Laser Scanning
Major facilities for which 3D CAD files and as-built documents do not exist, or are incomplete, are often laser-scanned to help optimize future maintenance and support upgrades. The VRcontext Laser Scanning module (VRLS) directly consolidates multiple scans and allows visualization of the result. This visualization works exactly as the visualization of CAD models works, integrating the results of laser-scanning data sets in the virtual 3D environment of Walkinside.
The consolidation of extremely large point-cloud data sets generated from many scans is a challenge for users of laser scanners who are working on very complex sites. However, laser scanner manufacturers have developed techniques for merging individual scans into 3D visual representations that can be viewed photo-realistically. The level of accuracy of the visualization is hardware-dependent, and the completeness of the representation depends upon the number and the quality of the scanning stations.
Walkinside integrates these photo-realistic images from the various scanners and merges them into the 3D virtual model created from conversion of the CAD files.
VRLS can pre-process projects with up to 100-billion raw points (before filtering). The result is an optimized data set that the user can navigate in real time. VRLS technology makes the model recognizable from any point of view and at any moment. Current state-of-the-art computers allow model viewing with high quality and fluent navigation.
VRLS provides access to useful functionalities and tools through the point cloud just as with CAD models. This includes collision detection, first- and third-person mode walk-throughs in the model, and tagging references.
|
