Update Origin - how does it work?

[owen66]

DISCLAIMER!

I'm coming from an AutoCAD background and getting my feet wet with scanning, point clouds, ReCap and Revit, so you might need to do a little interpreting in case I get terms or concepts wrong. I have no idea what I'm doing!

That said, when I update the origin in ReCap, and I'm setting the X axis, I get the blue 2D disc that appears in some particular orientation that varies with every point I click. Why the variation? What informs that blue disc?

How I was assuming this function was working was that you pick an origin point 0,0,0. From there you verify or change the Z direction (fine in my case) then set your X axis by clicking some point and the line that connects the origin point you picked and the X axis point you picked would be the line of the X axis (disregarding any Z dimension since you've already set that and it should be removed from the equation).

I don't understand how I'm supposed to be selecting points, or why, when I select a point that seems to be a very obvious line between that point and the new origin point I chose is NOT where the X axis points.

[florian.scheidler]

You update the origin by:

1. Select the desired origin or enter the coordinates/the rotation to move the origin by those values from the current origin.

2. Press Ctrl and select the plane on which the z-axis should be perpendicular.

3. Then press shift and select the plane on which the x-axis should be perpendicular.

4. If you want you can flip the direction of the axis by pressing the alt key.

5. Press enter to update the origin

[owen66]

Seems I can't edit my original post??

Oh well. Here's a Screencast of what I'm trying to do or understand.

[owen66]

So, not only can I not edit a reply, but if I set my screencast access to "anyone with the link" and then post that link in the URL field of a Forum post titled "post screencast link", it also doesn't show up.

Now I've made it "available to everyone" which probably allows spiders to crawl it, and it's been "processing" that permission change for 5 minutes now...

here's the link. GOOD LUCK EVERYBODY ELSE!

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/community/screencast/bfe2f0ad-7503-4d9e-9a33-4d5fae3d855d

[florian.scheidler · Accepted solution]

You are misunderstanding how the function works. 

You pick a plane which is perpendicular to your desired x-axis. Maybe this video helps:

https://knowledge.autodesk.com/support/recap/getting-started/caas/screencast/Main/Details/28d3c105-b...

So in your case i would select the wall of the tower underneath the roof. 

But the idea to align the x-axis by picking a second point is interesting and maybe something for the Recap idea station:

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/recap-ideas/idb-p/170

[owen66]

Ah, I see - I was missing how you pick a plane in a point cloud lol. So ReCap kind of infers a plane on its own. Also, I think my data is kinda crappy - it's a sample dataset from NearMap that I think is built using photogrammetry rather than a laser scanner.

Thanks for the tip.