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Point clouds don't align in Revit

Technical Support

Issue:

Point clouds are attached to a Revit project in the wrong position and appear moved, regardless of the chosen linking method.

Causes:

  • The origin of the RCP point cloud is not the same as the position of the Project Base Point (PBP).
  • When the point cloud is linked to Revit using Origin to Internal Origin, the Origin from ReCap will be aligned with the position of the Project Base Point.
  • When a point cloud is linked to Revit using Shared Coordinates, it is loaded so the Origin from ReCap will be aligned with the global position in a Revit project.
  • The original position is not preserved after the point cloud link placeholder is moved in Revit.

Note: Revit does not use the GIS coordinate system set in the ReCap RCP file even if the same system is set for the Revit project.

Solution:

Try one of the following approaches:

Adjust the Origin within the Point Cloud file based on the Shared Coordinates in Revit

  1. Link the Point Cloud into Revit using by shared coordinates.
    • Screen of the positioning setting when linking a point cloud in Revit 
  2. Use a Spot Coordinate in Revit on a known point in the Point Cloud.
  3. Use Spot Coordinate on the corresponding point in the Revit modeled content.
  4. Select the Spot Coordinate and click Edit Type.
  5. Set the Units to show meters with the Coordinate Base set to Survey Point. 
    • Screen of Spot Coordinate type properties in Revit 
  6. Note the values Northing (N/S position) of Spot Coordinate related to the point cloud and the Spot Coordinate related to model elements.
  7. Calculate a delta (a difference) between the values.
  8. Do the same for Easting (E/W position).
  9. Go to an elevation or section view. 
  10. Use Spot Elevation in Revit on a known point in the Point Cloud.
  11. Use Spot Elevation on the corresponding point in the Revit modeled elements.
  12. Select the Spot Elevation and click Edit Type.
  13. Set the Units to show meters with the Elevation Base set to Survey Point.
    • Screen of Spot Elevation type properties in Revit 
  14. Note the values for two Spot Elevations and calculate a delta (a difference) between them.
  15. Open the point cloud project in ReCap.
  16. Go to Display Settings > Points > Update Origin.
    • Screen showing how to Update Origin in ReCap
  17. Click (select) the known point used in the step 2. (The values in the Set Origin Coordinates should update to match the chosen point).
  18. Take note of the values for X (easting) Y (northing) and Z (elevation) listed in the Set Origin Coordinates window.
  19. Subtract these values from the deltas noted earlier.
    • Screen of the Set Origin Coordinates window in ReCap 
  20. Select OK to update the origin without changing any of the values. (The Origin will now show at the selected point.)
  21. Use the Update Origin button again.
  22. Without selecting any point, type the values calculated in the step 19, but with negative numbers.
  23. Confirm with OK.
  24. Save the file as an RCP (New ReCap project) or export the file as a Unified RCS.
    • Note: When choosing saving as RCP the Origin can be reversed to an eartlier value, when exporting Unified RCS the position is permanently embedded into a new RCS file.
  25. Link the newly saved Point Cloud in Revit using By Shared Coordinates positioning.
  26. Verify the point cloud position.

Link the point cloud to Revit through a different Revit file

  1. Create a Revit project file.
  2. Link the point cloud to the newly created project in a way that would stay within the 10-mile / 16-km limit from the internal origin.
  3. Save the file and attach it to the main Revit model
  4. Adjust the position to the correct location.

Products:

ReCap; Revit;

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