Recap Coordinate system shift/scale issue

[Jay.Meszar]

Hello,

I am experiencing issues with bringing in an LAS file to Recap and saving the RCP.  The import works fine, saving works fine, but when it is imported into anything else (Civil 3D or Infraworks), the coordinate system shifts.  I know this because I brought the LAS file into Civil 3D with little effort and created a surface.  Everything looks great.  I then (as a check) imported a pts file that was exported from Recap and the two are WAY off.  So, I brought the rcp file into Infraworks and also brought the surface into Infraworks.  The surface is good (checked rough LAT/LONG against google earth) but the point cloud is roughly in the right location but seems to be scaled 3 to 4 times the surface.  You can see in the attached image that one point cloud is almost the same size as the surface that was created from 4 point clouds....any help you can provide would be great.

[LyleHardin]

For what it's worth, the scale factor of 0.99999803 worked pretty good for me.

I imported a .las file generated by PIx4D (drone survey) directly into Civil 3D. Perfect fit with the ground control points and GPS survey data.

I used that same .las file and processed it with ReCap into a .rcp file.

The ReCap file came into Civil 3D about 2.4 ft East of where it should be. (The coords are Eastern Missouri, US Ft, so around 1milllion, 250k).

I picked on the .rcp point cloud and entered 0.99999803 for the scale factor. Now the .rcp is within 0.4" of the .las file.

Perhaps Missouri has a different scale factor, because 0.99999800 fits perfectly.

I agree that Autodesk should somehow make import units and working units an option in ReCap. This could cause serious problems for people who don't notice these subtle differences.

[ewbFJ62P]

I import recap clouds to civil 3D. I believe the issue is decimal places. It seems that when I bring the point cloud in to civil 3D it is scaled by 3.2808. The issue is that when you limit the conversion to four decimal places the result is not precise. The suggestion would be to allow feet as an option in recap. The work around sould be a modification to civil 3D to apply something like 16-25 decimal places.

[gsismanACAD]

Since I'm weighing in later than other...I am currently running RECAP 360 Pro v4.0.0.28

I have not had to scale anything, but it took me all afternoon to figure it out. I agree that the export option in Recap should allow exporting in Feet (Intnl or Survey)

All our field work is done in MDSPC NAD83 coordinate system However we bring it into Civil with no Projection on the file and Units set to "UNITLESS"

To match pointcloud to ground run topo:

I opened a new drawing in Civil 3D changed the setting for Projection to be NAD83 Maryland State Plane Zone,  Meters and changed the UNITS under the units setting/Command line to be METERS. Then attached RECAP file.Saved that drawing

Opened my Ground run topo drawing. Changed the drawing setting under toolspace to NAD83 Maryland State Plane Zone, US Foot and set UNITS to "FEET"

This then will allow a correct transformation on the fly when I overlay the Cloud DWG XREF with the Ground Run Topo (Having all my survey figures and symbols in it.

[maalox04]

This is still a problem in 2017 when using a Recap file in Navisworks!   Both are Autodesk products.   What's the "workaround" for getting the cooridnates to be the same in both Recap and Navisworks??

[mike.quella]

I have also experienced scaling issues when exporting a scan as a .pts file from Trimble Realworks and putting it into ReCap Pro.   The .rcs file that was then exported from ReCap went in a Revit model and retained the same origin point, but stretched everything out as it got further from the origin point. It took a bit to figure out what was going on because at first glance everything looked good.

I ended up having to import using a different file type and then it retained all the correct scaling.

[ksmith5]

It's amazing to me that we've had this many people comment on this thread for a period of over 4 years, and this is still an issue.  Unfortunately, our company has had to pay for very expensive (Bentley based) software because this program does not work. The thing that kills me is that this program is so much more intuitive, if it only worked.  

Has anyone every used the "Notes" function to export points?  Seems like it would be very helpful for looking at grading in a specific area (point clouds are too cumbersome).  I'm getting a problem that every time I try to export my "Notes" file, the coordinates come in waaaaaay off.  On the screen when hovering, they are correct (except being listed as meters).  Example:  I'll export a "note" of a point that is at coordinates (6152251.487, 190151.593, 233.037), which correlates to (easting, northing, elevation).  The output in the csv file is (11.511, -36.458, -10.155).  

Any ideas?  I would love to go through this point cloud and export 100 design points I need to use for grading purposes. 

[ryan.frenz]

We will look into the note export issue.  What version of ReCap are you using?  You can find the full build number in the About box from the main menu.

One long workaround would be to try exporting the area you want to Unified RCS.  Then open that and set down your notes.  That should pull together your UCS and/or grid coordinates and likely fix the issue.

Will report back if we can confirm.

-Ryan

[maalox04]

We know of the workaround, but it is a long workaround with the time it takes to unify the RCS. Lots of times we have overnight turnarounds so this doesn't work.

[ksmith5]

Hi Ryan, 

Thanks for the response.  I'm using 2017 Autodesk ReCap 360, version 3.0.0.52.

-Kevin

[ryan.frenz]

It looks like the note export issue was fixed about a year ago, just in time for the 3.1 release in October.  Any version equal or newer to that should work as you expect (latest release is 4.2.1).

-Ryan

[ksmith5]

Thanks Ryan.  I'll install the latest and see how it goes.