal flaws in the mandatory design clearance which could not need been achieved and a completely new design would have had to been submitted.
Scanning to BIM is a big and extremely important part of surveying. Right now, it is the design software that's trying to meet up with the scanning potential. Already this year, several new programs have come out that are much better at accepting point clouds and computer models, however they still have a long way to go.
Not having a design predicated on a laser scan of the specific environment is a risk that few designers should take. I know I wouldn't want to tell an owner that there is a construction problem which could have been avoided with a relatively inexpensive laser scan.
Laser scanning has evolved from the "luxury" to a best practice and it's really not a step that any prudent designer should skip.
