Following on from our previous post announcing PointCloud Release 7, here is a video showing one of the new (and probably most useful) functions.
Then ortho image is easily created from a laser scanned point cloud in AutoCAD. The image is to scale and can be imported to any program that handles raster images. Draw easy elevations, great for printing or annotating for a deliverable. Contact us for more information.
We are pleased to announce that the latest version of kubit’s PhoToPlan software for AutoCAD is now available for download.
The new features include:
PhoToPlan Release 7 supports All 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows 7, Vista and XP (Windows 2000 is no longer supported).
Each of these new features will be examined in forthcoming posts.
Release 7 is provided free of charge to existing users on subscription but please remember to request your upgraded license before installation.
A free of charge trial may be downloaded here.
This video makes use of kubit PointCloud’s tools for analyzing variations from a defined surface. Also useful for error mapping, kubit PointCloud’s multi-section tool aids in detecting the deviation from a defined plane.
Kubit USA have been producing YouTube Videos showing many of the powerful features of PointCloud Pro for AutoCAD.
In this movie we automatically extract profile lines from a laser scanned tunnel using kubit PointCloud Pro for AutoCAD. Multiple slices are taken along a defined path and lines are fitted to the profile slices with the kubit “Polygon Fit” tool. These profiles can also be used easily to create a model using traditional AutoCAD modelling commands:
We are pleased to announce that the latest version of kubit’s PointCloud software for AutoCAD is now available for download.
The new features include:
PointCloud Release 7 supports All 32 bit and 64 bit versions of Windows 7, Vista and XP (Windows 2000 is no longer supported).
Each of these new features will be examined in forthcoming posts.
Release 7 is provided free of charge to existing users on subscription but please remember to request your upgraded license before installation.
One of the most frequently asked questions by TheoLt users is:
‘How do I get an elevation view of the building I’m measuring?’
TheoLt sends 3D data to AutoCAD which is plotted in the lines and layers of your choice. It is useful to be able to vew the drawing as a façade. One method to achieve this is to use AutoCAD’s UCS (User Co-ordinate System) command to set up a façade UCS and view it square on. The 2 key commands are ‘UCS’ and ‘PLAN’. This example is a job started in WCS:
1. Place a polyline across the plan by snapping to the ends of a measured line (because this will guarantee the UCS will be true level) It’s the red line across the facade here:
2. Fix a UCS to the polyline. Use the UCS ‘e’ option (for ‘entity’ or ‘ob’ for object in late versions) to pick the polyline when prompted. Use ‘Plan’ to get a plan view of the new UCS.
3. Rotate the UCS about the required axis by 90 deg to point the Z axis at the viewer of the façade. This is done by entering ‘UCS’ on the command line and then the axis of roatation (x, y or z) then the angle, the default is 90deg. Watch the UCS icon to see what is happening.
4. Use ‘plan’ to get a plan view of the new UCS
5. (optional) Use UCSICON command to set ‘Noorigin’ to get the icon out of the way..
6.Save the UCSwith an apropriate name (‘Front’ ‘Back’ North ‘Elavation’ etc) with the ‘S’ option at the UCS command for future use.
Enjoy your facade view!
TheoLt will plot lines true to the instrument orientation in AutoCAD regardless of the UCS. View-ports in model space can be used to run plan and elevation drawings at the same time. The façade UCS is also useful when setting up views of the 3D data for elevation drawings.
You can also use the AutoCAD ‘View’ command to save views too as a short cut to getting back to a view you like. Once the façade view is as desired it can be named for future use.
Tip: I find it helps to use your hand in the same way as we did to learn Flemmings Left hand rule (assuming you have your mouse in your right hand!) in physics at school to work out the required axis of rotation at 3:
This is a useful method of setting up a facade UCS if your job isn’t aligned to the WCS : don’t forget TheoLt’s Default Orienation option to orient aligned with a plane which is great for quick starts aligned to a facade.
Once a year the kubit resellers from around the world gather at kubit’s Dresden offices to review and discuss developments in surveying software and new products for the next year. I have just returned from the 2011 conference and am really pleased to report that the future of kubit software looks really promising. Both PhoToPlan and PointCloud have some new really powerful and important new tools that will help extract more information from the PointCloud or Photograph quicker and easier.
There will be many posts in the coming weeks and months to detail these improvements but briefly;
PointCloud: (both Basic and Pro) now include Orthographic Image Generation – a quick and easy to use tool that is ideal for extracting plans and elevations for tracing. There is also a new focus on industry specific tools – the first of these is PointSense Plant. PointCloud also benefits from the improvements to the pointcloud engine in AutoCAD 2012.
PhoToPlan: In addition to many workflow improvements, the tool will also feature a new ortho image tool – generating Orthographic Photographs from the combination of geometry (or pointclouds) and orientated images.
Detailed announcements will be made soon.
Historic Scotland are investing in survey! As part of their development of a minimum site record we do a training exercise in travserse control. I am asked to trouble-shoot their field kit, update to TheoLtr8.1.6 and take 3 teams through network observation and adjustment. The practice site is Blackness Castle and the weather is cold but, mercifully, dry.
We rattle through setting up, do a 4 stn loop, make a mess of station naming, recover and head off to the paraffin perfumed barrack block to check the results. We work through our data and run the calc, the results are superb! The network is adjusted and applied and we enjoy a good buffet lunch before tackling 3 networks in 3 teams.
The new station name editing feature has improved using user defined station names at capture. The great thing about netadjust in TheoLt is the real-time aspect, poor shots are flagged as measured and preview calculations and diagrams can be run, all on live data. Traversing is all about procedure and adapting to new ways of working can make simple things difficult, it always takes patience to get procedures right and we have to make a few re-starts before we get the sequence to suit the situation.
Taking out the ‘brown’ data is a good starting point for analsing the network.
Taking out the poor shots, running the calc and seeing the result can prompt you to take more obs or, in this case, shave 10ths of a mil off an adjusted station position: a far cry from the days of Bowditch and the calculator!
Because TheoLt works with live station properties station names have been on a like- it -or- lump- it basis until release 8 when it bemame possible to use a custon station name. This is a surprisingly useful improvment as there occasions when station names are pre-set from existing survey or when station ocupation is in decending order, in the past renaming was only possible as an AutoCAD edit post-survey, now the name can be set at Default Orientation or when the station is set out.
Customisable station naming is one method of working with pre-declared station identities, station names can now be determined at setting out adding a new level flexibility to control operations.
This relatively simple addition to the functionality of Netadjust in TheoLt 8 has a great impact on workflow. Whether you are occupying existing control, adding stations to an existing network or creating a new network from scratch, Theolt now affords the Surveyor the optimum realtime platform for Control networks.
TheoLt Real-Time Network Adjustment offers a new workflow whereby the network benefits from:
So before you put your kit back in the box you can be sure your network is delivering what you need!
The Leica DISTO transfer has been available now for a while on both AutoCAD and BricsCAD.
With the advent of the new cheaper Bluetooth Distos (3aBT) which includes this free tool I would expect far more surveyors to be investigating the transfer of measurements direct to CAD whilst on site.
So, what is the difference between this free tool and DistToPlan (which of course is not free)? I will compare like with like. The Leica tool is only a communication agent so I will compare this with the DistToPlan agent.
Configuration:
DistToPlan works with any Bluetooth driver by default. All that is required is to select the virtual com port ( ports 1 to 8 ) and connection will be established. With the Leica system, if the the bluetooth driver is neither the Broadcom or Microsoft drivers an additional configuration program must be run to allow manual connection to be established. If the correct drivers are installed the Leica software will automatically find the Disto.
The DistToPlan agent is an external EXE, selecting the settings enables the CAD Platform to be selected (AutoCAD, Bricscad or InteliCAD). In addition DistToPlan my be customised to send the measurements to almost any Windows application. Only AutoCAD® versions from 2004 and BricsCAD® versions from 9.3.5 are supported by the Leica PlugIn.
In Use:
The Leica system allows customisation of the Disto device such as units remotely which DistToPlan does not.
Both applications transfer the measurements direct from the Disto to the CAD command line as if they were typed. The main difference is that DistToPlan also stores the previous measurements (and angles, see below), meaning that the command in CAD need not be active as you measure, it is possible to measure the room and then sit at the laptop picking the correct dimensions for each line.
With the 2nd fn key pressed on on the Disto, both systems allow the angle of the line to be controlled from the Disto whilst measuring.
One further function that does not seem to be offered by the Lecia software is remote trigger. If you wish to use the Disto on a pole for example, DistToPlan is able to trigger a measurement remotely.
The extent of the Leica software is simply data transfer. DistToPlan adds a full set of commands to the CAD system to enable construction of building plans far quicker than just utilising the basic CAD commands. Examples of this may be seen here…
DistToPlan may be downloaded here…
Drainage problems with the pavement on the gun deck of Martello Tower 24 this tower required a full record of the historic paving prior to lifting for English Heritage.
This is a rectified montage of the gun deck pavement and firing step of a Martello tower. It was achieved by 4m PAP (Pole Aerial Photography) in a single day on site. The pavement level is a stitch of 9 images, the firing step 12. The images were rectified in PhoToPlan and then balanced and feathered in Photoshop.
Control for the rectification was by REDM to detail points collected in TheoLt:
In this plan I plotted the wall top from intersection in PhoToPlan 3D, orientated to the same control points from our reconaisance KAP imagery:
This tower is impressively armed with a mighty 24pdr; we had to wait until it was lifted before we could record the pavement condition in advance of works to stop the leaking, visit when it rains and you get wet!
Once the pole is set up and the rig hoisted it’s a case of working as quickly as possible to get even illumination across the whole photo block…and taking advantage of rare moments of excitement like the bit where we have to negotiate the flag pole.
For completeness the pavement survey was required to cover the firing step so the images are rectified again but this time to the firing step plane. The control points are snapped onto the joint lines from the TST survey by TheoLt. 12 images got me around the ring.
I had hoped there would be a deep enough chord of the circle covered in each shot to make use of the minimum number of points I measured to describe the jointing of the circumference rail support blocks, this turned out to be the case but more points would have been better, some of the projected images came out a bit stretched!
Next the central pivot column is rectified so that the final montage is presented to a consistent scale:
The pivot post is easy: 6 points and its done! Bringing the pieces together completes the cover:
The 3 planes are combined into one single orthographic projection, there was a great deal of fitting needed to get the coverage of the pavement right up to the base of the central pivot post from oblique imagery taken with the pole on the firing step.
Re-inserting the montage back into AutoCAD and checking by PhoToPlan rectification showed a 9mm average discrepancy between the montage and the control points.
This documentation project is a great example of what can be done with PhoToPlan, Photoshop, AutoCAD TheoLt and….
…a camera on a stick!…
So in 4 easy steps we got from ‘no cover’ to ‘ortho’ cover.