Advanced measurements

You can take measurements either in the 3D view (for both points and HyperBubble data) or the BubbleView. Measurements are 3D objects and so the same measurement can be seen in any view. For example, a measurement created in the BubbleView can also be seen when viewing HyperBubble data.

Select the Tools tab to display the different types of measurement tools available.

The Measurement button is also available directly within a BubbleView when it is opened in its own window.

Measure a point

The point measurement tool prints the coordinates of a picked point to the current display.

To measure a point:

1. Select Point and then select the required point on the data.

   

   Point coordinates are shown alongside the picked point and also in the Measurement tab Attributes window.

   

   For cloud projects, the dataset name to which the measurement is linked to is also shown in the Attributes window.

2. Right-click the point measurement to rename it, and then press Enter.

3. Drag the point measurement from the Measurements Workspace to the Project Measurements area.

   This is so that other people accessing the same dataset through an SQL database can see the measurement.

Measure the distance between points

The distance measurement tool gives the linear or planar distance between two selected points.

To measure the distance between points:

4. Select Linear from the Tools menu.

   

5. Select Distance, and then select the first point in the 3D view.

   The Actions tab appears with options to Accept or Cancel the selection. The Actions tab is visible only in the perspective view.

   After you select the measurement start point, a cutting plane appears that tracks the movement of the mouse cursor until the measurement end point is selected. This gives you a sense of depth as the cutting plane appears behind objects that are in front of the measurement.

6. Select the second point in the 3D view, and then right-click to complete the selection.

   The measurement details appear in the current view and in the Measurements tab Attributes window.

7. Select the measurement line to see the total point-to-point distance.

   Measurements are logged in the Measurements panel.

Measure a chained distance

The chained distance tool helps you take a measurement across multiple points.

To measure a chained distance in the Perspective view:

8. Select Linear from the Tools menu.

9. Select Distance from the Linear dropdown menu.

10. Click to select points on the data that need to be measured, and finish the measurement with a right-click.

    After the measurement is complete, it appears in the current view as a blue line.

11. Select the start or end points of the measurement to display the x,y,z coordinates, angle at point, and the total distance.

12. Click on one of the lines to display the total distance of that line and the measurement component frame for that portion of the measurement.

Measure a chained distance in the orthographic view

In the Orthographic view:

13. Select the Chained icon in the Tools menu.

    

14. Follow the steps in the Perspective view.

When in the orthographic view, any point, distance or chained measurements are placed in the middle of the active volume. For example, a measurement taken in the plane view has the elevation of the measurement automatically set to the center of the active volume and vice versa. If no volume is selected, the measurement is placed in the center of the entire point cloud.

The reason for this is to avoid picking points at different elevations/depths, avoiding inaccurate distances.

Use the Shift key to constrain distance or chained measurements to a 90° angle.

Measure heights relative to a plane

To accurately determine the height relative to a horizontal plane:

15. Select Linear from the Tools menu.

16. Select Height from the Linear dropdown menu.

    A horizontal plane appears.

17. Select a point on the plane, and then select a second point perpendicular to the point on the plane.

    Point Cloud Manager creates the height measurement relative to the plane. The measurement is shown in the current view and in the Measurements tab Attributes window.

    .

Measure widths relative to a plane

You can use Point Cloud Manager to measure the width relative to a vertical plane. This helps you determine if a gap is wide enough to insert a new piece of equipment.

To measure the width:

18. Select Linear from the Tools menu.

19. Select Width from the Linear dropdown menu.

20. Select the first point in the 3D view.

    A vertical plane appears.

21. Select a second point in the 3D view to establish a plane.

22. Select a third point to determine the width of the point relative to the vertical plane.

    Point Cloud Manager creates the width and shows it in the current view and in the Measurements tab Attributes window.

    

Measure an area

Use the Area measurements option to make an estimate of a floor, a wall or a roof. You can define either a rectangular polygon or a non-rectangular polygon. When you click on either Rectangular or Polygonal, you are presented with 3 planes to choose from:

• Horizontal - To measure the area of a floor, select the Horizontal plane.

• Vertical - To measure the area of a wall, select the Vertical plane.

• Free plane - To measure the area of a roof or any wall or floor that is not aligned with your axis, select Free plane.

  

Steps to measure the area of a rectangular polygon

23. Select Area from the Tools menu, and then select Rectangular.

    

    The Actions tab appears with measurement area options that you can select from.

24. Select the relevant plane you want to measure on (Horizontal, Vertical, or Free plane).

25. Use the mouse button to make three point selections in the current 3D view and complete the area measurement.

    An area patch appears with the lengths and the area between the selected points.

    

    For a non-rectangular polygonal measurement, you can click as many times as you want to draw your own shape. The following image displays a non-rectangular polygonal area patch.

    

    The area measurements are displayed in either square meters or square feet.

26. To change the units of your measurements, select File > Options > Units.

Measure the diameter of a pipe

To measure the diameter:

27. Select Diameter from the Tools menu.

    

28. Click within the current view at one end of the pipe to be fitted.

29. Move the cursor to the other end of the pipe surface along its length.

    An axial line joins the two positions.

30. Click to determine the end point of the pipe.

    A 3D representation of the pipe is visible in all views (3D View, BubbleView, HyperBubble and Solid Point Cloud) where the diameter will be shown on selection. The pipe diameter details are shown in the Measurements Attributes window.

31. Select the pipe to show the pipe information in the Measurements tab.

    

The pipe diameter measurement feature may give inconsistent results if the cylindrical item you are measuring:

• Has scan data only on one side

• Has noisy data

• Has a sample length smaller than the diameter

• Is not truly cylindrical

• Is sagging

Measure the distance between pipes

After obtaining the pipe diameter measurements, you can measure the distance between two pipes.

Prerequisite: Measure the pipe diameters before measuring the distance between two pipes.

To measure the distance between two pipes:

32. Select Linear from the Tools menu.

33. Select Distance from the Linear dropdown menu.

34. Hover over the first pipe diameter, and select a point on the pipe.

    An axial line appears as shown in the image.

    

35. Hover over the second pipe diameter, and click a point on the second pipe.

    The measurement is shown in the Measurements workspace as a pipe-to-pipe measurement. This shows the distance between the centerlines of the two pipes and also the gap between the surfaces of the pipes (taking into account the pipe diameter).

36. To zoom in for a better view, scroll the mouse wheel.

Take a pipe-to-point measurement

You can use an existing pipe measurement to measure from a pipe to a point.

To obtain a pipe-to-point measurement:

37. Select Linear from the Tools menu.

38. Select Distance from the Linear dropdown menu.

39. Hover over a pipe diameter measurement, and select a point on the pipe.

    An axial line appears.

40. Then, click on any point.

    The pipe-to-point measurement is shown in the Measurements workspace.

Take a pipe-to-plane measurement

You can use an existing pipe measurement to measure from a pipe to a plane.

To obtain a pipe-to-plane measurement:

41. Select Linear from the Tools menu.

42. Select Distance from the Linear dropdown menu.

43. Hover over a pipe diameter measurement, and select a point on the pipe.

    An axial line appears.

44. Select the Plane icon on the Actions tab, and select any point on a plane.

    The pipe-to-plane measurement is shown in the Measurement workspace.

Measure a structure

You can measure all common structural sections in Point Cloud Manager. This requires reasonable scan coverage as the measurement algorithm requires good volumetric data in the region of the section. Items that have insufficient coverage within the point cloud may return a generic section that will need to be modified using the editing tools.

Structural measurements are available for local projects. The use of Structural measurements in Cloud projects has been disabled for this release due to performance issues affecting the usability.

To start the structural measurement process:

45. Select the Structure icon.

    

46. Click within the current view at one end of the structure to be fitted and move the cursor to the other end of the structure on the same face, such as a web or a flange.

    After the first selection, an axial line appears from the start point, tracking the position of the mouse cursor. On mouse hover, the line turns either green (to indicate a point on the same face of the structure that has been found) or red (to indicate the second point does not belong to the same face of the same structure). A grid patch also appears to indicate which face the measurement fits.

47. When a line/grid patch is visible, click to select the end of the structure to be measured.

    Point Cloud Manager evaluates the point cloud data surrounding the start and the end points picked to determine the type of structure (for example, I-Beam, angled section, channel section, and so on) and the best fit.

    

    After the measurement is complete, a 3D representation of the structural measurement is visible in all views (3D view, BubbleView, HyperBubble and Solid Point Cloud).

    

    Measurement information is made available in the Attributes window.

48. To copy this information to the clipboard, right-click on the 3D representation and select Copy to Clipboard.

Export structural measurements

You can also export structural measurement information to a .csv file. The resulting file can be conditioned for use in other software packages. This means that you can use Point Cloud Manager independently of a structural engineering software suite to deliver ‘as-built’ models.

To do this:

49. Right-click the Project Measurements node or on a Measurements group, and select Export.

50. Enter the name and location for the .csv file, and select .csv from the Save as Type dropdown.

51. Press Save to save the file.

Modify a structural measurement

If there is insufficient point cloud data to deliver an accurate shape or size of structure, you may want to modify the result that Point Cloud Manager offers to more accurately fit the point cloud.

To do this:

52. Right-click the measurement in the Measurements tab, and select Modify to view the options available.

    

53. Select the relevant action from the Modify structural measurement menu.

    For information about the function of each option, see the following table.

54. Select Save, and close the dialog when you are happy with the modifications you have made.

    The changes are updated in the main Point Cloud Manager window, and the attributes are updated in the Attributes window within the Measurements tab.

The following table lists out the options available in the Modify dialog.