Other new features include enhanced pipe extraction, QA tools to verify accuracy, and real-time finishing tools.
ClearEdge3D this week released EdgeWise Plant 3.0 with six major new features to optimize and accelerate 3D modeling workflows. The software automates the extraction of complex CAD pipe geometry from 3D laser scanned data, reducing time to create accurate as-built 3D models of process plant facilities.
The new features include:
- 64-bit, multi-core processing; the company says it extracts pipes up to 12X faster than previous releases;
- Quality assurance tools which allow firms to validate the accuracy and fit of every pipe;
- Improved extraction algorithms identify nearly all the pipes in the scene;
- New automated finishing tools to connect pipe runs and fit any missed pipes to the point cloud;
- SmartSheet technology extracts key pipe intelligence such as outside diameter, length and bend into an easy-to-edit worksheet;
- Exporting pipes to layers or levels in AutoCAD, MicroStation or Leica Cyclone.
Last October ClearEdge3D received a coveted grant from the National Science Foundation to support its continued work on feature extraction from 3D point clouds. Google is a previous recipient of the same award.
Nick Bobbitt, an early EdgeWise Plant 3.0 user, recently completed an MEP project using the new software. “Edgewise Plant 3.0 models pipes at warp speed,” he said in a statement released by ClearEdge3D. “We were able to complete our project at least 60% faster and the new QA tools ensure pinpoint accuracy and control.”
The new QA tools in 3.0 rank extracted pipes by the quality of the pipe’s fit against the point cloud. Poorly fitting pipes can be edited to conform precisely to the scan data. Any pipes missed in the first-pass extraction can be added and fit to the point cloud. The new software also extracts critical intelligence about the pipe runs and displays it in a worksheet which users can annotate and edit. When the model is complete, the pipe geometry and intelligence can be exported as layers or levels in AutoCAD, MicroStation or Cyclone.
More information: www.clearedge3d.com.
