AS226870

Laser-Scanning Workflow with ReCap for

Power-Stations Renovation Projects
 

Thomas ROLAND

ATFF 

Florian FAUCONNET

ATFF

Learning objectives
● Learn how to get a new workflow by mixing laser-scanning and ReCap software
● Discover an interesting case study on the power industry
● Learn how to DeCap instead of ReCap
● Discover the ATFF Cloud service

Description

During this class, ATFF will talk about its workflow and expertise in laser scanning using
ReCap software. ATFF is also innovating on the AEC market by developing cloud
collaborative solutions. First, we will present the survey of power stations in France then we
will talk about the ATFF cloud.

Speakers
Thomas Roland : Graduated from a Master in Digital Marketing. He works in ATFF since 3
year and deals with various sectors in the company to develop ATFF’s notoriety in the world.

Florian Fauconnet : ​Graduated from an Associate’s Degree in Electrical Engineering. He

spent 4 years abroad by bringing various concepts to France. In 2009, working with various
people at Autodesk, he became interested in reality capture and decided to found ATFF.
  

What about ATFF ?

Based in Annecy, ATFF is a service provider in the Building Information Modeling (BIM)
sector since 2014. BIM is an exceptionally powerful tool for the design and construction
industries. Offering a 3D visual database of a project, BIM contains all the design and
construction details required to virtually see and build the project. Owners are now capable
of seeing into the future and can make decisions with confidence. For a survey campaign,
ATFF scan the site and the result is a point cloud that we treat to create a BIM 3D Model for
the final user. ATFF intervenes in the heritage, architectural, town planning and industry
sectors. Our main customers are architects, construction companies, design offices.
Customers used to ask geometers to survey their projects or buildings using archaic tools.
The technicians had to come back many times on site and the result didn’t provide 100% of
the data. Our services offer includes aerial photogrammetry with UAV, fixed scanning and
mobile mapping. With our advanced tools, no need to survey the site again and again, we
provide an accurate, complete and quick service to help customers in their projects all over
France.

Now, ATFF is developing with more than 500 000 m2 surveyed per year, 70 projects and a
100 % customer satisfaction.

 
  

What is a Point Cloud ?

Laser scanners collect surface data about an object or structure by beaming a laser
repeatedly off its surface and plotting points (equivalent to each beam that is fired) into what
is known as a point cloud. After the field portion of “3D Laser Scanning” is complete, the
scan data is brought back into the office for processing. ​The pictures give you an idea of
what a “Point Cloud” can look like from fixed laser scanning.

   

INSIDE  OUTSIDE 

What is the Reality Capture ?

Reality Capture includes all the means used to capture the existing environment. Attached to
the BIM sector, it applies to everything that is real. It can be a building, a car, a lot or
offices.This technique, as complex as it may be, is divided into three phases: the survey
phase, the treatment phase and the final modeling phase.

The first step is to raise the existing surface desired using different tools (drones, fixed or
mobile scanners). The data from the 3D surveys forms a point cloud.

This is where the processing phase starts on high-performance workstations. Technicians

connect these point clouds with software such as Autodesk ReCap. Then, to add color, they
superimpose photos to point clouds.

At the end of this treatment, the technicians will have to model this data in 3D. Final model
that will serve the architect, the design office or directly to the construction company for the
realization and implementation of the project.
  

What about our tools ?

ATFF uses many tools such as UAV’s or mobile laser scanners but we will focus on the laser
scanner.​ 3D Laser Scanning​​ uses a pulse of infrared light to measure objects in their
real-world position. The scanner collects Data on every surface the laser can see from its
current position.

A typical scan setup can produce anywhere from 40 to 150 million individual 3D data points.
(Each point contains accurate XYZ Information and color).

ATFF uses multiple FARO laser scanners to capture the reality, most of them are X-130 and
S-70.

 
  

Electric transformer survey

Context

Along with the quick development of the electric power business, there is a growing
requirement of power due to high dependency of people on electrical equipment.

ATFF has been mandated to scan and modelise an Urban Electric transformer in France,
the biggest in Europe. The goal was to use the 3D data collected by ATFF to help architect
and engineer rehabilitate the site.

A source station is a gigantic transformer, or rather four in this case, that converts 400,000
volts of electricity from power plants into 20,000 volts. The source station is the last step,
before the electricity, modulated in domestic current (220V), arrives in homes. Nearly 90,000
homes are powered by this station. Due to its danger and its unslubriousity, these type of
site are unmanned and fully autonomous, although, there are some required manned
inspections that are generally made once a month.

In order to minimize failures of power facilities and avoid the huge economic losses caused
by power outages, transmission line and substation equipment ought to be regularly
inspected for detecting defects as soon as possible to arrange the maintenance plan. It is
well known that, as an essential part of modern power systems and future smart grid, the
safe and stable operation of the substation equipment plays a very important role in the
entire power system. Substation equipment inspection is an important means for operation
and maintenance, which can ensure the secure working of the electric grid, improve power
grid to run economically and afford good service for user.

The old foot patrol inspection required a team of four people that used to traverse the all
substation along the scheduled route and inspect the complex and big environment thanks
  

to telemeters and other rudimentary tools. But this kind of inspection was slow, tedious,
monotonous and subjective so that even larger faults can sometimes be neglected.

There is a development of measurements technologies and virtual visualization methods

which are carried out with the help of Autodesk softwares. ATFF’s inspection approach
includes the 3D survey of the power equipment such as transformer, circuit breaker, load
switch, generatrix, current transformer, voltage transformer and so on. This method makes
the final result more accurate, faster and less expensive.

What are the steps for power plant 3D scanning?

1. Identify the scanning scope area

2. Capture a serie of scans

3. Merge the scans

4. Align the scans with control coordinates

5. Produce a 3D CAD model or other desired deliverable.

How Reality Capture helps on this type of projects ?

In energy sector three-dimensional point cloud, laser-scanning and softwares such as
ReCap allow for a perfect representation of not only the geometry of poles but also of the
elements such as: power lines, insulators, transformers and other technical equipment.
Network and power lines monitoring minimizes the likelihood of failure and power outages
caused by poor technical condition of equipment. Early diagnostics and risk analysis of a
collision with vegetation or failure resulting from improper maintenance of line helps manage
  

the energy network efficiently. The inspection of power lines based on LIDAR data provides
new, previously unknown possibilities.

Constraints and solutions

● Installation on several levels and half-levels.

● No existing plan, even the owner did not know the place.
● Large area to scan.
● Insalubrity
○ Wear a protection waste suit
○ Regular cleaning of the scanners
● Operation under high electrical tension
○ Compliance with safety procedures and electrical standards.

How to succeed on this type of project ?

Good way on site

● Realize an exhaustive visit of the site with the technical staff 

○ It took 4 hours to visit all the building, big work in perspective
● Have all authorizations and safety rules
● Important ​: Notify all the remote substation staff (no staff inside the substation)
● Divide the project by subprojects while surveying
○ Outdoor to do the box for all data
○ Stairs to make the skeleton
○ Floors
■ 1st basement
■ 2nd basement
■ ground floor
■ 1st floor

Good way on site for indoor

Skeleton structure is the perfect way to get a perfect alignment in ReCap.

Every part of the building was considered as a project itself.
As one stair represented one project from bottom to top. In this way, the 4 stairs represented
4 scans projects.

Back to the office

Back to the office - summary of the survey

At the end of any surveying project, operators meet each other to discuss and summarize
the project. What could we do better ? What should we change ? To conclude, they treat
about the number of scans realized, the time of work and the size of the final file.
  

For example, a past substation surveying project required 60 hours for more than 4800
scans, 40 GB of raw FARO data and lots of coffee...

Back to the office - how to process this quickly ?

Time constraint

● We had a 10 days deadline after the end of the project to register the data.

● It took a lot of time to import and register the data.

Solutions :

● Strong software ReCap Pro use in Decap Mode, command line

● Powerful Workstation

Back to the office - Workstations

In our business, the computers (accountancy, purchasing, marketing) are not usually
working at night. We decided to use them all in order to reduce the time of import and
indexing by distributing the workload at night on all these computers.

Basic ReCap workflow

DeCap and no ReCap

Most of the ReCap’s adepts, work following the workflow above but now, Autodesk Recap
has a little brother called “Decap”. DeCap is the windows command line version of ReCap.
The difference between the windows command line ReCap version and the interface ReCap
version it is that on one side you have to move with your mouse and on the other side you
have to launch a command line with windows CMD to move avoiding the human action.
DeCap compared to ReCap lets you work quicker depending on the number of computers
that you or your team owns. For example : if your surveying project took 7 hours of scan, the
  

import of the data on ReCap will take you the same time and the indexing will take you half
of this time. This is the same on a 10 days project, you won’t be able to use or visualize your
point cloud before the 15 days import process. Thanks to the ATFF DeCap setup, we can
launch one DeCap process per session with a batch. Our HP Z workstation commands all of
our computers by starting one process per computer. For example : if we take the 7 hours
project it would take us about 10 hours to import and index our data on one ReCap. With the
ATFF DeCap setup and with 7 computers, these steps will only take you 1 hour to finish.

DeCap Workflow explanations

DeCap is a command line program so we can launch it on the same computers network via
a batch to dispense work on all useless machines at night. To start the import, we use the
example below :

decap.exe --importWithLicense D:\Test MyNewDecapProject D:\Test1.fls D:\Test2.fls

To remind you, the case study was a 4800 scans project that we divided automatically on 20
workstations at night. That is a proper use of the inverted DeCap process.

Below, the normal process of ReCap :

  

The ATFF process is the following one :

You have to know that DeCap can’t registrate, for that you will need to do it manually or
automatically with Recap. Once the 20 PCs have finished to work on the DeCap, then we
have 20 ReCap imported and indexed projects.

How to registrate them ?

DeCap has superimposed all the scans one on the other in all the ReCap project. Then,
what you have to do is to create a new ReCap project and import these 20 ReCap projects
in the new one. After that, you can start the usual registration (manual or automatic).

For example, with our method, we can process 50 scans 8 times quicker with 20 computers.
This solution lets you import and index 50 scans in only 1 hour compared to 7 hours on a PC
thanks to this batch.
  

After using DeCap to import these small projects in the big project, we can start again with
the normal ReCap workflow. We notify that the automatic registration was more efficient
when we began our project in the DeCap way. One thing is sure, is that the automatic
registration accuracy will depend on the way that you survey the site. The surveyor has to
think “ReCap” and how he can help the software make the registration as better as possible.
We can tell that the surveyor is a cobot for ReCap.

Collaborative sharing

The ReCap 360 platform allows you to share this data on a web interface. Users can then
view all panoramic views in a web browser such as Chrome, allowing them to take action or
directly annotate photos to share information. This platform makes it possible to collaborate
with all the project’s stakeholders.
  

Visualization and use of the point cloud

Visualization tools in ReCap such as colorization, light addition or selection of Limits Boxes
are available. This helps the user choose the region in which they want to use this data.
From this selection: measurements, notes, regions creations, export the selected sector,
animated video realization becomes a breeze.
The Autodesk ReCap software engine makes it possible to fully exploit all the data captured
by ATFF.

Cloud ATFF Service

The AEC market is growing more and more every day. New solutions for the
acquisition, processing and visualization of point cloud are common in this area.
Cintoo, for example, developed a cloud that streams point cloud and 3D data. We
can say that they are the Netflix of point cloud streaming. What they have done is
amazing and will revolutionize the AEC market.

Point cloud and Reality Capture are really useful for construction projects but they
remain lifeless. Everyone modelize this data in BIM object or in a generic 3D
element. In the ATFF team we are convinced of the high value of point clouds, and
that it is a pity to only model them and throw them away.

Decades ago, we used to design buildings in 2D because the computers was not
powerful enough to support 3D. Then we have been able to design in 3D thanks to
the technology development. We can say that the point clouds are heavy and
voluminous so we modelize them in 3D to simplify them. At ATFF we strongly
  

believe that the future of this technology is the sementisation of the point cloud
(automatic modelization) in order to make it understandable, useful and accessible
for everyone.

But we still need to be able to collaborate and interact instantaneously on such

clusters of data. We announced, during our last class at Autodesk University Las
Vegas 2017, that we were working on a collaborative viewer online. Now, we can
say that it is fully functional. This web viewer harmonize the work between the
project stakeholders.

Generally, as the point cloud is complex, heavy and not usual, people want 2D PDF
plans or 3D BIM. We all know that 3D data contains a lot more of informations rather
than 2D plans. Nowadays, the only way to deliver 3D point cloud is the hard drive
that is the delivery way of ATFF too. But the lack of practicality of this sending via the
post and its hard of use has to be over.

Thanks to a big investment in R&D, the ATFF Cloud is efficient and allows the
customer to display the entire point cloud of his projects on this platform. It is no
longer your computer but the server that processes your point cloud on your web
browser. The ATFF platform only depends on a password and a login to access your
stored data anywhere and at anytime with web connexion.

To explain my words: if you take a point cloud from a factory, it will be contained in
one global bloc. In one side, we will have the A, B and C machines that we will be
able to cut from this global bloc in order to get an individual bloc for each machine.
This individual bloc will be considered as an “object” that can be moved and
  

manipulated like in a 3D modeling process. Thanks to the ATFF Cloud, the user will
not have to modelize it, in order to earn time and money. It is such as a Lego game.

ATFF developed a real compatibility between its cloud and the Autodesk tools
thanks to a plugin that lets the user import or export point cloud coordinates and
rotations. This data would be useful for an AutoCAD or Revit project. Moreover, this
display allows the user to:

● share point cloud projects just on their web browser,

● invite collaborators or subcontractors to visualize these projects,
● measure distances,
● measure surfaces,
● annotate informations about elements,
● export these to dxf formats,
● display the point cloud in orthogonal view,
● define a clipping box,
● 3D simulation of elements implantation,
● simulate the future implementation of equipment,
● ...

Simulation of a new equipment implementation

ATFF innovated a lot in terms of viewer’s displays and functionalities. Most of the
viewers let the user visualize, annotate and collaborate on the 3D data.

Now, with the ATFF cloud, project stakeholders won’t only collaborate in Virtual
Reality on their point clouds, they will implement new machines/points cloud and
move them in their virtual environment.
  

(Point cloud of the captured environment) (Implementation of the captured machine A)

(Implementation of the captured machine B)

Following the survey and processing by our teams, you will be able to access your
point cloud with this service. This solution, innovative in its ease of use, helps the
requesting company in its decision making.

Next steps for 2019

Our Web Developer at ATFF is actually working on a Multiplayer VR display to make

the cloud totally collaborative and let project stakeholders simulate, all together in
VR, if there is enough space to integrate equipment in their renovation or
implementation project.

We are also working to integrate this service into Autodesk Forge platform.