This presentation is all about how to eat an Elephant. In this case the elephant is extracting useful Revit models quickly and easily from pointclouds using Recap. Covering beginner level to advanced techniques you will be able to understand the how, why, where and who of creating a new digital reality and answer the question… “Can point clouds eliminate 2d drawings?”

The Federal Reserve Board is renovating, preserving, and expanding a pair of large, adjacent historic buildings at the same time. The joint venture FORTUS assembled a 200-person, 23-consultant design team for this project. The team went on to develop 40+ Revit models totaling more than 15 GB with an additional 4,295 scans of point cloud data. To facilitate such a large endeavor, FORTUS employs common best practices for Revit and BIM 360 software. In this class, we’ll discuss the best practices that held up, expose the ones that struggled, and reveal newly discovered ones. The best practices we’ll cover focus on project setup, collaboration and communication standards, division of models and teams, alternate design options, point clouds, building orientation, BIM 360 Model Coordination, and QA\QC tools.

Learn more about productivity-increasing functions and methods for sketches, parts, assemblies, drawings, calculations, point clouds, and the reuse of 2D data.

Step into the future of design with our class on using point clouds to create segmented meshes, transforming them into powerful design elements that can be extracted using only the data you need. Leave behind the tedious method of 2D planning, and begin using more-immersive and clear 3D factory images, taking all the guesswork out of layout design. Imagine scanning facility backgrounds and production equipment without existing models, and effortlessly converting those scans into usable layout and design elements. Welcome to the world of ReCap 2026 software—where your scans become fully used assets. This revolutionary tool enables you to transform large point clouds into local segmented meshes, extracting only the design elements you need. With ReCap 2026 as your guide, you'll learn to how to conduct quick design reviews capturing existing conditions, create factory layouts, or transform your meshes in layout assets. Use these meshes to get quick clash-able results on your layout proposals.

On this panel, you'll meet six partners who are building custom solutions for design and construction customers. Learn about their innovative solutions and see how they might streamline your reality data workflows. we'll discuss managing and sharing point-cloud data and getting to 3D and 2D documentation more efficiently, new ways of capturing reality data, and more. Join us for this partner showcase!

In this class, the speaker will share the Fusion 360 free-form modeling tips and tricks that were used to model the Ironman Suit and the Ironman Armor: Mark XLIV—HulkBuster. The process of making these suits was presented at Autodesk University 2017 and 2018. These two models were also posted on the Fusion 360 Gallery: (https://gallery.autodesk.com/projects/110798/ironman-suit), and (https://gallery.autodesk.com/projects/120141/iron-man-armor-mark-xliv—-hulkbuster)

Project Case Study where deployed innovation and implementation of three different technologies 1) BIM 360 Plan 2) Revit/C3D Design Models 3) UAV/Drone image capture and point cloud generation provided the ability to isolate and recognize potential schedule risk impacts/conflicts between submitted weekly work plans and actual job progress in a real-time manner. (One page summary brief available upon request for additional detail)

This class will explore the implementation of an efficient workflow for 3D scanning of large plants. From laser scanning at the field until a point cloud, which can be combined with a 2D layout and 3D models, our scan projects count regularly more than 100 scans. These scans are then combined in Navisworks software with a 3D model of a new line generated at our company. During the construction we scan the site to check if the design corresponds with the engineering to predict mistakes. This workflow has been improved on a lot since the start, and this is what we want to teach in this class. This session features ReCap, Inventor Professional, and Navisworks Manage.

Reality Capture has been in the industry since the late 1990’s where it has evolved from it’s tripod-based roots into encompassing many different forms of data capture of today. One could easily make an argument that Reality Capture has also grown from a handful of sensors to now a wide variety of processes. Regardless of where the data comes from, there has been one consistent and constant challenge that professionals still face. What to do with the volumes of data Reality Capture creates and how to make meaningful deliverables. This session will look at a brief history of Reality Capture as well as provide insight on how Leica CloudWorx continues to provide powerful tools for converting massive point cloud data into meaningful 3D models, 2D CAD drawings, and topographic deliverables. Furthermore, many tools in Leica CloudWorx serve as enhancements to the standard CAD tools that are in the various Autodesk suite of software packages.

New reality capture and reverse engineering techniques enable us to create precise and parametric 3D digital models of physical objects. In this class, you will learn the benefits of combining reality capture and reverse engineering technologies for the purpose of successfully digitizing existing parts and objects. This killer combination can be used in many stages of design and refactoring of parts, molds, and other artifacts. We will demonstrate the intriguing steps of transforming the data from a point cloud to a smart 3D parametric model that can be then further analyzed, used for simulation, or repurposed. You will learn about the types of data that are generally used and why and how the transforms impact the product.

Point cloud is now a technology well known in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) industry, including scanning and photogrammetry. With point clouds, you can save a lot of time in various use cases like digital twins, as-build comparing, or retro-engineering. Collecting data from the reality to virtual environment is always time consuming and painful. Discover in a smooth workflow how to merge point clouds on the Autodesk Forge platform with intelligent models to improve collaboration and save time.

In this session, we’ll explore Entwine Point Tiles (40+ trillion points), and how to consume them in mere minutes inside of Civil 3D software as a surface (via point cloud). As large point cloud data sets become ubiquitous in the architecture, engineering, and construction (AEC) community, open-source libraries and software dedicated to manipulating these data sets are valuable tools for civil engineers and those in the geospatial community. Entwine is a free online cloud repository that anyone can access, and with this technical instruction, you can go from zero (knowledge) to office hero in minutes!

This class will show how we used the AutoCAD OEM CAD platform to create a mobile application that will enable users to process point clouds and create precise, detailed, and fully textured 3D models in the field. The discussion will explore how to exploit a Windows Surface Pro tablet's touch-based inputs through the use of a stylus and finger gestures. In particular, we will also demonstrate how to map traditional AutoCAD software commands onto the stylus controls. Due to a lack of real estate on tablet devices, creating an uncluttered, simple user interface is paramount to creating a successful commercial tablet application. Using the AutoCAD OEM platform, we will show how to reduce the amount of exposed functionality thus exposing only a few essential commands to the user via a clean, uncluttered interface. Lastly, we will demonstrate how to package the application with only the relevant menus, icons, and splash screens to create a finished commercial application that has a small install footprint suitable for a tablet platform.

Registration and georeferencing are the most important aspects of a successful laser scanning project. No project enables you to capture the entire scope of work from a single vantage point; therefore, registration is one of the most critical steps in providing an accurate as-built to the client. There are several methods for capturing and registering point cloud data. This class performs a side-by-side registration comparison between ReCap Pro software and Leica Cyclone, one of the stronger point cloud processing software systems on the market. We will use the same data set to perform the cloud-to-cloud (C2C) registration. To make the comparison even more interesting, we will compare the final C2C registrations to target registration performed solely in Leica Cyclone. We will objectively present advantages and disadvantages of both tools so that the users can make educated decisions when it is time to choose the right tools for their jobs.

InfraWorks is one of the easiest and fastest tools to use when showing a design concept or urban planning. In this class, we go over how you can put together your site with existing data from, for example, Google Earth™ with your own data from AutoCAD® Civil 3D® software and using Leica HDS point cloud scans in the city model. We go over all the new user interface ribbons, show how to speed the design process, and share proposed infrastructure models to give designers a head start. Learn how to communicate visually rich infrastructure proposals to facilitate faster decision making and communicate design intent to stakeholders more effectively. Learn to create models of the existing natural and built environment quickly and easily so you can depict the local environment more realistically. Manage infrastructure proposals better by creating and managing multiple alternatives in a single model. See how to overlay GIS data by creating 3D thematic maps to help make more informed decisions, and create and import point cloud scans for stronger reality-captured models.

The technology of laser scanning and point clouds, combined with ReCap™ software and Factory Design Suite, offers many exciting options to drive reduction of issues in the field during installation and save time. It can change the way you work. This class demonstrates the uses and basic workflows for reality capture using real-world examples.

Collisions are expensive in manufacturing projects. Your best insurance is to use the best available reference data to find and fix collisions during the design phase or, better yet, prevent them altogether! This class covers the basics of using point clouds and data formatted in Revit®-based softeware with Factory Design Suite projects. You learn workflows for importing and manipulating data and get experience using real-world, industry-specific scenarios.

Have you ever taken a photo of something critical during a site visit only to forget where it was or find it lacking context when reviewing it later? The increasing accessibility of advanced reality capture devices—such as photogrammetry and SLAM LiDAR technology—offers an unprecedented opportunity for AECO professionals to accurately capture detailed and extensive site details. Integrating these technologies into your workflows can dramatically enhance documentation at various construction stages, improve coordination among stakeholders, and provide timely and transparent as-built information. This case study will demonstrate how to effectively use these advanced technologies (SLAM point clouds and 3D gaussian splatting) to enrich civil Infrastructure Management with Autodesk tools like Civil 3D, ReCap, InfraWorks, Revit, and Autodesk Construction Cloud.

Poised to have an economic impact of between $80 and $90 billion (according to a CNN Money article), these unmanned aircraft systems (UAS) will become a fast-developing part of our architecture, engineering, and construction industry. First, we will go over the potential uses for different disciplines. We will also discuss what the current and developing FAA or local guidelines, laws, and/or jurisdictions are for commercial use. Get tips regarding how to maneuver around your target—whether it is a site, building, or group of objects—for the most effective and safest results. Safety should always be top priority. We will go over the different types of drones, capabilities, and accessories, and we'll talk about camera resolutions. Then we will use ReCap software to generate an object, building, or surface point cloud. From there we will edit our cloud before exporting out for use in AutoCAD software, AutoCAD Civil 3D software (tips regarding how to locate in real-world coordinates), Revit software, Navisworks project review software, or even 3ds Max software.

Survey data is an important part of every infrastructure project. From field collection and remote sensing to establish the project’s existing-conditions base plan, all the way through to settings out of the designed features and the automated grading of the finished surfaces. In this class, we will take a deep dive into the new and existing survey features and functionality in AutoCAD Civil 3D 2017 software. We will cover traditional, global navigation satellite system (GNSS), scanned, photographed, and remote-sensing data types, and we’ll see how they’re added and used in both AutoCAD Civil 3D software and InfraWorks 360 software. Then we will dive deeper into open and closed loop adjustments, “on the fly” local to assumed coordinate-system transformations, grid-to-ground considerations, extreme description key coding, extended data on points and figures, and Land XML-based survey systems. And finally, to keep up with the latest trends, we will explore the power of photo-to-point-cloud tools, and see how settings out information works in the BIM 360 mobile applications. This session features AutoCAD Civil 3D, BIM 360 Layout, and InfraWorks 360. AIA Approved