Laser scanning is a technique that can quickly and accurately capture existing structures and objects with a high level of detail. It works by sending out laser beams and measuring the distance, horizontal and vertical angles of reflected beams to calculate XYZ coordinates of up to 1 million points per second. Multiple scans may be required to fully capture the object or structure, and they are then registered into a single point cloud. This scan data can be used to build a Building Information Model (BIM) in Autodesk Revit, with the scan-to-BIM process involving scanning the site, cleaning up the point cloud data, and constructing a model from the point cloud.

1. Scan-to-BIM
How it is done

2. •
Laser scanning is a technique used to quickly, accurately and reliably capture every existing situation or object with a high level of detail.
•
It is a very useful addition to existing landsurveying equipment such as total stations.
•
Laserscanning is being used in many different industries for many different purposes. Just a few examples:
•
Proces industry (mainly for piping)
•
Shipsbuilding and –repair (hull survey for hydrodynamic models)
•
Bulk storage (quantity surveying)
•
Civil works (highway clearances, profiles etc.)
•
Building industry (renovation and conversions)
What is laser scanning?

3. How a laser scanner works?
1. The scanner sends out a laser beam

4. How a laser scanner works?
2. The laser beam is reflected by the object, the distance is determined.

5. How a laser scanner works?
3. Horizontal and vertical angles are measured as well.

6. How a laser scanner works?
4. Angles and distances are combined. XYZ-coordinates are calculated.

7. How a laser scanner works?
5. Proceeding in equal steps the scanner measures up to 1 million points per second.

8. How a laser scanner works?
6. By means of the intensity value the 3D appearance of the point cloud is being enhanced.

9. How a laser scanner works?
7. Using an internal or external camera photo-realistic coloring optionally can be added.

10. How a laser scanner works?
8. Usually many instrument set-ups are required to completely capture the situation or object.

11. How a laser scanner works?
9. Using targets or overlap scans can be registered into a single point cloud afterwards.

12. How does a scan-to- BIM project look like?
Just three simple steps!

13. •
Coenradie takes care of scanning:
•
Outside building
•
Inside building
•
Both outside and inside
•
With or without photo-realistic coloring
Step 1

14. •
Coenradie creates a useful point cloud:
•
Noise removed
•
Accurately registered
•
Suitable for Autodesk Recap + Revit
Step 2

15. •
In Revit a model is built from the point cloud:
•
Sometimes by Coenradie’s architectural partner
•
Often by our client or the projects architect.
Step 3

16. •
An accurate and reliable BIM-model of the existing situation.
Final result