topic Re: Can I export to IFC? in ReCap Forum

Can I export to IFC?

Weblius — Wed, 14 Aug 2024 19:09:35 GMT

Hi everyone

Is there some way in ReCap to export the point cloud in IFC?

If not, what would be the best way to do such an operation after processing the point cloud.

Re: Can I export to IFC?

mike_deacon2KEDC — Fri, 16 Aug 2024 10:41:08 GMT

Hi @Weblius - There is no export to IFC within ReCap - As far as I know IFC does not support point cloud information.
What you'll need to do as a first step is convert the point cloud into a model format.
You could use ReCap Scan to Mesh service to convert the point cloud into an OBJ. This can then be converted with some steps to an IFC via Revit: Solved: obj file to revit - Autodesk Community - Revit Products - but this may not be a good option for a large point cloud.

Out of interest - What is the wider workflow, where are you looking to take the IFC file, and what are you going to do with it once it's there? There may be a different way of solving the problem other than using IFC.

Re: Can I export to IFC?

Weblius — Sat, 24 Aug 2024 17:30:05 GMT

I use the point cloud in the design, as a reference. The problem is that other programs do not support point cloud file formats, but support for example ifc and/or 3d dwg.

In many programs, it is also often the case that processing point clouds is difficult/inconvenient, even though they support point cloud file formats.

Scan to mesh can be the solution I'm looking for, but can it be done locally, on my own computer? I am asking this because there would be a lot of such models and it would be expensive for me. So, does Autodesk have a program with which you could do this procedure for free, on your own computer, not as a cloud service?

Re: Can I export to IFC?

mike_deacon2KEDC — Tue, 27 Aug 2024 12:30:17 GMT

That makes sense, thank you for the extra information.

To answer your question, a desktop scan to mesh feature is currently in development (PointFuse technology integration) that will become part of the Recap Pro Desktop product. In the meantime, the cloud services are available so you could test the wider workflow on just a few point clouds if required.

What type of features are you modelling from the point cloud? Recap Cloud viewer also has some polyline feature and point feature extraction tools that work well for civils projects (road/rail/etc) - I mention it as the cloud viewer is very efficient at handling point clouds so is a good option for quick extraction of linear + point features.