Faro As-Built "Modeler" Improvements Needed

[surveypm]

I made a post about conveyor modeling for manufacturing facilities and had some advice. https://laserscanningforum.com/forum/vi ... hp?t=19418
However, as a Faro customer I’ve stayed with the As-Built tools (Modeler and As-Built for AutoCAD). A previous post comparing some As-Built Modeler to VirtusSurv work processes reveals some concerns I mentioned regarding fewer features.
Re: Using As built Modeler/Virtusurve "send to" to get levels into Autocad
https://laserscanningforum.com/forum/vi ... hp?t=16180

As an example in SCENE directly you can make a plane surface that matches conveyor frame rails. Can’t do in As-Built Modeler. In SCENE you can pick a vertex point (with tolerance). Can’t do in As-Built Modeler. And you can export these CAD objects as DXF files for modeling purposes (as well the DXF retains the same project coordinates, so these items appear in their proper place).

As for vectorization, I believe it works best for office buildings and not manufacturing. You do have the ability to use clipping boxes to narrow down the selection which helps, but where in elevation (Z) the line ends up is unknown. Why isn’t the vector line at the lowest elevation of the points in the clipping box? Or at least provide a selection box to choose such an option. Vectorization seems to work okay for X&Y but Z is ignored. Yet using vectorization on a section of conveyor would be very helpful for modeling if the line followed the lowest set(s) of points on that section. Clipping box rotations are allowed so you can get a section of incline or decline conveyor, but vectorization is pointless without lines following the scan points. Vectorization (automation) is a helpful tool if the lines follow ultimate CAD layout lines (not flattening into 2D; staying in 3D is essential for BIM projects).

And these types of coordinate data are important in the field when using an RTS. Projects I work on rely upon exact match between 3D model data and field layout data. That is where the savings are in engineering and construction. Matching means no errors during construction.

If As-Built Modeler had more features CAD vectors, points, lines could be extracted more accurately for downstream modeling. I find the Recap conversion point cloud to be too inaccurate for mechanical modeling (building objects marginal to okay in a congested factory). I’m not fond of the SendToAutoCAD app as I find it unstable.

I believe the features could be upgraded in As-Built Modeler fairly simply as some already exist in SCENE.

[Jana-at-kubit]

Hello Tom,
Thank you for your valuable feedback and improvement suggestions.
I will forward them to our product management and ensure our developer team gets to know them.

Kind Regards