Maria Lamas
You asked, Autodesk answered. Autodesk is constantly developing solutions to make it easier for designers and civil engineers to digitalize infrastructure projects and optimize design and construction workflows.
Based on feedback from customers, Autodesk is delivering an update to ReCap Pro 2023 that will save you time and streamline BIM processes.
The update offers new automatic ground classification and visualization features, upgraded import capabilities, enhancements to Cloud Viewer, and improvements to ReCap Photo.
The wait is over — let’s dive into what’s new in ReCap Pro 2023.1.
Easily classify data with automatic ground classification
ReCap Pro 2023.1 delivers the data you need in a format that is ready to use. New automatic classification capability makes it easier than ever to capture real-world assets for digital modeling.
Automatic classification flags each data point and classifies it as ground or non-ground data.
Rather than having to sift through millions of data points to determine what is part of the surface, you can import your terrestrial scan, drone data or any other point cloud data and let ReCap Pro automatically classify points.
You can also upload scans that contain classifications — such as publicly available Lidar scans — and the existing classifications will be saved in ReCap Pro.
The updated ReCap Pro 2023.1 reduces the number of software products you need to prepare data and saves hours of time spent manually classifying data points. During the classification process, you can specify options for the level of detail used in processing and classifying the data for the terrain and features.
- Less Detail yields smoother ground surfaces
- More Detail yields highly detailed ground surfaces
This means you can customize the amount of detail rendered through the import to meet the needs of the project.
Streamline design workflows with visualization classification
Automatic ground classification lets you quickly extract the ground from other data in the scan and visualize it in the ReCap Pro viewer. The new visualization classification modes make it easier for you to see the classified data by applying different colors to each classification.
From there, you can easily prepare the data for use in Civil 3D by deleting the unnecessary points or hiding or showing specific classifications. You can then export the surface as a unified project. A workflow that used to take hours and different software to complete can now be done in minutes in ReCap Pro.
With this update, Civil 3D users like you no longer have to interpret or process point cloud data from ReCap Pro. Automatic ground classification means you get only the surface data you need and you can focus on the design and what you do best.
“This new feature is key – it gives users the ability to quickly remove the noise and take the data they need directly into their design workflows,” says Ramesh Sridharan, Autodesk’s Product Manager for Reality Solutions. “Users have been asking for this feature and we’re happy to make it available.”
Save time with upgraded import capabilities
ReCap Pro 2023.1 includes updates to the importing process to save you valuable time.
The new parallel import capability uses multi-threading to import and index multiple raw scans simultaneously.
Previously, if you wanted to import multiple scans, the process would happen sequentially.
Now you can import multiple scans and index them at the same time, reducing processing time and enhancing performance — meaning you can see results much faster than before.
And there’s more: Cloud Viewer and ReCap Photo updates
The release of ReCap Pro 2023.1 also offers new and improved capabilities on Autodesk’s Cloud Viewer for Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) and BIM 360.
You can now use ReCap Pro’s scan-to-mesh capability to automatically export a mesh in Navisworks (NWC) format, offering you instantaneous direct visualization of the reality capture mesh in the cloud with the BIM 360/ACC Cloud Viewer.
In addition, you can use the Model Coordination capability in ACC to overlap information about existing conditions from the reality capture mesh on your design models in Revit or Civil 3D to efficiently design or perform design verification, and then share it with the team via a link rather than sending a hard drive.
ReCap Photo has also been enhanced in this release. ReCap Photo lets you collect photos and create a 3D point cloud.
With this update, the workflow is streamlined for a smoother user experience. You can collect photos and upload them through ReCap Photo, which processes the photos into a point cloud and mesh that is ready for use in the Cloud Viewer.
Good to know: ReCap Pro 2023.1 also includes minor bug fixes that improve processing time and enhance your user experience.
Learn More About ReCap Pro
ReCap Pro helps designers and engineers create high-quality models of real-world assets for use in design workflows. Visit ReCap Pro overview to learn more about this product and how it can optimize your design process.
We love to hear from you. Tell us what you think and any improvements you’d like to see in a future update.