Creating 2D/3D As-Built Models from Point Cloud for Huge Special-Use Buildings

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: So my name is Khaled Abdelgawad. Actually, this is my first time in Autodesk University. And I hope it will not be the last time.

Actually, I'm here to present a very interesting topic. Which is how to convert point cloud to as-built 2D and 3D models, especially for huge building. And, actually, my presentation will be two parts, two main parts.

First part, we will show you the standard workflow for how to convert point cloud files to these models. And, the second part, will show you-- specifically for the huge building, and the specific huge building-- how we are doing this exercise. So let me first introduce myself. So I'm coming from architectural background. So I'm architecture engineer.

Then, I got my master's degree in Information Technology, speciality in virtual city modeling and virtual reality. I got some experience in instruction, especially for Autodesk products. So I can claim that I have been working with Autodesk products since like 20 years right now. And I work in a company called FalconViz.

It's a spin off company from King Abdullah University for Science and Technology (KAUST). Which based in KSA. So FalconViz company, it's an aerial surveying company. And its speciality in visualization and modeling.

So we have started since three years now, in the research park inside the university. And today I have two co-speakers. Mohamed Shalaby is one of the co-founders of the company. And at the same time he is Vice President for Business Development.

And he is coming from a science background. So he is a senior research scientist inside KAUST. And I have also Yousry Salman. He is our guest.

He's one of our main client. And he's working in SBG. And he's a senior BIMM manager inside the company. And this is a huge company in the Middle East.

So 2D, 3D as-built models. How many of us know about as-built, 2D as-built? OK, great. 3D as-built? Good.

So most of us know about why we need as-built, and how we are going to develop it, or convert the point cloud to such models. So I will just skip this. Point cloud, how many of us work with point cloud files? OK, so let me give a small introduction of our point cloud file.

So something like this, actually, this is a huge building. This is one spot of this building. It's already captured by a laser scanner. So this is a point cloud file.

And all these colors actually representing different criteria. Any file of the point cloud comes with million of points. And each point comes with different information. For example, for each point we will have x- and y- and z-coordinates, and RGB, which is the color of this point.

And, by the way, you can have this, or extract this point cloud model in different ways, laser scanning, and different other scanning methodology. We will go through this while presenting. So inside FalconViz I had the opportunity to form my team inside the company. They are all coming from architecture background.

One of my exercise was to transfer my knowledge to all these guys. So one of their training material was having a map. I put it in point cloud formats map. So, for example, if you are talking about Autodesk-- So we have here Revit, 3D Studio Max, AutoCAD, ReCap, and this is main software that we already used for three years right now in different projects.

So to deal with point cloud file inside Autodesk products, you'll have to go through ReCap. If you want to open a point cloud file inside 3D Max or Revit, you have to go first through ReCap. So what ReCap does, actually, is converting different types of point cloud files to a specific type that can be handled with Autodesk products. So 3D Studio Max and AutoCAD can accept just only point cloud files that are already extracted from ReCap, which is RCP and RCS.

Revit can do the converting model behind the scene, but cannot export anything. And 3D Max cannot export anything. What is the standard workflow for converting that point to cloud file into 2D and 3D models. This is very simple.

So we start with scanning, whatever is the scanning methodology. Then, we do a process called registration or processing. We'll talk about each step individually. Then we convert this output to either 2D as-built, or 3D as-built.

And for this 3D as-built, we have two different steps. First one is geometric modeling. And second step is convert the geometry to as-built by model.

How many of us working with BIMM? Great. OK. Actually, in FalconViz, since three years, we have been working in different scanning projects, different scale, exterior scanning, interior scanning. Different scale, I mean from a scale of apartment, up to a city.

And we did different projects in different industries, culture heritage, construction, real estate, and different industries. So this is a video. We did it like one year ago. Anyone can tell me what actually we are doing here in this video? What is this?

AUDIENCE: It's laser scan data.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Sorry?

AUDIENCE: Laser scan data.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Laser scan data, OK. Is it a mesh? Or is it a video? Or is it aerial video? Is it point to cloud?

AUDIENCE: You do?

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Huh?

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]. Yeah, it's not the point cloud, no.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: This not point cloud, yes. This is great. Yes, exactly, this is not a point cloud. This is automatically extracted mesh out of a scanning data.

So how we did this is scanning. So this is not with a 3D laser scanning. Actually, we extracted this from photogrammetry. We will talk about just how to use photogrammetry techniques to extract a 3D model.

So this is a very famous place inside KSA. We call it Al-Turaif. This is the most a historical place inside the Capitol of KSA, Riyadh City. And that was the first kingdom city. So it's very, very critical to start with you guys.

So, again, this is a high definition mesh, automatically extracted from photogrammetry. Another example for how we integrate laser scanning data with photogrammetry data is this project. So we did this project like six months ago. This is King Abdullah Mosque, inside KAUST.

And we did interior scanning using 3D laser scanner. And we did exterior scanning using our drones. Because FalconViz is a very specialized company in area surveying using drones. And you can see that, for sures, interior scanning you can capture all the data, all the textures, and we call it high definition survey.

Inside our company, we have all state-of-the-art acquisition types, starting from all different types of laser scanner, and all different types of drones. We have a fleet of drones, different drones. And we have our facility and capability of customizing drones. So we are not relying on the on shelf drones, but we are building our drones. We are customizing our drones to serve our needs and to solve our clients' problems.

As you can see here, we have two different types of drones, multi-rotor and fixed wing. And each type of this drone has a specific application, and has specific limitations, and has a specific resolution I can generate out of it. So I just give a quick overview about the scanning for the standard workflow.

Right now, I want to talk about registration. What do we mean by registration? Actually, registration process, its the intermediate process between scanning and final output, or final products.

What we are doing inside this stage is simply extract a point cloud data, and make it geographically rectified, and geographically referenced, so we can easily generate 2D and 3D model out of it. So the most important thing inside registration is your target location, and your stations. So, for example, if I want to scan this room, and I have a laser scanner, I have first to have my plan, where I will put my scanner, where I will put my target points.

Why I need target points? Anybody knows? Please.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Exactly. Excellent. So this is exactly what we need, target points. So, for example, if I have this room, and I want to scan the whole room, I will put a target point on this wall, like this, a target point on this wall.

And I will have two scans. And I want to register two scans with each other to extract one point cloud file. I call it a register point cloud file. So in this target point, and this target point, I have to measure these points, and to know exact coordinates of these points.

Then I will use all these points to geographically reference my model. So it will be a geographic reference, and it will be rectified. So I can use it in any other purpose after this. So, again, it's very important to smartly select your target locations, and your station, or your laser scanning locations to make sure that you are capturing all the data, and all the details inside the room, as is very, very important.

Autodesk give us a very unique tool, which is ReCap 360. And we use it for all the registration purpose, specific for laser scanning point cloud data. What about photogrammetry? So anyone in the hall already know about photogrammetry, and how we can export this to a point cloud? OK, so I need to have more introduction about this.

Its like 10 years ago, or 12 years ago, when they come up with algorithms called structure for motion. So what we mean by structure from motion? If I have a camera, and I take different photos for the same area in different location, using this algorithm, I can extract a point cloud out of this number of images.

But you can imagine that this number of images need to be like 3,000 image for this just small room. And there should be overlap in the specific dimensions. And they should be very focused, no blurry images. It should be focused, very clear. And you can merge all these images using structures from motion algorithm.

This is very technical. I will not go into detail in this. But this algorithm convert all these images to a real point cloud. And from this point cloud, I can come up with a 3D model, or any other models, as we will see in this slide.

So there is different software in the market. One of this software called Pix4D. So Pix4D, after you get all your images-- And these images, by the way, can be captured on the ground, using your camera. Or you can use a drone.

So you can have your drone take different, like, 1,000 image for any exterior building. And then you insert all these images inside this magic tool. Then you can export a point cloud, very high density point cloud. This is how it looks inside ReCap after we did our registration.

So, until now, we are talking about scanning, registration, processing. Now we will talk about 2D as-built. So, actually, inside our company, what we call it 2D as-built-- So we have different 2D as-built.

We have surveying 2D drawings. And we have architectural surveying. And we have different drawings. So, actually, we provide all these type of drawings, include site maps, contour maps, spot elevations, and digital elevation model.

For the spot elevations, actually, we have a little challenge with Autodesk Civil 3D. So how many of us working with Civil 3D? OK, so Civil 3D, it's like AutoCAD software. But it's dedicated to surveying areas, surveying industry.

So inside this tool you can easily do all these kind of drawings, control lines, spot elevation. But we already faced some problem, and some challenges inside Civil 3D. Because he cannot handle very big data. So any point clouds that exceed 500 megabytes cannot be loaded. Any images that exceed 500 meg cannot be loaded.

So, fortunately, we have our software developer. And he come up with a very, very unique tool is using Autodesk plugin capabilities. And we already overcome all these challenges. Actually, I will ask you after this session if you want us to share this tool with you. Kindly register your email, and I will send you all these tools after this session, as is very, very important for whoever working with surveying and 2D as-built.

To give you an example of how we did this using our drones. So this is a slum area inside Jeddah City inside KSA. And its area is 790,000 meters squared. We use our drone to come up with this point cloud model. This is captured inside the ReCap.

And from this point cloud, I can extract [INAUDIBLE] photo. And this is very, very important. Because using your laser scanner, you can not extract very high resolution [INAUDIBLE] photo. But using our technique, and using our drones, and using photogrammetry methodology, you can come up with a very high density point cloud, and a high definition [INAUDIBLE] photo, as well.

From this photo-- and you can insert it inside Autodesk tools-- you can start tracing all your features that you can see inside the area. And the resolution here is up to 1.5 centimeters x, y, and z. And, again, this is photogrammetry methodology, not laser scanning methodology. After that, you can start adding all your information.

And for this specific project we have accuracy to centimeter for all directions. And after that you can extract all your sheets as per your client requirements. For example, we have one of our clients here in USA, and he has a very, very specific requirements for all annotation and all consideration for the drawings. So we learn a lot from this client, actually. And this is the type of quality of our drawings.

Right now, I'm talking about 2D, just 2D. Actually, in some projects, we think that to build your 3D first inside Revit, it's very, very easy to extract 2D out of it. And instead of starting with 2D, no, you have to start with a 3D. Then you can extract 2D very easily, like what we have in this project.

So in this project, it's inside KAUST University. They have housing units. One of these units is for the students. And by the way, this is one of the PhD student's housing unit. And the main objective of this project is to do a 3D and 2D as-built. But the main objective was just 2D as-built, like what we have here, floor plans and section view.

What we did in this project, we decided to take another route, which is starting with the 3D model inside Revit. And it's very, very easy to convert the point cloud that we have from the laser scanner to be a real 3D model, like what you see right now. And this accuracy is 3D laser accuracy, which is up to one centimeter in all directions. And from this 3D model, inside Revit, it was very easy to extract all this 2D plans, which follow and comply with the requirements of the client.

OK, now, we are going to talk about 3D as-built. Why we need 3D as-built? Anybody can answer this question? Why we need 3D as-built?

AUDIENCE: There's more and more clients want to be able to manage their own 3D data.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Sorry?

AUDIENCE: More and more clients want to be able to manage their own 3D data.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: OK, this is one reason.

AUDIENCE: Asset management.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Asset management. Wow. Great. Yes. Exactly. Sure. Thank you, sir. Yes, please?

AUDIENCE: Future expansion.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Future expansion. OK.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: OK. And, actually, it's more engaging. Just imagine that you have a 3D model with accuracy of one centimeter for your assets. It's very, very engaging. And it's very, very easy to communicate with stakeholders, and with decision makers.

Because 2D is a little bit technical, a little bit engineering drawings. But if you have a 3D model, and if you have a VR techniques and VR methodology, you can easily use the VR technology and VR methodology to communicate this was all the stakeholders. So, actually, I'm coming from architecture background. So I really love 3D modeling.

But, again, you have to have a real 3D model, a real 3D as-built model. You have to go through two stages. First one is to convert point cloud you have to have geometry. And, after this, you have to convert the geometry to a BIMM model, if the client wants this.

So some clients will need just a 3D model, geometry model, like cultural heritage documentation clients. The owner was asking for just a geometry model of the building. But in different industrial, like construction and real estate, they always asking for a BIMM model. If your client asking for a BIMM model, so you have to follow these two steps, geometry modeling and 3D as-built BIMM.

Tools. Which tool you should select? And which tool you should work with? Actually, always based on different criteria.

It always based on your project size-- is it a building? is it a city?-- on your budget, on the required accuracy, and, for sure, your human resources availability. To give you an example, so three years ago, when we started our company, we have been asked to scan a whole culture city inside Jeddah City in KSA. It's called Al-Balad.

It's a very historical place. And it's culture heritage site, registered inside UNESCO. And, actually, we held the Saudi government to list this as a UNESCO site.

So one of the most important buildings inside this area was this building, Bait Al-Batrajy, or Al-Batrajy house. Why is this is important? Because this is the first USA embassy inside KSA.

What we did in this project, actually, where we use our combined technique, laser scanning technique and photogrammetry technique. And we combine these two 3D models in one point cloud file. And using this point cloud file, we come up with this model. And this is the progress of our model for two main facades of the building.

So this was done with one engineer, for two working weeks, using our point to cloud model, using 3D Studio Max, and Photoshop for doing some texturing enhancement. And all these pictures, it's already real picture captured by laser scanner, and captured by our drones. And in this specific project, the client wants very detailed model, up to one centimeter.

So we did all the models, as you can see here, we did all these small elements, all these broken elements, even for the AC locations. The clients want everything to be documented. And this is exactly what we did based on the 3D point cloud model.

This is another project, actually, this is a huge project. I will talk about this later. But, to give you an example, in this project we have been asked to model--

AUDIENCE: A question.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Sorry. Yes, please.

AUDIENCE: In your previous slide there, when you put [COUGHING] [INAUDIBLE] intent versus accuracy. I noticed you were modeling even the sag in the balcony there. Do you do that for everything?

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: No, I did this, actually. Actually, I did this model. I did it inside 3D Studio Max. It took me two weeks, two working weeks.

AUDIENCE: What I struggle with is where you make the walls straight, when it's a little bit not straight.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Yeah, actually, I had some challenges here, yes. Usually, if you want to add more, any details.

AUDIENCE: The exercise here is-- this is a [INAUDIBLE].

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Yeah, it was very challenging for me to finish it in two weeks. And to have these real textures, because I'm coming from a different background. So like 10 years ago I did-- I was engaging with a very unique team.

And we did 3D games for computer. And to have all this experience together, I think-- I got this model and, yeah, the client was very satisfied with this accuracy, and with this type of model. Yes, please?

AUDIENCE: So did you come up with this from the ground up, or did you bring [INAUDIBLE]?

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: So I bring two different types of point cloud inside the file. One from laser scanner, and the one that extracted from photogrammetry. And I switch between each other to be able to model all the details.

AUDIENCE: Now, did you bake [INAUDIBLE]?

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Yes and I bake all the textures on the model. And, actually, I have to use, like, I think, 2,800 images that comes from laser scanner, and comes from drones, to make sure that I already capture the right texture data, and put it in the right location. And it was very, very challenging.

AUDIENCE: What was the ultimate deliverable file for the data set? What was the final? Was it 3D Studio Max?

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: So the final output that clients want, actually, 3D Studio Max file, [INAUDIBLE] or 3D Max, whatever. And some rendered shots, and we have to do some measurements, because this is like a complete architecture documentation exercise.

AUDIENCE: Thank you.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: You're welcome. We will talk about this project. And this is very interesting project. Yes, please?

AUDIENCE: Sorry, could you back up and repeat a slide. What was your required accuracies?

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: One centimeter.

AUDIENCE: One centimeter.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: So, actually, since three years we have been working in different projects, in different industries, with huge type of clients, and different clients. One of our clients is Saudi Binladin Group. Mr Yousry here to present this huge account.

And I think we did a very successful job in the last three years. So the next part of the presentation, we will talk about best practice workflow. And how to convert a point cloud model to 2D and 3D as-built. Specifically, for huge building.

So here we have a little different workflow. So we will start with scanning, then registration, then extract 360 Panorama. And I will show you why we need this in a huge building.

Number four step is geometry modeling, then convert geometry to BIMM. And, after that, is quality check. But, again, quality check should be following each of these steps. But here I am talking about the final quality check that we need to deliver this model to the client.

I will give you a case study for this project. And it was done in KSA with Binladin Group. So it's a very, very huge building. Its more than three million square foot.

And this is, by the way, phase one. This project has three phases. Phase one has this area. And for this area, we need to scan the whole area and extract a 3D BIMM model for all the installation and all the construction elements in this area. So it was four floor.

And this project, actually, was very, very challenging. And I would like to invite Yousry to give you introduction about the complexity and the challenges that we have in this project. Yousry, please.

YOUSRY SALMAN: Good morning, everybody. My name is Yousry Salman Senior BIMM Manager, SBG. When we had this project, this project, as Khaled explained, its three phases. Each phase, 300,000 square meters, or approximately 1 million square meters, 10 million feet. And it's very complicated, three different phases, three different years, three different situation.

Its a public building, so it has to be accessed to the public most of the time. So we have to construct, and execute, and interface between the two constructioneers, and installation, and inquiry, and concrete in the same time the building is operated. It's partially closed, it's not full-time closed.

So challenge we face it, it's very simple, as a contractor-- we need to match the interface between the utility. We need to segregate between temporary facilities and permanent facilities had been installed for our [INAUDIBLE] to the client. So this project, it's partially shut down, or partially closed. So how to move my construction team from area to area in a way that did not conflict with flow of public.

So we find the best way is doing the 3D scanning to document and record every single inch. And the project will be able to easily monitor things, especially when we leave a station, and move to other station. We cannot bring that inspectors and client representatives to check what we had been installed there. OK.

If we do this, again, we'll block the flow. So what shall we do is, we agreed with the client. We show him several examples until we prove to the clients 3D scanning is the right documentation. And everything will be shown there. We'll submit them.

The sphere was our as-built, or installation proofing. So we can continue doing our construction practice without stopping for a week or 10 days, just for measurement, or proofing, and all this ridiculous 2D handover exercise. OK. As I'm a BIMM guy, so I believe in how to make a successful implementation.

I search in the market who can fit my requirements. I go to the KAUST, King Abdullah University of Science and Technology. It's a research, post-graduate campus.

And we find FalconViz. And they show us their practice. And we find in them, what they are doing, something can very helpful for us.

First, the quick registration by using their developed in-house algorithm. Second, this registered sphere can give it to client. I can give you a simple example of things happen inside with us.

If we have an issue, a situation about the installation systems, we are in rush, we don't have a proper material all the time. So we have to install some material, and leave a gap till the remain material comes. When you have an issue, we have to invite several parties-- the technical guy, the material guy, the consultant rep-- to agree how to solve this situation. So you can imagine how many hours you need to spend to visit the field, to investigate this and block the execution.

Now, we push the sphere to everybody. Everybody access. We chat and come up with idea. And give instruction to the superintendent in the field what he have to do.

So this is saving swiftly. The process in the same time with a minimum of man hours executed. And, thanks to FalconViz, we are in very, very good position, now, to document and submit our 3D model and the 2D record, as the project is 2D is prerequisite.

So we have to submit every single thing in 2D. So you can imagine, this massive. Utility had been represented in the 2D as-built in the same time as the 3D BIMM model. I'll leave Khaled to talk about his workflow.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Thank you. So I still remember the first meeting we have. And they have asked me, you know, Khaled, you and your team have to model this project. I said, model all this stuff, you can imagine that with the degree of the complexity, this is like a very, very area of the ceiling when we have all these ducts and all this macaroni spaghetti pipes and all this temporary stuff and all this permanent stuff.

YOUSRY SALMAN: This is all normal [INAUDIBLE]. We don't work with easy jobs.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Yeah, yeah. So I still remember this meeting. And I couldn't sleep this day, because--

AUDIENCE: --or that you have to do.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Yeah, it's especially huge project--

AUDIENCE: --with two million square feet. You know, I back of houses. I need services. I need back of rooms. I need the roof. I need so many different areas that still got to pick up. And then once we started having that dialogue, it became better, and--

YOUSRY SALMAN: OK, but I can tell you something. This is not back of house. No, no, no, no. This is not back of house. This is the free end of the job. OK, this is a free end of the job, not back of house. If I show you the back of house, OK that's it's a NASA job. Try with NASA now to fix it. OK?

AUDIENCE: Double heights, stories?

YOUSRY SALMAN: We have that size. The Hyatt is eight feet, was 12 feet. So you can imagine how big is the utility in this picture.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: So it was like one year--

AUDIENCE: 4.5 gigs of data. Now my IT--

YOUSRY SALMAN: Surely, surely, yes. First time I joined SBG, I was thinking, OK, OK, I'm coming from [INAUDIBLE], 15 years, actually, OK. What those people doing, we give them everything. So what the hell? We have to take the model and boof.

I went to the field and see the situation. OK. It's a massive, massive layer of futility. This project, it's a very [INAUDIBLE] for the government. So it's secure by the intelligence, and policeman, and royal security.

So it's a lot of people interfere. A lot of stockholders. Every stockholders need his things. I don't mind, you don't mind, with others.

OK, so I need my things installed first. I need my things function properly. I need, I need-- you can imagine that-- so this is a free end. This is one segment of 240 segments, in the front of house, in the clear end, not in the back of house. OK?

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Yeah, it was very challenging, actually. Yeah, this is to give you--

AUDIENCE: We're just ripping stuff up, and lo and behold, oh, there's a [INAUDIBLE] frame, we can't touch it. So with this due diligence--

YOUSRY SALMAN: So, I have to stop guys because I cannot--

AUDIENCE: --you get to know what you have. You minimize your change orders, and your little RFIs during construction. Right? As-built with existing conditions--

[LAUGHTER] --so we do have old mall plans from the 1960s, from the 1970s. I mean, old blueprints from the 1930s is what I saw one of our projects. And those aren't really accurate, because, over time, people will just build stuff without even getting a permit. Everybody knows that. People just build stuff without getting permits. So instead of me having two guys go out there and pulling tape--

YOUSRY SALMAN: OK, no problem, I will raise my level, but-- I'm sorry for this. So--

AUDIENCE: This took faster than me getting two of my drafters, or two engineers out in the field and just pulling tape. It was more accurate, the mall is--

YOUSRY SALMAN: Can we take this off?

AUDIENCE: --much better. And, you know, the results were phenomenal.

YOUSRY SALMAN: OK so that's why I don't rely on Autodesk 100%. You have to bring your own stuff with you. OK, so--

AUDIENCE: I had my designers. I have interior designers that were actually able to use the model. So they used that as a design tool in order for them to see how would it look with this type finish, how would it look for that. So the production architects were using it to actually build their construction documentation.

My interior designers were using it to design what's going to be on the floor. What type of pavers they're going use, what type of wall finishes, how about that ceiling soffit. I mean, how to treat all that information. There was benefits, a lot of benefits in having a 3D scan model for accuracy.

YOUSRY SALMAN: Do you want me to continue like this, or?

AUDIENCE: Back then we just had to keep making [INAUDIBLE]--

YOUSRY SALMAN: --so you wanna still hear me, eh?

AUDIENCE: --back and forth, how did that look--

YOUSRY SALMAN: --OK, so, this is to give you just overview about--

AUDIENCE: --minimize website visits you know, with this 3D laser scan. And if the model looked a little funny, like didn't work out we--

YOUSRY SALMAN: I think this is good, yeah. So this is to give you overview of our how many systems and how many trade we have to model. And this such a challenging project. This is to give you-- this is a final model. Scopes I We'll have for just one floor plan--

AUDIENCE: --ask them to scan--

YOUSRY SALMAN: --with old installations, old ducts and old fittings for the AC system and all the piping system in the ceiling.

AUDIENCE: --right? And you need to know the power and data of all these floor box locations. I mean, this little strip here. I mean I wanted that as-built--

YOUSRY SALMAN: --so, we have to start with scanning--

AUDIENCE: --we needed field verification--

YOUSRY SALMAN: --I cannot continue, actually--

AUDIENCE: -you know, for every little thing. Because I needed to know services--

YOUSRY SALMAN: So can we take this off off, please?

AUDIENCE: Yeah, just turn the microphone off.

[SIDE CONVERSATION]

AUDIENCE: --and using the scanning in the [INAUDIBLE]. So here you need the [INAUDIBLE] to really guide this [INAUDIBLE]. It's easy for the scanner to [INAUDIBLE]--

YOUSRY SALMAN: Yes, yes.

AUDIENCE: I'm not talking loudly because-- So the scanner can easily segregate between the 2D target point [INAUDIBLE]. So if you are scanning in massive, we have 200 station. And looks like 3,000 plus targets. So if you have a massive [INAUDIBLE] for first time, the scanner can realize, automatically, the station. So you do it once, and [INAUDIBLE]

YOUSRY SALMAN: Yes.

AUDIENCE: Target says [INAUDIBLE] works. So if you lost it, but you need to record the 2D or [INAUDIBLE] the information about each target. Those who are work in the fields with the object [INAUDIBLE] public see the stuff and scratch it out. And don't know what it is, or play with it, or miss it. So don't use expensive targets. Ever. Just pay for one little sheet you can burn 1,000 and use a sequential number. Don't use targets like that. Use numbers, because you can see in the registration that a target was numbered. [INAUDIBLE] if you need to go back, you can bring the same target t the same location if you need to make another--

YOUSRY SALMAN: Yes So here is all the number.

AUDIENCE: This is that information [INAUDIBLE].

YOUSRY SALMAN: Yeah, so this is the name of the point and this is the coordinate of each point.

AUDIENCE: --station, stationing. You can use it once, and that's it. So scanner will keep remembering all this information.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: So based on that, actually, a very critical stage, and very important stage in huge building like this, when we have different and many stakeholders, you need to communicate with every day. So we use this feature inside Cyclone which called extracting through view panorama. And this is for each area. So for each area, I will have a 360 panorama. When I can have some dimensions, when I can extract coordinates for a specific point to check the accuracy of the model, or to take a snapshot of what I'm trying to do here, and give it to all the stakeholders. Giving to the site team, giving to the model team, whatever.

AUDIENCE: How do you convince the [INAUDIBLE] every snap to give us hard time.

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Exactly.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] of this will give you the [INAUDIBLE] measurement

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Yes.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE] just give us a notice and we fix it, but, because we have to we don't trust our tools, you have to get these tools. You have to go outside. It's just breaking setup of every field and inspection [INAUDIBLE].

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Yes, and this is very important output. And very important product for operation, and for building operational purpose. So just imagine after we cover all this ceiling with all false ceiling, and the maintenance team will need to know where is this specific pipe or where is this specific duct. They can relate to this model for asset management for maintenance. And this is very, very important.

And it helped. It helped the whole team, actually, in this project. Yeah? Geometry modeling. And this is very important, because in such great projects, and such huge building, I cannot go directly to BIMM modeling.

I have to go, first, to geometry modeling. Geometry modeling can be done in different tools. We did this evaluation before we start. So we had to work with Revit, because the final product should be in Revit. So this is one of the project limitation, and it should be BIMM model.

So we can rely just on the Revit with ReCap to model, but, again, it will take a huge time. It will take very, very, like, very man hours. Economically, we cannot go to this solution in this specific project. So that's why we need to have a third party plug-in or third party software that can automatically detect some geometry out of this 3D model. Or out of this point cloud files.

That's why we have to deal with Edgewise software. And this is very, very useful software. It's a very, very simple. You import the point cloud file. You do some algorithms inside, automatic algorithms.

You export different automatically generated models. But, again, it would be BIMM models, but it will not follow the same libraries that we have inside our project template. So we take decisions that we are using Edgewise software as a geometry modeling tool. And, here, this is a screenshot of how we extract ducts. And, actually, its a semi automatic way.

So you have to select, or mark, the cross-section of the duct. And you click extract, and you will get all the duct modeled automatically. So we actually did a comparison between Cyclone and Edgewise. And Cyclone, it's almost the same, but the only problem in Cyclone is that you cannot convert directly to Revit. This is very, very important.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: Yes and actually inside each-- yes, please.

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: How to compare?

AUDIENCE: [INAUDIBLE]

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: OK, because, point, since this is AutoCAD plug-in, so you can have it inside AutoCAD. So we did a very small test for one area. And let me get back to the evaluation metrics. So, for example, in pipes automatic detection, we found Edgewise is much, much better.

It's not exist in Revit with ReCap. I cannot automatically detect pipes. For PointSense, it's OK, but it's a time consuming process. For duct extraction, in PointSense no modeling feature for ducts and conduits. I cannot do this inside PointSense.

But for Edgewise, I can have it, but it's a semi-automatic process. For Revit and ReCap, I cannot do automatic extraction, or even semi-automatic extraction. I have to do it manually. And it's very, very time consuming for a huge building, and a huge project like what we have.

For cable routing, and this is very, very challenging, because it's not exist in PointSense. Not exist in Edgewise. It exists here, I can model the cable routing, but not automatically way. But I can still model it.

So what we have done in cable routing, we already contacted with Edgewise guys. And they said, OK, you know, we don't have, right now, a tool that can automatically generate cable routing, or cable ducts. But you can still use duct automatic detection process to automatically detect cable geometry.

And then you can insert it inside Revit as a duct. And you can use it as a guide inside Revit. And model it again, with your cable routing families.

So this is very, very challenging point. And we suffer a lot from this. And I hope, in the future, they will have this implemented in any scan-to-BIMM software. That we can automatically generate, and automatically detect all electricity installation, like cable routing and cable duct. Yes? OK.

So, just to give you some examples, I will-- so all this presentation slides will be shared with you. This to give you an overview about the screenshot, how we convert a point cloud, and automatically detect all the pipes and installations. And this is the final model. This is the final model inside Revit for one of these areas.

Then we convert geometry to BIMM. Basically, we insert all the extracted data from Edgewise inside Revit. And we start to have our tweaks. And some elements will go inside Revit need to be check. And need to be remodeled again.

But, at the end of the day, we save some time. We save human resources time. This is to give you an example. This is inserted model that comes from Edgewise.

And you can see is that we will start check all the models. And, at some point, we have to remodel some elements again. And we have to do this in two dimensions in plain view. And, as you will see, in the section and elevation view. And this is very important to make sure that you align all work inside Revit.

AUDIENCE: Is there [INAUDIBLE]?

KHALED ABDELGAWAD: No, actually. Once I insert it inside of Revit, it's already oriented well. It's already in the same exact location. And I can start working on it right now. So it's already coordinated.

Quality check, again. Revit and Navisworks, actually, is two type of software. Has a very, very unique clash report and clash detections. So we use Edgewise.

First, we have to check the models that comes out from Edgewise. So here is a checklist that we already developed for the team to make sure that every model comes from Edgewise follow all these checkpoints. For Revit, we have another checklist. And we use Revit interference check facility to make sure that every type of an installation is already OK. No clash detection.

And we combine all these files into one file, Revit file, and insert it inside Naviswork to do our final quality check. This is a screen shot of interference report that comes out from Revit. This is a screen shot that comes out from Naviswork.

Conclusion-- actually, I would like to thank everyone who attend this session. It's my honor, and it's my pleasure have you all here in my first Autodesk University. Thank you so much.

Here is my business card if you want anything, please. Thank you so much. Thank you.

[APPLAUSE]