As-Built for Autodesk Revit

User Manual

June 2024
As-Built for Autodesk Revit User Manual
Legal Notices

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Release Notice
This is the June 2024 version of the As-Built for Autodesk Revit User Manual User Manual. It applies to
As-Built for Autodesk Revit. FARO© Technologies Inc., June 2024. All rights reserved.

No part of this publication may be reproduced, or transmitted in any form or by any means without written
permission of FARO Technologies, Inc.

FARO TECHNOLOGIES, INC. MAKES NO WARRANTY, EITHER EXPRESS OR IMPLIED,

INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO ANY IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY OR
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE, REGARDING PRODUCTS TO LIST IN LEGAL NOTICES
AND AS-BUILT FOR AUTODESK REVIT PRODUCTS TO LIST IN LEGAL NOTICES AND AS-
BUILT FOR AUTODESK REVIT AND ANY MATERIALS, AND MAKES SUCH MATERIALS
AVAILABLE SOLELY ON AN “AS-IS” BASIS.

IN NO EVENT SHALL FARO TECHNOLOGIES INC. BE LIABLE TO ANYONE FOR SPECIAL,

COLLATERAL, INCIDENTAL, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES IN CONNECTION WITH OR
ARISING OUT OF THE PURCHASE OR USE OF PRODUCTS TO LIST IN LEGAL NOTICES AND
AS-BUILT FOR AUTODESK REVIT OR THEIR MATERIALS. THE SOLE AND EXCLUSIVE
LIABILITY TO FARO TECHNOLOGIES, INC., REGARDLESS OF THE FORM OF ACTION, SHALL
NOT EXCEED THE PURCHASE PRICE OF THE MATERIALS DESCRIBED HEREIN.

THE INFORMATION CONTAINED IN THIS MANUAL IS SUBJECT TO CHANGE WITHOUT

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ACKNOWLEDGMENT THAT IF ANY INCONSISTENCY EXISTS BETWEEN THE ENGLISH AND
NON-ENGLISH VERSIONS, THE ENGLISH VERSION TAKES PRECEDENCE.

Copyright Notice
© Copyright 2010 - 2024 FARO Technologies Inc.

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Legal Notices

FARO Trademarks
The following are trademarks or registered trademarks of FARO Technologies Inc.

ATS ® FaroArm ® JobWalk ™ (pending)

CAM2 ® FaroBlu ® Orbis ™ (pending)
FARO ® Flash Technology ™ (pending) RayTracer ®
FARO Flatness Check™ (pending) Focus 3D ® RevEng ®
FARO Gage ® Freestyle ® ScanAlign ™ (pending)
FARO RemoteControls ® GeoSLAM ™ (pending) SiteScape ™ (pending)
FARO ScanPlan ® HoloBuilder ™ (pending) Traceable 3D ®
FARO Sphere ® Hybrid Reality Capture ™ (pending)
FARO Stream ™ HYPERMODULATION ®

The absence of any product or service name from this list does not imply a waiver of FARO's trademark or
other intellectual property rights associated with said name.

This product includes third-party and open source resources. For license and copyright information
pertaining to the use of these resources, refer to the following document in the FARO Knowledge Base:
https://knowledge.faro.com/Essentials/General/3rd-Party_Open_Source_License_Information_for_FARO_
Products

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents

Legal Notices 3
Copyright Notice 3
FARO Trademarks 4

Table of Contents 5
Foreword 1
Introduction 2
Installation and License Management 5
System Requirements 5
As-Built Installation 5
SendToRevit Installation 5
License Management 6
Working With Point Clouds 7
Preparing Point Clouds 7
Inserting Point Clouds 7
Point Cloud Positioning 8
Point Clouds with Large Coordinate Values 9
Point Cloud not Loaded 10
Displaying and Clipping Point Clouds 11
Sectioning Point Clouds 12
Setting the View Range 12
Avoiding Selection of the Point Cloud 13
Working with the Section Manager 14
Modeling Tips 16
Modeling Methods 16
Modeling Tutorials 16
Tutorial 1 - Modeling a Room in Revit 16
Tutorial 2 - Modeling a Room with SendToRevit 16
Tutorial 3 - Creating Pipe Runs 17
Tutorial 4 - Structural Frames 17
Typical Workflow Scan-To-BIM 17
Setting-up Vertical Sections 18

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Aligning Point Cloud and Placing Levels 19

Placing Levels 20
Setting-up Project Coordinates 20
Creating Superordinate Geometry 21
Setting the View Range 21
Preparing the Point Cloud 21
Fitting Walls 22
Aligning Walls 22
Placing Components in an Aligned View 23
Creating a Framing Elevation 23
Creating Families and In-Place Families 24
Working with Scan Views in SendToRevit 24
SendToRevit Tools 25
Structure of SendToRevit Commands in Revit 25
Level Auto-Mode On/Off 26
Point Modes 27
Set Project Coordinates 28
Detail Line 29
Command Reference Guide: As-Built Architecture 30
Command Reference Structure 30
Walls 30
Level 30
Wall 31
Wall Thickness 32
Fit Wall 33
Fit only One Wall Face 36
Align Walls 36
General Info Align Walls 37
Three Steps to Alignment of Walls 37
Reference Systems 37
Wall Groups 37
Align Walls Dialog Box 37
Ending Align Walls Command 42
Place 43
Point Modes 43
Window 44
Door 45
Opening 46
Column 47

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Work Plane 48
Fit Plane (1 Point) 49
Fit Plane Dialog Element Description 49
Select Plane Dialog 50
Fit Plane (n Points) 50
Fit Plane with Contour 51
Fit Plane with Contour Dialog 54
Noise and Average Point Distance 55
Smoothing and Sample Width 55
Regression Results 59
Model 59
Fit Polygon 59
Save as Family 65
Intersect 2 Planes 69
Intersect 3 Planes 71
Model Line 72
CPoint 73
Surface 73
Toposurface 73
Deform Shape 74
Point Cloud 76
Coordinates - Import Scan Positions from RCP 76
Coordinates - Import Scan Positions 76
Coordinates - Linking PC Coordinates 77
Coordinates - Acquire PC Coordinates 78
Export PC Region 79
Ortho Image 79
Prepare Point Cloud 82
Auto Measure Parameters 86
Noise 87
Average Point Distance 87
Auto Measure 87
Sections 89
Define Rectangle 89
Define Polygon 90
Define Box 90
Define Slice 90
Section Manager 91
View 93
Hide or Show PC 94

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Hide / Show PP 94
As-Built 94
Getting Started 94
License Info 95
Cleanup 95
Settings 97
FARO Customer Experience Improvement Program 102
Help 103
Worksharing Settings 103
Info 104
Software Update 104
FARO Knowledge Base 104
Command Reference Guide: As-Built Structure 105
Structure Tools 105
Level 105
Level Auto-Mode On/Off 106
Beam 106
Column 107
Level Auto-Mode On/Off 108
Fit Structural Element 109
Align Structural Elements 112
Load Structural Families 113
Work Plane 114
Fit Plane (1 Point) 114
Fit Plane Dialog Element Description 115
Select Plane Dialog 116
Fit Plane (n Points) 116
Fit Plane with Contour 117
Fit Plane with Contour Dialog 120
Noise and Average Point Distance 121
Smoothing and Sample Width 121
Regression Results 125
Model 125
Fit Polygon 125
Save as Family 131
Intersect 2 Planes 135
Intersect 3 Planes 137
Model Line 138
CPoint 139
Point Cloud 139

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Coordinates - Import Scan Positions from RCP 139

Coordinates - Import Scan Positions 139
Coordinates - Linking PC Coordinates 140
Coordinates - Acquire PC Coordinates 141
Export PC Region 142
Ortho Image 142
Prepare Point Cloud 145
Auto Measure Parameters 149
Noise 150
Average Point Distance 150
Auto Measure 150
Sections 152
Define Rectangle 152
Define Polygon 153
Define Box 153
Define Slice 153
Section Manager 154
View 156
Hide or Show PC 157
Hide / Show PP 157
As-Built 157
Getting Started 157
License Info 158
Cleanup 158
Settings 160
Help 165
Worksharing Settings 165
Info 166
Software Update 166
FARO Knowledge Base 166
Command Reference Guide:As-Built Systems 167
Piping 167
Fit Pipe 167
Place Pipe Fitting 170
Define Rotation Angle 173
Define Insertion Offset 174
Align Pipes 174
Fast Alignment Mode 177
Precise Alignment Mode 177
Ducts 178

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General Ducting Workflow 178

General Overview 178
Fitting Rectangular or Round Ducts 178
Placing Duct Fittings 179
Aligning the Run 179
Fit Rectangular Duct 180
Using the Dialog to Fit the Duct 182
Preview Window 182
Fit Round Duct 183
Using the Dialog to Fit the Duct 185
Place Duct Fitting 185
Using the Dialog to Place Fittings 186
Align Ducts 187
Links 188
Set Link 188
Set Link (Auto) 189
Remove Link 190
Load MEP Families 191
Load MEP Families 191
Work Plane 192
Fit Plane (1 Point) 192
Fit Plane Dialog Element Description 193
Select Plane Dialog 194
Fit Plane (n Points) 194
Fit Plane with Contour 195
Fit Plane with Contour Dialog 198
Noise and Average Point Distance 199
Smoothing and Sample Width 199
Regression Results 203
Model 203
Fit Polygon 203
Save as Family 209
Intersect 2 Planes 213
Intersect 3 Planes 215
Model Line 216
CPoint 217
Point Cloud 217
Coordinates - Import Scan Positions from RCP 217
Coordinates - Import Scan Positions 217
Coordinates - Linking PC Coordinates 218

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Coordinates - Acquire PC Coordinates 219

Export PC Region 220
Ortho Image 220
Prepare Point Cloud 223
Auto Measure Parameters 227
Noise 228
Average Point Distance 228
Auto Measure 228
Sections 230
Define Rectangle 230
Define Polygon 231
Define Box 231
Define Slice 231
Section Manager 232
View 234
Hide or Show PC 235
Hide / Show PP 235
As-Built 235
Getting Started 235
License Info 236
Cleanup 236
Settings 238
Help 243
Worksharing Settings 243
Info 244
Software Update 244
FARO Knowledge Base 244
Command Reference Guide: As-Built Analysis 245
Clash Detection 245
Clash Detection 245
Surface Analysis Tools 247
Calculate 247
Switch Values 250
Values Illustration 251
Export Results 252
Restore 255
Hide 255
Transfer 255
Place USIBD Legend 255
View 256

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Hide or Show PC 256

Hide / Show PP 256
As-Built 257
Getting Started 257
License Info 258
Cleanup 258
Settings 259
Help 264
Worksharing Settings 264
Info 265
Software Update 265
FARO Knowledge Base 265
Command Reference Guide:As-Built Plant Exchange 266
Family Editor (As-Built) Tab 268
Connect Point Cloud 268
Linking PC Coordinates 268
Insert PC Region 268
Insert Ortho Image 269
Technical Support 271

Glossary 272

FARO Technical Support 274

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As-Built for Autodesk Revit User Manual

Foreword
Dear As-Built Users:

Thank you for the trust you have placed in us by purchasing our software. We wish you much success in
your daily-work with As-Built™ for Autodesk® Revit® (hereafter referred to as As-Built).

In this manual, you will learn the principal functionality of As-Built. The Command Reference Guides
familiarizes you with the most important details of all individual commands, enabling you to work
efficiently in your own projects. We, therefore, recommend that you read through this manual before
working with As-Built.

If you have questions or difficulties, please contact our support team. Your questions and suggestions are
very important to us. Software such as this is significantly improved by the ideas and creativity of its users.

We hope your use of As-Built will be pleasurable and productive, and are looking forward to working
together with you towards your future success.

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Introduction

What Can As-Built for Revit Do?

As-Built is an add-on application for Autodesk® Revit®, hereafter referred to as "Revit", produced by
FARO® Technologies Inc. for modeling 3D building models from 3D point cloud data.

The millions of points captured by 3D laser scanners can be powerful, where the appropriate advanced
modeling tools are available directly in Revit. As-Built significantly extends the Revit point cloud functions.
The following functions are available:

l Create walls quickly and precisely directly in the point cloud. The software automatically selects the
most appropriate wall type, based on the determined wall thickness. If no appropriate wall type can be
found, a new adapted wall type is automatically created by As-Built.

l Automated alignment of walls for creating rectangular floor plans (orthogonality) and continuous
axial alignments, even over several floors. The relevant tolerances to be observed are defined by the
user, and can be subsequently reviewed in detail for each wall component.

l Quick and precise creation of pipelines. As-Built automatically selects the most appropriate segment
type based on the determined pipe diameter. If no suitable segment is found, you can create a segment
that fits the surveyed data.

l Placement of pipe fittings and precise alignment of pipe runs. You create connected pipe runs that,
on the one hand are fitted onto the point cloud, and on the other comply with the Revit consistency
constraints (coaxial axis runs and pre-defined angles for pipe bends and branch connections).

l Fitting beams and columns. As-Built precisely places structural elements in the point cloud. Beam and
column profiles can be automatically recognized.

l Create a digital terrain model from the 3D coordinates and 3D model lines obtained from the point
cloud.

l Place family exemplars such as windows, doors, beams, columns, etc., directly in the point cloud
using 3D point snap.

l Working with construction aids: Create 3D model lines and construction points using 3D point snap in
the point cloud, independently of the Revit work plane. Work planes can be fitted by selecting a single
point or an unlimited number of points in the point cloud. Restrictions such as parallelism or
orthogonality can be optionally set. Intersection lines and intersection points between the fitted planes,
or even between model planes, can be easily determined.

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l Planar scan view: Included in the supplied package is the stand-alone software SendToRevit™. It
allows a flat, high resolution scan view, similar to a panorama photo. In SendToRevit, 3D coordinates
can be very easily read and sent directly to Revit. Appropriate tools allow components such as walls,
doors, windows, or beams to be created directly in Revit using SendToRevit scan view.

l Ortho images from point clouds: A high resolution, photo-like raster image can be created from a
specific view of the point cloud, which can then be used as a true-to-scale image plan. A typical
application is its use in the Family Editor as a model reference. The ortho image can be optionally
computed as a color image or in x-ray mode. The edges are significantly easier to visibly discern.

l Surface analysis: The deviation of the Revit model surface from the point cloud can be computed and,
clearly and graphically displayed. Exporting the analysis results allows further use in both external
applications and within the project, in the form of modeling assistance.

l Working in the Family Editor: Point cloud regions can be inserted directly in the Family Editor.
Construction aids such as model lines or construction points can be easily created using the SendToRevit
scan view in the Family Editor. Scaled ortho images can also be used for the modeling of families.
Model lines from the project environment can be saved as a modeling aid directly as a families
document.

l Work with linked documents: The coordinates for a shared coordinate system can be retrieved
directly from the point cloud.

Purpose
The purpose of this document is to provide information and resources needed to install, activate, and use the
As-Built product.

Scope
This document includes installation information for As-Built, As-Built Modeler™, and SendToRevit. It does
not include installation information for any other applications. This document includes information and links
regarding use of the As-Built add-on application SendToRevit using As-Built Modeler or SCENE®. It does
not guarantee information on how to use any other applications. This document does not contain tutorials,
but does contain links to tutorials for As-Built and SendToRevit. It does not contain links to tutorials for any
other applications.

For information regarding use of other applications, please consult the manufacturer.

Audience
The target audience of this document are the users of Revit who have knowledge of how to use Revit, who
will also find As-Built a powerful supplemental tool.

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For More Information

If you are looking for information on various commands, please see the Command Reference Guide. This
contains in-depth treatments of many topics.

If you are looking for tutorials and other helpful information, please visit the FARO As-Built for Revit
Introductory Website.

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Installation and License Management

Follow the As-Built installation steps precisely. Administrator privileges are required.

System Requirements
As-Built can be installed for Autodesk® Revit® 2022 - 2025, 64 bit. You can use the Autodesk® products
Revit Architecture, Revit MEP, Revit Structure, or the complete Revit suite from the Architecture,
Engineering & Construction Industry Collection. Autodesk ReCappoint cloud formats (RCS, RCP) are
supported..

You need a Microsoft® operating system: Microsoft® Windows 10 version 1903 or higher.Windows 11 is
also supported.

To work with point clouds in Revit, Autodesk® recommends a multi-core Intel®Xeon®, or an i-Series
processor, or the AMD®/ equivalent, with 16 GB RAM and DirectX® 11 compatible graphics card, as well
as an SSD (Solid State Drive) hard disk with at least 5 GB of free memory.

NOTE: FARO cannot support combinations of a Revit version and operating systems that are not supported
by Autodesk®.

As-Built Installation
The current setup files for As-Built can be downloaded from the FARO Website - As-Built for Revit
Download.

Run the setup file for As-Built by double-clicking it, and carefully follow the instructions.

After the installation is complete, start Revit.

SendToRevit Installation
As-Built uses the SCENE or As-Built Modeler software for working with SendToRevit, which allows you to
work in As-Built with scan views. When installing As-Built, you will be prompted to install As-Built
Modeler. In As-Built Modeler or SCENE, you can install SendToRevit manually by following the
instructions on FARO's Installing Apps in SCENE. The same instructions apply to As-Built Modeler by
substituting As-Built Modeler for SCENE in the instructions.

If As-Built Modeler does not install, you can manually install it by running the setup file for As-Built
Modeler from the installation folder of As-Built by double-clicking it, then follow the instructions. The
current As-Built Modeler setup files can also be found on the FARO Website - Download As-Built Modeler.

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License Management
After the trial period, a dialog appears. Follow the instructions to license your software. For more
information on license management, see License Info on page 258.

NOTE: Each key code can only be activated one time. If you install the software on a new computer, use
the Transfer Key on page 1 option or contact FARO customer service (Technical Support on page
271).

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Working With Point Clouds

This section gives an introduction to working with point clouds in As-Built. A full explanation of all of the
commands can be found in the Point Cloud on page 76.

Preparing Point Clouds

You will need to prepare your point cloud before working with it in As-Built. You can do this either in
Autodesk ReCap or FARO SCENE. Videos to help you can be found at the following links.

For ReCap: https://knowledge.faro.com/Software/As-Built/As-Built_for_AutoCAD_Software/Tips_and_

Tricks-Create_an_RCP_Point_Cloud_with_ReCap?mt-learningpath=as-built-revit_playlist

For SCENE: https://knowledge.faro.com/Software/As-Built/As-Built_for_AutoCAD_Software/Tips_and_

Tricks-Export_an_RCP_Point_Cloud_from_SCENE?mt-learningpath=as-built-revit_playlist

Inserting Point Clouds

A ReCap (RCP or RCS) or SCENE formatted point cloud can be directly inserted into Revit. Raw scan
formats (e.g. E57, FLS, LAS etc.,) can also be imported, and is converted in the background to the ReCap
format, before point cloud insertion. The project only references the point cloud data.

NOTE: When you forwarding projects with point clouds, you must also forward the referenced point cloud
data. If you do not, it cannot be displayed by the recipient.

To insert a point cloud into the current project, select Insert - Link - Point Cloud . Select the
desired point cloud data file and the desired type of positioning, then click Open.

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Point Cloud Positioning

It is essential that you pay attention to the type of positioning for the point cloud. You have four options:

l Auto - Center to Center

The point cloud is placed with the center-point of the point cloud bounding box at the center-point of the
model bounding box. If no objects have been modeled, the center point of the model is the project base-
point.

l Auto - Origin to Origin

The point cloud is placed with the origin of the internal point cloud coordinate system at the origin of
the Revit project. If the project base-point has not been changed, it is identical to the origin of the Revit
project. The y-axis of the internal point cloud coordinate system is thus aligned to the current project
north.

l Auto - By Shared Coordinates

The point cloud is placed with the origin of the internal point cloud coordinate system corresponding to
the origin of the shared coordinate system. The y-axis of the internal point cloud coordinate system is
aligned to geographic north of the shared coordinate system.

l Auto - Origin to Last Placed

This option is only available if you already have a point cloud inserted into the project. The point cloud
that is to be inserted will be inserted relative to the previously inserted point cloud, even if the latter has
been moved after insertion. Therefore, you should move the existing point cloud before inserting
subsequent point clouds.

NOTE: If the point cloud is referenced in a surveying coordinate system (geo-referencing), it might be far
removed from the project base-point. The nature of Revit is that it can only model objects up to a
distance of approximately 20 miles (32 km) from the project origin. Point clouds whose coordinate
values lie outside of this region have limited use (see also Point Clouds with Large Coordinate
Values on page 9).

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When working with As-Built, it is important that you work with a shared coordinate system corresponding
to the internal point cloud coordinate system. This makes it possible to insert other external data (e.g. a site
plan as a CAD drawing) relative to the coordinate system in the Revit project, and to export other drawings
and models from Revit, also relative to the point cloud coordinate system.

You have two ways to set up such a shared coordinate system:

l Insert the point cloud using the option Auto - Center to Center. You can subsequently rotate and move
it as needed, to bring it into a more favorable position for processing (e.g. we recommended aligning a
long building axis with the east-west direction of the Revit project). Using Point Cloud - Coordinates -
Acquire PC Coordinates on page 219, you can align the shared coordinate system with the internal point
cloud coordinate system and connect the point cloud with the SendToRevit project use Point Cloud -
Coordinates - Linking PC Coordinates on page 218

Start working on the project in SendToRevit, then choose Set Project Coordinates on page 28 .
Set the origin and alignment of the shared coordinate system. If you subsequently insert the point cloud
into Revit, use the option Auto - By Shared Coordinates.

Point Clouds with Large Coordinate Values

Pre-2017 Revit had a number of issues using large point cloud coordinate values (such as are found in
surveying coordinate systems, like Gauß-Krüger coordinates) causing problems with the commands used to
interact with the point cloud. These have been resolved, as far as possible. Revit can use these, but various
problems might occur:

l the Revit point cloud snap does not function

l the point cloud is offset by several centimeters from its correct position

l the Revit programming interface (API) sends the wrong coordinate values to As-Built

You may, therefore, still encounter a warning message, when inserting a point cloud with large coordinate
values:

For such point clouds, we recommend:

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1. Reducing the coordinate values in your registration software before exporting. If registration was done
in the surveying coordinate system using geodetically surveyed targets, remove the first few digits of
the coordinate values (the coordinate values must not be larger than 30 km).
Example:
Original values: (X (east/west) = 3402002 m; Y (north/south) = 5802627
m; Z (height) = 45 m)
End result: (X (east/west) = 2002 m; Y (north/south) = 2627 m; Z
(height) = 45 m)

2. Inserting the point cloud into Revit with the option Auto - Center to Center. You can subsequently
rotate and move it as needed, to bring it into a more favorable position for processing. Using Point
Cloud -Coordinates - Linking PC Coordinates on page 218, you can align the shared coordinate
system and the internal point cloud coordinate system.

3. To re-align the shared coordinate system with the original, non-reduced coordinates, use Manage -

Project Location - Coordinates - Specify Coordinates at Point . Enter the reduced values
again. It is best to use the Revit project base point.

Point Cloud not Loaded

If your point cloud is not found within your project, use Insert - Manage Links and the Point Clouds tab
in the dialog box. Click the link name, then click Reload From.... Navigate to the folder containing the point
cloud file, and select the file that failed to load; here, kubit_sample_house.rcp. Click Apply, then exit by
clicking OK. The point cloud is now correctly referenced in the project.

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Displaying and Clipping Point Clouds

The display and clipping of point clouds in Revit can be controlled independently for each view.

Open the settings for visibility / graphics (View - Graphics - Visibility / Graphics ):

1 Hide / show all point clouds in this view.

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2 Insert point cloud with individual scans.

Change the color mode for the point cloud:

l RGB

l Single Color
3
l Elevation

l Intensity

l Normals

WARNING! Avoid hiding individual scans or regions. As-Built provides a 3D point snap for some
commands. Because of the limitations of the Revit API (application programming interface),
it is not possible to consider any hidden individual scans or regions. It is therefore possible
that As-Built might snap to points that are in a hidden individual scan or region. This does
not affect completely hidden point cloud objects (RCP).

Sectioning Point Clouds

Point clouds can be sectioned in the same way as all other Revit model elements. The visible area of a point
cloud is limited in the 3D view by the extents of the section box and the cropped region:

Setting the View Range

Object visibility (walls and point cloud) is controlled by the View Range settings. The As-Built 3D point
snap considers the clipping of point clouds in a view range, section box, and a clipped region of the current

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view. In planar views, such as floor plans, elevations, or sections, the visible area of the point cloud is also
limited by the properties of the view range of the current view. Open Properties (Floor Plan) - Extents -
View Range - Edit. Set your ranges, and click OK.

Figure 3-1 Displaying the point cloud in a plan view: The bottom of the view range with an offset of 100 mm (left) and no offset (right).

In floor plan views, you should set the View Range Bottom a few centimeters above the view plane,
therefore, in our example, the bottom edge of the view range has been set 100 millimeters above the plane
Level 1. This hides points on the floor, making the floor plan more visible.

Avoiding Selection of the Point Cloud

The point cloud is highlighted whenever the mouse hovers over it. To disable this, click Select links in the
icons at the bottom right corner, or de-select the Select links box under Architecture - Modify - Select.

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or

Working with the Section Manager

When modeling in the point cloud, it can be helpful to limit the visible region of the point cloud
independently of the model. The section tools, together with the Section Manager in As-Built, offer
numerous features for division of the point cloud into named sections, and hiding and showing them, as
needed.

The clipping of the point cloud is done independently of the views defined in the project. The clipped
regions are saved as named sections in the Section Manager, and saved with your project. You can access
defined sections at any time in all views. It is also possible to divide the sections hierarchically. You can
find detailed information on the definition of sections and their management in the Sections on page 89.

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Figure 3-2 Model section with point cloud section and Section Manager

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Modeling Tips
As-Built extends the Revit capabilities with its own powerful tools for creating and customizing components
and construction aids in the point cloud.

Modeling Methods
When modeling with As-Built, there are two different methods available:

l Create components and construction aids directly in the Revit point cloud. You can use As-Built to
fit objects (for example, walls and work planes) on to the point cloud, as well as a 3D point snap in the
point cloud.

l Create components and construction aids in a photo-like scan view. You can work with scan views
using SendToRevit in As-Built Modeler and SCENE. Working in the scan view can be more intuitive
and faster than in the 3D point cloud.

You can use these methods in parallel, or individually. All of the functions that are available in
SendToRevit in the scan view can be used on the point cloud directly in Revit.

Modeling Tutorials
You can access the tutorials from As-Built - Getting Started on page 257.

Tutorial 1 - Modeling a Room in Revit

In this tutorial you learn to

l prepare a point cloud for fittings the walls.

l create the walls relative to the point cloud.

l create doors and windows.

Tutorial 2 - Modeling a Room with SendToRevit

In this tutorial you learn to

l create a wall.

l create doors and windows.

l work with construction aids.

l create beams and columns.

TIPS

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Stairs: To complete the stairs, we recommend marking the bottom side of the steps with construction points,
and then defining the work plane of the construction point as the active work plane using one of the Work
Plane commands. The front edge of the step can now be placed exactly on that plane using the Model -

Model Line on page 216, together with the Intersect the click ray with the plane point mode to
draw the risers for the stairs.

Beams and Columns: Carefully read the information under As-Built Structure - Structure Tools - Fit
Structural Element on page 109 before creating beams or columns. It’s important to declare which one you
are modeling.

Tutorial 3 - Creating Pipe Runs

In this tutorial you learn to

l fit pipes.

l place pipe fittings.

l align pipe runs.

l insert pipe accessories.

Tutorial 4 - Structural Frames

In this tutorial you learn to

l fit structural beams and columns

l align structural elements

l create a closed structural frame

Typical Workflow Scan-To-BIM

For each new project using As-Built, we recommend the following modeling workflow:

Creating Placing
Setting-up Aligning Point Cloud and Creating Families and In-
Superordinate Components Place Families
Vertical Sections Placing Levels
Geometry

Orthogonal views (floor plans, sections, or elevations) play a key role in modeling. Therefore, you should
define the necessary views first. The final step in the creation of superordinate geometry is automatic
alignment. Do not place any components before performing this step.

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Setting-up Vertical Sections

When you start a new project from a template, there are typically already multiple levels defined in the
project. These levels must first be fitted to the point cloud.

Insert the point cloud into your project using the option Auto - Center to Center (see also Inserting Point
Clouds on page 7). Change to the Site view. This is the best way to add and fit levels. It gives you the best
overview, because the view boundaries are set to a large area.

Before creating the section, activate the section lines in the site plan view by clicking Visibility / Graphics
Overrides from the Properties palette, and activate Sections under Annotation categories.

Create a new section line in the site plan using View - Create - Section . Place it as a cross-section
through the point cloud. The section width can be set relatively small, because the section will initially be
used to determine floor levels. Change to a Section View.

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Aligning Point Cloud and Placing Levels

Aligning Point Cloud

The point cloud should be moved before you fit levels, so that the height of the scanned floor at ground
floor level equals 0 in the Revit model. Select the point cloud - Modify -Move . Select a point on the
floor of the point cloud as the start point for the move. With the point cloud object snap activated (Manage
- Settings - Snaps ) Revit finds a point on a meaned plane in the point cloud. Select a target point on
level 0:

You can then set the height of all other levels from the point cloud, or create new levels in the section view.

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Placing Levels
You can place levels using either Revit’s command Architecture - Datum - Level or using As-Built
Architecture - Walls - Level on page 105.

Setting-up Project Coordinates

Switch to the plan view for level 0. We recommend aligning the point cloud to project north. This aids in
the generation of elevation and section views, and improves navigation during modeling.

To rotate it, select the point cloud and choose - Modify -Rotate .

Click Place in the options bar below the ribbons, to place the center of rotation (1) using the point cloud
snap function on a clearly visible external wall face in the point cloud. Select a second point on the same
external wall face to define the start ray of the rotation (2). This point should, where possible, lie far away
from the rotation point. You can now pick a point in the project (3), so that the end ray of the rotation is set
orthogonally to project north.

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The point cloud is now aligned in height and rotation to the Revit project coordinate system. To allow
restoration of the reference to the point cloud coordinate system, the shared coordinate system of Revit
should be appropriately aligned. To do this, select Point Cloud - Coordinates - Linking PC Coordinates on
page 218, then click in the point cloud.

The shared coordinate system is now aligned to the point cloud coordinate system. You can check this by
selecting the project base point in the Site plan.

Creating Superordinate Geometry

Now, you can start modeling the main components. To prepare your project for fitting walls, you can either
set the view range or prepare the point cloud.

Setting the View Range

This quickly creates improved visibility of the point cloud. We recommend setting this a few centimeters
above the floor. For more information, see Setting the View Range on page 12.

Preparing the Point Cloud

Preparing the point cloud also improves visibility, but needs time to compute. The time this takes depends
on the chosen settings, the size of the point cloud and field-of-view. See Point Cloud - Prepare Point Cloud

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on page 223. Revit version 2015 and older needed this step to speed-up wall fitting. New versions have
faster wall fitting capabilities, making this step optional.

Fitting Walls
Now, you are ready to model the walls (see As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33 and in
both Tutorial 1 - Modeling a Room in Revit on page 16 and Tutorial 2 - Modeling a Room with SendToRevit
on page 16). Fit Walls assists you in the precise placement of the walls, as well as the creation of new wall
types, relative to the wall thicknesses found in the scan.

Aligning Walls
Gaps between the walls, or non-continuous wall faces, can be corrected (see As-Built Architecture - Walls
- Align Walls on page 36). Align Walls allows you to establish perpendicularity, parallelism, wall
intersections, and continuous alignment within pre-defined margins of error, as well as simultaneously over
multiple stories.

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Placing Components in an Aligned View

To place individual components, such as doors and windows, you should create several aligned views
(framing elevations - Creating a Framing Elevation on page 23) and section views in the model. Afterward,
the components can be inserted and aligned in the section views.

Creating a Framing Elevation

If you need views that are precisely orthogonally-aligned to a component (ex: a wall), consider a framing
elevation.

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First, create a reference plane. It will be your view plane. Use standard Revit commands or the As-Built
commands for fitting planes: Work Plane - Fit Plane (n Points) on page 194 or Fit Plane (1 Point) on page
192.

Name the reference plane. Now, you can create a framing elevation using View - Create - Elevation -
Framing Elevation.See (Autodesk Revit) Video: Create Elevation Views for more information.

Alternatively, you can use SendToRevit (see Tutorial 2 - Modeling a Room with SendToRevit on page 16),
to place components such as windows, doors, beams, or columns.

Creating Families and In-Place Families

If you need new component families, As-Built helps you achieve this using a variety of versatile functions.

Point cloud regions can be exported from the 3D view using Point Cloud - Export PC Region on page 220.
This allows insertion into the Family Editor using Family Editor - Connect Point Cloud - Insert PC
Region on page 268. Construction aids such as model lines or construction points can be created using the
SendToRevit scan view in the Family Editor. Scaled ortho images (Family Editor - Connect Point Cloud -
Insert Ortho Image on page 269) can be inserted into the Family Editor to be used as a model reference.

If you have created model lines in the project environment as construction aids, then you can save them
directly from the families document and process them further in the Family Editor. To create these, use
Model - Save as Family on page 209.

Working with Scan Views in SendToRevit

To work with scan views, As-Built uses SendToRevit in the external programs SCENE or As-Built
Modeler. SendToRevit provides a special tool palette for working in Revit. This allows Revit modeling in
both the Revit project environment and in the Revit Family Editor. The commands can be run directly from
SCENE or As-Built Modeler. You do not have to switch between them and Revit.

For the basics of working with SCENE, see the SCENE manual. For As-Built Modeler, please see the As-
Built Modeler manual. An English version of the SendToRevit user guide can be opened directly from the
drop-down menu of SendToRevit (Open Manual). An English version of the As-Built Modeler user guide
can be opened by clicking the question mark in the upper right inside of the application. The same applies to
SCENE.

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SendToRevit Tools
Certain commands in various ribbons can be started in either As-Built, or SendToRevit through As-Built
Modeler or SCENE. They work the same way in all applications. The commands that can also be started
from Revit allow you to click points either in the scan view or directly in the Revit point cloud. The 3D
point snap in As-Built helps you with this. Also, when one of these commands is active, you can switch
between clicking in the external scan view and clicking in the point cloud.

Where applicable, all of the currently-loaded family types are available in the drop-down list Type.

Structure of SendToRevit Commands in Revit

For As-Built Modeler, click SendToRevit in the Apps toolbar. Then click Open Toolbar. The connection to
Revit is established instantaneously. Click the desired command to begin. To close, click the X in the top
right corner.

Clicking a command (in our example: Wall ) opens a dialog box, where you typically have additional
command options. Refer to the specific command (Command Reference Guide: As-Built Architecture on
page 30) to learn more about the available options.

The command options are context sensitive, so that the options and choices offered are dependent upon the
command being used. The dialog box is always shown in the foreground, and can be moved around.

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1 Level - Auto-mode on/off, and defining the connected levels. See Level Auto-Mode On/Off on page 108.
2 Type selection from those available in this command, and commands to create family examples.
3 Selection of the point mode to be used in the active command type. See Point Modes on page 43.
4 Selection of the command option. See corresponding topic.
5 Description of the selected point mode or command option.

Level Auto-Mode On/Off

The automatic level function is activated or deactivated using the Auto-Mode ON and OFF buttons. This
function influences how walls and family instances are created using As-Built Architecture - Walls - Wall
on page 31 and As-Built Architecture - Place - Column on page 107.

Values can only be changed, when automatic level function is switched off. When the auto-mode is off, As-
Built for Revit uses the settings of the selection fields for the base level and the top constraint.

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Select the level for the lower component restraint. When active view is selected, the lower edge is set to
the level of the current active view.
1

NOTE: Active view in Revit must be a floor plan, to create walls or columns.
Select the level for the upper component restraint. Unconnected means the upper edge of the component
2
won’t be connected. Instead, the given height is used.
3 Enter a height, when unconnected is selected for the upper component restraint.

If the automatic level function is activated, the components are connected at the base and upper constraints
with both levels nearest the points clicked in the scan or point cloud. A wall (1) is created between the
clicked points in the scan (2).

Point Modes
All of the tools below can also be used with SendToRevit. They all have the same point mode options. The
point modes control how the picked coordinates are used. The following point modes are available:

Icon
Point Mode Operation

Standard Uses the 3D coordinates of the selected point.

Intersection with The intersection point is between the active Revit work plane, and the line-of-sight
the work plane between the scanner position and the point that has been clicked in the scan.
Projects the point clicked in the scan perpendicularly onto the active Revit work
Plumb foot point
plane.

When using the point modes Plumb foot point and Intersection point with work plane, As-Built converts
the coordinates of the clicked points onto Revit’s active work plane, according to the selected mode. You
can determine relevant points for constructing Revit elements with significantly more accuracy than by
simply clicking on scanned points. Using the point modes together with the opening commands (Window on

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page 44; Door on page 45), causes the conversion to refer to the plane of the side wall (and curved surfaces
on a curved wall) closest to the scanner position.

The following illustrates how to use point modes when creating openings:

1 Window
2 Wall
3 Wall-side plane or active work plane
4 Scan Position
X Point clicked in the scan
X Point used for the command

Set Project Coordinates

| Used in: Family, SendToRevit

Specifies the project coordinates, with which you want to work in your project. This applies to both the
project environment and the family editor.

Upon starting the command the following option window opens up:

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Icon Command Operation

Project
Click a point to define the origin of the project coordinate system in Revit.
origin
Project Click two points to define the direction of the x-axis (east-west) of the Revit project
orientation coordinate system.
Project
Click two points to define the direction of the x-axis (east-west) of the Revit project
origin and
coordinate system. The project origin is defined as the midpoint between the two points.
alignment
Project z-
Click a point in the scan to define the z-height of the Revit project coordinate system.
height
Set the Click two points to define the direction of the x-axis (east-west) of the Revit project
project coordinate system. Click a third point to fix the position of the y-axis (north-south).
coordinates Click a fourth point to define the z-height.

If the option affect shared coordinates is selected, the As-Built Modeler project coordinates are also
transferred into the Revit defined Shared coordinate system. This is important when the As-Built Modeler
project is, for example, in a superior reference coordinate system, and you want to work in Revit in this
coordinate system, as well with other data (e.g. point clouds or layout plans). The Shared coordinate
system ensures that all data in this reference coordinate system are brought into Revit in the correct
position. In the Revit Family editor this option has no effect.

Detail Line
| Used in: SendToRevit

Creates detail lines in Revit.

Click points in the SendToRevit scan view to create detail lines in the active Revit view. A planar view or
quick view must be active in As-Built Modeler to use this command.

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Command Reference Guide:

As-Built Architecture
The structure of the Command Reference Guides is explained below.

Command Reference Structure

All of the commands that are relevant for managing and configuring your As-Built installation. The
commands are ordered by ribbon and have the following structure:

Ribbon Text
Icon| Used in: Project, Family, or SendToRevit

Meanings
Ribbon Text: Command is found under this heading in the As-Built tab on the ribbon.

Icon: Call the command, by clicking the icon shown, either in the toolbar or the As-Built tab in the ribbon.

Used in: The command is available in

l Project: Revit’s project environment.

l Family: Revit’s Family Editor.

l SendToRevit: The command is found in SendToRevit.

Walls
The following commands can be found in the Walls section of the As-Built Architecture ribbon.

Level

| Used in: Project, SendToRevit

Creates a new level using a picked point.

Points can be picked in both the Revit point cloud and a SendToRevit scan view.

Once you have created a level, a corresponding plan view is also created. The name depends on the settings
under As-Built - Settings on page 259.

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Wall

| Used in: Project, SendToRevit

Places walls using 2 points on a wall face in the Revit project.

Points can be picked in both the Revit point cloud and the SendToRevit scan view.

Upon starting the command, the following dialog box appears:

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Under Level, you define the lower and upper constraints of the component. For more information, see Level
Auto-Mode On/Off on page 108.

All of the currently loaded window families and their types are available in the drop-down list Type.
Choose the type of wall to insert.

The point modes control how the picked coordinates are to be used. Choose a point mode. See Point Modes
on page 43 for more information.

Choose a command option:

Icon Command Operation

Straight
Click two points in the scan to create a wall.
wall
Curved
Click three points in the scan to create a curved wall.
wall
Continuous Click an unlimited number of points in the scan to create continuous walls. Click two
wall points per wall segment. The individual walls will be automatically joined to each other.

Wall Thickness

| Used in: Project, SendToRevit

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Adapts the thickness of already existing walls, by picking points on the second wall face. A wall must
already exist in Revit within the preset search distance (see As-Built - Settings on page 259).

Upon starting this command, the following dialog box appears:

The point modes control how the picked coordinates are to be used. Choose a point mode. See Point Modes
on page 43 for more information.

Choose a command option:

Icon Command Operation

Adjusting a straight Click two points in the scan on the second side of the wall to customize the
wall wall thickness.
Adjusting a curved Click one point in the scan on the second side of the wall to adjust the wall
wall thickness.

In Revit, the wall width is always defined by the structure of the selected wall type. To adapt the width of
an existing wall, As-Built makes a copy of the existing wall type, adapts the width of the load-bearing layer
according to the measurement, and applies the new wall type to the existing wall. The new wall type
receives the wall thickness as a name suffix (e.g. name changed from Generic - 200 mm to Generic - 200
mm_ 365,0 mm). You can re-name the wall type at any time.

Fit Wall
| Used in: Project

Fits vertical, straight walls fast and precisely in a point cloud. It can be used in floor-plan views. Upon
starting this command, the following dialog box appears:

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It serves to define the upper edge of the new walls that will be drawn. The default preset value is the next
level above the active floor plan. It is possible to set the value of Top Constraint to manual, to define a
wall height in the now enabled Wall Height text box. When using Fit only one wall face, the wall
recognition assumes that there is only one wall side visible in the point cloud.

Start Wall Fitting closes the dialog box. Follow the prompts in the Revit status bar.

Choose the start and end points of the wall. Both clicks should lie approximately on the center-line of the
wall to be drawn.

Based on the initially clicked line, the correct rotation and extent of the wall are calculated. Based on the
determined and appropriately rounded wall thickness, the compatible Revit wall types will be displayed for
you in the dialog box which appears.

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1 Preview of selected wall type.

List of all wall types loaded in the project. Best Fit lists wall types by how well they match the
2
determined wall thickness. Loaded Wall Types are all loaded walls types in alphabetical order.

3 List of recently used wall types.

4 Expands the dialog box.

5 Previews the wall you are inserting. Use the middle mouse button to zoom.

The best matching wall type is highlighted in the Best Fit list. You can select a different wall type.

Using Insert Selected Type, a wall of the selected wall type is inserted.

If you don’t find a wall type with the determined wall thickness, you can create a new wall type using
Insert Selected Type with Adjustment. This copies the currently selected wall type and adapts its
thickness. With multi-layered wall types, you can define which layer of the wall will have its thickness
adapted. To do this click >>. This expands the dialog box.

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When you select a wall type for Insert Selected Type with Adjustment, the layer of the wall type which is
at the top of the Layers to Adjust list will have its thickness adjusted. The Structure layer is selected by
default. This can be re-ordered using the up and down arrows. Rounding defines the accuracy to which the
determined wall thickness is rounded. The default is 5 mm.

If the wall cannot be correctly determined, two different procedures should be considered:

l If you have selected the wrong starting points, simply repeat the input of the initial click-line. Use
Cancel and Repeat.

l Assist the algorithm, by giving it some correction points. This is necessary when there are a lot of
interference objects that influence fitting the wall, or there are large openings in the wall (for example a
large window). This allows you to define up to four correction points, which, in the search for the local
optimum, define the start position of the wall.
Click with the left mouse button in the preview area, in the vicinity of one of the two red lines. This
highlights the line more thickly. Now click a point in the preview window, approximately through which
the red line should run. The correction points are shown as small blue crosses, if applicable with an
additional line to their associated wall side. After a correction point has been defined, As-Built again
searches for the optimum local wall. Up to two correction points can be defined for each side of the
wall.

Fit only One Wall Face

If you have only scanned one side of the wall, select this option. This tells As-Built to use the single wall
face to calculate the placement of your wall.

The wall position is determined based on the detected line. The red dashed line represents the other wall
face, based on the wall thickness you entered. Switch Wall Face changes the notional side of the non-
scanned wall face.

Align Walls
| Used in: Project

Ensures perpendicularity, parallelism, wall intersection, and continuous axial alignment within a defined
tolerance for the selected walls.

NOTE: We strongly recommend running this command before adding host elements such as windows,
doors, or openings. If you add or attach these before aligning the walls, these elements may not be
moved with the walls. Also, the walls should not be attached to levels, structural elements, or
planes. Align Walls might not be able to adjust the walls afterward.

This is primarily used to correct the results of the As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33,
where the walls are created with the best possible local fit to the point cloud. The result of using Fit Wall is

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that the walls are sometimes not joined, wall faces are not exactly in line (especially external wall faces), or
the angle between almost perpendicular walls is not precisely 90°.

Align Walls allows you to control how far the walls are corrected.

General Info Align Walls

The following sections contain information of general interest regarding how to use Align Walls.

Three Steps to Alignment of Walls

To understand the description of the parameters in the Align Walls dialog box, you need to have an
overview of the three main steps of wall alignment.

1. Rotate all wallsto the desired reference system, if they fit within the deviation tolerance value. This
deviation tolerance value is comprised of the parameters Max. deviation for reference directions and
Max. rotation angle for walls. The latter is important, because it prevents short wall segments, which
can lead to artifacts in the floor plan.

2. Axially align walls, so that the displacement of each wall lies within the set deviation tolerance value
for axial alignments. This value is controlled by the parameter Max. deviation for wall axis
alignment. We recommend setting it to a higher value than the Max. deviation for wall axis
alignment parameter, to allow axial-alignment of the rotated walls.

3. Intersect walls with each other. Walls that are within a pre-set search radius are trimmed or extended
to create a closed floor plan. The search radius is defined by the parameter Make wall joints with
radius and can be completely disabled by de-selecting this.

Reference Systems
All of the walls are assigned to a single reference system. This consists of a reference direction in the floor
plan plane and an increment angle. The default increment angle is 90°. There are two categories of reference
systems:

l The user-defined reference systems (highest priority)

l Automatic reference systems

It is impossible to assign a wall, within the pre-defined margin of error to a user-defined reference system,
when the automatic reference system is being used. Thus, the user-defined reference system has priority.
The Revit project north and wall groups will be used as a user-defined reference system.

Wall Groups
A wall group is a user-defined selection of walls, whose mean orientation is used as the reference direction
of a user-defined reference system. Each individual direction of the selected walls within a wall group are
averaged. Therefore, you should only select walls for a wall group, if they run in approximately in the same
direction, and if they are not at right angles to each other.

Align Walls Dialog Box

Align Walls first asks, in the Revit status bar, for you to select the walls to be edited. You can only select
straight line-based walls. Confirm your selection with Finish. The following dialog box appears, with a first
preview of the results:

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Options

Use also user defined reference directions is the default functionality. Both
the Revit project north and the wall groups are used as the reference
system.
1 Ignore user defined directions - automatic only means user-defined
reference systems do not have priority. As-Built attempts to find a solution
with the least possible wall deviation.

Leave wall axis unchanged means only wall ends within the search radius
are intersected with each other.

Reference Direction

Use project north defines the project north with reference direction 0° as
the reference system.
2
Use wall groups switches the user-defined wall groups as reference
systems either on or off. If this option is selected, wall groups can be
added, edited, or removed.

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Wall Groups

Add.... causes the dialog box to disappear. Select one or more walls for a
wall group or walls needing modification.

NOTE: The walls in the wall groups should not be perpendicular to one
3 another. To calculate the mean direction angle, they should be
more or less aligned.

Remove disregards whole wall groups or individual walls. Select the group
or single wall in the tree view, then click Remove. Zoom into a wall in the
preview by double-clicking on the wall.

Parameter

Precise tolerances and other parameters for wall alignment are adjusted
here.

Max. deviation for reference directions is the maximum deviation from

the original wall axis.

Max. rotation angle for walls is the maximum allowable rotation. This is
important for preventing short wall segments from resulting in artifacts in
the floor plan. In most cases, this can be ignored.
4
Increment angle for reference directions defines the global increment
angle for all reference systems. By default, it is set to 90° (perpendicular).
Behind the text boxes for the above described parameters, there are + and -
buttons. These double or halve the currently set value.

Max. deviation for wall axis alignment is the deviation tolerance value
for axial alignment. It is usually set to a higher value than Max. deviation
for reference directions, to allow axially alignment of the rotated walls.

Make wall joints with radius defines the search radius. This can be
disabled by de-selecting it.

Wall List Results

Tabulated results of the Align Walls command.

Next to the respective reference direction is the deviation from its starting
position and the RevitWall ID. The small colored square in front is the
legend color. The table can be sorted in either ascending or descending
5 order by clicking the respective column header. Double-clicking the RefDir
for a wall zooms in to the respective wall segment in the preview window.

Add Walls ..., inserts additional walls for editing. The dialog box to select
new walls disappears while walls are being selected.

Remove Walls ... - leaves walls out of the editing.

6 Preview of wall alignment, as will be inserted into your project.

7 Display Colour Options

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Controls the colors of the walls in the preview window, and thus the
properties visualized in the model.

Show deviation displays wall deviation

from its original position. Red corresponds
to a large deviation; green to a minimal
deviation.

Show reference systems colors the model

in accordance to the membership of the
walls to a particular reference system. The
same color means the walls are in the same
reference system.

Show wall axis shows wall axes belonging

together.

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Show open or connected walls displays

walls, which have both ends connected to a
neighboring wall, in green. Walls that are
connected only at one end appear yellow;
Walls with neither end connected are red.

Show original position displays all walls as

gray and in their original position.

NOTE: When you close the dialog box with

this option active, the original
position of the walls is restored.

Update Results

Automatically - updates after each dialog change. This can take a very
8
long time in large models.

Update - manually perform updates to preview.

9 Errors; Warnings

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During the fitting of the Revit model using

the command Align Walls, you may receive
Revit errors and warnings. These are shown
separately. Clicking on Errors xxx,
Warnings yyy, you can see any existing
errors and warnings. This opens the dialog
box to the left. Click OK to return.

Output

Displays information regarding the executed command, including the

10 number of the reference systems found, the number of wall axes found, and
the minimum and maximum deviation of the walls from their original
positions. The maximum deviation consists of wall displacement both
before and after adjustments are made.

Ending Align Walls Command

Click OK to confirm the alignment of the walls to your specifications. Cancel ends the command without
taking any action.

You can align the walls in floor plan views or 3D views, too:

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Place
The following commands can be found in the Place section of the As-Built Architecture ribbon.

Point Modes
All of the tools below can also be used with SendToRevit. They all have the same point mode options. The
point modes control how the picked coordinates are used. The following point modes are available:

Icon
Point Mode Operation

Standard Uses the 3D coordinates of the selected point.

Intersection with The intersection point is between the active Revit work plane, and the line-of-sight
the work plane between the scanner position and the point that has been clicked in the scan.
Projects the point clicked in the scan perpendicularly onto the active Revit work
Plumb foot point
plane.

When using the point modes Plumb foot point and Intersection point with work plane, As-Built converts
the coordinates of the clicked points onto Revit’s active work plane, according to the selected mode. You
can determine relevant points for constructing Revit elements with significantly more accuracy than by
simply clicking on scanned points. Using the point modes together with the opening commands (Window on
page 44; Door on page 45), causes the conversion to refer to the plane of the side wall (and curved surfaces
on a curved wall) closest to the scanner position.

The following illustrates how to use point modes when creating openings:

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1 Window
2 Wall
3 Wall-side plane or active work plane
4 Scan Position
X Point clicked in the scan
X Point used for the command

Window

| Used in: Project, SendToRevit

Places windows in the Revit project. A wall must exist in Revit within the preset search distance (see As-
Built - Settings on page 259).

Points for placing the window can be picked in both the Revit point cloud and the SendToRevit scan view.

Upon starting this command, the following dialog box appears:

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Icon Command Operation

Using
Click two diagonal points in the scan to create a window in an existing wall.
diagonals
Using Click four points in the four reveals, or on the edges of the window opening in the scan,
reveals to create a window in an existing wall.

All of the currently loaded window families and their types are available in the drop-down list Type.
Choose a window type.

Create new family type duplicates the selected window type, but sets its dimensions to those designated by
your point selection. If this option is not activated, the height and width dimensions will only be adjusted if
they are defined as instance parameters.

The point modes control how the picked coordinates are to be used. Choose a point mode. See Point Modes
on page 43 for more information.

Door
| Used in: Project, SendToRevit

Places doors in the Revit project. A wall must exist in Revit within the preset search distance (see As-Built -
Settings on page 259).

Points for placing the door can be picked in both the Revit point cloud and the SendToRevit scan view.

Upon starting the command the following dialog box appears:

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Icon Command Operation

Using
Click two diagonal points in the scan to create a door in an existing wall.
diagonals
Using Click four points in the four reveals, or on the edges of the door opening in the scan, to
reveals create a door in an existing wall.

All of the currently loaded door families and their types are available in the drop-down list Type. Choose a
door type.

Create new family type duplicates the selected door type, but sets its dimensions to those designated by
your point selection. If this option is not activated, the height and width dimensions will only be adjusted if
they are defined as instance parameters.

The point modes control how the picked coordinates are to be used. Choose a point mode. See Point Modes
on page 43 for more information.

Opening

| Used in: Project, SendToRevit

Places openings in the Revit project. For this purpose there must be an existing wall in Revit within the
preset search distance (see As-Built - Settings on page 259).

Points for placing the opening can be picked in both the Revit point cloud and also in the SendToRevit scan
view.

Upon starting the command the following dialog box appears:

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Icon Command Operation

Using
Click two diagonal points in the scan to create an opening in an existing wall.
diagonals
Using Click four points in the four reveals, or on the edges of the opening in the scan, to create
reveals an opening in an existing wall.

The point modes control how the picked coordinates are to be used. Choose a point mode. See Point Modes
on page 43 for more information.

Column
| Used in: Project, SendToRevit

Places columns, by picking up to 3 points in the scan, or in the point cloud in the Revit project.

Upon starting the command the following dialog box appears:

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Under Level, you define the lower and upper constraints of the component. For more information, see Level
Auto-Mode On/Off on page 108.

All of the currently loaded column families and their types are available in the drop-down list Type. Choose
the type of column to insert.

The point modes control how the picked coordinates are to be used. Choose a point mode. See Point Modes
on page 43 for more information.

Icon Command Operation

Using
Click a single point (base point) in the scan to create an instance of the selected family
center
type.
point
Click three points to create an instance of the selected family type. This determines the
maximum extents of the family's geometry in the floor plan level (x-y level), creating a
Using a
bounding rectangle. The first two points determine the orientation of the long side of the
rectangle
rectangle; the third point the position of the short side; the center-point of the rectangle
forms the base-point of the family.
Using a Click three points in the scan to create an instance of the selected family type. The center
circle point of the circle drawn through the three points forms the base-point of the family.

Work Plane
The following commands can be found in the Work Plane section of the As-Built Architecture ribbon.

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Fit Plane (1 Point)

| Used in: Project

Searches for, and averages, a plane with a single-click a planar point cloud surface, thus defining a work
plane with one click. In the Revit status bar, you are prompted to pick a point on the point cloud on the
planar surface to which the plane will be fitted. The currently set search radius is shown, too.

As soon as you have clicked a point, a progress bar appears briefly, followed by a dialog box:

Fit Plane Dialog Element Description

The plane averaging can be restricted with respect to another plane or line.

No restriction - applies no restrictions to the plane fitting.

1 Perpendicular - a work plane is created perpendicular to the selected plane or line. Next, define the
Restricted to option. At least two points are required.

Parallel - a work plane is created that is parallel to the selected plane or line. Next, define the
Restricted to option. This needs only one point.

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Restricts the plane fitting to specified criteria.

XY plane - a plane that is parallel to a Revit level.

YZ plane - a plane that stands orthogonal to the Revit levels and runs in a north-south direction.

XZ plane - a plane that stands orthogonal to the Revit levels and runs in an east-west direction.

Plane and Line - activates Select, to select a model line or plane. Once you have made your
selection, there is a green check mark next to Select. Otherwise, it is a red question mark.

The following dialog appears, when using plane, prompting selection of the type of plane: A named
Revit level or a reference plane by name; a planar model surface; or the sketch plane of a model
line:

Select Plane Dialog

Gives you the opportunity to name your plane and / or create bounding model lines.

Create named reference plane - enter the name of the plane you are creating.
3
Create bounding model lines - creates a bounding polygon from model lines. The model lines
contain the averaged plane as a sketch plane.

4 This shows the quality of the plane, together with its standard deviation and maximum deviation.

You can set more command-relevant parameters using As-Built - Settings on page 259. The relevant
sections are As-Built - Settings on page 259: Plane Detection - Plane Search Radius and As-Built -
Settings on page 259: Point Cloud Parameters - Noise.

You can automatically determine the point cloud parameter using Point Cloud - Auto Measure Parameters
on page 227.

Fit Plane (n Points)

| Used in: Project

Creates an averaged plane from an arbitrary (large) number of selected points in a point cloud. The active
work plane can be created using this, and much more. Upon starting this command, you are prompted in the

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Revit status bar to pick as many points on the desired point cloud plane as you wish. Click ESC to bring-up
the following dialog box, which displays the selected points, the quality of the plane, and the output modes:

The selected points and their coordinates - the Deviation column displays the deviation of the
1
respective point from the averaged plane.

2 Quality of the plane, with its standard deviation and maximum deviation

For more information regarding all other sections, see Fit Plane Dialog Element Description on page 193.

Click OK to set the averaged plane as the active plane, and enact all selected options.

Fit Plane with Contour

| Used in: Project

Extracts planes from the point cloud, together with their boundaries, as model lines. This allows, for
example, the creation of roof edges for modeling of roofs:

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Start with the point cloud.

The plane of a roof, together with its boundary, is determined.

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From these planes, the roof edges can be created as model lines using Model -Intersect 3 Planes on page
215.

This wire-frame model can now be used as the basis for creating an in-place family (Massing & Site tab -
Conceptual Mass - In-Place Mass ). The roof can be very easily and precisely modeled from these
surfaces (Massing & Site tab - Model by Face - Roof ).

You can, for example, single-click the façade wall. The result is a bounded façade plane:

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The following dialog box is displayed, and offers several settings that influence the quality of your results:

Fit Plane with Contour Dialog

The point cloud parameters Noise and Average point distance are displayed as information.
Clicking Change calls the As-Built - Settings on page 259 dialog, where you can change certain
1
values. Point Cloud - Auto Measure Parameters on page 227 automatically determines the point
cloud parameter. See Noise and Average Point Distance on page 199.

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The parameters Smoothing and Sample width influence the quality of the resulting contour. See
2
Smoothing and Sample Width on page 199.

3 Enter the name of the plane you are creating. This is optional.

Noise and Average Point Distance

These parameters are related to the other parameters. The Average point distance determines the minimum
value of the Sample width setting. The noise influences the accuracy of the plane. It defines how much the
plane may deviate from the ideal plane. The value must consider the noise of the scan, as well as the surface
and the curvature properties. For example, the value for a rough render should be larger than 5 mm, because
the surface of the rough render deviates by around 5 mm. An uneven floor behaves similarly. When it
curves in the middle by approximately 1 cm, then the noise must also be at least 1 cm. The larger the value,
the less precise is the resulting plane. When the value is 1 cm, the plane can deviate by up to 1 cm at the
edges. If the value is too small, it means that determination of the plane terminates prematurely and not all
of the points in the scanned plane are used to determine the plane.

Smoothing and Sample Width

The parameters Smoothing and Sample width influence the quality of the resulting contour. For
Smoothing, the tolerance determines which points on the contour will belong to a line segment. The larger
the value, the less frayed the contour appears.

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With a small contour smoothing of 5 mm, many corner points are generated. This can be recognized by the
light blue circles on the façade edges in the image to the right. A continuous façade edge without any
intermediate points is more desirable.

With a smoothing value of 50 mm, there are no intermediate points on the façade edge. The façade edge is
consistently smooth. By using + and -, you can double or halve the value.

Using Sample width, you define by how much it should extend over holes and swells.

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We will use this hall roof to demonstrate.

From the front, you will see that the roof cladding is broken-up by these swells of approximately 15 cm.

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With a sample width of 5 cm, you capture too little of the roof area.

Using a sample width of 20 cm allows it to extend over the swells, capturing the entire roof.

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In addition to extending over holes and swells, the Sample width parameter also influences the speed of
contour discovery. If you use a large value, you will get a plane sketch more quickly. The minimum value
of the Sample width setting is determined by the Average point distance setting; the maximum value is
determined by the current Smoothness setting. To get a higher value, the value of the Smoothness setting
must first be increased.

Regression Results
Confirm your settings with Start. In the Revit status bar, you are prompted to pick a point from the point
cloud that you want to model as a plane with a boundary. The command starts to define the plane and its
contour. During the calculation, the following status dialog box appears:

Once finished, the status dialog box disappears. You have a recognized work plane on the point cloud plane,
along with its boundary, which is used as model lines.

Model
The following commands can be found in the Model section of the As-Built Architecture ribbon.

Fit Polygon
| Used in: Project

Fits a polygon, or line-chain composed of model lines, onto a point cloud:

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Figure 6-1 Polygon - before fit

Figure 6-2 Polygon - after Fit

The fitted polygon can be used, for example, to modify the profile of a wall, or for the modeling of an
opening.

Select the wall, then select Edit Profile (Modify|Walls - Mode).

In sketch mode for the wall profile, you can select the fitted polygon using the command Select lines .

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In order for the line segments to be recognized as connected line-chains / polygon-chains, they must lie on
the same sketch plane. The sketch plane corresponds to the work plane that was active when the lines were
created. Such a work plane can be created using Work Plane - Fit Plane (n Points) on page 194. The point
cloud region both in front of and behind the sketch plane of the line-chains / polygon-chains must be linear
(not planar). Check this by setting the Revit section box just a few centimeters around the plane. For the
above example, the reveals of the opening cross the sketch plane of the polygon-chain. The reveal must not
lie on the façade plane. A 3D clipped region that lies just a few centimeters away from the work plane will
result in the following image:

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If a line-chain needs to be fitted instead of a closed polygon, the start and end positions will be retained. In
such a case, pick these end points directly in the point cloud. Avoid using line segments in regions where
there are no, or only very few, point cloud points. This can lead to unexpected results during the fitting. In
the example shown here, the sill edge of the opening was the problem. Because of the scan shadow, there
are no point cloud points there.

After starting Fit Polygon, you are prompted in the Revit status bar to select an appropriate segment of a
connected line-chain, which you want to fit onto the point cloud.

As-Built for Revit automatically finds all of the connected line segments on the same sketch plane, and
highlights the line-chain.

The following dialog box opens:

If the option Add segments for smoother line chain is not selected, after clicking Start, the line-chain is
fitted using the same number of line segments (in the example it was 6 line segments).

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If the option Add segments for smoother line chain is selected, then line segments will be inserted to give
a better fit to the point cloud:

Using Contour smoothing,you can control for this case how many line segments will be inserted. If the
value is set small, then the polygon chain will be very detailed. If the value is set large, then the line
segments will be very straight-lined against the point cloud.

With small Contour smoothing with 1 mm, very short line segments are created.

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With a Contour smoothing of 10 mm.

The line segments will be longer and more straight-lined.

With the parameter Point cloud slice thickness, you control how many points that lie in front of and behind
the sketch plane of the line-chains / polygon-chains are used. The slice should be thick enough to provide
sufficient points for fitting. The slice should be thin enough so as not to protrude into other profiles. For
example, the slice in the above window reveal should not intersect with the façade surface.

1 Points on the façade surface.

2 Sketch plane set a small distance from the façade.
3 Model lines on the sketch plane.

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4 Points for modeling the reveal.

In this way, a fitted polygon can be used as a construction aid for loadable families. Use Model - Save as
Family on page 209 to save the resulting model lines as 2D or 3D families.

Save as Family

| Used in: Project

Saves as many model lines as desired as 2D or 3D families. In the Family Editor, you can then use the
model lines as construction aids for further modeling.

Example

A line-chain is created in the point cloud and then fitted to the scan data with the command Model - Fit
Polygon on page 203.

Figure 6-3 Wall Profile

The line-chain is saved as a profile family with the command Save as Family. This can now be extended
using the Family Editor into a closed profile.

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With the Revit command Wall Sweep, the created family can be used for modeling. For cornices along
walls, for example.

Upon starting this command, the following dialog box appears:

Select a family template by clicking [...]. If a valid template has been selected, it will appear in the
1
dialog box whether it is a 2D or 3D family.
2 Click Select Model Line(s) to select the model lines. The dialog box is temporarily hidden, and you are

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prompted to select model lines. For a 3D family, select multiple model lines with any orientation. If it is
a 2D family, you are prompted to select a line segment. You need only select one. All of the lines
connected to that segment on the same sketch plane, are automatically selected. Click Finish when done.
The number of model lines selected are displayed in the dialog box.
Transform lines in relation to a work plane - rotates the selected lines to a reference plane.
In the frame Planes in Project, select the reference plane in your current project. If all of the selected
lines lie on a sketch plane, then the option Sketch plane of the lines is selectable. Otherwise, click
3
Select, and choose the relevant model plane. See Select Plane Dialog on page 194
Associated plane in family document - allows you to define a plane in the family document, including
the desired alignment for the model lines.
Family Name - enter a name for the family.
Create Instance - As-Built for Revit tries to insert an appropriate instance of the newly created family at
4 the same position as the model lines. This options is only selectable in the case of a 3D family. It’s
availability also depends on the selected family template.
Save as .rfa file saves the new family also as a file. The Save dialog box then appears.

Click Start to confirm your choices. The family will now be created and immediately loaded into the
project. It can then be found in the appropriate category in the Project Browser.

Example
The following figure shows the point cloud of a window in the floor plan (left) and 3D view (right). This
window should be modeled as a family. For this purpose, model lines have already been drawn as
construction aids in the point cloud. The red line has been created with the command Model - Fit Polygon
on page 203; the blue lines with the Revit line command on a previously fitted work plane:

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The exterior wall has already been modeled, and runs in an approximately north-south direction (Y-axis in
the Revit project coordinate system). If Save as Family has been used without additional transformation of
the family template M_Fenster.rte, the result looks like this:

The lines have been inserted into the family with their associated alignment (along the Y-axis). The desired
result, however, was that the lines should be aligned along the wall. You can accomplish this using
Transform lines in relation to a work plane. This lets you use the external wall face as the reference
plane, and the XZ-plane as the associated plane in the families document.

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The resulting family looks like this:

The model lines can now be moved to the correct position, so that they can be used as construction aids.
Under certain conditions, it may be necessary to form the lines into a group first. To do this, select all of the

lines at one time, and use Modify - Create Group - Create Group ) to move them all together.

The following figure shows the completed family after modeling:

If a transformation has been performed, the option Create Instance is not available.

Intersect 2 Planes

| Used in: Project, Family

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Intersect two planes with each other. The result is a model line. You can select the active plane, Revit
planes, reference planes, model lines with their work plane, or planar surfaces.

The figure to the right shows an example of how you can create the eaves edge (green model lines) from
modeled roof surfaces (blue model lines), created with the command Work Plane - Fit Plane (n Points) on
page 194 by intersecting them with the Revit plane of the roof:

Upon starting this command, a dialog box appears.

You are prompted to select the first plane:

1 Select the active work plane, Revit planes, or named reference planes.
Lets you select a reference plane, a Revit plane, or a model line with its work plane in the currently open
2
view.
3 Lets you select a planar surface or the active work plane as a reference plane.

Confirm your selection with OK. In the case of Pick plane or model line to get the work plane it was
sketched in and Pick a face you will be prompted in your open view to click the appropriate choice.

As soon as you’ve done this, the selected plane will be set as the active plane and then another dialog box
opens. It asks for the selection method for your second plane:

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As soon as you have selected the second plane, a model line is created, which is the result of the plane
intersection. The intersection line is at least 1 m long. The length of the intersection line is determined by
the geometry of the selected planes.

Intersect 3 Planes

| Used in: Project, Family

Similar to Model - Intersect 2 Planes on page 213. In contrast to the Intersect 2 Planes command, the
result is a three or six leg figure of model lines or a construction point.

For example, you can create verge and ridge lines from the modeled planes of a roof skin (green model
lines) and a facade (black model lines):

You are prompted to select the first plane, as in Model - Intersect 2 Planes on page 213.

In contrast to Model - Intersect 2 Planes on page 213, this command does not end after the selection of the
second plane. It has a third dialog box prompting for the selection of a third plane, along with the type of
the resulting geometry (Result).

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Result
Description
Option
Creates a 3-6 leg figure, analogous to the verge and ridge lines example. The length of the
Model Lines
model lines is dependent on the selected geometry.
Construction
Creates a single construction point at the intersection point of the three planes
Point

Model Line

| Used in: Project, Family, SendToRevit

Creates model lines in the Revit project. If creating model lines in the Family Editor, you must use the scan
view of SendToRevit.

Upon starting the command, the following dialog box appears:

The point modes control how the picked coordinates are to be used. Choose a point mode. See Point Modes
on page 43 for more information.

To create the model lines, choose from the following command options:

Icon Command Operation

Continuous Click points in the scan to create model lines in 3D space. If you use this option with
3D model point mode set to Standard, every line section will create a Revit work plane
lines perpendicular to the XY-plane.
Click two points in the scan to create a horizontal model line. The line segment is
Horizontal
created at the level of the averaged Z-coordinate of both points on a work plane parallel
model line
to the XY-plane.
Click two points in the scan to create a vertical model line. The line segment is created
Vertical
on a work plane that is perpendicular to the XY-plane. The x and y coordinates of both
model line
points will be averaged.

3D arc Click three points in the scan to create an arc in 3D space.

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CPoint
| Used in: Project, Family, SendToRevit

Creates a construction point in Revit when you pick a point. You can use the command both in the project
environment, as well as in the Family Editor.

The required point can be picked in both the Revit point cloud and also in the SendToRevit scan view.

Upon starting the command the following dialog box appears:

The point modes control how the picked coordinates are to be used. Choose a point mode. See Point Modes
on page 43 for more information.

The name depends on the settings under As-Built - Settings on page 259.

Surface
The following commands can be found in the Surface section of the As-Built Architecture ribbon.

Toposurface

| Used in: Project

Creates a Revit toposurface from multiple model lines and construction points. To achieve this:

Create an unlimited number of model lines or construction points in the point cloud using Model - Model
Line on page 216 and CPoint on page 217.

Run Toposurface. In the Revit status bar, you are prompted to select multiple construction points or model
lines. Click Finish to confirm. You see the newly created toposurface.

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In combination with surface analysis, you can quickly create detailed terrain models.

1. Create auxiliary geometry (e.g. a floor or project frame) the same size of the terrain to be created.

2. Compute the deviation of this auxiliary geometry to the point cloud using the command As-Built
Analysis - Surface Analysis Tools - Calculate on page 247. Select the surface that is facing the point
cloud.

3. Create model lines based on the computed deviation using the command As-Built Analysis - Surface
Analysis Tools - Export Results on page 252. Profile lines can be created in a single direction (U or
V). You should use Minimum as the export value.

4. Use Toposurface on the newly created profile lines. You can manually create additional construction
points or model lines, or make corrections to the run of the profile lines first.

Deform Shape
| Used in: Project

Deforms a Revit floor or flat roof to model uneven surface characteristics. It inserts low and high points in
the floor and roof, respectively. Unlike the standard Revit form editing commands, Deform Shape uses
existing model lines or construction points to change the shape. To achieve this:

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1. Using the standard Revit commands, create a flat floor or flat roof.

2. Create the desired number of model lines or construction points in the point cloud using either Model
Line on page 216 or CPoint on page 217.

3. Run Deform Shape.

4. In the Revit status bar, you are prompted to first select a roof or floor, then to select multiple
construction points or model lines, as shown in the illustration below.

5. Confirm with Finish.

6. High or low points are inserted into the floor or roof at the construction points or ends of the model
lines.

The example demonstrates the procedure:

1. Select a flat floor (blue)

2. Select the model lines and construction points (red)

The result is a deformed floor with high and low points:

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To create complex deformations use the results of the surface analysis. To achieve this:

1. Compute the deviation of the floor or the roof to the point cloud using As-Built - Analysis - Surface
Analysis Tools - Calculate on page 247. Select the surface facing the point cloud.

2. Create model lines based on the computed deviation using As-Built - Analysis - Surface Analysis
Tools - Export Results on page 252. Profile lines can be created in a single direction (U or V). You
should use the option Average value as the export value.

3. Use Deform Shape on the newly created profile lines. If necessary you can first manually create
additional construction points or model lines, or make corrections to the run of profile lines.

Point Cloud
The following commands can be found in the Point Cloud section of the As-Built Architecture ribbon.

Coordinates - Import Scan Positions from RCP

| Used in: Project

Inserts, as symbols into the Revit project, the individual scanner positions from all loaded RCP point clouds.
The pre-requisite is that the RCP file contains individual scans.

This command inserts a pre-defined family symbol at the location of each single scan.

You have access to the scan position coordinates from the symbol parameters.

Coordinates - Import Scan Positions

| Used in: Project

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Inserts the individual scan positions of an As-Built Modeler project as symbols into the Revit project. The
pre-requisite is an export of the scanner locations as a .txt file using the corresponding command in the
SendTo App.

Import Scan Positions inserts a pre-defined family symbol at the location of each single scan. Via the
symbol parameters, you can access the coordinates of the scan positions, as well as the information
regarding the As-Built Modeler project and scan file. From the file path, you can start As-Built Modeler
directly from Revit. The appropriate project is automatically loaded, and the selected scan view opened.

1 Name of scan position.

2 Coordinates of scan position
3 Path of SendToRevit project.
Path of a single scan file.
4
Click the file path, then to open the scan project via the
hyperlink.

Coordinates - Linking PC Coordinates

| Used in: Project

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Links a point cloud that is loaded in Revit with an As-Built Modeler project. This is useful, if you want to
work in parallel with SendToRevit and the point cloud in Revit. Quite often, when inserting point clouds in
Revit, they are not in the middle of the project, or they are not orthogonally-aligned. With this command,
you can rotate and move the point cloud in Revit, and continue working in the same coordinate system in
the As-Built Modeler project. The point cloud must be loaded in Revit, and the project must be referenced
in the same superior coordinate system. To accomplish this:

1. Insert the point cloud into your project using the positioning option Auto - Center to Center (Insert -

Link - Point Cloud ).

2. Start this command.

3. Select the point cloud.

The point cloud is now linked with the As-Built Modeler project. You can freely rotate and move them. The
transformation of the linked point cloud is used for every command initiated by SendToRevit.

To remove this link, re-start the - Point Cloud - Coordinates - Linking PC Coordinates command, and
confirm the dialog box. You can now link to another point cloud.

NOTE: If you have previously set the project coordinates via SendToRevit (using Project coordinates)
with use shared coordinates, you can insert the point cloud in Revit with the option Auto - from
shared coordinates. The position of the inserted point cloud is exactly coincident with the project
coordinates set in As-Built Modeler. The linkage with the point cloud is purely optional.

Coordinates - Acquire PC Coordinates

| Used in: Project

Retrieves the internal point cloud coordinate system, and aligns the shared coordinate system to it.

To accomplish this:

1. Insert a point cloud using the positioning option Auto - Center to Center (Insert - Link - Point Cloud
).

2. Align the point cloud in the project by moving and rotating it. See Aligning Point Cloud and Placing
Levels on page 19.

3. Start this command.

4. Select the point cloud.

As-Built has now moved the survey point to the origin of the internal point cloud coordinate system and the
rotated the geographical north, relative to the Y-axis of the point cloud coordinate system. The shared
coordinate system now corresponds to the internal point cloud coordinate system.

To insert other external data (e.g. a site plan as CAD drawing) containing the same coordinate system, select
the positioning option Auto - from shared coordinates. The external file is aligned to the point cloud, and
inserted into the project.

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Export PC Region
| Used in: Project

Exports a region of a Revit point cloud into a PTS file, so that it can be subsequently inserted in the family
editor (Connect Point Cloud - Family Editor (As-Built) Tab on page 268). This only works in an
orthogonal 3D view.

1. Start this command.

2. Activate the section box of the view.

3. Clip the point cloud to create your desired region.

The visible region of the point cloud will be exported.

Ortho Image

| Used in: Project

Creates a dense, continuous view of the point cloud in the current Revit view. It can be used in orthogonal
3D views, floor plans, sections, elevations and reflected ceiling plans. In plan views (floor plans, sections,
elevations and reflected ceiling plans) such generated images can be directly inserted into the project in their
correct position and true to scale. These images can also be exported, then, for example, imported into the
Family Editor with their correct size using Connect Point Cloud - Insert Ortho Image on page 269.
Detailed family components can be modeled with ortho images in the background. Upon starting this
command, the following dialog box appears:

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The physical size of an image pixel in project units. It defines the resolution of the image, and thus
1
also the required computation time. The default value for a typical indoor survey is 1 mm.

In Colour filling mode, the point cloud is shown as a continuous surface. It appears to the viewer
to be a dense, natural surface with the colored texture.

2 The faster ClearView (X-ray) mode uses the same imaging method used in Point Cloud - Prepare
Point Cloud on page 223. A gray-scale dense point cloud image is created. The slider bar controls
the image intensity. The higher this values, the more contrast, and thus the darker the ClearView
image appears. Default value is 1.

3 Click Start to begin the image rendering.

4 Previews ortho image.

5 Cancel interrupts the rendering, so that you can change the parameters.

When the image rendering is complete, these are enabled.

Save as file... saves the rendered image in full resolution, in an image format of your choice.
6 Additionally, an *.xmlscale file is created, which contains size information and the image scaling.

Insert in same view (close this dialogue) allows you to directly insert the image into your current
Revit view, if you use the command in a planar view.

In the following figure, you can see four ortho images of the same window. On the left is the Colour filling
mode. Middle top, to the right, and below are: X-ray modes in elevation, section, and floor plan.

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You have the option to Show section box planes. This allows the limits of the selected section box to be
displayed in color in a 3D view. In plan views, the front section plane is colored. Below that, is the Cut line
width. This determines the width of the strip to be colored. The color of the strip is defined using Pick line
colour.

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Prepare Point Cloud

| Used in:Project

Pre-computes a point cloud to help facilitate the As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33
command. The point cloud in the active plan view from the Bottom of View Range to the Cut Plane of
View Range, as well as the currently defined cropped region, is converted into a dense point image with a
threshold value. This converted image can then be inserted in the floor plan view, and serves for better
visualization of the point cloud.

When you start the command, the following dialog box appears:

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Beneath the preview pane, the dimensions of the current point cloud region are displayed.

Adjust the Pixel Resolution to suit your needs. The default value is 1.5 mm. Click Start, to begin the pre-
rendering.

You will see the progress in the preview window, as well as the processing speed. The moving black border
in the preview window indicates the position in the image that is currently being computed.

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When the pre-rendering is complete, you can adjust the Contrast Factor and decide how to insert the image.

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The Contrast Factor parameter can be used to control the image intensity. The higher the Contrast Factor
value, the darker the pre-computation lines. The default value is 1.

Upon completion of the pre-rendering, you have three options for inserting the rendered image into your
project:

l Insert Hidden in this View - inserts the rendered image hidden in the current view. It can also be used
hidden for to the command As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33.

l Insert in this View, Hide Point Cloud - inserts the rendered image into this view, makes it visible and
hides the point cloud.

l Insert in Copied new View - inserts the rendered image visible into a duplicated view, in which the
point cloud is hidden.

Using the Detail Level, you can control the display of the rendered image, changing between Coarse,
Medium, and Fine, depending on the zoom level, and the desired level of contrast.

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Compare the level of detail: The sectioned point cloud (top) and the pre-computed image (bottom).

Auto Measure Parameters

| Used in: Project

Automatically determines the point cloud parameters Noise and Average point distance. These parameters
can be manually modified in the Settings on page 259.

Both parameters are essential for object recognition in As-Built. Adjustment of these two parameters allows
processing of point clouds of varying qualities and from different models of scanners, as well as from
differing manufacturers.

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Noise - specifies how much the observed points in the point cloud can deviate from the ideal
1
surface.

2 Scan points

3 Ideal plane (e.g. façade surface)

Average point distance- specifies how far away, on average, a point within a set of related points,
4
lies from the next adjacent point.

Noise
It is approximately twice the standard deviation for a normal distribution. The majority of scanner
manufacturers give a maximum point deviation as the quality of their model of scanner.

Before setting the Noise parameter, refer to your scanner’s documentation. Note that the Noise parameter in
As-Built includes the surface properties and the point deviation from the scan.

For example, the noise of a rough rendered façade varies by several millimeters or even centimeters from
the ideal plane of the façade. An additional influence is the quality of the scan registration of the point
cloud’s noise.

Average Point Distance

This parameter varies significantly within a single point cloud. It depends upon:

l the number of scan positions used to scan the object represented by the point cloud,

l the distance between the object and the scanner location,

l the scan density,

l the scanned object surfaces’ angle of incidence.

Auto Measure
Upon starting the command, you are prompted to pick three points. The three points must define a plane.
Let us take for example a façade surface, whose select points look like this:

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The picked triangle should, where possible, be closed. That means there should not be any openings (e.g.
windows) inside it. Furthermore, there should not be any other objects lying in front of, or behind, the
picked plane (e.g. window reveals or a wall behind the plane).

After picking the points, the following dialog box appears:

The parameter Slice half thickness defines a region (1 - white in the preview pane) in which a mean plane
will be calculated. The selected points define a plane. It is viewed from the side and displayed in the pane (2
- black points) Plane Projection.

For the correct determination of the parameters, there should always be a thin strip of point cloud points
visible, that is surrounded by a thicker red strip (3), which in turn should have a white border. This is the
noise.

Based on this mean plane and the points used, the noise (maximum point distance to the plane) and the
average point distance to the surface are calculated. If the slice thickness is too thick, points outside of the
picked plane may also be used in determining the plane:

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The slice thickness should be as thin as possible, so that there is only a single plane lying in the white
region, e.g. 50 mm.

If the slice thickness is too small, the noise can longer be correctly determined, because the region used and
the noise are almost equal. A warning appears notifying you that a thicker (or thinner) slice must be used.
The calculated values are shown in the section Point Cloud Parameters. Click OK to confirm. This writes
them in the As-Built settings.

Sections
The following commands can be found in the Sections section of the As-Built Architecture ribbon.

Define Rectangle
| Used in: Project

Starts the creation of a new rectangular point cloud section. Start this command, then click and drag a
rectangular section on the point cloud to define your selection. A dialog box appears.

The Section Name dialog box appears, in which you can give the new region a name.

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Section Name
Point Cloud Section Name - name your point cloud section. This is the name used in the Section
1
Manager.
Tooltip Description - add an optional user-defined tool tip. This is the text that appears when you hover
2
with the mouse over the entry.
Skip name and merge with parent - if there are no other subordinate point cloud regions next to this
3 new region in the tree structure, this option is enabled. The newly defined clipping planes are then
merged directly with the higher level section.

Define Polygon
| Used in: Project

Creates a new convex polygonal point cloud section. Start this command, then pick any number of contour
points on the point cloud, to be allocated to a convex section. After selecting the first point, a visualization
of the current section appears as lines. During the input, avoid camera pans in the perspective window. After
you have input all of your points, you can end with ESC.

The Section Name dialog box appears, in which you can give the new region a name. See Section Name on
page 231 for more details.

Define Box
| Used in: Project

Creates a new point cloud section from the current 3D crop region of the active 3D view.

This requires a 3D view with an active crop region, otherwise a warning message appears. Start the
command after the 3D crop region has been set-up. The limits are taken over as the new As-Built point
cloud section.

The Section Name dialog box appears, in which you can give the new region a name. See Section Name on
page 231 for more details.

Define Slice
| Used in: Project

Creates a new slice point cloud section. Upon starting this command, the following dialog box appears:

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The orientation of the newly created slice is defined here, as well as the precise thickness of the slice.

Orthogonal a slice is created that is at a right angle to the selected plane or line. Next, define the
plane of orientation, or select the plane or line.
1
Parallel - a slice is created that is parallel to the selected plane or line. Next, define the plane of
orientation, or select the plane or line.

XY plane - a plane that is parallel to a Revit level.

2 YZ plane - a plane that stands orthogonal to the Revit levels and runs in a north-south direction.

XZ plane - a plane that stands orthogonal to the Revit levels and runs in a east-west direction.

3 For an explanation of Plane and Line, see Work Plane on page 48.

4 Define the slice thickness by either entering a number or using the + and -.

Click slice thickness in the point cloud (skip keyboard input) - if enabled, upon clicking Start,
5 you are prompted to pick two points in the point cloud to define the slice thickness. If disabled, pick
one point to define the first clipping plane.

The Section Name dialog box appears, in which you can give the new region a name. See Section Name on
page 231 for more details.

Section Manager

| Used in: Project

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Allows management of As-Built point cloud sections. These are clipped sections in the point cloud that are
independent of the views defined in the project. The clipped sections are saved as named sections in the
Section Manager, as well as in the project. In every 2D or 3D view, you can access any of the defined
sections.

The Section Manager is used to control the user-defined point cloud sections. You can show and hide them
as desired.

The upper portion shows the hierarchically organized point cloud sections. The lower portion shows the
currently active clipped planes of the active point cloud section.

Point cloud regions can be individually displayed using a range of orientation levels. Only the point cloud
points that lie on the positive side of all of the clipping planes are displayed.

Each node and sub-node in the tree structure displays named clipping planes. They can be grouped together.
Therefore, every node effectively inherits the active clipping planes of the higher branches in the tree
structure. Only one node can be active at a time. The region that is displayed is the one defined by the
planes of the active node, and those of its parent nodes.

For special use cases, you can activate and de-activate the clipping planes, either singly or in groups in the
lower area. This allows you to create a structural order and a working structure for point clouds. Double-
clicking a node in the tree structure activates this named point cloud region, so one can, for example, isolate
the previously defined ground floor. Elements can be moved around in the upper portion of the tree using
drag-and-drop. CTRL + drag-and-drop copies the elements while moving them. Hover your mouse to see a
user-defined tool-tip text for the point cloud region.

The icons in front of the text in the tree structure correspond to their geometrical region property:

Named tree nodes without any clipping planes. Used exclusively for the organization of the child nodes.

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Slice defined by two parallel clipping planes.

Cuboid cropped section
Prismatic cropped section
Any complex cropped section

Right-click one of the tree elements in the upper portion to access the context menu. You have the following
options:

l Add Text Section - creates a new node in the tree without any clipping planes. A dialog box is
displayed for the definition of the name and tool-tip for this node. See Section Name on page 231.

l Rename - a dialog box is displayed for the definition of the name and tool-tip for this node. See Section
Name on page 231.

l Merge with Parent - the clipping planes of the node are merged with the parent node. This option is
only enabled, when a node doesn’t have sub-nodes.

l Shift the slice section up or down - a dialog box appears, allowing movement of the slice by an
adjustable amount.

l Delete - deletes this node from the tree.

The active clipping planes of the active section are listed in the lower area. The icons in this tree show the
geometrical position of the planes. Hover to see a tool-tip with its coordinates in the Hessian plane normal
form.

Skewed planes
Any vertically placed plane
Horizontal plane (XY)
Axis parallel plane (YZ)
Axis parallel plane (XZ)

View
The following commands can be found in the View section of the As-Built Architecture ribbon.

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Hide or Show PC
| Used in: Project

Toggles the visibility of all point clouds in the current view either on or off. This allows you to control the
visibility of the point clouds. If individual point cloud objects are manually hidden in Revit, they will not be
affected by this command.

Hide / Show PP
| Used in: Project

Hides or shows all protocol points in the active view. Protocol points are 3D point symbols that are inserted
into the Revit project, on the position of the clicked point in the scan, each time a SendToRevit command is
used. These appear as crosses. They are for monitoring purposes only.

NOTE: If you have hidden the protocol points in a view, and then use further SendToRevit commands, the
new protocol points are still visible. To hide these points, you must run the Hide PP command
again.

As-Built
The following commands can be found in the As-Built section of the As-Built Architecture ribbon.

Getting Started
Auto Pop-up

or | Used in: Project, Family

Opens a dialog box, from which you can access tutorials, videos, and further information relating to As-
Built:

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The Getting Started dialog box appears by default when starting Revit with As-Built installed. By selecting
the option Do not show this dialog again, you can switch off this behavior for the currently installed
program version.

If you install a new version, you will need to select this option again to switch off the auto-appearance of
this dialog box.

Tutorials can be found directly on the FARO As-Built for Revit Tutorial Website.

License Info

Used in: Project

Opens the FARO license manager. View and manage all your FARO software licenses in one place. Easily
transfer licenses to other machines or temporarily borrow licenses from your network license.

Refer to this Knowledge Base article for more information.

Cleanup
| Used in: Project, Family

Used to clean-up an As-Built project. This can be helpful, when project data will be passed on without As-
Built content.

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l Remove As-Built project config values - removes all configuration values set by the project. All values
are reset to their default values.

l Remove wall type naming history for fitted walls - new Revit wall types will sometimes be created
when using As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33. These are saved under the names of
the original wall type. This allows further derived wall types to be named in the style of the original.
This naming history can be removed from the project using this option.

l Remove all protocol points - deletes all protocol points in the project.

l Remove all tile images from command “Prepare PC” - deletes all image tiles created with Prepare
Point Cloud on page 223.

l Remove dynamic model updaters (re-open Revit to enable again) - removes all Dynamic Model
Updaters from the project. These do things such as switching the level of detail for pre-rendered image
tiles when using As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33. This technique also declares the
pre-calculated images invalid for point cloud modifications, and deletes them. The removal of these
Dynamic Model Updaters can be important for sharing the project. Their absence can restrict the
working in As-Built. Restart Revit to restore the default method of working with Dynamic Model
Updaters.

l Remove all surface analysis results - removes all surface analysis calculations, even when they are not
currently displayed in the model.

l Remove all pipe fitting analysis results (needed by As-Built) - removes all Family analysis results
that are carried-out when first starting As-Built Systems - Piping - Place Pipe Fitting on page 170.

l Remove all structural elements profile analysis results (needed by As-Built) - removes all Family
analysis results that are carried-out when first starting As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Structural
Element on page 109.

l Remove all As-Built MEP Links (Piping and Ducting) - Removes all existing piping and ducting
links in As-Built MEP.

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l Remove all As-Built for Revit legacy data - removes certain data stored by previous versions of As-
Built. Some analysis data and defaults you have set-up might be lost, be recalculated, or reset.

After you have selected the desired options, click OK. You receive a summarized status message of the
Clean-up actions that were carried out.

Settings
| Used in: Project, Family

Opens the As-Built Settings dialog, in which you can change project-specific settings.

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Parameter Description

Align Pipes

Alignment
speed vs
Alignment speed (greater 1.0) versus robustness (lower 1.0) ration.
robustness
ration

Angular
tolerance for The minimum angular tolerance at the pipe connection which should be met, when
pipe using the command As-Built Systems - Piping - Align Pipes on page 174
connection

Use strict If this option has been selected, a different algorithm with stricter constraints will be
constraints if used when using the command Align pipe runs, if:
tolerance is not
met or l the angular tolerance has not been met after 10000 iterations, or
canceled by
user l you have prematurely terminated the computation by pressing ESC.

Clash
Detection

Clash name The number following the clash name as a suffix.

counter in
Schedule Ex: Clash_1

Cylinder Detection

Cylinder
Enter a value ...
search radius

Radius
tolerance in Enter a tolerance in percent.
percent

General

Construction
Start number for new construction points. This value is automatically increased.
point number

Construction
Point Prefix Prefix name for new construction points.
Name

Display Piping
Defines whether or not pipe links will be displayed.
Links

Inserted image Defines the file size threshold, when inserting new images with As-Built that primarily
size threshold affect the functions Point Cloud- Prepare Point Cloud on page 223 and Ortho Image
value in on page 220, which place the rendered images in your Revit project. If the threshold
MByte value is exceeded, a warning message is displayed. This warns that the images which

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Parameter Description

are to be inserted should be scaled using a definable factor. This is because when Revit
has many and / or large images in its database, it becomes difficult to use, or could even
lead to a crash. This should, therefore, be avoided.

Is customer
experience
improvement If enabled, it allows authorized FARO employees to track anonymous usage data.
program Changing this opens the corresponding dialog, allowing you to change your choice.
(logging)
enabled

Is getting
started splash This deactivates the Getting Started dialog at Revit start-up.
screen disabled

Is software
auto update This deactivates the search for software updates in the internet.
disabled

Language Language of As-Built menus and dialogs

Level number Start number for new levels. This value is increased automatically.

Level prefix
Name prefix for new levels
name

Show warning
for pipes with Warns if your project has pipes with taps.
taps

Turn off
Turn on or off the Revit warning, regarding wall axis or lines that differ slightly from
inaccurate line
the orthogonal project coordinate system.
/ wall failure

Selecting no disables all section clipping functions. They are automatically disabled
Use point when using work-sharing, because otherwise, error-free work with clipping sections in
cloud selection the work-sharing context cannot be guaranteed. If a file is converted to a work-sharing
tools file, a warning message is displayed. If you proceed, a warning message appears when
you try to use one of the As-Built section tools.

Object Creation

Element search The search distance used when searching for existing walls when creating openings,
distance doors and windows using SendToRevit commands.

Rounding step
The value that the parameters height and width should be rounded to for new windows,
for opening
doors, and openings.
dimensions

Ortho Image

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Parameter Description

Intensity factor Controls the intensity of an X-Ray ortho image. The higher this value, the more contrast
for ClearView and darker the X-ray ClearView image appears.

Plane Detection

Contour Determines the smoothing of the resulting contour from Work Plane - Fit Plane with
smoothing Contour on page 195 and Model - Model Line on page 216. A larger value, yields
deviation fewer vertices in the resulting contour.

The radius around the picked point, within which the points are used to find and form
the plane. For best results, the value should be approximately the size of your structure.

Example: If you want to fit a plane on a building facade that is 10 x 10 m, use a search
Plane search
radius of 5 m. However, should you want to fit planes on room walls of approximately
radius
2.5 x 4 m, then use a search radius of around 2 m.

The search radius can be slightly larger than your structure size, but the plane fitting
might take a little longer.

Point Cloud Parameter

Average point Defines the average distance between the point cloud points. The value can be
distance automatically determined using Point Cloud - Auto Measure Parameters on page 227.

Defines how far points can lie from an ideal plane. The value depends on the
characteristics of your scan data (noise of your scanner), as well as the quality of the
surface, and the curvature of the scanned surface as opposed to an ideal plane. The
value can be somewhat larger than the actual value. The accuracy of the results can
only be assured within the set value.
Noise
Example: With a set noise value of 5 cm, only an accuracy of up to 5 cm can be
guaranteed.

You can achieve the best results, if, for example, you use 3 mm for room walls, but 1-2
cm for facades, and 5 cm for roof surfaces. The value can be automatically determined
using Point Cloud - Auto Measure Parameters on page 227.

Project Transformation

Linked point
Linked point cloud’s element ID. If no link is set, the value is -1.
cloud ID

Project The rotation angle of the Revit project coordinate system relative to the SendToRevit
orientation project coordinate system.

Project origin X-coordinate (east) of the Revit project origin in the SendToRevit project coordinate
X system.

Project origin Y-coordinate (north) of the Revit project origin in the SendToRevit project coordinate
Y system.

Project origin Z-coordinate (height) of the Revit project origin in the SendToRevit project coordinate

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Parameter Description

Z system.

Surface Analysis

Max Surface Defines the maximum distance from the model surface to the point cloud points that are
Distance to be considered in the surface analysis.

Mean Grid
Defines the average size of a grid cell in the surface analysis.
Size

Wall Creation

Automatic wall When fitting the wall face with the appropriate SendToRevit command, and using
extension additional points to define a longer wall, the wall is automatically extended.

Max. wall
Defines the maximum possible wall thickness for wall fitting. If the wall fitting ever
thickness for
fails because of very thick walls, you can increase this value for better results.
fitting

Query if the
Value of If the Automatic Wall Extension parameter is inactive, you can define what length
Extension difference the software uses to prompt you regarding whether or not to extend the wall.
greater than

Resolution for Specifies the physical size of an image pixel (in project units) to be used in Point
point cloud Cloud - Prepare Point Cloud on page 223. It defines the resolution of the prepare
prepare image, and thus also the required computation time.

Rounding step
for wall Value to which the new wall thickness is rounded.
thickness

Wall search
Search distance for existing walls, when adjusting the wall side.
distance

WARNING! Changes made to the values for Project Transformation have no effect on the internal Revit
shared coordinate system.

FARO Customer Experience Improvement Program

When enabled, this allows authorized FARO employees access to anonymous customer use data. The data
are used to improve our software. If you change your mind about participating in our program, click Settings
on page 259 - FARO Customer Experience Improvement Program and change your choice in the drop-
down menu to the right.

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Help
| Used in: Project

Opens the user guide.

Worksharing Settings
| Used in: Project

Worksharing Settings is only available, when your Revit project has this feature activated for a central
model. When you start this command, the following dialog box appears:

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Shows which users have preferred settings saved in the central drawing. Each user works using their own
preferences. Clone to Own lets you copy the preferences of another user, making them yours, too. Your
preferences will be replaced with theirs. This is useful when using team-wide project standards.

Info

| Used in: Project

Displays information about the As-Built version number, and provides access to Technical Support on page
271.

Software Update

| Used in: Project

Click to check for As-Built software updates.

FARO Knowledge Base

| Used in: Project

Opens the default browser to the As-Built for Revit FARO Knowledge Base page.

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Command Reference Guide:

As-Built Structure
The structure of the Command Reference Guides is explained under Command Reference Structure on page
30.

Structure Tools
The following commands can be found in the Structure Tools section of the As-Built Structure ribbon.

Level

| Used in: Project, SendToRevit

Creates a new level using a picked point.

Points can be picked in both the Revit point cloud and a SendToRevit scan view.

Once you have created a level, a corresponding plan view is also created. The name depends on the settings
under As-Built - Settings on page 259.

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Level Auto-Mode On/Off

The automatic level function is activated or deactivated using the Auto-Mode ON and OFF buttons. This
function influences how walls and family instances are created using As-Built Architecture - Walls - Wall
on page 31 and As-Built Architecture - Place - Column on page 107.

Values can only be changed, when automatic level function is switched off. When the auto-mode is off, As-
Built for Revit uses the settings of the selection fields for the base level and the top constraint.

Select the level for the lower component restraint. When active view is selected, the lower edge is set to
the level of the current active view.
1

NOTE: Active view in Revit must be a floor plan, to create walls or columns.
Select the level for the upper component restraint. Unconnected means the upper edge of the component
2
won’t be connected. Instead, the given height is used.
3 Enter a height, when unconnected is selected for the upper component restraint.

If the automatic level function is activated, the components are connected at the base and upper constraints
with both levels nearest the points clicked in the scan or point cloud. A wall (1) is created between the
clicked points in the scan (2).

Beam
| Used in: Project, SendToRevit

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Places line-based structural families (e.g. braces or drop down beams) in the Revit project, by clicking 4
points in the scan or in the point cloud.

Upon starting the command the following dialog appears:

All of the currently loaded line-based structural families and their types are available in the drop-down list
Type. Choose a beam type.

The point modes control how the picked coordinates are to be used. Choose a point mode. See Point Modes
on page 43 for more information.

Icon Command Operation

Click four points in the scan to create an instance of the selected family type.
Points 1 and 2 define the orientation of the family on the front face (vertical
Place in 3D
aligned face). Points 3 and 4 define the orientation of the family on the upper or
lower face.

Place Similar to 3D placement, except that the z-height of points 3 and 4 are
horizontally averaged, so that the family copy is placed horizontally.

Column
| Used in: Project, SendToRevit

Places columns, by picking up to 3 points in the scan, or in the point cloud in the Revit project.

Upon starting the command the following dialog box appears:

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Under Level, you define the lower and upper constraints of the component. For more information, see Level
Auto-Mode On/Off on page 108.

All of the currently loaded column families and their types are available in the drop-down list Type. Choose
the type of column to insert.

The point modes control how the picked coordinates are to be used. Choose a point mode. See Point Modes
on page 43 for more information.

Icon Command Operation

Using
Click a single point (base point) in the scan to create an instance of the selected family
center
type.
point
Click three points to create an instance of the selected family type. This determines the
maximum extents of the family's geometry in the floor plan level (x-y level), creating a
Using a
bounding rectangle. The first two points determine the orientation of the long side of the
rectangle
rectangle; the third point the position of the short side; the center-point of the rectangle
forms the base-point of the family.
Using a Click three points in the scan to create an instance of the selected family type. The center
circle point of the circle drawn through the three points forms the base-point of the family.

Level Auto-Mode On/Off

The automatic level function is activated or deactivated using the Auto-Mode ON and OFF buttons. This
function influences how walls and family instances are created using As-Built Architecture - Walls - Wall
on page 31 and As-Built Architecture - Place - Column on page 107.

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Values can only be changed, when automatic level function is switched off. When the auto-mode is off, As-
Built for Revit uses the settings of the selection fields for the base level and the top constraint.

Select the level for the lower component restraint. When active view is selected, the lower edge is set to
the level of the current active view.
1

NOTE: Active view in Revit must be a floor plan, to create walls or columns.
Select the level for the upper component restraint. Unconnected means the upper edge of the component
2
won’t be connected. Instead, the given height is used.
3 Enter a height, when unconnected is selected for the upper component restraint.

If the automatic level function is activated, the components are connected at the base and upper constraints
with both levels nearest the points clicked in the scan or point cloud. A wall (1) is created between the
clicked points in the scan (2).

Fit Structural Element

| Used in: Project

Fits a structural element (column or beam) into the point cloud. Upon starting this command, the following
dialog box appears:

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1 Select the Revit category for the element to be fitted.

2 Select the reference planes for the element to be fitted.

If this is selected, the element is fitted precisely either horizontally or vertically, as long as it is
3
within the tolerance.

4 Select the family and the type of element to be fitted.

5 List of last used families and types.

6 Automatically detects the family type using two points picked on the structural element.

7 Previews the beam to be inserted into your model.

8 Starts the fitting of the selected family type.

It is important that you choose either Structural Framing or Structural Column, depending upon whether you
are fitting a horizontal or vertical beam.

NOTE: Structural Framing = horizontal beam; Structural Column = vertical beam. If you have the wrong
type selected, your beam might be turned to fit the type that you selected.

Select the family type and the insertion options, and click Start.

You are prompted to pick two points on the beam in the point cloud. After selecting the second point, an
instance of the selected type is fitted in the point cloud:

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After inserting the element, you can continue fitting further elements of the same type.

If the type of element is unknown, it can be identified using Detect type. You are prompted to pick two
points on the beam in the point cloud. Select two points laying on a face clearly identifiable in the point
cloud. Only the face of the beam should be between the two points (no branches or other objects).

Upon initial type identification, the profiles of all of the families and types of the Structural Framing and
Structural Columns categories are analyzed. This can take a few minutes. This analysis is performed once,
unless you have loaded new families or types. The following dialog box appears:

Visualizes the pattern recognition for the currently selected beam in a point cloud slice. The face
initially selected, by picking the two points, is displayed by a thick blue line. The recognized beam
1 is displayed as thin blue lines with a white buffer area representing the point cloud noise around it.
Erase unneeded points, by left clicking and holding while moving the mouse. The background color
changes from green to pink.

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2 Previews the beam to be inserted into your model

3 Displays all family types from previously selected categories in your project. Best fits are at the top.

4 Lists all types that you have recently inserted.

Pattern recognition is done on a slice between the two selected points. Use the slider to move the
slice position along the beam axis to improve analysis. This can eliminate interference points, or
5
rectify a case where too few points were found because of shadowing. Moving the slice position
changes the background color from green to pink.

6 Restart pattern recognition, in case something has been erased or the slice has been moved.

The Noise parameter is displayed. The command Point Cloud - Auto Measure Parameters on page
227 is started using Auto Measure, to automatically determine the point cloud parameter. Click
Change to access this parameter in the As-Built - Settings on page 259 dialog.

Allows temporary viewing of the selected component in the active view. Using ESC brings you
8
back to the dialog.

After completing the type identification, you can continue fitting further instances of the same type. Press
ESC to end.

Align Structural Elements

| Used in: Project

Aligns multiple instances in the categories Structural Framing and Structural Columns with each other.
This is useful for further (structural) analyses or additional modeling of beams already fitted in the point
cloud using As-Built Structure - Structure Tools - Fit Structural Element on page 109.

Align Structural Elements determines an optimal coordinate system and aligns the selected beams to it.

The axes of the beams are aligned, within the specified tolerances, to this coordinate system, so that they
intersect on their axis end points. Upon starting this command, the following dialog box appears:

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Aligns beams to the optimal coordinate system, rather than the orthogonal planes. All diagonal
1
beams are aligned parallel to each other.

Short green lines show the necessary displacement of each beam. Lines are drawn from the start
2
and end points from the original beam to the new axis.

The optimal coordinate system is aligned to the project north, as long as it remains within the
3
specified tolerances.

4 Maximum permissible value for the tilting of the axis.

5 Maximum permitted extension of elements for creation of intersections.

6 Maximum permitted shortening of elements for the creation of intersections.

7 Maximum permissible value of the rotation around the axis.

8 Selection of the elements to be aligned and start the analysis.

This ensures that a beam end is not changed by more than the specified tolerance value (other than
extending). Therefore, the tolerance must be significantly smaller than the smallest beam, but large enough
to compensate for the largest deviation from the perfectly aligned composition of beams.

Load Structural Families

| Used in: Project

Simultaneously loads several families of the Structural Framing and Structural Columns categories, into
your project.

Upon starting this command, the following dialog box appears:

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1 Path to currently selected library

2 Allows changing of library path.
Family Category list: Allows you to select the structural framing types to load into your project. Select
3
multiple items using CTRL.

Click OK to load all families of the selected category from the selected folder into your project.

Work Plane
The following commands can be found in the Work Plane section of the As-Built Structure ribbon.

Fit Plane (1 Point)

| Used in: Project

Searches for, and averages, a plane with a single-click a planar point cloud surface, thus defining a work
plane with one click. In the Revit status bar, you are prompted to pick a point on the point cloud on the
planar surface to which the plane will be fitted. The currently set search radius is shown, too.

As soon as you have clicked a point, a progress bar appears briefly, followed by a dialog box:

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Fit Plane Dialog Element Description

The plane averaging can be restricted with respect to another plane or line.

No restriction - applies no restrictions to the plane fitting.

1 Perpendicular - a work plane is created perpendicular to the selected plane or line. Next, define the
Restricted to option. At least two points are required.

Parallel - a work plane is created that is parallel to the selected plane or line. Next, define the
Restricted to option. This needs only one point.

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Restricts the plane fitting to specified criteria.

XY plane - a plane that is parallel to a Revit level.

YZ plane - a plane that stands orthogonal to the Revit levels and runs in a north-south direction.

XZ plane - a plane that stands orthogonal to the Revit levels and runs in an east-west direction.

Plane and Line - activates Select, to select a model line or plane. Once you have made your
selection, there is a green check mark next to Select. Otherwise, it is a red question mark.

The following dialog appears, when using plane, prompting selection of the type of plane: A named
Revit level or a reference plane by name; a planar model surface; or the sketch plane of a model
line:

Select Plane Dialog

Gives you the opportunity to name your plane and / or create bounding model lines.

Create named reference plane - enter the name of the plane you are creating.
3
Create bounding model lines - creates a bounding polygon from model lines. The model lines
contain the averaged plane as a sketch plane.

4 This shows the quality of the plane, together with its standard deviation and maximum deviation.

You can set more command-relevant parameters using As-Built - Settings on page 259. The relevant
sections are As-Built - Settings on page 259: Plane Detection - Plane Search Radius and As-Built -
Settings on page 259: Point Cloud Parameters - Noise.

You can automatically determine the point cloud parameter using Point Cloud - Auto Measure Parameters
on page 227.

Fit Plane (n Points)

| Used in: Project

Creates an averaged plane from an arbitrary (large) number of selected points in a point cloud. The active
work plane can be created using this, and much more. Upon starting this command, you are prompted in the

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Revit status bar to pick as many points on the desired point cloud plane as you wish. Click ESC to bring-up
the following dialog box, which displays the selected points, the quality of the plane, and the output modes:

The selected points and their coordinates - the Deviation column displays the deviation of the
1
respective point from the averaged plane.

2 Quality of the plane, with its standard deviation and maximum deviation

For more information regarding all other sections, see Fit Plane Dialog Element Description on page 193.

Click OK to set the averaged plane as the active plane, and enact all selected options.

Fit Plane with Contour

| Used in: Project

Extracts planes from the point cloud, together with their boundaries, as model lines. This allows, for
example, the creation of roof edges for modeling of roofs:

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Start with the point cloud.

The plane of a roof, together with its boundary, is determined.

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From these planes, the roof edges can be created as model lines using Model -Intersect 3 Planes on page
215.

This wire-frame model can now be used as the basis for creating an in-place family (Massing & Site tab -
Conceptual Mass - In-Place Mass ). The roof can be very easily and precisely modeled from these
surfaces (Massing & Site tab - Model by Face - Roof ).

You can, for example, single-click the façade wall. The result is a bounded façade plane:

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The following dialog box is displayed, and offers several settings that influence the quality of your results:

Fit Plane with Contour Dialog

The point cloud parameters Noise and Average point distance are displayed as information.
Clicking Change calls the As-Built - Settings on page 259 dialog, where you can change certain
1
values. Point Cloud - Auto Measure Parameters on page 227 automatically determines the point
cloud parameter. See Noise and Average Point Distance on page 199.

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The parameters Smoothing and Sample width influence the quality of the resulting contour. See
2
Smoothing and Sample Width on page 199.

3 Enter the name of the plane you are creating. This is optional.

Noise and Average Point Distance

These parameters are related to the other parameters. The Average point distance determines the minimum
value of the Sample width setting. The noise influences the accuracy of the plane. It defines how much the
plane may deviate from the ideal plane. The value must consider the noise of the scan, as well as the surface
and the curvature properties. For example, the value for a rough render should be larger than 5 mm, because
the surface of the rough render deviates by around 5 mm. An uneven floor behaves similarly. When it
curves in the middle by approximately 1 cm, then the noise must also be at least 1 cm. The larger the value,
the less precise is the resulting plane. When the value is 1 cm, the plane can deviate by up to 1 cm at the
edges. If the value is too small, it means that determination of the plane terminates prematurely and not all
of the points in the scanned plane are used to determine the plane.

Smoothing and Sample Width

The parameters Smoothing and Sample width influence the quality of the resulting contour. For
Smoothing, the tolerance determines which points on the contour will belong to a line segment. The larger
the value, the less frayed the contour appears.

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With a small contour smoothing of 5 mm, many corner points are generated. This can be recognized by the
light blue circles on the façade edges in the image to the right. A continuous façade edge without any
intermediate points is more desirable.

With a smoothing value of 50 mm, there are no intermediate points on the façade edge. The façade edge is
consistently smooth. By using + and -, you can double or halve the value.

Using Sample width, you define by how much it should extend over holes and swells.

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We will use this hall roof to demonstrate.

From the front, you will see that the roof cladding is broken-up by these swells of approximately 15 cm.

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With a sample width of 5 cm, you capture too little of the roof area.

Using a sample width of 20 cm allows it to extend over the swells, capturing the entire roof.

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In addition to extending over holes and swells, the Sample width parameter also influences the speed of
contour discovery. If you use a large value, you will get a plane sketch more quickly. The minimum value
of the Sample width setting is determined by the Average point distance setting; the maximum value is
determined by the current Smoothness setting. To get a higher value, the value of the Smoothness setting
must first be increased.

Regression Results
Confirm your settings with Start. In the Revit status bar, you are prompted to pick a point from the point
cloud that you want to model as a plane with a boundary. The command starts to define the plane and its
contour. During the calculation, the following status dialog box appears:

Once finished, the status dialog box disappears. You have a recognized work plane on the point cloud plane,
along with its boundary, which is used as model lines.

Model
The following commands can be found in the Model section of the As-Built Structure ribbon.

Fit Polygon
| Used in: Project

Fits a polygon, or line-chain composed of model lines, onto a point cloud:

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Figure 7-1 Polygon - before fit

Figure 7-2 Polygon - after Fit

The fitted polygon can be used, for example, to modify the profile of a wall, or for the modeling of an
opening.

Select the wall, then select Edit Profile (Modify|Walls - Mode).

In sketch mode for the wall profile, you can select the fitted polygon using the command Select lines .

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In order for the line segments to be recognized as connected line-chains / polygon-chains, they must lie on
the same sketch plane. The sketch plane corresponds to the work plane that was active when the lines were
created. Such a work plane can be created using Work Plane - Fit Plane (n Points) on page 194. The point
cloud region both in front of and behind the sketch plane of the line-chains / polygon-chains must be linear
(not planar). Check this by setting the Revit section box just a few centimeters around the plane. For the
above example, the reveals of the opening cross the sketch plane of the polygon-chain. The reveal must not
lie on the façade plane. A 3D clipped region that lies just a few centimeters away from the work plane will
result in the following image:

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If a line-chain needs to be fitted instead of a closed polygon, the start and end positions will be retained. In
such a case, pick these end points directly in the point cloud. Avoid using line segments in regions where
there are no, or only very few, point cloud points. This can lead to unexpected results during the fitting. In
the example shown here, the sill edge of the opening was the problem. Because of the scan shadow, there
are no point cloud points there.

After starting Fit Polygon, you are prompted in the Revit status bar to select an appropriate segment of a
connected line-chain, which you want to fit onto the point cloud.

As-Built for Revit automatically finds all of the connected line segments on the same sketch plane, and
highlights the line-chain.

The following dialog box opens:

If the option Add segments for smoother line chain is not selected, after clicking Start, the line-chain is
fitted using the same number of line segments (in the example it was 6 line segments).

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If the option Add segments for smoother line chain is selected, then line segments will be inserted to give
a better fit to the point cloud:

Using Contour smoothing,you can control for this case how many line segments will be inserted. If the
value is set small, then the polygon chain will be very detailed. If the value is set large, then the line
segments will be very straight-lined against the point cloud.

With small Contour smoothing with 1 mm, very short line segments are created.

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With a Contour smoothing of 10 mm.

The line segments will be longer and more straight-lined.

With the parameter Point cloud slice thickness, you control how many points that lie in front of and behind
the sketch plane of the line-chains / polygon-chains are used. The slice should be thick enough to provide
sufficient points for fitting. The slice should be thin enough so as not to protrude into other profiles. For
example, the slice in the above window reveal should not intersect with the façade surface.

1 Points on the façade surface.

2 Sketch plane set a small distance from the façade.
3 Model lines on the sketch plane.

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4 Points for modeling the reveal.

In this way, a fitted polygon can be used as a construction aid for loadable families. Use Model - Save as
Family on page 209 to save the resulting model lines as 2D or 3D families.

Save as Family

| Used in: Project

Saves as many model lines as desired as 2D or 3D families. In the Family Editor, you can then use the
model lines as construction aids for further modeling.

Example

A line-chain is created in the point cloud and then fitted to the scan data with the command Model - Fit
Polygon on page 203.

Figure 7-3 Wall Profile

The line-chain is saved as a profile family with the command Save as Family. This can now be extended
using the Family Editor into a closed profile.

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With the Revit command Wall Sweep, the created family can be used for modeling. For cornices along
walls, for example.

Upon starting this command, the following dialog box appears:

Select a family template by clicking [...]. If a valid template has been selected, it will appear in the
1
dialog box whether it is a 2D or 3D family.
2 Click Select Model Line(s) to select the model lines. The dialog box is temporarily hidden, and you are

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prompted to select model lines. For a 3D family, select multiple model lines with any orientation. If it is
a 2D family, you are prompted to select a line segment. You need only select one. All of the lines
connected to that segment on the same sketch plane, are automatically selected. Click Finish when done.
The number of model lines selected are displayed in the dialog box.
Transform lines in relation to a work plane - rotates the selected lines to a reference plane.
In the frame Planes in Project, select the reference plane in your current project. If all of the selected
lines lie on a sketch plane, then the option Sketch plane of the lines is selectable. Otherwise, click
3
Select, and choose the relevant model plane. See Select Plane Dialog on page 194
Associated plane in family document - allows you to define a plane in the family document, including
the desired alignment for the model lines.
Family Name - enter a name for the family.
Create Instance - As-Built for Revit tries to insert an appropriate instance of the newly created family at
4 the same position as the model lines. This options is only selectable in the case of a 3D family. It’s
availability also depends on the selected family template.
Save as .rfa file saves the new family also as a file. The Save dialog box then appears.

Click Start to confirm your choices. The family will now be created and immediately loaded into the
project. It can then be found in the appropriate category in the Project Browser.

Example
The following figure shows the point cloud of a window in the floor plan (left) and 3D view (right). This
window should be modeled as a family. For this purpose, model lines have already been drawn as
construction aids in the point cloud. The red line has been created with the command Model - Fit Polygon
on page 203; the blue lines with the Revit line command on a previously fitted work plane:

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The exterior wall has already been modeled, and runs in an approximately north-south direction (Y-axis in
the Revit project coordinate system). If Save as Family has been used without additional transformation of
the family template M_Fenster.rte, the result looks like this:

The lines have been inserted into the family with their associated alignment (along the Y-axis). The desired
result, however, was that the lines should be aligned along the wall. You can accomplish this using
Transform lines in relation to a work plane. This lets you use the external wall face as the reference
plane, and the XZ-plane as the associated plane in the families document.

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The resulting family looks like this:

The model lines can now be moved to the correct position, so that they can be used as construction aids.
Under certain conditions, it may be necessary to form the lines into a group first. To do this, select all of the

lines at one time, and use Modify - Create Group - Create Group ) to move them all together.

The following figure shows the completed family after modeling:

If a transformation has been performed, the option Create Instance is not available.

Intersect 2 Planes

| Used in: Project, Family

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Intersect two planes with each other. The result is a model line. You can select the active plane, Revit
planes, reference planes, model lines with their work plane, or planar surfaces.

The figure to the right shows an example of how you can create the eaves edge (green model lines) from
modeled roof surfaces (blue model lines), created with the command Work Plane - Fit Plane (n Points) on
page 194 by intersecting them with the Revit plane of the roof:

Upon starting this command, a dialog box appears.

You are prompted to select the first plane:

1 Select the active work plane, Revit planes, or named reference planes.
Lets you select a reference plane, a Revit plane, or a model line with its work plane in the currently open
2
view.
3 Lets you select a planar surface or the active work plane as a reference plane.

Confirm your selection with OK. In the case of Pick plane or model line to get the work plane it was
sketched in and Pick a face you will be prompted in your open view to click the appropriate choice.

As soon as you’ve done this, the selected plane will be set as the active plane and then another dialog box
opens. It asks for the selection method for your second plane:

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As soon as you have selected the second plane, a model line is created, which is the result of the plane
intersection. The intersection line is at least 1 m long. The length of the intersection line is determined by
the geometry of the selected planes.

Intersect 3 Planes

| Used in: Project, Family

Similar to Model - Intersect 2 Planes on page 213. In contrast to the Intersect 2 Planes command, the
result is a three or six leg figure of model lines or a construction point.

For example, you can create verge and ridge lines from the modeled planes of a roof skin (green model
lines) and a facade (black model lines):

You are prompted to select the first plane, as in Model - Intersect 2 Planes on page 213.

In contrast to Model - Intersect 2 Planes on page 213, this command does not end after the selection of the
second plane. It has a third dialog box prompting for the selection of a third plane, along with the type of
the resulting geometry (Result).

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Result
Description
Option
Creates a 3-6 leg figure, analogous to the verge and ridge lines example. The length of the
Model Lines
model lines is dependent on the selected geometry.
Construction
Creates a single construction point at the intersection point of the three planes
Point

Model Line

| Used in: Project, Family, SendToRevit

Creates model lines in the Revit project. If creating model lines in the Family Editor, you must use the scan
view of SendToRevit.

Upon starting the command, the following dialog box appears:

The point modes control how the picked coordinates are to be used. Choose a point mode. See Point Modes
on page 43 for more information.

To create the model lines, choose from the following command options:

Icon Command Operation

Continuous Click points in the scan to create model lines in 3D space. If you use this option with
3D model point mode set to Standard, every line section will create a Revit work plane
lines perpendicular to the XY-plane.
Click two points in the scan to create a horizontal model line. The line segment is
Horizontal
created at the level of the averaged Z-coordinate of both points on a work plane parallel
model line
to the XY-plane.
Click two points in the scan to create a vertical model line. The line segment is created
Vertical
on a work plane that is perpendicular to the XY-plane. The x and y coordinates of both
model line
points will be averaged.

3D arc Click three points in the scan to create an arc in 3D space.

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CPoint
| Used in: Project, Family, SendToRevit

Creates a construction point in Revit when you pick a point. You can use the command both in the project
environment, as well as in the Family Editor.

The required point can be picked in both the Revit point cloud and also in the SendToRevit scan view.

Upon starting the command the following dialog box appears:

The point modes control how the picked coordinates are to be used. Choose a point mode. See Point Modes
on page 43 for more information.

The name depends on the settings under As-Built - Settings on page 259.

Point Cloud
The following commands can be found in the Point Cloud section of the As-Built Structure ribbon.

Coordinates - Import Scan Positions from RCP

| Used in: Project

Inserts, as symbols into the Revit project, the individual scanner positions from all loaded RCP point clouds.
The pre-requisite is that the RCP file contains individual scans.

This command inserts a pre-defined family symbol at the location of each single scan.

You have access to the scan position coordinates from the symbol parameters.

Coordinates - Import Scan Positions

| Used in: Project

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Inserts the individual scan positions of an As-Built Modeler project as symbols into the Revit project. The
pre-requisite is an export of the scanner locations as a .txt file using the corresponding command in the
SendTo App.

Import Scan Positions inserts a pre-defined family symbol at the location of each single scan. Via the
symbol parameters, you can access the coordinates of the scan positions, as well as the information
regarding the As-Built Modeler project and scan file. From the file path, you can start As-Built Modeler
directly from Revit. The appropriate project is automatically loaded, and the selected scan view opened.

1 Name of scan position.

2 Coordinates of scan position
3 Path of SendToRevit project.
Path of a single scan file.
4
Click the file path, then to open the scan project via the
hyperlink.

Coordinates - Linking PC Coordinates

| Used in: Project

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Links a point cloud that is loaded in Revit with an As-Built Modeler project. This is useful, if you want to
work in parallel with SendToRevit and the point cloud in Revit. Quite often, when inserting point clouds in
Revit, they are not in the middle of the project, or they are not orthogonally-aligned. With this command,
you can rotate and move the point cloud in Revit, and continue working in the same coordinate system in
the As-Built Modeler project. The point cloud must be loaded in Revit, and the project must be referenced
in the same superior coordinate system. To accomplish this:

1. Insert the point cloud into your project using the positioning option Auto - Center to Center (Insert -

Link - Point Cloud ).

2. Start this command.

3. Select the point cloud.

The point cloud is now linked with the As-Built Modeler project. You can freely rotate and move them. The
transformation of the linked point cloud is used for every command initiated by SendToRevit.

To remove this link, re-start the - Point Cloud - Coordinates - Linking PC Coordinates command, and
confirm the dialog box. You can now link to another point cloud.

NOTE: If you have previously set the project coordinates via SendToRevit (using Project coordinates)
with use shared coordinates, you can insert the point cloud in Revit with the option Auto - from
shared coordinates. The position of the inserted point cloud is exactly coincident with the project
coordinates set in As-Built Modeler. The linkage with the point cloud is purely optional.

Coordinates - Acquire PC Coordinates

| Used in: Project

Retrieves the internal point cloud coordinate system, and aligns the shared coordinate system to it.

To accomplish this:

1. Insert a point cloud using the positioning option Auto - Center to Center (Insert - Link - Point Cloud
).

2. Align the point cloud in the project by moving and rotating it. See Aligning Point Cloud and Placing
Levels on page 19.

3. Start this command.

4. Select the point cloud.

As-Built has now moved the survey point to the origin of the internal point cloud coordinate system and the
rotated the geographical north, relative to the Y-axis of the point cloud coordinate system. The shared
coordinate system now corresponds to the internal point cloud coordinate system.

To insert other external data (e.g. a site plan as CAD drawing) containing the same coordinate system, select
the positioning option Auto - from shared coordinates. The external file is aligned to the point cloud, and
inserted into the project.

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Export PC Region
| Used in: Project

Exports a region of a Revit point cloud into a PTS file, so that it can be subsequently inserted in the family
editor (Connect Point Cloud - Family Editor (As-Built) Tab on page 268). This only works in an
orthogonal 3D view.

1. Start this command.

2. Activate the section box of the view.

3. Clip the point cloud to create your desired region.

The visible region of the point cloud will be exported.

Ortho Image

| Used in: Project

Creates a dense, continuous view of the point cloud in the current Revit view. It can be used in orthogonal
3D views, floor plans, sections, elevations and reflected ceiling plans. In plan views (floor plans, sections,
elevations and reflected ceiling plans) such generated images can be directly inserted into the project in their
correct position and true to scale. These images can also be exported, then, for example, imported into the
Family Editor with their correct size using Connect Point Cloud - Insert Ortho Image on page 269.
Detailed family components can be modeled with ortho images in the background. Upon starting this
command, the following dialog box appears:

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The physical size of an image pixel in project units. It defines the resolution of the image, and thus
1
also the required computation time. The default value for a typical indoor survey is 1 mm.

In Colour filling mode, the point cloud is shown as a continuous surface. It appears to the viewer
to be a dense, natural surface with the colored texture.

2 The faster ClearView (X-ray) mode uses the same imaging method used in Point Cloud - Prepare
Point Cloud on page 223. A gray-scale dense point cloud image is created. The slider bar controls
the image intensity. The higher this values, the more contrast, and thus the darker the ClearView
image appears. Default value is 1.

3 Click Start to begin the image rendering.

4 Previews ortho image.

5 Cancel interrupts the rendering, so that you can change the parameters.

When the image rendering is complete, these are enabled.

Save as file... saves the rendered image in full resolution, in an image format of your choice.
6 Additionally, an *.xmlscale file is created, which contains size information and the image scaling.

Insert in same view (close this dialogue) allows you to directly insert the image into your current
Revit view, if you use the command in a planar view.

In the following figure, you can see four ortho images of the same window. On the left is the Colour filling
mode. Middle top, to the right, and below are: X-ray modes in elevation, section, and floor plan.

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You have the option to Show section box planes. This allows the limits of the selected section box to be
displayed in color in a 3D view. In plan views, the front section plane is colored. Below that, is the Cut line
width. This determines the width of the strip to be colored. The color of the strip is defined using Pick line
colour.

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Prepare Point Cloud

| Used in:Project

Pre-computes a point cloud to help facilitate the As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33
command. The point cloud in the active plan view from the Bottom of View Range to the Cut Plane of
View Range, as well as the currently defined cropped region, is converted into a dense point image with a
threshold value. This converted image can then be inserted in the floor plan view, and serves for better
visualization of the point cloud.

When you start the command, the following dialog box appears:

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Beneath the preview pane, the dimensions of the current point cloud region are displayed.

Adjust the Pixel Resolution to suit your needs. The default value is 1.5 mm. Click Start, to begin the pre-
rendering.

You will see the progress in the preview window, as well as the processing speed. The moving black border
in the preview window indicates the position in the image that is currently being computed.

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When the pre-rendering is complete, you can adjust the Contrast Factor and decide how to insert the image.

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The Contrast Factor parameter can be used to control the image intensity. The higher the Contrast Factor
value, the darker the pre-computation lines. The default value is 1.

Upon completion of the pre-rendering, you have three options for inserting the rendered image into your
project:

l Insert Hidden in this View - inserts the rendered image hidden in the current view. It can also be used
hidden for to the command As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33.

l Insert in this View, Hide Point Cloud - inserts the rendered image into this view, makes it visible and
hides the point cloud.

l Insert in Copied new View - inserts the rendered image visible into a duplicated view, in which the
point cloud is hidden.

Using the Detail Level, you can control the display of the rendered image, changing between Coarse,
Medium, and Fine, depending on the zoom level, and the desired level of contrast.

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Compare the level of detail: The sectioned point cloud (top) and the pre-computed image (bottom).

Auto Measure Parameters

| Used in: Project

Automatically determines the point cloud parameters Noise and Average point distance. These parameters
can be manually modified in the Settings on page 259.

Both parameters are essential for object recognition in As-Built. Adjustment of these two parameters allows
processing of point clouds of varying qualities and from different models of scanners, as well as from
differing manufacturers.

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Noise - specifies how much the observed points in the point cloud can deviate from the ideal
1
surface.

2 Scan points

3 Ideal plane (e.g. façade surface)

Average point distance- specifies how far away, on average, a point within a set of related points,
4
lies from the next adjacent point.

Noise
It is approximately twice the standard deviation for a normal distribution. The majority of scanner
manufacturers give a maximum point deviation as the quality of their model of scanner.

Before setting the Noise parameter, refer to your scanner’s documentation. Note that the Noise parameter in
As-Built includes the surface properties and the point deviation from the scan.

For example, the noise of a rough rendered façade varies by several millimeters or even centimeters from
the ideal plane of the façade. An additional influence is the quality of the scan registration of the point
cloud’s noise.

Average Point Distance

This parameter varies significantly within a single point cloud. It depends upon:

l the number of scan positions used to scan the object represented by the point cloud,

l the distance between the object and the scanner location,

l the scan density,

l the scanned object surfaces’ angle of incidence.

Auto Measure
Upon starting the command, you are prompted to pick three points. The three points must define a plane.
Let us take for example a façade surface, whose select points look like this:

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The picked triangle should, where possible, be closed. That means there should not be any openings (e.g.
windows) inside it. Furthermore, there should not be any other objects lying in front of, or behind, the
picked plane (e.g. window reveals or a wall behind the plane).

After picking the points, the following dialog box appears:

The parameter Slice half thickness defines a region (1 - white in the preview pane) in which a mean plane
will be calculated. The selected points define a plane. It is viewed from the side and displayed in the pane (2
- black points) Plane Projection.

For the correct determination of the parameters, there should always be a thin strip of point cloud points
visible, that is surrounded by a thicker red strip (3), which in turn should have a white border. This is the
noise.

Based on this mean plane and the points used, the noise (maximum point distance to the plane) and the
average point distance to the surface are calculated. If the slice thickness is too thick, points outside of the
picked plane may also be used in determining the plane:

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The slice thickness should be as thin as possible, so that there is only a single plane lying in the white
region, e.g. 50 mm.

If the slice thickness is too small, the noise can longer be correctly determined, because the region used and
the noise are almost equal. A warning appears notifying you that a thicker (or thinner) slice must be used.
The calculated values are shown in the section Point Cloud Parameters. Click OK to confirm. This writes
them in the As-Built settings.

Sections
The following commands can be found in the Sections section of the As-Built Structure ribbon.

Define Rectangle
| Used in: Project

Starts the creation of a new rectangular point cloud section. Start this command, then click and drag a
rectangular section on the point cloud to define your selection. A dialog box appears.

The Section Name dialog box appears, in which you can give the new region a name.

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Section Name
Point Cloud Section Name - name your point cloud section. This is the name used in the Section
1
Manager.
Tooltip Description - add an optional user-defined tool tip. This is the text that appears when you hover
2
with the mouse over the entry.
Skip name and merge with parent - if there are no other subordinate point cloud regions next to this
3 new region in the tree structure, this option is enabled. The newly defined clipping planes are then
merged directly with the higher level section.

Define Polygon
| Used in: Project

Creates a new convex polygonal point cloud section. Start this command, then pick any number of contour
points on the point cloud, to be allocated to a convex section. After selecting the first point, a visualization
of the current section appears as lines. During the input, avoid camera pans in the perspective window. After
you have input all of your points, you can end with ESC.

The Section Name dialog box appears, in which you can give the new region a name. See Section Name on
page 231 for more details.

Define Box
| Used in: Project

Creates a new point cloud section from the current 3D crop region of the active 3D view.

This requires a 3D view with an active crop region, otherwise a warning message appears. Start the
command after the 3D crop region has been set-up. The limits are taken over as the new As-Built point
cloud section.

The Section Name dialog box appears, in which you can give the new region a name. See Section Name on
page 231 for more details.

Define Slice
| Used in: Project

Creates a new slice point cloud section. Upon starting this command, the following dialog box appears:

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The orientation of the newly created slice is defined here, as well as the precise thickness of the slice.

Orthogonal a slice is created that is at a right angle to the selected plane or line. Next, define the
plane of orientation, or select the plane or line.
1
Parallel - a slice is created that is parallel to the selected plane or line. Next, define the plane of
orientation, or select the plane or line.

XY plane - a plane that is parallel to a Revit level.

2 YZ plane - a plane that stands orthogonal to the Revit levels and runs in a north-south direction.

XZ plane - a plane that stands orthogonal to the Revit levels and runs in a east-west direction.

3 For an explanation of Plane and Line, see Work Plane on page 48.

4 Define the slice thickness by either entering a number or using the + and -.

Click slice thickness in the point cloud (skip keyboard input) - if enabled, upon clicking Start,
5 you are prompted to pick two points in the point cloud to define the slice thickness. If disabled, pick
one point to define the first clipping plane.

The Section Name dialog box appears, in which you can give the new region a name. See Section Name on
page 231 for more details.

Section Manager

| Used in: Project

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Allows management of As-Built point cloud sections. These are clipped sections in the point cloud that are
independent of the views defined in the project. The clipped sections are saved as named sections in the
Section Manager, as well as in the project. In every 2D or 3D view, you can access any of the defined
sections.

The Section Manager is used to control the user-defined point cloud sections. You can show and hide them
as desired.

The upper portion shows the hierarchically organized point cloud sections. The lower portion shows the
currently active clipped planes of the active point cloud section.

Point cloud regions can be individually displayed using a range of orientation levels. Only the point cloud
points that lie on the positive side of all of the clipping planes are displayed.

Each node and sub-node in the tree structure displays named clipping planes. They can be grouped together.
Therefore, every node effectively inherits the active clipping planes of the higher branches in the tree
structure. Only one node can be active at a time. The region that is displayed is the one defined by the
planes of the active node, and those of its parent nodes.

For special use cases, you can activate and de-activate the clipping planes, either singly or in groups in the
lower area. This allows you to create a structural order and a working structure for point clouds. Double-
clicking a node in the tree structure activates this named point cloud region, so one can, for example, isolate
the previously defined ground floor. Elements can be moved around in the upper portion of the tree using
drag-and-drop. CTRL + drag-and-drop copies the elements while moving them. Hover your mouse to see a
user-defined tool-tip text for the point cloud region.

The icons in front of the text in the tree structure correspond to their geometrical region property:

Named tree nodes without any clipping planes. Used exclusively for the organization of the child nodes.

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Slice defined by two parallel clipping planes.

Cuboid cropped section
Prismatic cropped section
Any complex cropped section

Right-click one of the tree elements in the upper portion to access the context menu. You have the following
options:

l Add Text Section - creates a new node in the tree without any clipping planes. A dialog box is
displayed for the definition of the name and tool-tip for this node. See Section Name on page 231.

l Rename - a dialog box is displayed for the definition of the name and tool-tip for this node. See Section
Name on page 231.

l Merge with Parent - the clipping planes of the node are merged with the parent node. This option is
only enabled, when a node doesn’t have sub-nodes.

l Shift the slice section up or down - a dialog box appears, allowing movement of the slice by an
adjustable amount.

l Delete - deletes this node from the tree.

The active clipping planes of the active section are listed in the lower area. The icons in this tree show the
geometrical position of the planes. Hover to see a tool-tip with its coordinates in the Hessian plane normal
form.

Skewed planes
Any vertically placed plane
Horizontal plane (XY)
Axis parallel plane (YZ)
Axis parallel plane (XZ)

View
The following commands can be found in the View section of the As-Built Structure ribbon.

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Hide or Show PC
| Used in: Project

Toggles the visibility of all point clouds in the current view either on or off. This allows you to control the
visibility of the point clouds. If individual point cloud objects are manually hidden in Revit, they will not be
affected by this command.

Hide / Show PP
| Used in: Project

Hides or shows all protocol points in the active view. Protocol points are 3D point symbols that are inserted
into the Revit project, on the position of the clicked point in the scan, each time a SendToRevit command is
used. These appear as crosses. They are for monitoring purposes only.

NOTE: If you have hidden the protocol points in a view, and then use further SendToRevit commands, the
new protocol points are still visible. To hide these points, you must run the Hide PP command
again.

As-Built
The following commands can be found in the As-Built section of the As-Built Structure ribbon.

Getting Started
Auto Pop-up

or | Used in: Project, Family

Opens a dialog box, from which you can access tutorials, videos, and further information relating to As-
Built:

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The Getting Started dialog box appears by default when starting Revit with As-Built installed. By selecting
the option Do not show this dialog again, you can switch off this behavior for the currently installed
program version.

If you install a new version, you will need to select this option again to switch off the auto-appearance of
this dialog box.

Tutorials can be found directly on the FARO As-Built for Revit Tutorial Website.

License Info

Used in: Project

Opens the FARO license manager. View and manage all your FARO software licenses in one place. Easily
transfer licenses to other machines or temporarily borrow licenses from your network license.

Refer to this Knowledge Base article for more information.

Cleanup
| Used in: Project, Family

Used to clean-up an As-Built project. This can be helpful, when project data will be passed on without As-
Built content.

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l Remove As-Built project config values - removes all configuration values set by the project. All values
are reset to their default values.

l Remove wall type naming history for fitted walls - new Revit wall types will sometimes be created
when using As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33. These are saved under the names of
the original wall type. This allows further derived wall types to be named in the style of the original.
This naming history can be removed from the project using this option.

l Remove all protocol points - deletes all protocol points in the project.

l Remove all tile images from command “Prepare PC” - deletes all image tiles created with Prepare
Point Cloud on page 223.

l Remove dynamic model updaters (re-open Revit to enable again) - removes all Dynamic Model
Updaters from the project. These do things such as switching the level of detail for pre-rendered image
tiles when using As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33. This technique also declares the
pre-calculated images invalid for point cloud modifications, and deletes them. The removal of these
Dynamic Model Updaters can be important for sharing the project. Their absence can restrict the
working in As-Built. Restart Revit to restore the default method of working with Dynamic Model
Updaters.

l Remove all surface analysis results - removes all surface analysis calculations, even when they are not
currently displayed in the model.

l Remove all pipe fitting analysis results (needed by As-Built) - removes all Family analysis results
that are carried-out when first starting As-Built Systems - Piping - Place Pipe Fitting on page 170.

l Remove all structural elements profile analysis results (needed by As-Built) - removes all Family
analysis results that are carried-out when first starting As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Structural
Element on page 109.

l Remove all As-Built MEP Links (Piping and Ducting) - Removes all existing piping and ducting
links in As-Built MEP.

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l Remove all As-Built for Revit legacy data - removes certain data stored by previous versions of As-
Built. Some analysis data and defaults you have set-up might be lost, be recalculated, or reset.

After you have selected the desired options, click OK. You receive a summarized status message of the
Clean-up actions that were carried out.

Settings
| Used in: Project, Family

Opens the As-Built Settings dialog, in which you can change project-specific settings.

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Parameter Description

Align Pipes

Alignment
speed vs
Alignment speed (greater 1.0) versus robustness (lower 1.0) ration.
robustness
ration

Angular
tolerance for The minimum angular tolerance at the pipe connection which should be met, when
pipe using the command As-Built Systems - Piping - Align Pipes on page 174
connection

Use strict If this option has been selected, a different algorithm with stricter constraints will be
constraints if used when using the command Align pipe runs, if:
tolerance is not
met or l the angular tolerance has not been met after 10000 iterations, or
canceled by
user l you have prematurely terminated the computation by pressing ESC.

Clash
Detection

Clash name The number following the clash name as a suffix.

counter in
Schedule Ex: Clash_1

Cylinder Detection

Cylinder
Enter a value ...
search radius

Radius
tolerance in Enter a tolerance in percent.
percent

General

Construction
Start number for new construction points. This value is automatically increased.
point number

Construction
Point Prefix Prefix name for new construction points.
Name

Display Piping
Defines whether or not pipe links will be displayed.
Links

Inserted image Defines the file size threshold, when inserting new images with As-Built that primarily
size threshold affect the functions Point Cloud- Prepare Point Cloud on page 223 and Ortho Image
value in on page 220, which place the rendered images in your Revit project. If the threshold
MByte value is exceeded, a warning message is displayed. This warns that the images which

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Parameter Description

are to be inserted should be scaled using a definable factor. This is because when Revit
has many and / or large images in its database, it becomes difficult to use, or could even
lead to a crash. This should, therefore, be avoided.

Is customer
experience
improvement If enabled, it allows authorized FARO employees to track anonymous usage data.
program Changing this opens the corresponding dialog, allowing you to change your choice.
(logging)
enabled

Is getting
started splash This deactivates the Getting Started dialog at Revit start-up.
screen disabled

Is software
auto update This deactivates the search for software updates in the internet.
disabled

Language Language of As-Built menus and dialogs

Level number Start number for new levels. This value is increased automatically.

Level prefix
Name prefix for new levels
name

Show warning
for pipes with Warns if your project has pipes with taps.
taps

Turn off
Turn on or off the Revit warning, regarding wall axis or lines that differ slightly from
inaccurate line
the orthogonal project coordinate system.
/ wall failure

Selecting no disables all section clipping functions. They are automatically disabled
Use point when using work-sharing, because otherwise, error-free work with clipping sections in
cloud selection the work-sharing context cannot be guaranteed. If a file is converted to a work-sharing
tools file, a warning message is displayed. If you proceed, a warning message appears when
you try to use one of the As-Built section tools.

Object Creation

Element search The search distance used when searching for existing walls when creating openings,
distance doors and windows using SendToRevit commands.

Rounding step
The value that the parameters height and width should be rounded to for new windows,
for opening
doors, and openings.
dimensions

Ortho Image

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Parameter Description

Intensity factor Controls the intensity of an X-Ray ortho image. The higher this value, the more contrast
for ClearView and darker the X-ray ClearView image appears.

Plane Detection

Contour Determines the smoothing of the resulting contour from Work Plane - Fit Plane with
smoothing Contour on page 195 and Model - Model Line on page 216. A larger value, yields
deviation fewer vertices in the resulting contour.

The radius around the picked point, within which the points are used to find and form
the plane. For best results, the value should be approximately the size of your structure.

Example: If you want to fit a plane on a building facade that is 10 x 10 m, use a search
Plane search
radius of 5 m. However, should you want to fit planes on room walls of approximately
radius
2.5 x 4 m, then use a search radius of around 2 m.

The search radius can be slightly larger than your structure size, but the plane fitting
might take a little longer.

Point Cloud Parameter

Average point Defines the average distance between the point cloud points. The value can be
distance automatically determined using Point Cloud - Auto Measure Parameters on page 227.

Defines how far points can lie from an ideal plane. The value depends on the
characteristics of your scan data (noise of your scanner), as well as the quality of the
surface, and the curvature of the scanned surface as opposed to an ideal plane. The
value can be somewhat larger than the actual value. The accuracy of the results can
only be assured within the set value.
Noise
Example: With a set noise value of 5 cm, only an accuracy of up to 5 cm can be
guaranteed.

You can achieve the best results, if, for example, you use 3 mm for room walls, but 1-2
cm for facades, and 5 cm for roof surfaces. The value can be automatically determined
using Point Cloud - Auto Measure Parameters on page 227.

Project Transformation

Linked point
Linked point cloud’s element ID. If no link is set, the value is -1.
cloud ID

Project The rotation angle of the Revit project coordinate system relative to the SendToRevit
orientation project coordinate system.

Project origin X-coordinate (east) of the Revit project origin in the SendToRevit project coordinate
X system.

Project origin Y-coordinate (north) of the Revit project origin in the SendToRevit project coordinate
Y system.

Project origin Z-coordinate (height) of the Revit project origin in the SendToRevit project coordinate

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Parameter Description

Z system.

Surface Analysis

Max Surface Defines the maximum distance from the model surface to the point cloud points that are
Distance to be considered in the surface analysis.

Mean Grid
Defines the average size of a grid cell in the surface analysis.
Size

Wall Creation

Automatic wall When fitting the wall face with the appropriate SendToRevit command, and using
extension additional points to define a longer wall, the wall is automatically extended.

Max. wall
Defines the maximum possible wall thickness for wall fitting. If the wall fitting ever
thickness for
fails because of very thick walls, you can increase this value for better results.
fitting

Query if the
Value of If the Automatic Wall Extension parameter is inactive, you can define what length
Extension difference the software uses to prompt you regarding whether or not to extend the wall.
greater than

Resolution for Specifies the physical size of an image pixel (in project units) to be used in Point
point cloud Cloud - Prepare Point Cloud on page 223. It defines the resolution of the prepare
prepare image, and thus also the required computation time.

Rounding step
for wall Value to which the new wall thickness is rounded.
thickness

Wall search
Search distance for existing walls, when adjusting the wall side.
distance

WARNING! Changes made to the values for Project Transformation have no effect on the internal Revit
shared coordinate system.

Help
| Used in: Project

Opens the user guide.

Worksharing Settings
| Used in: Project

Worksharing Settings is only available, when your Revit project has this feature activated for a central
model. When you start this command, the following dialog box appears:

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Shows which users have preferred settings saved in the central drawing. Each user works using their own
preferences. Clone to Own lets you copy the preferences of another user, making them yours, too. Your
preferences will be replaced with theirs. This is useful when using team-wide project standards.

Info

| Used in: Project

Displays information about the As-Built version number, and provides access to Technical Support on page
271.

Software Update

| Used in: Project

Click to check for As-Built software updates.

FARO Knowledge Base

| Used in: Project

Opens the default browser to the As-Built for Revit FARO Knowledge Base page.

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Command Reference Guide:

As-Built Systems
The structure of the Command Reference Guides is explained under Command Reference Structure on page
30.

Piping
The following commands can be found in the Piping section of the As-Built Systems ribbon.

Fit Pipe
| Used in: Project

Fits a pipe into the point cloud. Upon starting this command, the following dialog box appears:

Select the level and piping system, then click Start. Follow the prompts in the Revit status bar, by picking
two points in the point cloud along the pipe.

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You can either pick the point cloud points in Revit or from an external scan view.

NOTE: If you have SendToRevit data, in addition to the point cloud, you can also pick the points for the
pipe fitting in the SendToRevit scan view. The fitting itself, however, takes place in the Revit point
cloud. If the option Use also hidden point cloud points is selected, you can still fit the pipe, even
if you picked the points in SendToRevit and the point cloud is hidden in Revit.

After picking both of the points, a dialog box appears. This shows the recognized pipe geometry. You are
prompted to select which pipe type you want to insert.

You can select the pipe that you want to insert into the project from three lists:

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l Best Fit

l Loaded Pipe Types

l Last used Types

You see a preview of the selected pipe, along with the surrounding point cloud region. The pipe is
simultaneously previewed in the project area.

You can more precisely define the pipe to be inserted through the dialog elements:

1 Previews the pipe to be inserted into your model.

All of the pipes in your project are displayed here, including their pre-defined segments and
diameters. The list is sorted by deviation between the recognized pipe diameter and the selected
pipe. Entries at the top of the list have a relatively better fit to the point cloud than those further
down.
2 Nominal Diameter - shows the nominal diameter for each pipe shown.

Outer Diameter - shows the external diameter of each pipe shown.

Delta - shows the variance between each pipe and the pipe geometry that has been detected in the
point cloud.

Similar to the Best fit list. This lists all pipes shown in the project. Pipes are sorted by their
3
nominal diameter.

4 Shows most recently used pipe types.

Detected Diameter - shows the detected diameter of the pipe surface in the point cloud.
5
Rounding - shows the range to which the detected pipe surface should be rounded.

Add Insulation - will add insulation around the pipe.

Insulation Type - allows you to choose the type of insulation.

6
Thickness - enter a thickness for the insulation. The values in the Delta columns of the pipe type
lists change accordingly.

Insert the selected pipe into the project, by selecting Insert Selected Type. If you cannot find the desired
pipe segment with the desired size in any of the three lists, you can define a new pipe size for a selected
pipe segment by clicking Add new Pipe Size.

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In the dialog box, specify the diameter for the selected pipe segment, based on the detected diameter of the
pipe. You can change the Outside Diameter.

After confirming with Ok, the pipe is inserted with the new pipe size.

As-Built might detect the wrong pipe geometry. The preview might show, for example, that the detected
pipe axis does not lay central to the scanned pipe surface. If this occurs, repeat the detection of the pipe, by
selecting Cancel and Repeat and re-picking two points.

After inserting the pipe, you are prompted to pick two points for the next pipe in your pipe run. To end the
pipe detection procedure, press ESC.

Place Pipe Fitting

| Used in: Project

Inserts pipe accessories, after all necessary pipes are fitted.

The first time this command is used in a project, As-Built analyzes all of the loaded pipe accessories
families. The analysis determines the variable parameters in the families that can be subsequently fitted. The
results of the analysis are saved in the project. If you have loaded further families into the project after this
analysis was performed, the analysis is only be carried out for the new families.

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In the Revit status bar, you are prompted to select the pipe ends, between which you want to place the pipe
fitting. Ends are highlighted in blue during the selection process.

The system type of an MEP fitting is determined by the first connector that is clicked. Reducer types are set
upon creation. Cross-shaped types are connected to the first-selected MEP part.

As-Built connects all of the connectors that are visually and geometrically connected after placing the
fitting.

Once you have selected all of the pipe ends, a dialog box appears, which shows you all suitable fittings that
fit between the pipe ends:

1 Preview window.
2 Adjust point cloud points in the preview window with the slider or by entering a number.
3 Possible fittings.
4 Fittings that you previously used.
5 Filter allows filtering of pipe sizes by entering a value, such as 2.
6 Toggle connector type or define an offset for insertion.
7 Information regarding connections.
Uncheck the box to use any angle. If you want to use defined angles, you can set a tolerance for when
8
to snap to the fixed angle and when to use the actual angle between the fitted pipes.
9 Cancel aborts the procedure without further changes.
10 Insert the fitting according to your choices in the dialog.

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As you select your parameters, the component, with its chosen properties, is displayed in the drawing.

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After selecting the correct pipe fitting, and its associated properties, click OK. The component is inserted
into your project.

If the pipe system of the component cannot be automatically determined, you will be prompted to manually
select them. After selecting the pipe system, the component is inserted into the project.

Define Rotation Angle

If you chose, by points ... to select the rotation angle, you are prompted to pick a point in the point cloud to
orient the component branch.

As soon as you have picked a point, the component branch points in that direction.

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Define Insertion Offset

If you chose by points ... to select the insertion offset, you are prompted to pick a point in the point cloud,
to which the component should be offset in relation to the first selected pipe joint.

The pipe fitting is then offset from the first selected pipe joint to this position.

Align Pipes
| Used in: Project

Creates a fully connected pipe run in Revit, comprised of pipes, pipe fittings, and pipe accessories. The
components must conform to the following consistency constraints:

l collinear or coplanar axes of the pipes and pipe fittings

l precise matching of the tie in points to each other

Elements of pipe runs are aligned, so that the consistency constraints are met. The components must already
have As-Built connectors.

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The purpose of modeling with the tools As-Built Systems - Piping -Fit Pipe on page 167 and Place Pipe
Fitting on page 170 is to model the components of a pipe run as optimally (as near) as possible to the point
cloud. After modeling the pipe run, it does not yet meet the required consistency constraints. In reality, there
are always minor deviations and distortions. Even so, it is the scan quality (point cloud noise and density)
that determines the modeling precision.

Left, you see that the consistency constraints have not yet been met, because the components:

l lay skewed to each other.

l protrude into each other.

l have gaps between them.

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The pipe run in Revit is not yet fully connected. To see these disconnects, click Analyze - Check Systems -
Show Disconnects and check Pipe, then click OK.

After clicking Align Pipes in the Revit status bar, you are prompted to select a component in the pipe run.
All components connected by As-Built are highlighted and a dialog box appears. It shows how many
components belong to the selected pipe run:

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NOTE: If only a part of your pipe run was selected, proof the connectors at the pipe joints.

As-Built for Revit connectors are placed automatically, if you use the command As-Built - Structure Tools
- Place Pipe Fitting on page 170. You can also subsequently insert As-Built connectors using As-Built
Systems - Links - Set Link on page 188 and Set Link (Auto) on page 189.

Alignment of the pipe run using one of two procedures:

Fast Alignment Mode on page 177

Precise Alignment Mode on page 177

Fast Alignment Mode

All connected components are appropriately aligned, based on a single component in the middle of the pipe
run. The procedure is quicker, but less precise, and does not take into account any cycles or fixed elements.

Precise Alignment Mode

The algorithm minimally changes the axial position of the pipes, and moves and rotates the geometry of all
of the connected pipe fittings, creating a precisely fitting model. With this procedure, cycles in the pipe
system and fixed components are taken into account.

Aligning the pipe fittings, fits them onto the pipe axes, without modifying the axes themselves.
Subsequently, the correction of the pipe fittings and pipes occurs. Revit uses red arrows to mark the
connection points with the largest corrections, so that the user can identify the sources of errors.

The procedure continues until one of the stop criterion has been met:

l The angular minimum tolerance value for the connection points is met at each position. The default
value is 0.01°. It can be adjusted in As-Built - Settings on page 259.

l The computation time range of 10000 iterations has been exceeded. After the iteration procedure, the
model still has not met the preset angular tolerance. In this case, the Quick alignment can still be
applied. This option can be activated in As-Built - Settings on page 259.

l During the procedure, the user pressed ESC. The model remains in the currently displayed state.

Click Start. The alignment of the pipe run starts, and a progress dialog box appears. The current maximum
length of pipe of the moved connection points is shown in the progress dialog box, as well as the maximum
angular variance for all of the connection points in the selected pipe run.

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After the computation is complete, your pipe run is correctly aligned and the components are connected with
each other.

Ducts
The following commands can be found in the Ducts section of the As-Built Systems ribbon.

General Ducting Workflow

Here, you can learn about the general workflow for creating duct runs.

General Overview
1. Fit all ducts.

2. Place all fittings.

3. Align ducts and fittings.

Fitting Rectangular or Round Ducts

For an in-depth description of the dialogs used to fit rectangular ducts, see Fit Rectangular Duct on page
180. For an in-depth description of the dialogs used to fit round ducts, see Fit Round Duct on page 183.

Decide which type of ducting run or duct you want to fit.

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1. Click Fit Rectangular Duct or Fit Round Duct.

2. Fill-in the parameter dialog. To auto-insert, check the Auto-insert last-used ducts. Else, deselect it.

3. Click two points in the point cloud on the duct to be fitted.

4. If Auto-insert last-used ducts is checked, and you have not use the clean-up last-used ducts function,
the application inserts a previously used duct size, if that size fits the current fitting. Else, a dialog
appears.

5. Optional: Select the size of the duct that you want to insert, if the automatically-detected duct is not the
correct one.

6. Insert the duct.

7. Repeat steps 3-5 for each duct to be fitted, unless you have checked the box next to Auto-insert last-
used ducts Then, only repeat step 3.

8. Press ESC to end the process. This ends the process. It does not abort. Your changes are preserved.

Your run of ducts is finished.

Placing Duct Fittings

The next step is to place all duct fittings. For in-depth information on the dialogs used to place duct fittings,
see Place Duct Fitting on page 185.

1. Click Place Duct Fitting.

2. Click all connector faces for the fitting.

3. Press ESC to open the duct fitting dialog.

4. Choose the desired fitting.

5. Insert the fitting.

6. Repeat steps 2-5 until all duct fittings are placed.

7. Press ESC to end the process. This ends the process. It does not abort. Your changes are preserved.

Your run of ducts and fittings is now finished.

Aligning the Run

Optionally, you can now align the ducts and fittings.

For in-depth information on the topic of using the Align Ducts command, see Align Ducts on page 187.

1. Click Align Ducts.

2. Click on any duct or fitting.

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3. Click Start in the dialog that appears.

Your run of ducts and fittings is now complete.

Fit Rectangular Duct

| Used in: Project, SendToRevit

The dialogs used for fitting rectangular ducts can also be used to fit round ducts.

1. Click Fit Rectangular Duct. A dialog appears:

2. Fill-in the parameter dialog. To auto-insert, check the Auto-insert last-used ducts. Else, deselect it.

Choose:

l the associated level,

l duct type,

l duct system,

l maximum duct size for your search,

l whether or not hidden points in the point cloud should be used,

l decide whether or not to auto-insert,

l and clean-up last-used ducts, if desired.

2. Click Start.

3. Click two points in the point cloud on the duct to be fitted.

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4. If Auto-insert last-used ducts is checked, and you have not use the clean-up last-used ducts function, the
application inserts a previously used duct size, if that size fits the current fitting. Else, a dialog appears.

1 View type. Choose between cross section and 3D.

2 Preview window shows picked points and projected duct to be fit.

3 Points slider shows more or less points from point cloud.

4 Best fitted size list displays possible fits from catalog.

5 This lists the last-used duct sizes.

Define size manually contains measurements and chances to make manual adjustments to the
6
measurements As-Built for Revit has detected, or choose a new rounding off value.

7 Align to level is selected to align the duct to the level defined in the parameter dialog.

8 Filter allows filtering of duct sizes by entering a value, such as 100.

9 Do not insert; rather re-measure by clicking Cancel and Repeat.

10 Insert the selected rectangular duct by clicking Insert Selected Catalog Size.

11 Insert the selected duct as a rounded duct by clicking Insert Rounded Size.

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Using the Dialog to Fit the Duct

5. View the proposed duct to be fitted in the preview window in either cross-section view or 3D. Adjust
the point cloud points using the slider to the right.

6. Check the duct size chosen by the application.

7. Optional: Use the filter to limit the list, as needed.

8. Optional: Choose the size of the duct to be fitted, if the suggested size is not correct.

9. Optional: Define the size manually, as needed.

10. Optional: Adjust the rounding off factor.

11. Optional: Align the duct to the level defined in the parameter dialog, as needed.

12. Choose to either re-measure, insert the rectangular duct, or insert the rounded off duct.

13. Repeat steps 3-12 for each duct to be fitted, unless you have checked the box next to Auto-insert last-
used ducts Then, only repeat step 3.

14. Press ESC to end the process. This ends the process. It does not abort. Your changes are preserved.

Preview Window
The preview window (2), allows you to see the duct from one of two views: Cross-Section view or 3D view.

The cross-section view shows you a cross-section of the proposed duct, including the picked points, but
without the point cloud. You can adjust the slider bar (3) on the right side of the preview window to see the
point cloud points for the cross-section.

The 3D view shows the proposed duct seated within the point cloud, as shown below.

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Fit Round Duct

| Used in: Project, SendToRevit

The Fit Round Duct dialogs are used only for round ducts.

To fit round ducts, click Fit Round Duct. A dialog appears:

2. Fill-in the parameter dialog. To auto-insert, check the Auto-insert last-used ducts. Else, deselect it.

Choose:

l the associated level,

l duct type,

l duct system,

l maximum duct size for your search,

l whether or not hidden points in the point cloud should be used,

l decide whether or not to auto-insert,

l and clean-up last-used ducts, if desired.

2. Click Start.

3. Click two points in the point cloud on the duct to be fitted.

4. If Auto-insert last-used ducts is checked, and you have not use the clean-up last-used ducts function, the
application inserts a previously used duct size, if that size fits the current fitting. Else, a dialog appears.

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1 Preview window shows picked points and projected duct to be fit.

2 View the proposed duct from various angles and adjust the zoom.

3 Control the size of the selection box.

4 Best fitted size list displays possible fits from catalog.

5 This lists the last-used duct sizes.

6 Selecting a rounding-off value.

7 Add insulation; determine the type and thickness.

8 Filter allows filtering of duct sizes by entering a value, such as 10.

9 Do not insert; rather re-measure by clicking Cancel and Repeat.

10 Insert the selected rectangular duct by clicking Insert Custom Size.

11 Insert the selected duct as a rounded duct by clicking Insert Selected Catalog Type.

Section box size adjusts how much context (point cloud and model) is visible around the detected duct is
visible. The minimum is the duct size itself (0mm additional size); the maximum is 10' (circa 3m) plus the
size of the detected duct.

The Autozoom checkbox determines whether or not the zoom is adjusted while changing the section box
size. If it is checked, the zoom changes while moving the slider. If it is not checked, only the visible context
around the duct is changed; not the zoom.

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To add insulation, check the box next to Add insulation. This activates the boxes below it. You can then
define the type of insulation and the desired thickness. The duct diameter is changed so that the resulting
size (duct diameter + isolation) equals the size of the detected cylinders' diameter.

Using the Dialog to Fit the Duct

5. View the proposed duct to be fitted in the preview window. Adjust the point cloud points using the
slider to the right.

6. Check the duct size chosen by the application.

7. Optional: Use the filter to limit the list, as needed.

8. Optional: Choose the size of the duct to be fitted, if the suggested size is not correct.

9. Optional: Adjust the rounding off factor.

10. Optional: Add insulation.

11. Choose to either re-measure, insert custom size, or insert the selected duct.

12. Repeat steps 3-11 for each duct to be fitted, unless you have checked the box next to Auto-insert last-
used ducts Then, only repeat step 3.

13. Press ESC to end the process. This ends the process. It does not abort. Your changes are preserved.

Place Duct Fitting

| Used in: Project, SendToRevit

To place fittings for the ducts:

1. Click Place Duct Fitting. When you initially start this command, a dialog appears which informs you
that As-Built for Revit is analyzing fitting families. Wait until this process is finished. If there are
issues, a warning dialog appears. Close the dialog to proceed.

2. Pick a point on the end of a duct to serve as the first connector for the fitting.

3. Pick a second point, or press ESC to proceed to the next dialog.

4. Pick a third point, or press ESC to proceed to the next dialog.

TIP: The number of points you pick help define the type of fitting you want to use.

A dialog appears:

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1 Preview window.
2 Adjust point cloud points in the preview window with the slider or by entering a number.
3 Possible fittings.
4 Fittings that you previously used.
5 Filter allows filtering of duct sizes by entering a value, such as 2.
6 Toggle connector type or define an offset for insertion.
7 Information regarding connections.
Uncheck the box to use any angle. If you want to use defined angles, you can set a tolerance for when
8
to snap to the fixed angle and when to use the actual angle between the fitted ducts.
9 Cancel aborts the procedure without further changes.
10 Insert the fitting according to your choices in the dialog.

Section box size adjusts how much context (point cloud and model) is visible around the detected fitting is
visible. The minimum is the fitting size itself (0mm additional size); the maximum is 10' (circa 3m) plus the
size of the detected fitting.

Using the Dialog to Place Fittings

5. View the proposed fitting to be inserted in the preview window. Adjust the point cloud points using the
slider to the right.

6. Check the fitting type and size chosen by the application.

7. Optional: Use the filter to limit the list, as needed.

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8. Optional: Choose the size of the duct to be fitted, if the suggested size is not correct.

9. Optional: Toggle connector type.

10. Optional: Add insertion off-set.

11. Choose to either abort by clicking Cancel or insert the selected fitting by clicking Insert Fitting.

12. Repeat steps 2-11 for each fitting to be placed.

13. Press ESC to end the process. This ends the process. It does not abort. Your changes are preserved.

Align Ducts
| Used in: Project, SendToRevit

Once you have fit and placed your ducts and fittings, use align ducts to align them with each other.

Click Align Ducts.

Click a duct or fitting.

Click Start.

As the dialog states: Any cycles or closures in the system may result in disconnections of portions of the
system during the alignment process.

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Links
The following commands can be found in the Links section of the As-Built Systems ribbon.

Set Link

| Used in: Project

Inserts As-Built connectors. This is usually only necessary, if you have deleted components, or inserted new
components with standard Revit tools.

If you want align a pipe run with As-Built Systems - Piping - Align Pipes on page 174, all components of
the pipe run need to be connected with As-Built’s own pipe connectors. If you insert pipe accessories with
the command As-Built Systems - Piping - Place Pipe Fitting on page 170, then the connectors are placed
automatically and are As-Built pipe connectors. These prevent the need for using Set Link.

After starting the command, all of the As-Built connectors are displayed as circles around the connected
pipe ends. If the connected components are not fitted flush with each other, a line is displayed between the
circles.

In the example to the above, a pipe connector is missing between the T-piece and the pipe bend. The
command As-Built Systems - Piping - Align Pipes on page 174 will not detect a completely connected pipe
run.

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You need to close the connection using Set Pipe Link. In the Revit status bar, you are prompted to select
two pipe ends.

As soon as a new connector has been created, you can add more. Use ESC to end the command.

Set Link (Auto)

| Used in: Project

Like As-Built Systems - Links - Set Link on page 188, this connects pipe runs, so that they can be aligned
with the command As-Built Systems - Piping - Align Pipes on page 174. It automatically places As-Built
connectors between neighboring components. This can be useful, if you have copied a pipe run and
accidentally deleted all of the connectors, or if you have modeled a pipe run without using As-Built
commands.

Upon starting this command, the following dialog box appears:

Enter the search radius to be used in the automatic placing of As-Built connectors.

The search radius defines the radius to search around a pipe end for neighboring pipes. If all of the
neighboring pipe ends have the same nominal diameter, the nearest connector will be selected. After
clicking OK, a new dialog box is displayed, showing the number of newly placed connectors.

The newly placed connectors are also shown in the project:

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Confirm the newly placed As-Built connectors by selecting OK, or discard them by selecting Cancel. The
Pan Zoom allows you to inspect and verify the suggested connectors. Use ESC to return to the dialog box,
so you can confirm the connectors.

Remove Link

| Used in: Project

Defines connected pipe runs, so that they can be used for alignment with As-Built Systems - Piping - Align
Pipes on page 174.

After starting the command, the existing As-Built connectors are displayed as connected circles. You are
prompted to select the connectors that you want to remove. Click the corresponding circle.

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After removing the connector, continue to remove more. ESC ends the command.

Load MEP Families

The following commands can be found in the Load MEP Families section of the As-Built Systems ribbon.

Load MEP Families

| Used in: Project

Simultaneously loads several families composed of pipe accessories and pipe fittings into your project.

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Upon starting this command, the following dialog box appears:

1 Path to currently selected library

2 Allows changing of library path.
Part type list: Allows you to select the part types to load into your project. Select multiple items using
3
CTRL.

Click OK to load all families of the selected part types from the selected folder into your project.

Work Plane
The following commands can be found in the Work Plane section of the As-Built Systems ribbon.

Fit Plane (1 Point)

| Used in: Project

Searches for, and averages, a plane with a single-click a planar point cloud surface, thus defining a work
plane with one click. In the Revit status bar, you are prompted to pick a point on the point cloud on the
planar surface to which the plane will be fitted. The currently set search radius is shown, too.

As soon as you have clicked a point, a progress bar appears briefly, followed by a dialog box:

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Fit Plane Dialog Element Description

The plane averaging can be restricted with respect to another plane or line.

No restriction - applies no restrictions to the plane fitting.

1 Perpendicular - a work plane is created perpendicular to the selected plane or line. Next, define the
Restricted to option. At least two points are required.

Parallel - a work plane is created that is parallel to the selected plane or line. Next, define the
Restricted to option. This needs only one point.

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Restricts the plane fitting to specified criteria.

XY plane - a plane that is parallel to a Revit level.

YZ plane - a plane that stands orthogonal to the Revit levels and runs in a north-south direction.

XZ plane - a plane that stands orthogonal to the Revit levels and runs in an east-west direction.

Plane and Line - activates Select, to select a model line or plane. Once you have made your
selection, there is a green check mark next to Select. Otherwise, it is a red question mark.

The following dialog appears, when using plane, prompting selection of the type of plane: A named
Revit level or a reference plane by name; a planar model surface; or the sketch plane of a model
line:

Select Plane Dialog

Gives you the opportunity to name your plane and / or create bounding model lines.

Create named reference plane - enter the name of the plane you are creating.
3
Create bounding model lines - creates a bounding polygon from model lines. The model lines
contain the averaged plane as a sketch plane.

4 This shows the quality of the plane, together with its standard deviation and maximum deviation.

You can set more command-relevant parameters using As-Built - Settings on page 259. The relevant
sections are As-Built - Settings on page 259: Plane Detection - Plane Search Radius and As-Built -
Settings on page 259: Point Cloud Parameters - Noise.

You can automatically determine the point cloud parameter using Point Cloud - Auto Measure Parameters
on page 227.

Fit Plane (n Points)

| Used in: Project

Creates an averaged plane from an arbitrary (large) number of selected points in a point cloud. The active
work plane can be created using this, and much more. Upon starting this command, you are prompted in the

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Revit status bar to pick as many points on the desired point cloud plane as you wish. Click ESC to bring-up
the following dialog box, which displays the selected points, the quality of the plane, and the output modes:

The selected points and their coordinates - the Deviation column displays the deviation of the
1
respective point from the averaged plane.

2 Quality of the plane, with its standard deviation and maximum deviation

For more information regarding all other sections, see Fit Plane Dialog Element Description on page 193.

Click OK to set the averaged plane as the active plane, and enact all selected options.

Fit Plane with Contour

| Used in: Project

Extracts planes from the point cloud, together with their boundaries, as model lines. This allows, for
example, the creation of roof edges for modeling of roofs:

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Start with the point cloud.

The plane of a roof, together with its boundary, is determined.

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From these planes, the roof edges can be created as model lines using Model -Intersect 3 Planes on page
215.

This wire-frame model can now be used as the basis for creating an in-place family (Massing & Site tab -
Conceptual Mass - In-Place Mass ). The roof can be very easily and precisely modeled from these
surfaces (Massing & Site tab - Model by Face - Roof ).

You can, for example, single-click the façade wall. The result is a bounded façade plane:

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The following dialog box is displayed, and offers several settings that influence the quality of your results:

Fit Plane with Contour Dialog

The point cloud parameters Noise and Average point distance are displayed as information.
Clicking Change calls the As-Built - Settings on page 259 dialog, where you can change certain
1
values. Point Cloud - Auto Measure Parameters on page 227 automatically determines the point
cloud parameter. See Noise and Average Point Distance on page 199.

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The parameters Smoothing and Sample width influence the quality of the resulting contour. See
2
Smoothing and Sample Width on page 199.

3 Enter the name of the plane you are creating. This is optional.

Noise and Average Point Distance

These parameters are related to the other parameters. The Average point distance determines the minimum
value of the Sample width setting. The noise influences the accuracy of the plane. It defines how much the
plane may deviate from the ideal plane. The value must consider the noise of the scan, as well as the surface
and the curvature properties. For example, the value for a rough render should be larger than 5 mm, because
the surface of the rough render deviates by around 5 mm. An uneven floor behaves similarly. When it
curves in the middle by approximately 1 cm, then the noise must also be at least 1 cm. The larger the value,
the less precise is the resulting plane. When the value is 1 cm, the plane can deviate by up to 1 cm at the
edges. If the value is too small, it means that determination of the plane terminates prematurely and not all
of the points in the scanned plane are used to determine the plane.

Smoothing and Sample Width

The parameters Smoothing and Sample width influence the quality of the resulting contour. For
Smoothing, the tolerance determines which points on the contour will belong to a line segment. The larger
the value, the less frayed the contour appears.

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With a small contour smoothing of 5 mm, many corner points are generated. This can be recognized by the
light blue circles on the façade edges in the image to the right. A continuous façade edge without any
intermediate points is more desirable.

With a smoothing value of 50 mm, there are no intermediate points on the façade edge. The façade edge is
consistently smooth. By using + and -, you can double or halve the value.

Using Sample width, you define by how much it should extend over holes and swells.

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We will use this hall roof to demonstrate.

From the front, you will see that the roof cladding is broken-up by these swells of approximately 15 cm.

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With a sample width of 5 cm, you capture too little of the roof area.

Using a sample width of 20 cm allows it to extend over the swells, capturing the entire roof.

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In addition to extending over holes and swells, the Sample width parameter also influences the speed of
contour discovery. If you use a large value, you will get a plane sketch more quickly. The minimum value
of the Sample width setting is determined by the Average point distance setting; the maximum value is
determined by the current Smoothness setting. To get a higher value, the value of the Smoothness setting
must first be increased.

Regression Results
Confirm your settings with Start. In the Revit status bar, you are prompted to pick a point from the point
cloud that you want to model as a plane with a boundary. The command starts to define the plane and its
contour. During the calculation, the following status dialog box appears:

Once finished, the status dialog box disappears. You have a recognized work plane on the point cloud plane,
along with its boundary, which is used as model lines.

Model
The following commands can be found in the Model section of the As-Built Systems ribbon.

Fit Polygon
| Used in: Project

Fits a polygon, or line-chain composed of model lines, onto a point cloud:

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Figure 8-1 Polygon - before fit

Figure 8-2 Polygon - after Fit

The fitted polygon can be used, for example, to modify the profile of a wall, or for the modeling of an
opening.

Select the wall, then select Edit Profile (Modify|Walls - Mode).

In sketch mode for the wall profile, you can select the fitted polygon using the command Select lines .

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In order for the line segments to be recognized as connected line-chains / polygon-chains, they must lie on
the same sketch plane. The sketch plane corresponds to the work plane that was active when the lines were
created. Such a work plane can be created using Work Plane - Fit Plane (n Points) on page 194. The point
cloud region both in front of and behind the sketch plane of the line-chains / polygon-chains must be linear
(not planar). Check this by setting the Revit section box just a few centimeters around the plane. For the
above example, the reveals of the opening cross the sketch plane of the polygon-chain. The reveal must not
lie on the façade plane. A 3D clipped region that lies just a few centimeters away from the work plane will
result in the following image:

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If a line-chain needs to be fitted instead of a closed polygon, the start and end positions will be retained. In
such a case, pick these end points directly in the point cloud. Avoid using line segments in regions where
there are no, or only very few, point cloud points. This can lead to unexpected results during the fitting. In
the example shown here, the sill edge of the opening was the problem. Because of the scan shadow, there
are no point cloud points there.

After starting Fit Polygon, you are prompted in the Revit status bar to select an appropriate segment of a
connected line-chain, which you want to fit onto the point cloud.

As-Built for Revit automatically finds all of the connected line segments on the same sketch plane, and
highlights the line-chain.

The following dialog box opens:

If the option Add segments for smoother line chain is not selected, after clicking Start, the line-chain is
fitted using the same number of line segments (in the example it was 6 line segments).

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If the option Add segments for smoother line chain is selected, then line segments will be inserted to give
a better fit to the point cloud:

Using Contour smoothing,you can control for this case how many line segments will be inserted. If the
value is set small, then the polygon chain will be very detailed. If the value is set large, then the line
segments will be very straight-lined against the point cloud.

With small Contour smoothing with 1 mm, very short line segments are created.

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With a Contour smoothing of 10 mm.

The line segments will be longer and more straight-lined.

With the parameter Point cloud slice thickness, you control how many points that lie in front of and behind
the sketch plane of the line-chains / polygon-chains are used. The slice should be thick enough to provide
sufficient points for fitting. The slice should be thin enough so as not to protrude into other profiles. For
example, the slice in the above window reveal should not intersect with the façade surface.

1 Points on the façade surface.

2 Sketch plane set a small distance from the façade.
3 Model lines on the sketch plane.

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4 Points for modeling the reveal.

In this way, a fitted polygon can be used as a construction aid for loadable families. Use Model - Save as
Family on page 209 to save the resulting model lines as 2D or 3D families.

Save as Family

| Used in: Project

Saves as many model lines as desired as 2D or 3D families. In the Family Editor, you can then use the
model lines as construction aids for further modeling.

Example

A line-chain is created in the point cloud and then fitted to the scan data with the command Model - Fit
Polygon on page 203.

Figure 8-3 Wall Profile

The line-chain is saved as a profile family with the command Save as Family. This can now be extended
using the Family Editor into a closed profile.

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With the Revit command Wall Sweep, the created family can be used for modeling. For cornices along
walls, for example.

Upon starting this command, the following dialog box appears:

Select a family template by clicking [...]. If a valid template has been selected, it will appear in the
1
dialog box whether it is a 2D or 3D family.
2 Click Select Model Line(s) to select the model lines. The dialog box is temporarily hidden, and you are

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prompted to select model lines. For a 3D family, select multiple model lines with any orientation. If it is
a 2D family, you are prompted to select a line segment. You need only select one. All of the lines
connected to that segment on the same sketch plane, are automatically selected. Click Finish when done.
The number of model lines selected are displayed in the dialog box.
Transform lines in relation to a work plane - rotates the selected lines to a reference plane.
In the frame Planes in Project, select the reference plane in your current project. If all of the selected
lines lie on a sketch plane, then the option Sketch plane of the lines is selectable. Otherwise, click
3
Select, and choose the relevant model plane. See Select Plane Dialog on page 194
Associated plane in family document - allows you to define a plane in the family document, including
the desired alignment for the model lines.
Family Name - enter a name for the family.
Create Instance - As-Built for Revit tries to insert an appropriate instance of the newly created family at
4 the same position as the model lines. This options is only selectable in the case of a 3D family. It’s
availability also depends on the selected family template.
Save as .rfa file saves the new family also as a file. The Save dialog box then appears.

Click Start to confirm your choices. The family will now be created and immediately loaded into the
project. It can then be found in the appropriate category in the Project Browser.

Example
The following figure shows the point cloud of a window in the floor plan (left) and 3D view (right). This
window should be modeled as a family. For this purpose, model lines have already been drawn as
construction aids in the point cloud. The red line has been created with the command Model - Fit Polygon
on page 203; the blue lines with the Revit line command on a previously fitted work plane:

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The exterior wall has already been modeled, and runs in an approximately north-south direction (Y-axis in
the Revit project coordinate system). If Save as Family has been used without additional transformation of
the family template M_Fenster.rte, the result looks like this:

The lines have been inserted into the family with their associated alignment (along the Y-axis). The desired
result, however, was that the lines should be aligned along the wall. You can accomplish this using
Transform lines in relation to a work plane. This lets you use the external wall face as the reference
plane, and the XZ-plane as the associated plane in the families document.

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The resulting family looks like this:

The model lines can now be moved to the correct position, so that they can be used as construction aids.
Under certain conditions, it may be necessary to form the lines into a group first. To do this, select all of the

lines at one time, and use Modify - Create Group - Create Group ) to move them all together.

The following figure shows the completed family after modeling:

If a transformation has been performed, the option Create Instance is not available.

Intersect 2 Planes

| Used in: Project, Family

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Intersect two planes with each other. The result is a model line. You can select the active plane, Revit
planes, reference planes, model lines with their work plane, or planar surfaces.

The figure to the right shows an example of how you can create the eaves edge (green model lines) from
modeled roof surfaces (blue model lines), created with the command Work Plane - Fit Plane (n Points) on
page 194 by intersecting them with the Revit plane of the roof:

Upon starting this command, a dialog box appears.

You are prompted to select the first plane:

1 Select the active work plane, Revit planes, or named reference planes.
Lets you select a reference plane, a Revit plane, or a model line with its work plane in the currently open
2
view.
3 Lets you select a planar surface or the active work plane as a reference plane.

Confirm your selection with OK. In the case of Pick plane or model line to get the work plane it was
sketched in and Pick a face you will be prompted in your open view to click the appropriate choice.

As soon as you’ve done this, the selected plane will be set as the active plane and then another dialog box
opens. It asks for the selection method for your second plane:

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As soon as you have selected the second plane, a model line is created, which is the result of the plane
intersection. The intersection line is at least 1 m long. The length of the intersection line is determined by
the geometry of the selected planes.

Intersect 3 Planes

| Used in: Project, Family

Similar to Model - Intersect 2 Planes on page 213. In contrast to the Intersect 2 Planes command, the
result is a three or six leg figure of model lines or a construction point.

For example, you can create verge and ridge lines from the modeled planes of a roof skin (green model
lines) and a facade (black model lines):

You are prompted to select the first plane, as in Model - Intersect 2 Planes on page 213.

In contrast to Model - Intersect 2 Planes on page 213, this command does not end after the selection of the
second plane. It has a third dialog box prompting for the selection of a third plane, along with the type of
the resulting geometry (Result).

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Result
Description
Option
Creates a 3-6 leg figure, analogous to the verge and ridge lines example. The length of the
Model Lines
model lines is dependent on the selected geometry.
Construction
Creates a single construction point at the intersection point of the three planes
Point

Model Line

| Used in: Project, Family, SendToRevit

Creates model lines in the Revit project. If creating model lines in the Family Editor, you must use the scan
view of SendToRevit.

Upon starting the command, the following dialog box appears:

The point modes control how the picked coordinates are to be used. Choose a point mode. See Point Modes
on page 43 for more information.

To create the model lines, choose from the following command options:

Icon Command Operation

Continuous Click points in the scan to create model lines in 3D space. If you use this option with
3D model point mode set to Standard, every line section will create a Revit work plane
lines perpendicular to the XY-plane.
Click two points in the scan to create a horizontal model line. The line segment is
Horizontal
created at the level of the averaged Z-coordinate of both points on a work plane parallel
model line
to the XY-plane.
Click two points in the scan to create a vertical model line. The line segment is created
Vertical
on a work plane that is perpendicular to the XY-plane. The x and y coordinates of both
model line
points will be averaged.

3D arc Click three points in the scan to create an arc in 3D space.

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CPoint
| Used in: Project, Family, SendToRevit

Creates a construction point in Revit when you pick a point. You can use the command both in the project
environment, as well as in the Family Editor.

The required point can be picked in both the Revit point cloud and also in the SendToRevit scan view.

Upon starting the command the following dialog box appears:

The point modes control how the picked coordinates are to be used. Choose a point mode. See Point Modes
on page 43 for more information.

The name depends on the settings under As-Built - Settings on page 259.

Point Cloud
The following commands can be found in the Point Cloud section of the As-Built Systems ribbon.

Coordinates - Import Scan Positions from RCP

| Used in: Project

Inserts, as symbols into the Revit project, the individual scanner positions from all loaded RCP point clouds.
The pre-requisite is that the RCP file contains individual scans.

This command inserts a pre-defined family symbol at the location of each single scan.

You have access to the scan position coordinates from the symbol parameters.

Coordinates - Import Scan Positions

| Used in: Project

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Inserts the individual scan positions of an As-Built Modeler project as symbols into the Revit project. The
pre-requisite is an export of the scanner locations as a .txt file using the corresponding command in the
SendTo App.

Import Scan Positions inserts a pre-defined family symbol at the location of each single scan. Via the
symbol parameters, you can access the coordinates of the scan positions, as well as the information
regarding the As-Built Modeler project and scan file. From the file path, you can start As-Built Modeler
directly from Revit. The appropriate project is automatically loaded, and the selected scan view opened.

1 Name of scan position.

2 Coordinates of scan position
3 Path of SendToRevit project.
Path of a single scan file.
4
Click the file path, then to open the scan project via the
hyperlink.

Coordinates - Linking PC Coordinates

| Used in: Project

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Links a point cloud that is loaded in Revit with an As-Built Modeler project. This is useful, if you want to
work in parallel with SendToRevit and the point cloud in Revit. Quite often, when inserting point clouds in
Revit, they are not in the middle of the project, or they are not orthogonally-aligned. With this command,
you can rotate and move the point cloud in Revit, and continue working in the same coordinate system in
the As-Built Modeler project. The point cloud must be loaded in Revit, and the project must be referenced
in the same superior coordinate system. To accomplish this:

1. Insert the point cloud into your project using the positioning option Auto - Center to Center (Insert -

Link - Point Cloud ).

2. Start this command.

3. Select the point cloud.

The point cloud is now linked with the As-Built Modeler project. You can freely rotate and move them. The
transformation of the linked point cloud is used for every command initiated by SendToRevit.

To remove this link, re-start the - Point Cloud - Coordinates - Linking PC Coordinates command, and
confirm the dialog box. You can now link to another point cloud.

NOTE: If you have previously set the project coordinates via SendToRevit (using Project coordinates)
with use shared coordinates, you can insert the point cloud in Revit with the option Auto - from
shared coordinates. The position of the inserted point cloud is exactly coincident with the project
coordinates set in As-Built Modeler. The linkage with the point cloud is purely optional.

Coordinates - Acquire PC Coordinates

| Used in: Project

Retrieves the internal point cloud coordinate system, and aligns the shared coordinate system to it.

To accomplish this:

1. Insert a point cloud using the positioning option Auto - Center to Center (Insert - Link - Point Cloud
).

2. Align the point cloud in the project by moving and rotating it. See Aligning Point Cloud and Placing
Levels on page 19.

3. Start this command.

4. Select the point cloud.

As-Built has now moved the survey point to the origin of the internal point cloud coordinate system and the
rotated the geographical north, relative to the Y-axis of the point cloud coordinate system. The shared
coordinate system now corresponds to the internal point cloud coordinate system.

To insert other external data (e.g. a site plan as CAD drawing) containing the same coordinate system, select
the positioning option Auto - from shared coordinates. The external file is aligned to the point cloud, and
inserted into the project.

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Export PC Region
| Used in: Project

Exports a region of a Revit point cloud into a PTS file, so that it can be subsequently inserted in the family
editor (Connect Point Cloud - Family Editor (As-Built) Tab on page 268). This only works in an
orthogonal 3D view.

1. Start this command.

2. Activate the section box of the view.

3. Clip the point cloud to create your desired region.

The visible region of the point cloud will be exported.

Ortho Image

| Used in: Project

Creates a dense, continuous view of the point cloud in the current Revit view. It can be used in orthogonal
3D views, floor plans, sections, elevations and reflected ceiling plans. In plan views (floor plans, sections,
elevations and reflected ceiling plans) such generated images can be directly inserted into the project in their
correct position and true to scale. These images can also be exported, then, for example, imported into the
Family Editor with their correct size using Connect Point Cloud - Insert Ortho Image on page 269.
Detailed family components can be modeled with ortho images in the background. Upon starting this
command, the following dialog box appears:

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The physical size of an image pixel in project units. It defines the resolution of the image, and thus
1
also the required computation time. The default value for a typical indoor survey is 1 mm.

In Colour filling mode, the point cloud is shown as a continuous surface. It appears to the viewer
to be a dense, natural surface with the colored texture.

2 The faster ClearView (X-ray) mode uses the same imaging method used in Point Cloud - Prepare
Point Cloud on page 223. A gray-scale dense point cloud image is created. The slider bar controls
the image intensity. The higher this values, the more contrast, and thus the darker the ClearView
image appears. Default value is 1.

3 Click Start to begin the image rendering.

4 Previews ortho image.

5 Cancel interrupts the rendering, so that you can change the parameters.

When the image rendering is complete, these are enabled.

Save as file... saves the rendered image in full resolution, in an image format of your choice.
6 Additionally, an *.xmlscale file is created, which contains size information and the image scaling.

Insert in same view (close this dialogue) allows you to directly insert the image into your current
Revit view, if you use the command in a planar view.

In the following figure, you can see four ortho images of the same window. On the left is the Colour filling
mode. Middle top, to the right, and below are: X-ray modes in elevation, section, and floor plan.

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You have the option to Show section box planes. This allows the limits of the selected section box to be
displayed in color in a 3D view. In plan views, the front section plane is colored. Below that, is the Cut line
width. This determines the width of the strip to be colored. The color of the strip is defined using Pick line
colour.

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Prepare Point Cloud

| Used in:Project

Pre-computes a point cloud to help facilitate the As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33
command. The point cloud in the active plan view from the Bottom of View Range to the Cut Plane of
View Range, as well as the currently defined cropped region, is converted into a dense point image with a
threshold value. This converted image can then be inserted in the floor plan view, and serves for better
visualization of the point cloud.

When you start the command, the following dialog box appears:

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Beneath the preview pane, the dimensions of the current point cloud region are displayed.

Adjust the Pixel Resolution to suit your needs. The default value is 1.5 mm. Click Start, to begin the pre-
rendering.

You will see the progress in the preview window, as well as the processing speed. The moving black border
in the preview window indicates the position in the image that is currently being computed.

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When the pre-rendering is complete, you can adjust the Contrast Factor and decide how to insert the image.

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The Contrast Factor parameter can be used to control the image intensity. The higher the Contrast Factor
value, the darker the pre-computation lines. The default value is 1.

Upon completion of the pre-rendering, you have three options for inserting the rendered image into your
project:

l Insert Hidden in this View - inserts the rendered image hidden in the current view. It can also be used
hidden for to the command As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33.

l Insert in this View, Hide Point Cloud - inserts the rendered image into this view, makes it visible and
hides the point cloud.

l Insert in Copied new View - inserts the rendered image visible into a duplicated view, in which the
point cloud is hidden.

Using the Detail Level, you can control the display of the rendered image, changing between Coarse,
Medium, and Fine, depending on the zoom level, and the desired level of contrast.

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Compare the level of detail: The sectioned point cloud (top) and the pre-computed image (bottom).

Auto Measure Parameters

| Used in: Project

Automatically determines the point cloud parameters Noise and Average point distance. These parameters
can be manually modified in the Settings on page 259.

Both parameters are essential for object recognition in As-Built. Adjustment of these two parameters allows
processing of point clouds of varying qualities and from different models of scanners, as well as from
differing manufacturers.

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Noise - specifies how much the observed points in the point cloud can deviate from the ideal
1
surface.

2 Scan points

3 Ideal plane (e.g. façade surface)

Average point distance- specifies how far away, on average, a point within a set of related points,
4
lies from the next adjacent point.

Noise
It is approximately twice the standard deviation for a normal distribution. The majority of scanner
manufacturers give a maximum point deviation as the quality of their model of scanner.

Before setting the Noise parameter, refer to your scanner’s documentation. Note that the Noise parameter in
As-Built includes the surface properties and the point deviation from the scan.

For example, the noise of a rough rendered façade varies by several millimeters or even centimeters from
the ideal plane of the façade. An additional influence is the quality of the scan registration of the point
cloud’s noise.

Average Point Distance

This parameter varies significantly within a single point cloud. It depends upon:

l the number of scan positions used to scan the object represented by the point cloud,

l the distance between the object and the scanner location,

l the scan density,

l the scanned object surfaces’ angle of incidence.

Auto Measure
Upon starting the command, you are prompted to pick three points. The three points must define a plane.
Let us take for example a façade surface, whose select points look like this:

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The picked triangle should, where possible, be closed. That means there should not be any openings (e.g.
windows) inside it. Furthermore, there should not be any other objects lying in front of, or behind, the
picked plane (e.g. window reveals or a wall behind the plane).

After picking the points, the following dialog box appears:

The parameter Slice half thickness defines a region (1 - white in the preview pane) in which a mean plane
will be calculated. The selected points define a plane. It is viewed from the side and displayed in the pane (2
- black points) Plane Projection.

For the correct determination of the parameters, there should always be a thin strip of point cloud points
visible, that is surrounded by a thicker red strip (3), which in turn should have a white border. This is the
noise.

Based on this mean plane and the points used, the noise (maximum point distance to the plane) and the
average point distance to the surface are calculated. If the slice thickness is too thick, points outside of the
picked plane may also be used in determining the plane:

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The slice thickness should be as thin as possible, so that there is only a single plane lying in the white
region, e.g. 50 mm.

If the slice thickness is too small, the noise can longer be correctly determined, because the region used and
the noise are almost equal. A warning appears notifying you that a thicker (or thinner) slice must be used.
The calculated values are shown in the section Point Cloud Parameters. Click OK to confirm. This writes
them in the As-Built settings.

Sections
The following commands can be found in the Sections section of the As-Built Systems ribbon.

Define Rectangle
| Used in: Project

Starts the creation of a new rectangular point cloud section. Start this command, then click and drag a
rectangular section on the point cloud to define your selection. A dialog box appears.

The Section Name dialog box appears, in which you can give the new region a name.

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Section Name
Point Cloud Section Name - name your point cloud section. This is the name used in the Section
1
Manager.
Tooltip Description - add an optional user-defined tool tip. This is the text that appears when you hover
2
with the mouse over the entry.
Skip name and merge with parent - if there are no other subordinate point cloud regions next to this
3 new region in the tree structure, this option is enabled. The newly defined clipping planes are then
merged directly with the higher level section.

Define Polygon
| Used in: Project

Creates a new convex polygonal point cloud section. Start this command, then pick any number of contour
points on the point cloud, to be allocated to a convex section. After selecting the first point, a visualization
of the current section appears as lines. During the input, avoid camera pans in the perspective window. After
you have input all of your points, you can end with ESC.

The Section Name dialog box appears, in which you can give the new region a name. See Section Name on
page 231 for more details.

Define Box
| Used in: Project

Creates a new point cloud section from the current 3D crop region of the active 3D view.

This requires a 3D view with an active crop region, otherwise a warning message appears. Start the
command after the 3D crop region has been set-up. The limits are taken over as the new As-Built point
cloud section.

The Section Name dialog box appears, in which you can give the new region a name. See Section Name on
page 231 for more details.

Define Slice
| Used in: Project

Creates a new slice point cloud section. Upon starting this command, the following dialog box appears:

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The orientation of the newly created slice is defined here, as well as the precise thickness of the slice.

Orthogonal a slice is created that is at a right angle to the selected plane or line. Next, define the
plane of orientation, or select the plane or line.
1
Parallel - a slice is created that is parallel to the selected plane or line. Next, define the plane of
orientation, or select the plane or line.

XY plane - a plane that is parallel to a Revit level.

2 YZ plane - a plane that stands orthogonal to the Revit levels and runs in a north-south direction.

XZ plane - a plane that stands orthogonal to the Revit levels and runs in a east-west direction.

3 For an explanation of Plane and Line, see Work Plane on page 48.

4 Define the slice thickness by either entering a number or using the + and -.

Click slice thickness in the point cloud (skip keyboard input) - if enabled, upon clicking Start,
5 you are prompted to pick two points in the point cloud to define the slice thickness. If disabled, pick
one point to define the first clipping plane.

The Section Name dialog box appears, in which you can give the new region a name. See Section Name on
page 231 for more details.

Section Manager

| Used in: Project

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Allows management of As-Built point cloud sections. These are clipped sections in the point cloud that are
independent of the views defined in the project. The clipped sections are saved as named sections in the
Section Manager, as well as in the project. In every 2D or 3D view, you can access any of the defined
sections.

The Section Manager is used to control the user-defined point cloud sections. You can show and hide them
as desired.

The upper portion shows the hierarchically organized point cloud sections. The lower portion shows the
currently active clipped planes of the active point cloud section.

Point cloud regions can be individually displayed using a range of orientation levels. Only the point cloud
points that lie on the positive side of all of the clipping planes are displayed.

Each node and sub-node in the tree structure displays named clipping planes. They can be grouped together.
Therefore, every node effectively inherits the active clipping planes of the higher branches in the tree
structure. Only one node can be active at a time. The region that is displayed is the one defined by the
planes of the active node, and those of its parent nodes.

For special use cases, you can activate and de-activate the clipping planes, either singly or in groups in the
lower area. This allows you to create a structural order and a working structure for point clouds. Double-
clicking a node in the tree structure activates this named point cloud region, so one can, for example, isolate
the previously defined ground floor. Elements can be moved around in the upper portion of the tree using
drag-and-drop. CTRL + drag-and-drop copies the elements while moving them. Hover your mouse to see a
user-defined tool-tip text for the point cloud region.

The icons in front of the text in the tree structure correspond to their geometrical region property:

Named tree nodes without any clipping planes. Used exclusively for the organization of the child nodes.

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Slice defined by two parallel clipping planes.

Cuboid cropped section
Prismatic cropped section
Any complex cropped section

Right-click one of the tree elements in the upper portion to access the context menu. You have the following
options:

l Add Text Section - creates a new node in the tree without any clipping planes. A dialog box is
displayed for the definition of the name and tool-tip for this node. See Section Name on page 231.

l Rename - a dialog box is displayed for the definition of the name and tool-tip for this node. See Section
Name on page 231.

l Merge with Parent - the clipping planes of the node are merged with the parent node. This option is
only enabled, when a node doesn’t have sub-nodes.

l Shift the slice section up or down - a dialog box appears, allowing movement of the slice by an
adjustable amount.

l Delete - deletes this node from the tree.

The active clipping planes of the active section are listed in the lower area. The icons in this tree show the
geometrical position of the planes. Hover to see a tool-tip with its coordinates in the Hessian plane normal
form.

Skewed planes
Any vertically placed plane
Horizontal plane (XY)
Axis parallel plane (YZ)
Axis parallel plane (XZ)

View
The following commands can be found in the View section of the As-Built Systems ribbon.

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Hide or Show PC
| Used in: Project

Toggles the visibility of all point clouds in the current view either on or off. This allows you to control the
visibility of the point clouds. If individual point cloud objects are manually hidden in Revit, they will not be
affected by this command.

Hide / Show PP
| Used in: Project

Hides or shows all protocol points in the active view. Protocol points are 3D point symbols that are inserted
into the Revit project, on the position of the clicked point in the scan, each time a SendToRevit command is
used. These appear as crosses. They are for monitoring purposes only.

NOTE: If you have hidden the protocol points in a view, and then use further SendToRevit commands, the
new protocol points are still visible. To hide these points, you must run the Hide PP command
again.

As-Built
The following commands can be found in the As-Built section of the As-Built Systems ribbon.

Getting Started
Auto Pop-up

or | Used in: Project, Family

Opens a dialog box, from which you can access tutorials, videos, and further information relating to As-
Built:

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The Getting Started dialog box appears by default when starting Revit with As-Built installed. By selecting
the option Do not show this dialog again, you can switch off this behavior for the currently installed
program version.

If you install a new version, you will need to select this option again to switch off the auto-appearance of
this dialog box.

Tutorials can be found directly on the FARO As-Built for Revit Tutorial Website.

License Info

Used in: Project

Opens the FARO license manager. View and manage all your FARO software licenses in one place. Easily
transfer licenses to other machines or temporarily borrow licenses from your network license.

Refer to this Knowledge Base article for more information.

Cleanup
| Used in: Project, Family

Used to clean-up an As-Built project. This can be helpful, when project data will be passed on without As-
Built content.

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l Remove As-Built project config values - removes all configuration values set by the project. All values
are reset to their default values.

l Remove wall type naming history for fitted walls - new Revit wall types will sometimes be created
when using As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33. These are saved under the names of
the original wall type. This allows further derived wall types to be named in the style of the original.
This naming history can be removed from the project using this option.

l Remove all protocol points - deletes all protocol points in the project.

l Remove all tile images from command “Prepare PC” - deletes all image tiles created with Prepare
Point Cloud on page 223.

l Remove dynamic model updaters (re-open Revit to enable again) - removes all Dynamic Model
Updaters from the project. These do things such as switching the level of detail for pre-rendered image
tiles when using As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33. This technique also declares the
pre-calculated images invalid for point cloud modifications, and deletes them. The removal of these
Dynamic Model Updaters can be important for sharing the project. Their absence can restrict the
working in As-Built. Restart Revit to restore the default method of working with Dynamic Model
Updaters.

l Remove all surface analysis results - removes all surface analysis calculations, even when they are not
currently displayed in the model.

l Remove all pipe fitting analysis results (needed by As-Built) - removes all Family analysis results
that are carried-out when first starting As-Built Systems - Piping - Place Pipe Fitting on page 170.

l Remove all structural elements profile analysis results (needed by As-Built) - removes all Family
analysis results that are carried-out when first starting As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Structural
Element on page 109.

l Remove all As-Built MEP Links (Piping and Ducting) - Removes all existing piping and ducting
links in As-Built MEP.

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l Remove all As-Built for Revit legacy data - removes certain data stored by previous versions of As-
Built. Some analysis data and defaults you have set-up might be lost, be recalculated, or reset.

After you have selected the desired options, click OK. You receive a summarized status message of the
Clean-up actions that were carried out.

Settings
| Used in: Project, Family

Opens the As-Built Settings dialog, in which you can change project-specific settings.

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Parameter Description

Align Pipes

Alignment
speed vs
Alignment speed (greater 1.0) versus robustness (lower 1.0) ration.
robustness
ration

Angular
tolerance for The minimum angular tolerance at the pipe connection which should be met, when
pipe using the command As-Built Systems - Piping - Align Pipes on page 174
connection

Use strict If this option has been selected, a different algorithm with stricter constraints will be
constraints if used when using the command Align pipe runs, if:
tolerance is not
met or l the angular tolerance has not been met after 10000 iterations, or
canceled by
user l you have prematurely terminated the computation by pressing ESC.

Clash
Detection

Clash name The number following the clash name as a suffix.

counter in
Schedule Ex: Clash_1

Cylinder Detection

Cylinder
Enter a value ...
search radius

Radius
tolerance in Enter a tolerance in percent.
percent

General

Construction
Start number for new construction points. This value is automatically increased.
point number

Construction
Point Prefix Prefix name for new construction points.
Name

Display Piping
Defines whether or not pipe links will be displayed.
Links

Inserted image Defines the file size threshold, when inserting new images with As-Built that primarily
size threshold affect the functions Point Cloud- Prepare Point Cloud on page 223 and Ortho Image
value in on page 220, which place the rendered images in your Revit project. If the threshold
MByte value is exceeded, a warning message is displayed. This warns that the images which

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Parameter Description

are to be inserted should be scaled using a definable factor. This is because when Revit
has many and / or large images in its database, it becomes difficult to use, or could even
lead to a crash. This should, therefore, be avoided.

Is customer
experience
improvement If enabled, it allows authorized FARO employees to track anonymous usage data.
program Changing this opens the corresponding dialog, allowing you to change your choice.
(logging)
enabled

Is getting
started splash This deactivates the Getting Started dialog at Revit start-up.
screen disabled

Is software
auto update This deactivates the search for software updates in the internet.
disabled

Language Language of As-Built menus and dialogs

Level number Start number for new levels. This value is increased automatically.

Level prefix
Name prefix for new levels
name

Show warning
for pipes with Warns if your project has pipes with taps.
taps

Turn off
Turn on or off the Revit warning, regarding wall axis or lines that differ slightly from
inaccurate line
the orthogonal project coordinate system.
/ wall failure

Selecting no disables all section clipping functions. They are automatically disabled
Use point when using work-sharing, because otherwise, error-free work with clipping sections in
cloud selection the work-sharing context cannot be guaranteed. If a file is converted to a work-sharing
tools file, a warning message is displayed. If you proceed, a warning message appears when
you try to use one of the As-Built section tools.

Object Creation

Element search The search distance used when searching for existing walls when creating openings,
distance doors and windows using SendToRevit commands.

Rounding step
The value that the parameters height and width should be rounded to for new windows,
for opening
doors, and openings.
dimensions

Ortho Image

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Parameter Description

Intensity factor Controls the intensity of an X-Ray ortho image. The higher this value, the more contrast
for ClearView and darker the X-ray ClearView image appears.

Plane Detection

Contour Determines the smoothing of the resulting contour from Work Plane - Fit Plane with
smoothing Contour on page 195 and Model - Model Line on page 216. A larger value, yields
deviation fewer vertices in the resulting contour.

The radius around the picked point, within which the points are used to find and form
the plane. For best results, the value should be approximately the size of your structure.

Example: If you want to fit a plane on a building facade that is 10 x 10 m, use a search
Plane search
radius of 5 m. However, should you want to fit planes on room walls of approximately
radius
2.5 x 4 m, then use a search radius of around 2 m.

The search radius can be slightly larger than your structure size, but the plane fitting
might take a little longer.

Point Cloud Parameter

Average point Defines the average distance between the point cloud points. The value can be
distance automatically determined using Point Cloud - Auto Measure Parameters on page 227.

Defines how far points can lie from an ideal plane. The value depends on the
characteristics of your scan data (noise of your scanner), as well as the quality of the
surface, and the curvature of the scanned surface as opposed to an ideal plane. The
value can be somewhat larger than the actual value. The accuracy of the results can
only be assured within the set value.
Noise
Example: With a set noise value of 5 cm, only an accuracy of up to 5 cm can be
guaranteed.

You can achieve the best results, if, for example, you use 3 mm for room walls, but 1-2
cm for facades, and 5 cm for roof surfaces. The value can be automatically determined
using Point Cloud - Auto Measure Parameters on page 227.

Project Transformation

Linked point
Linked point cloud’s element ID. If no link is set, the value is -1.
cloud ID

Project The rotation angle of the Revit project coordinate system relative to the SendToRevit
orientation project coordinate system.

Project origin X-coordinate (east) of the Revit project origin in the SendToRevit project coordinate
X system.

Project origin Y-coordinate (north) of the Revit project origin in the SendToRevit project coordinate
Y system.

Project origin Z-coordinate (height) of the Revit project origin in the SendToRevit project coordinate

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Parameter Description

Z system.

Surface Analysis

Max Surface Defines the maximum distance from the model surface to the point cloud points that are
Distance to be considered in the surface analysis.

Mean Grid
Defines the average size of a grid cell in the surface analysis.
Size

Wall Creation

Automatic wall When fitting the wall face with the appropriate SendToRevit command, and using
extension additional points to define a longer wall, the wall is automatically extended.

Max. wall
Defines the maximum possible wall thickness for wall fitting. If the wall fitting ever
thickness for
fails because of very thick walls, you can increase this value for better results.
fitting

Query if the
Value of If the Automatic Wall Extension parameter is inactive, you can define what length
Extension difference the software uses to prompt you regarding whether or not to extend the wall.
greater than

Resolution for Specifies the physical size of an image pixel (in project units) to be used in Point
point cloud Cloud - Prepare Point Cloud on page 223. It defines the resolution of the prepare
prepare image, and thus also the required computation time.

Rounding step
for wall Value to which the new wall thickness is rounded.
thickness

Wall search
Search distance for existing walls, when adjusting the wall side.
distance

WARNING! Changes made to the values for Project Transformation have no effect on the internal Revit
shared coordinate system.

Help
| Used in: Project

Opens the user guide.

Worksharing Settings
| Used in: Project

Worksharing Settings is only available, when your Revit project has this feature activated for a central
model. When you start this command, the following dialog box appears:

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Shows which users have preferred settings saved in the central drawing. Each user works using their own
preferences. Clone to Own lets you copy the preferences of another user, making them yours, too. Your
preferences will be replaced with theirs. This is useful when using team-wide project standards.

Info

| Used in: Project

Displays information about the As-Built version number, and provides access to Technical Support on page
271.

Software Update

| Used in: Project

Click to check for As-Built software updates.

FARO Knowledge Base

| Used in: Project

Opens the default browser to the As-Built for Revit FARO Knowledge Base page.

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Command Reference Guide:

As-Built Analysis
The structure of the Command Reference Guides is explained under Command Reference Structure on page
30.

Clash Detection
The following commands can be found in the Clash Detection section of the As-Built Analysis ribbon.

Clash Detection
| Used in: Project

Detects clashes between elements and the point cloud. You optionally define a clearance between the
objects and the point cloud, as well as whether one or multiple clashes are shown per element.

The clash detection is always performed with the currently visible part of the point cloud.

In the Clash Detection dialog:

l Select the objects to check.

l Select number of clashes per element to show: One or multiple.

n Multiple clashes per element, if too many clashes are returned, increase this number.

l Define the clearance. If points are within this distance from an object, they are also considered in the
clashes returned. If this is empty, only points inside of an object are returned as clashes.

Click Start analysis.

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Only the points within the defined clearance of an element, or directly in the element, are considered to be
clashing. Next, a dialog informs you how many clashes were found. Click OK.

This brings you back to the original dialog. Click Show Clash List.

This is where you control many aspects of the clashes, including their classification.

To customize the clash list, click Edit... next to any item to open the following dialog to the corresponding
tab:

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Clashes are shown in the drawing with red boxes around them. To show a clash in one of the project views,
select a cell in the clash list corresponding to the desired clash, then click Highlight in Model in the
Modify Schedule/Quantities menu.

Attributes
Of especial interest are the following attributes:

l Object Category: Shows the object type that clashes with the existing environment (point cloud).

l Colliding Element: What is the point cloud colliding with?

l Colliding Points: Number of point cloud points colliding with the element. Indicates the importance or
significance of the clash.

l Center Coordinates X/Y/Z: These give the coordinates of the center of the currently selected clash.

l Resolved (Status): This is a way to keep track of whether a clash has been resolved.

Surface Analysis Tools

The following commands can be found in the Surface Analysis Tools section of the As-Built Analysis
ribbon.

Calculate
| Used in: Project

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Computes the deviation from the Revit model surface to the loaded point cloud. It then visualizes the results
as a color image on each of the respective surfaces. The analysis results can be subsequently exported. Upon
starting this command, the dialog box below appears. It controls which face types are selected for analysis.

Face Orientation allows the selection of faces with a particular orientation. Horizontal or vertical
1 spatially-oriented planar faces, or other face types (meaning non-horizontal or vertical oriented planar
faces).
Category of Faces Host Objects limits the face affiliation to specific host components. All of the
2 component categories in the project are displayed. The buttons Select all and Deselect all allow the
selection or de-selection of all categories.
3 Temporarily hide point cloud for selection hides the point cloud for the moment.
Select faces in in-place families - use with care. These faces can be analyzed, but the results cannot be
4
visualized, due to restrictions in the Revit API. The analysis results can be exported and re-used.

Click Select, to select the desired faces. Select one or more surfaces. After the selection of the surfaces,
click Finish in the Revit ribbon.

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The analysis parameters are displayed in the dialog box to the left. The analysis is carried out based on a
defined grid on the individual surfaces.

Mean grid size - defines the height and width of each grid cell. On curved surfaces, these values are
1
taken from the center of the surface. Because surfaces are curved, they vary at the edges.
Maximum surface distance - defines the corridor around the surface, in which points from the point
2
cloud should be considered for the deviation analysis.
Use only the positive surface side - permits use of only the point cloud deviations on the surface’s outer
3
face.
4 Informational - shows how many faces and points are used in analysis.

Click Calculate to start the surface analysis, Your result will look similar to this:

The analysis value Average value is the default value. This represents the averaged point cloud deviation.
There are a total of 5 analysis values that can be visualized. These can be displayed using As-Built Analysis
- Surface Analysis Tools - Switch Values on page 250.

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Both the color gradation of the analysis and the appearance of the legend are controlled by the
RevitAnalysis Display Styles (Manage - Settings - (drop-down) Additional Settings - Analysis Display

Styles ):

In addition to the standard style Point cloud deviation, As-Built creates another style for displaying the
deviation according to the Level of Accuracy (LOA), that has been defined by the USIBD.The style
USIBD LOA 20-50, colors the selected areas using the defined color scheme. The default is red to green.
The green areas lie within the defined tolerance of the LOA. The red areas are outside of that tolerance. The
style USIBD LOA Area displays each Level of Accuracy in a different color gradation. Using the
command As-Built Analysis - Surface Analysis Tools - Place USIBD Legend on page 255, you can also
insert a legend in a plan view.

NOTE: The visualization of the analysis results are not saved in the project file by Revit.

As-Built saves the computation results. When you re-open the project, you can reload the visualization using
As-Built - Surface Analysis Tools - Restore on page 255. To transfer the visualization of the computation
results to another view, use As-Built Analysis - Surface Analysis Tools - Transfer on page 255.

Switch Values

| Used in: Project

Switches the visualization of surface analysis values. To compute a surface analysis, first use As-Built
Analysis - Surface Analysis Tools - Calculate on page 247.

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Switch Values switches the results to other visualization types, paging through the 5 visualization types
listed below in a cycle, and updating the legend.

The following illustration aids in understanding the visualization types, listed in the table below (4-8):

Values Illustration
1 Center of grid cell
2 Cell width
3 Surface cut
4 Average Value - averaged distance between all point cloud points in this cell.
Minimum Value - smallest absolute deviation within the grid cell. Positive values lie outside of the
5
component; negative values inside.
Maximum Value - largest absolute deviation within the grid cell. Positive values lie outside of the
6
component; negative values inside.
Nearest Value - distance between the center of the grid cell and the point nearest the center, when
7
projected onto the surface.
8 Point cloud points - relates to Point Number - total number of points in the cell.

The following table shows examples of the visualization types:

Analysis Values Examples

Average value

Minimum value

Maximum value

Nearest value

Number of points

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Export Results
| Used in: Project

Exports the previously computed analysis results. Select the surfaces in the model, whose computed analysis
results are to be exported. Confirm with Finish in the Revit ribbon. The following dialog box appears:

File Export - lets you save the analysis results of the selected surfaces as a .txt file. Select a file
name and location by clicking ..., then, select values to be exported. Each cell point appears on a
separate line. The values of each cell point are separated by a semicolon. The first line contains the
description of the value, so that the file can be imported into any spread sheet program, such as
Excel.
1
XYZ coordinates on face - the coordinates of the cell point of the surface.

XYZ normal on face - the vector of the surface normal on the cell point.

XYZ in the Revit coordinate system | XYZ in shared coordinate system - defines which
coordinate system is used for the export.

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UV coordinates on face - the UV coordinates of the cell point of the surface in accordance with
the Revit internal surface description.

Values - see Values Illustration on page 251

Average value - averaged distance of all point cloud points in a cell.

Minimum value - distance of the lowest point value to the surface. This can be a negative value.
2 Maximum value - distance of the highest point value to the surface.

Nearest value - distance between the center of the grid cell and the point nearest the center, when
projected onto the surface.

Cell Point Count - total number of points in the cell.

Host object id - ID of the cell point’s host object.

Host object category - category of the cell point’s host object.

Cell point name - name of the cell point with the format:
3
<Host ID>:<sequential surface number>:<sequential cell point number>

E.g.: 305873:5:1

Face id - Revit internal ID for the cell point’s surface.

Create Revit Modeling Aids allows the analysis results to be exported as construction points or
model lines. For both options, you can define which values from each (averaged, minimum,
maximum or nearest) are used for the export. When you output the analysis results as construction
4 points, the name of the cell point is used as the name of the construction point.

ATTENTION: Construction points in As-Built are instances of a loadable family. When you create
a large number of points, this can lead to performance issues in Revit, when regenerating the model.

Information - shows how many faces are selected, and how many points are being exported with
5
the analysis.

Create Profile Lines

There are several options available to you when creating profile lines:

l In U (red) or V (blue) direction

You can create profile lines in differing directions (U and V) along the surface. As long as you are in the
Export Results dialog box, these directions are displayed in the model as red and blue lines on the
individual surfaces:

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l Create closed profiles (only planar faces)

This creates profile lines as closed line-chains. The start and end points are closed along the surface:

Simple Profile Lines Closed Profile Lines

Surface Analysis Results

When dealing with planar surfaces, the profile lines can also be selected as a group. Hold down TAB as you
select items.

l Save named selection set per face: Saves all profile lines of a surface as a named selection set.
Afterward, these can be loaded from the Manage - Selection - Load , to select all of the profile lines
at once.

l Interpolate empty cells: If there are cells that contain no point cloud points, a value can still be
generated for the profile lines. The missing value is then interpolated from the neighboring values.

By clicking OK, you start the export using all of the selected options. You see a status message, showing
the progress of the output:

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Restore

| Used in: Project

Re-displays the saved results of your analysis in your view, without the needing re-compute the results.

The results of As-Built Analysis - Surface Analysis Tools - Calculate on page 247 have been placed by
As-Built in the Revit file. Restore is necessary because the visualization of the analysis results cannot be
saved in the project.

Hide
| Used in: Project

Hides the analysis results of As-Built Analysis - Surface Analysis Tools - Calculate on page 247 for
specific surfaces, without removing the calculated values from the project. Select one or more surfaces with
surface analysis results. Click Finish to hide the results in the current view. Should the results need to be re-
displayed, use the command As-Built Analysis - Surface Analysis Tools - Transfer on page 255.

Transfer

| Used in: Project

Transfers the visualization of already computed analysis results into another view. The results of As-Built
Analysis - Surface Analysis Tools - Calculate on page 247 are displayed only in the view in which the
computation was carried out. Open the desired view and run this command. Select one or more surfaces
with surface analysis results. Only surfaces for which analysis results have already been computed can be
used. Click Finish to see the results in the current view.

Place USIBD Legend

| Used in: Project

Inserts a legend for the display style USIBD LOA Range in the current plan view. The gradation that is
displayed, represents the Standard for the Level of Accuracy (LOA) in accordance with the definition of
the USIBD.

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View
The following commands can be found in the View section of the As-Built Analysis ribbon.

Hide or Show PC
| Used in: Project

Toggles the visibility of all point clouds in the current view either on or off. This allows you to control the
visibility of the point clouds. If individual point cloud objects are manually hidden in Revit, they will not be
affected by this command.

Hide / Show PP
| Used in: Project

Hides or shows all protocol points in the active view. Protocol points are 3D point symbols that are inserted
into the Revit project, on the position of the clicked point in the scan, each time a SendToRevit command is
used. These appear as crosses. They are for monitoring purposes only.

NOTE: If you have hidden the protocol points in a view, and then use further SendToRevit commands, the
new protocol points are still visible. To hide these points, you must run the Hide PP command
again.

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As-Built
The following commands can be found in the As-Built section of the As-Built Analysis ribbon.

Getting Started
Auto Pop-up

or | Used in: Project, Family

Opens a dialog box, from which you can access tutorials, videos, and further information relating to As-
Built:

The Getting Started dialog box appears by default when starting Revit with As-Built installed. By selecting
the option Do not show this dialog again, you can switch off this behavior for the currently installed
program version.

If you install a new version, you will need to select this option again to switch off the auto-appearance of
this dialog box.

Tutorials can be found directly on the FARO As-Built for Revit Tutorial Website.

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License Info

Used in: Project

Opens the FARO license manager. View and manage all your FARO software licenses in one place. Easily
transfer licenses to other machines or temporarily borrow licenses from your network license.

Refer to this Knowledge Base article for more information.

Cleanup
| Used in: Project, Family

Used to clean-up an As-Built project. This can be helpful, when project data will be passed on without As-
Built content.

l Remove As-Built project config values - removes all configuration values set by the project. All values
are reset to their default values.

l Remove wall type naming history for fitted walls - new Revit wall types will sometimes be created
when using As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33. These are saved under the names of
the original wall type. This allows further derived wall types to be named in the style of the original.
This naming history can be removed from the project using this option.

l Remove all protocol points - deletes all protocol points in the project.

l Remove all tile images from command “Prepare PC” - deletes all image tiles created with Prepare
Point Cloud on page 223.

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l Remove dynamic model updaters (re-open Revit to enable again) - removes all Dynamic Model
Updaters from the project. These do things such as switching the level of detail for pre-rendered image
tiles when using As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Wall on page 33. This technique also declares the
pre-calculated images invalid for point cloud modifications, and deletes them. The removal of these
Dynamic Model Updaters can be important for sharing the project. Their absence can restrict the
working in As-Built. Restart Revit to restore the default method of working with Dynamic Model
Updaters.

l Remove all surface analysis results - removes all surface analysis calculations, even when they are not
currently displayed in the model.

l Remove all pipe fitting analysis results (needed by As-Built) - removes all Family analysis results
that are carried-out when first starting As-Built Systems - Piping - Place Pipe Fitting on page 170.

l Remove all structural elements profile analysis results (needed by As-Built) - removes all Family
analysis results that are carried-out when first starting As-Built Architecture - Walls - Fit Structural
Element on page 109.

l Remove all As-Built MEP Links (Piping and Ducting) - Removes all existing piping and ducting
links in As-Built MEP.

l Remove all As-Built for Revit legacy data - removes certain data stored by previous versions of As-
Built. Some analysis data and defaults you have set-up might be lost, be recalculated, or reset.

After you have selected the desired options, click OK. You receive a summarized status message of the
Clean-up actions that were carried out.

Settings
| Used in: Project, Family

Opens the As-Built Settings dialog, in which you can change project-specific settings.

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Parameter Description

Align Pipes

Alignment
speed vs
Alignment speed (greater 1.0) versus robustness (lower 1.0) ration.
robustness
ration

Angular
tolerance for The minimum angular tolerance at the pipe connection which should be met, when
pipe using the command As-Built Systems - Piping - Align Pipes on page 174
connection

Use strict If this option has been selected, a different algorithm with stricter constraints will be
constraints if used when using the command Align pipe runs, if:
tolerance is not
met or l the angular tolerance has not been met after 10000 iterations, or
canceled by
user l you have prematurely terminated the computation by pressing ESC.

Clash
Detection

Clash name The number following the clash name as a suffix.

counter in
Schedule Ex: Clash_1

Cylinder Detection

Cylinder
Enter a value ...
search radius

Radius
tolerance in Enter a tolerance in percent.
percent

General

Construction
Start number for new construction points. This value is automatically increased.
point number

Construction
Point Prefix Prefix name for new construction points.
Name

Display Piping
Defines whether or not pipe links will be displayed.
Links

Inserted image Defines the file size threshold, when inserting new images with As-Built that primarily
size threshold affect the functions Point Cloud- Prepare Point Cloud on page 223 and Ortho Image
value in on page 220, which place the rendered images in your Revit project. If the threshold
MByte value is exceeded, a warning message is displayed. This warns that the images which

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Parameter Description

are to be inserted should be scaled using a definable factor. This is because when Revit
has many and / or large images in its database, it becomes difficult to use, or could even
lead to a crash. This should, therefore, be avoided.

Is customer
experience
improvement If enabled, it allows authorized FARO employees to track anonymous usage data.
program Changing this opens the corresponding dialog, allowing you to change your choice.
(logging)
enabled

Is getting
started splash This deactivates the Getting Started dialog at Revit start-up.
screen disabled

Is software
auto update This deactivates the search for software updates in the internet.
disabled

Language Language of As-Built menus and dialogs

Level number Start number for new levels. This value is increased automatically.

Level prefix
Name prefix for new levels
name

Show warning
for pipes with Warns if your project has pipes with taps.
taps

Turn off
Turn on or off the Revit warning, regarding wall axis or lines that differ slightly from
inaccurate line
the orthogonal project coordinate system.
/ wall failure

Selecting no disables all section clipping functions. They are automatically disabled
Use point when using work-sharing, because otherwise, error-free work with clipping sections in
cloud selection the work-sharing context cannot be guaranteed. If a file is converted to a work-sharing
tools file, a warning message is displayed. If you proceed, a warning message appears when
you try to use one of the As-Built section tools.

Object Creation

Element search The search distance used when searching for existing walls when creating openings,
distance doors and windows using SendToRevit commands.

Rounding step
The value that the parameters height and width should be rounded to for new windows,
for opening
doors, and openings.
dimensions

Ortho Image

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Parameter Description

Intensity factor Controls the intensity of an X-Ray ortho image. The higher this value, the more contrast
for ClearView and darker the X-ray ClearView image appears.

Plane Detection

Contour Determines the smoothing of the resulting contour from Work Plane - Fit Plane with
smoothing Contour on page 195 and Model - Model Line on page 216. A larger value, yields
deviation fewer vertices in the resulting contour.

The radius around the picked point, within which the points are used to find and form
the plane. For best results, the value should be approximately the size of your structure.

Example: If you want to fit a plane on a building facade that is 10 x 10 m, use a search
Plane search
radius of 5 m. However, should you want to fit planes on room walls of approximately
radius
2.5 x 4 m, then use a search radius of around 2 m.

The search radius can be slightly larger than your structure size, but the plane fitting
might take a little longer.

Point Cloud Parameter

Average point Defines the average distance between the point cloud points. The value can be
distance automatically determined using Point Cloud - Auto Measure Parameters on page 227.

Defines how far points can lie from an ideal plane. The value depends on the
characteristics of your scan data (noise of your scanner), as well as the quality of the
surface, and the curvature of the scanned surface as opposed to an ideal plane. The
value can be somewhat larger than the actual value. The accuracy of the results can
only be assured within the set value.
Noise
Example: With a set noise value of 5 cm, only an accuracy of up to 5 cm can be
guaranteed.

You can achieve the best results, if, for example, you use 3 mm for room walls, but 1-2
cm for facades, and 5 cm for roof surfaces. The value can be automatically determined
using Point Cloud - Auto Measure Parameters on page 227.

Project Transformation

Linked point
Linked point cloud’s element ID. If no link is set, the value is -1.
cloud ID

Project The rotation angle of the Revit project coordinate system relative to the SendToRevit
orientation project coordinate system.

Project origin X-coordinate (east) of the Revit project origin in the SendToRevit project coordinate
X system.

Project origin Y-coordinate (north) of the Revit project origin in the SendToRevit project coordinate
Y system.

Project origin Z-coordinate (height) of the Revit project origin in the SendToRevit project coordinate

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Parameter Description

Z system.

Surface Analysis

Max Surface Defines the maximum distance from the model surface to the point cloud points that are
Distance to be considered in the surface analysis.

Mean Grid
Defines the average size of a grid cell in the surface analysis.
Size

Wall Creation

Automatic wall When fitting the wall face with the appropriate SendToRevit command, and using
extension additional points to define a longer wall, the wall is automatically extended.

Max. wall
Defines the maximum possible wall thickness for wall fitting. If the wall fitting ever
thickness for
fails because of very thick walls, you can increase this value for better results.
fitting

Query if the
Value of If the Automatic Wall Extension parameter is inactive, you can define what length
Extension difference the software uses to prompt you regarding whether or not to extend the wall.
greater than

Resolution for Specifies the physical size of an image pixel (in project units) to be used in Point
point cloud Cloud - Prepare Point Cloud on page 223. It defines the resolution of the prepare
prepare image, and thus also the required computation time.

Rounding step
for wall Value to which the new wall thickness is rounded.
thickness

Wall search
Search distance for existing walls, when adjusting the wall side.
distance

WARNING! Changes made to the values for Project Transformation have no effect on the internal Revit
shared coordinate system.

Help
| Used in: Project

Opens the user guide.

Worksharing Settings
| Used in: Project

Worksharing Settings is only available, when your Revit project has this feature activated for a central
model. When you start this command, the following dialog box appears:

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Shows which users have preferred settings saved in the central drawing. Each user works using their own
preferences. Clone to Own lets you copy the preferences of another user, making them yours, too. Your
preferences will be replaced with theirs. This is useful when using team-wide project standards.

Info

| Used in: Project

Displays information about the As-Built version number, and provides access to Technical Support on page
271.

Software Update

| Used in: Project

Click to check for As-Built software updates.

FARO Knowledge Base

| Used in: Project

Opens the default browser to the As-Built for Revit FARO Knowledge Base page.

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Command Reference Guide:

As-Built Plant Exchange
This is documented separately. Look in the Revit MEP Plant Exchange folder for the corresponding
documentation.

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Family Editor (As-Built) Tab

The Family Editor of Revit is in the As-Built tab.

Connect Point Cloud

The following commands can be found in the Connect Point Cloud section of the Family Editor (As-
Built) tab.

Linking PC Coordinates

| Used in: Project, Family

This also occurs as a command in the Point Cloud section outside of the Family Editor. For more
information, please see Point Cloud - Coordinates - Linking PC Coordinates on page 218

Insert PC Region

| Used in: Family

Inserts point cloud regions from PTS data into a Revit family document. Upon starting this command, the
following dialog box appears:

1 Select the units in which the scan was captured.

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2 Import all points.

3 Point cloud positioning in Family Editor.

To increase performance, consider limiting point cloud regions to a maximum of 500,000 points. If
necessary, you can reduce the number of points to be imported using the option Subsampling.

You have the following options available to help with Positioning the point cloud regions:

l Origin to Origin: The global origin of the point cloud regions will be placed on the origin of the family
file.

l Centre to Origin: The center of the point cloud regions will be placed on the origin of the family file.

l By SendToRevit Project Coordinates

If you have previously set the project coordinates in SendToRevit (Set Project Coordinates on page 28), the
point cloud region will be placed relative to these coordinates.

Insert Ortho Image

| Used in: Family

Inserts ortho images into the family editor with their correct scaling in views, floor plans, and sections.

The images must have been created and saved in the Revit project using Point Cloud - Ortho Image on
page 220. When you click Insert Ortho Image, an Open File dialog box opens, requesting the relevant
*.xmlscale file. This *.xmlscale file is created by As-Built for Revit at the same time as the ortho image,
and contains the exact scaling, as well as the path to the saved image. If you want to archive or share ortho
images, remember to copy both files.

After the *.xmlscale file has been selected, the referenced image with the correct scaling is inserted in the
center of the family editor. Afterward, you can move the images to the required position.

Below are three ClearView ortho images in two elevations, and in the floor plan of the family editor.

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1 Exterior

2 Interior

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Technical Support
FARO is committed to providing the best technical support to our customers. If you have any problem using
one of our products, please contact our Technical Support Team.

Click . This opens the following dialog, which contains your version information:

Click Support Contact. You will be taken to our technical support website.

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Glossary

A
L
artifact
layer
A defect in a scan that occurs as a result of
A logical grouping of objects in a scan
the methods used to capture or process the
project that can be used to switch the
scan.
visibility of those objects on and off.

F
P
FARO SCENE
point cloud
A FARO desktop application that allows
A set of data points captured by
users to interactively process, colorize and
innumerous hardware that represents
register the point clouds of captured scan
an object in 3D form, from which
projects. In SCENE, users can view and
dimensions can be extracted.
analyze scan projects in 3D, panoramic or a
virtual reality view and take measurements. processing
In addition, scan projects can be exported A series of software manipulations to
into various formats. the scan data in a project that improve
the quality of the scan.
FARO Stream
A FARO mobile app from which you can
control various FARO scanners, perform R
various processing steps, collect
registration
complementary data, and upload captures
The process of aligning multiple scans
directly into FARO Sphere. Stream also
in a parent coordinate system using
supports the Hybrid Reality Capture™ ,
reference positions common between
powered by Flash Technology™. In
scans. References are common points
addition, scan projects can be exported into
between scans that are used to create
various formats.
a “best-fit” alignment.
features (handheld scanners)
2D Objects (e.g. planes) and textures that
S
are recorded by a handheld scanner and
which can be identified by the scanner scan (Focus)
software. Features are used during the : A file or collection of files recorded by
tracking process. the scanner, containing millions of data
points that include position,
reflectance, and color for single scan
G
points. A scan consists of scan points
group that were recorded from a single
A list of users that share the same project scanner location. Its points are
roles. organized in a row/column order.

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Glossary: scan (general) - target

scan (general)
A file or collection of files recorded by
scanner containing different kinds of data of
the scanned object or environment.

scan project
A collection of related scans and additional
data needed to represent a scanned object
or site, such as a building or a crime scene.

target
A physical object in the area to be scanned
that can be detected by the software and
used to register the scans. A target can be a
naturally occurring plane such as a wall or
desk, or an artificial marker.

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FARO Technical Support

FARO Technologies, Inc. FARO Business Technologies India Pvt. Ltd.

125 Technology Park E-12, B-1 Extension,
Lake Mary, FL 32746 Mohan Cooperative Industria Estate,
800-736-2771 U.S. New Delhi-110044, India
+1 407-333-3182 Worldwide Tel.: 1800.1028456
Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

FARO Japan, Inc. FARO Europe GmbH

716 Kumada, Nagakute-City, Lingwiesenstrasse 11/2, 70825
Aichi, 480-1144, Japan Korntal-Münchingen, Germany
Tel: 0120-922-927, 0561-63-1411 FREECALL +800 3276 73 78 / +49 7150/9797-400
FAX: 0561-63-1412 FREEFAX +800 3276 1737 / +49 7150/9797-9400
Email: [email protected] Email: [email protected]

FARO Technologies (Shanghai) Co. Ltd. FARO Brazil

1/F, Building No. 2, Rua San José, 360
Juxin Information Technology Park Cotia, SP 06715-862
188 Pingfu Road, Xuhui District Phone: 0800-047-4271 / +55 11 3500-4600
Shanghai 200231, China Email: [email protected]
Tel.: 400.677.6826
Email: [email protected]

FARO Singapore Pte. Ltd.

TEL: +65 3165 4200
Email: [email protected]