
Those images can be integrated into a BIM system to simplify and to unify efforts toward the planning, construction, and operation of mechanical systems in new buildings, and to create images of existing buildings to facilitate installation of updated mechanical systems or retrofits and repairs of existing systems.
In practice, the laser scan that creates the data that is fed into a point cloud is analogous to the motion capture technology that is used by video game designers and movie animators.
Without proper point cloud functionality, the best result that can be drawn from this data is a 2D intermediate result with limited modeling references.
The scanning company’s specialists will analyze point cloud data to eliminate noise and to assure the integrity of the remaining data set, and will then use that set to generate meshed or surface 3D images that are integrated directly into the AEC firm’s BIM system.
Architects and engineers then have direct access to those images for planning, detecting clashes and conflicts among mechanical system pathways, providing virtual reality tours of a planned or existing structure, or producing technical documents for regulatory, administrative, and operational purposes.
Without this tool, building modelers would spend hours or days to create digital models of detailed building structures such as steeples, sculptural ornamentation, and ornate facades.