How to manually align many scan locations?

[nkloski]

I have an unusual request:  a client of mine had us laser scan quite a few areas, in the above-ceiling space of their facility.  Those scans did NOT connect with scans taken at floor level (for many reasons).

The client wants a single point cloud (structured / with images) file with all scan locations in one file.  They do NOT need engineering-grade accuracy for any of this, it is more of a visual-check application.

I have walls that are common between the floor level and above ceiling scans and need to "generally move them into the correct location"....is that possible in one file?

I know in Cyclone, and other tools you can create "false" planes/ceilings, etc and say that one set of scans is .25" above the other in XYZ rotation (to account for a ceiling tile)...but can ReCap do anything like that?

thanks!

[daniel_musick]

You can't do it the same way as you did in Cyclone.

But ReCap should be able to "generally move them into the correct location" if there is enough overlap between the two sets of scans.

I do not know however what you meant with "Those scans did NOT connect with scans taken at floor level (for many reasons)".

Just to be sure about the workflow (at least how i would try to do it) :

1. You start a new project. Let's call it "MergedScans".
2. You import your "FloorLevel.rcp".  (Because "structured / with images" means RCP, right?)
3. You import your "AboveCeiling.rcp" as well.  (Just Drag'nDrop those RCP files. The import shouldn't take too long, because the scans already had been imported before in their respective projects.)
4. If you now hover your cursor over the "resume registration" button in the right corner it should tell you the registration status so far.
• The number of registered scans as a combination from both projects.
• Unregistered Scans: 0
• Registration Groups: 2
5. Click on "resume registration" and give ReCap a minute or two to prepare the registration.
6. On the left hand side is your first registration group aka FloorLevel.rcp. Don't mind ReCap already looking for a match between both groups and pick a scan with good overlap to the AboveCeiling.rcp. 
7. On the right hand side is your second registration group aka AboveCeiling.rcp. Pick the corresponding scan with good overlap to the FloorLevel.rcp.

Maybe ReCap already found a match between those scans (if you really have good overlap), then just click on "merge scan" and you are done. Otherwise you will have to "show" ReCap how those scans connect to each other the usual way.

No common Targets? No worries, mate!

Just use point selection with those common walls you mentioned (flat surfaces, no edges or corners).

Sadly Group-to-Group registration is not supported in Top-View mode, so you have to try and find the best scan in each group to register them together.  

And if those 2 groups of scans do not have any overlap whatsoever, then ReCap can't put them together (in a useful way at least) as far as i know.

[nkloski]

Thanks very much for the response!

Sadly, the last thing you mentioned is what I am asking about.  These scans have absolutely NO overlap.  The only way we were allowed to scan in the above-ceiling space was in an enclosed "cart" that sealed off the less clean air in the above-ceiling space from the cleaner air in the floor-level space (hospital).

The analogy is this:  I have scan #1 in room #1.   I have scan #2 from room #2.  There are NO scans connecting them.  I know there is a 6" thick wall between rooms, and that the walls themselves are parallel (just with that 6" gap in between them). 

How do I "generally" get those rooms aligned?  If I was using some other software (mesh-based, etc) I could manually rotate and align the objects.....I just can't see how to do that with point clouds?

[daniel_musick]

ReCap maybe the wrong tool to achieve what you need to do.

It would be much easier to attach the 2 Pointclouds in AutoCAD and define the insertion points accordingly.

Or to do the same in Navisworks (Manage or Simulate) and publish a NWD with both Pointclouds inside.

Maybe it's possible to do this in ReCap using Survey Points....

[nkloski]

Thanks for the ideas!  Sadly, none of those preserve the photo bubbles....

If ReCap could arbitrarily move a Region, that would work...but I don't think it does that?

[Anonymous]

assign some survey points to the firstfloor rcp

assign some survey point to the second Attic rcp

merge the two into a single rcp, skip registeration

the align the two halfs and get survey points that are some relative, bring them each into autcad first and align as best you can by hand, it will give you an idea of the translation needed for which ever one you what to move.

I've never done this, and its a bit of work, but it "should" work, maybe

good luck

[anil_mistry]

Hi @nkloski,

I am checking back to see if one of the great posts in this thread helped you with your question. If so, please take a moment to reward the poster or posters with a Kudos and select the Accept as Solution button on those posts that helped.

Thank you and have a great day!

[nkloski]

I am researching the survey point possibility yes, and will get back on the boards once I have been able to do it/not do it either way, thanks!