As-built drawings refer to “Development of a set of drawings post completion of construction”. Usually, As-built drawings are looked upon as a necessity when any building structure is getting demolished for reconstruction purposes. When there is a need for re-construction, survey companies manually measure a building and develop 2D As-built Drawings in AutoCAD.
This used to cause delay and lot of information were missing as these measurements were taken externally. Many intricate parts of the building structures could not be captured hence on-site construction suffered a major blow in terms of money, turnaround time and re-work. Virtual Construction Modeling came into existence bringing about a complete technical revolution in the AEC and construction Industry. Scan to BIM conversion came into existence for reconstruction and refurshibment of old buildings. This excellent solution eliminates manual survey with the scanning of a building using laser scan equipment. These equipment’s scan a building and the images are saved in “point cloud format” and later these points are registered and converted into scan images that can be captured to develop 3D BIM Model for further construction purposes.
These Point cloud to BIM Modeling services assist Architects and Contractor in renovation projects where the 3D Models developed can be utilized to validate old designs and further develop 2D As-built drawings from scans. One can also use this model to check interferences, demolish any construction element on site or add new elements on site. Scan to BIM Modeling services facilitates complete design validation, changes in design, correction of construction errors, repositioning of Architectural, structural or MEP elements etc. You can develop a set of As-built drawings from Scans to compare the actual design drawings along with the need to renovate an old structure. Point cloud to BIM Modelling services also provides you with the exact dimension of each construction members along with exact geometry, the original position of the building co-ordinates etc. As-built drawings are mandatory for maintenance of a building too apart from refurbishment.
How is scan to BIM conversion services different than the traditional 2D As-built drawings creation approach?
Usually, Contractors prepare As-built drawings after actual building construction and update all the on-site changes diligently within the drawings. Some contractors do not do this exercise immediately post construction, however during building maintenance they face issues and retort to traditional surveying. Generally, Contractors mark up those areas that demand change or addition. As discussed earlier, this did not reveal any details about the internal building faults or clashes that existed post construction.
Point cloud to BIM Modelling ensures complete Internal and external imaging of any building. These laser scan lights penetrate deep into the building surface and scan the images to reveal any issues in the beam, walls, pipes etc. to ensure complete check and validation of design during renovation or reconstruction.
Once we convert point clouds into BIM Models, we can also extract 2D As-Built drawings with dimensions, annotations, layering etc. The altered 3D BIM models or CAD drawings of a building provide in-depth building data that can be used for renovation or reconstruction. Any Scan to BIM Service Company working on As-built model or drawing ensures compliance with location specific construction standards and building codes.
To ensure that the process is effective and productive, it is important to hire scan to BIM conversion companies with the good amount of experience, expertise in handling point cloud data and ability to make design validations prior to converting the scans. These point cloud modelling service providers need to have the following strengths
– Upgraded, high configuration computers with the fast processor, latest and upgraded graphics cards along with Recap and BIM software
– Trained Staff with BIM Modelling skills, Software expertise, industry knowledge and experience of working on scan to BIM conversion projects
– High-speed internet to download large size scans
There are many Point cloud modelling companies in India as India is one of the most sought-after CAD and Pre-construction service providing destinations globally. India successfully produces the maximum number of Architects and Engineers in a year than any other country in Asia. Also, India hails as one of the most popular countries with maximum English speaking population making it the best country for outsourcing. You will come across many such scan to BIM conversion service providers however it is important to choose a single company which is an expert in BIM Modelling from Point cloud along with CAD Drafting skills. Point cloud to BIM conversion up to a great extent solves the time consumption, accuracy issues and construction delays. Moreover outsourcing CAD and BIM Services to India is extremely cost effective with excellent quality.
There are different formats of scans or point cloud data that can be used to develop a BIM Model. .RCS, .RCP, .PTS, Faro formats etc. There is good interoperability between.RCS and.RCP but some of the formats would require some additional plugins to convert them to RCS and RCP so that they can be loaded in any BIM software. There are many laser scan machines available in the market and the most commonly used one is the one designed by Leica Geosystems. Then you have FARO scanners designed by Faro systems, Trimble etc. These scanners actually generate raw scans which need to be registered and made compatible for BIM software.
After registrations, these cans can be stitched together into a single RCP file with multiple RCS files that can be accessed in back-end from a BIM Model. The better the scan clarity, the more accurate the model will be. It is crucial to scan the buildings from the correct angle and set proper coordinates. Setting proper co-ordinate is very important for the accuracy of BIM conversion process. If we do not set the coordinates properly, the levels will be incorrect which subsequently will result in clashes, interferences and wrong placement of Architectural, structural and MEP components. In conclusion, adopting point cloud to BIM modelling services can be extremely productive. But to ensure the process does not turn counterproductive we have to follow the right process, invest in the right equipment and handover the scans to the right company to convert.
Scan to BIM conversion services is one of the most sought-after services. As-built drawings are old school theory for all survey companies, hence most of the company have decided to take the Scan to BIM approach.
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