Point Clouds in BIM Compare

Overview

Point clouds in BIM Compare address challenges when you need a high degree of reality data precision when comparing design intent with work-in-place in the field. Laser scanning can deliver a higher degree of accuracy than photogrammetry when it comes to BIM overlay views.

Permissions

How to get point clouds into OpenSpace

To upload point cloud data OpenSpace BIM+, go to Project Settings, select the BIM+ tab, and click the Add Files dropdown.

Requirements before uploading:

1. Our supported file formats for point cloud data are .rcp and .rcs. 
2. The .rcp file is required by our viewer to provide coordinate information.
3. If you’re also uploading a model to the project, the model and point cloud need to be aligned to the same coordinate system prior to uploading to OpenSpace. (If not, you can view them in separate coordinate spaces in our viewer, but they will not be aligned to one another.)
4. If you’re uploading point cloud data via Autodesk Import, you can select the .rcp and our system will automatically pull in associated .rcs files.
5. If you’re uploading point cloud data via local upload, then you need to manually select the .rcp and its associated .rcs files for upload. Note: Our system uses file name matching to link .rcs files to their parent .rcp. That means if you manually rename the .rcs file  after it has been exported with its .rcp from the source software (such as ReCap), uploading will result in a linking error.

Importing point cloud data from Autodesk by selecting the .rcp:

Uploading point cloud data from your local drive using multi-select:

How to use point clouds in BIM Compare

In order to view point cloud data in BIM Compare, a Site Admin or Org Admin must first upload a point cloud file in .rcs format via either 1) local upload from their device, or 2) via Autodesk model import (see section above for details).

As outlined in the above section, the .rcp is required by our viewer to provide coordinate information. If also uploading a model to the project, the model and point cloud need to be aligned to the same coordinate system prior to uploading to OpenSpace. If the .rcp is not uploaded, then the .rcs data will not be located in the appropriate place relative to the BIM. In the model tree, the name of the .rcp file(s) will display to represent all .rcs files associated with that .rcp:

If you have uploaded both point cloud data and BIM(s) to OpenSpace, and/or multiple .rcp groups, they will all load into the viewer by default when any user opens BIM Compare (unless this behavior has been overridden in Project Settings by associating only specific models to specific sheets). To view the point cloud and BIM together in BIM Compare, make sure all required files are visible in the upper right corner. Any user can create a Saved View to easily return to this BIM Compare state later:

FAQs

Is there a file size limit for a point cloud data upload?

• Yes, our file size limit is 15 GB for any individual .rcs file. 
• If multiple .rcs files are associated with an .rcp file, and all are selected for upload, the sum total of .rcs files can be any size, as long as each individual file is under 15 GB.
• Contact your OpenSpace representative if you’d like to submit a request to increase this limit.

Do you support any file types other than .rcp or .rcs?

No. Point cloud data in other formats, such as .e57 or different proprietary formats, can usually be exported in .rcp and .rcs format from other point cloud software. 

Can I upload a point cloud to OpenSpace by uploading a BIM file, such as an .nwd, that has an embedded point cloud?

No - though if that point cloud has been made into a mesh before being imported into the other BIM software, the mesh will be able to be viewed in OpenSpace. For point cloud data specifically, the process that a BIM file undergoes to be viewable in our viewer does not support translating point clouds embedded within a BIM file. To view point clouds in OpenSpace BIM+, you must follow the steps outlined in this Support article.

If you have any additional questions please reach out to the OpenSpace Support team at support@openspace.ai.