Copyright Goodheart-Willcox Co., Inc. 400 AutoCAD and Its Applications—Advanced Laser Scanning Laser Scanning A laser scanner is a device used to capture data points from an existing struc- ture or product and create scan fi les. Laser scanning is used by engineers, designers, and animators. The scanning project is planned so that an entire building, facility, mechanical part, assembly, or geographic feature can be scanned with a single scan or multiple overlapping scans. The scanner can be mounted on a tripod or desktop, or held by hand. The scanner rapidly records millions of data points to create the scan fi le. Multiple scan fi les may be created, depending on the size of the project. Each data point in a scan fi le has XYZ values, but the resulting data is different from vector data, which has from-to XYZ values. Raw scan fi les are produced in different fi le formats. Some of the more common scan fi le formats, such as Faro (.fls and .fws), Leica (.ptg, .pts, and .ptx), and Lidar (.las), are associated with different laser scanner manufacturers. In order to be used in AutoCAD, raw scan fi les must fi rst be converted to a point cloud fi le. Point cloud fi les are created using Autodesk ReCap Pro. Autodesk ReCap Pro Autodesk ReCap Pro Autodesk ReCap Pro is a reality capture software program that indexes and registers point clouds. It is an application program that is installed separately from AutoCAD. Autodesk ReCap Pro provides the ability to process extremely large fi les containing raw scanned data. It contains tools for enhancing and modifying point cloud data for use in design work. Files created in Autodesk ReCap Pro can be used in AutoCAD, Autodesk Inventor, Autodesk Revit, and other Autodesk software, and can be shared online. Autodesk ReCap Pro converts raw scan fi les to point cloud fi les through a process called indexing. Indexed fi les are saved as reality capture scan (RCS) fi les. In a typical work- fl ow, an individual RCS fi le or a set of multiple RCS fi les is associated with a reality capture project (RCP) fi le. An RCP fi le is used to organize information from scan fi les in a point cloud project. An RCP fi le references the individual RCS fi les, but does not contain the fi les. Either an RCS fi le or RCP fi le can then be attached to an AutoCAD drawing. The process of registering scan fi les merges multiple scans into one coordinate system. Registering matches the 0,0,0 coordinate point of multiple scans to create a new merged point location for all scans. Registered scan fi les in a project are commonly described as a registered data set. The process of working with scan fi les in Autodesk ReCap Pro consists of the following steps. 1. Create a new project (RCP file). 2. Import scan files. 3. Register the scan files, if necessary. If the scanning camera was relocated during the scanning process, the 0,0,0 coordinate location of each scan will be different. It will be necessary to register the scans to merge them into one coordinate system. 4. Index the scan files. 5. Clean up the files by removing points, creating scan regions, and changing the display colors.