Scan to Digital Twin with BLK ARC, CloudWorx, BricsCAD, and Twinmotion
Used software:
Cyclone REGISTER 360 PLUS v. 2022.1
Cyclone 3DR v. 2022.1
CloudWorx for BricsCAD v. 2022
BricsCAD BIM v. 2022
Twinmotion v. 2023.1
Preview:
BLK ARC
Process the DATA
Register all static and dynamic scans
Auto-FIt CAD elements with CloudWorx
Modeling tools in BricsCAD
Wires extraction in Cyclone 3DR
Combine everything in Twinmotion
Cloud mode
VR mode
The use of laser scanning technology is not a new approach for electrical substations, it has been used many times. On the Internet, you can find a lot of materials about this. Here are some articles:
The main reasons why reality capture technologies are much better for collecting measurements and other information from electro substations than traditional, manual methods are:
High Voltage Hazard: Electro substations contain high-voltage electrical equipment that can pose a significant hazard to personnel if proper safety procedures are not followed. Collecting measurements and information manually increases the risk of exposure to high voltage and electrical shock.
Safety Risks: Traditional manual methods often involve working in close proximity to live electrical equipment, which increases the risk of electrical shock, burns, and other injuries. This can also pose a risk to bystanders if proper safety procedures are not followed.
Limited Information: Manual methods are often limited in the amount of information that can be collected, as they rely on manual readings and visual inspections. This can lead to incomplete or inaccurate information, reducing the effectiveness of maintenance and repair activities.
Time-Consuming: Collecting measurements and information manually is a time-consuming process, and requires a significant investment in personnel and resources.
Therefore, there is no doubt that laser scanning is faster, more detailed, and safer than traditional methods. But it's still not as safe as it could be, because the survey engineer should be on site and manually set the scanner in right place. Even if he didn't touch anything there is still a potential risk of electrical shock, burns, and other injuries because. the personnel forced to work in close proximity to high-voltage electrical equipment. And sometimes it's not enough to make measurements once, the users want to do it repeatably to check equipment condition status, and detect faults in early stages such as:
Mechanical Degradation: Mechanical degradation, such as looseness, corrosion, or cracks, can reduce the reliability and efficiency of electrical equipment.
Insulation Issues: Insulation issues, such as leaks or damage, can increase the risk of electrical shock and outages.
Loose Connections: Loose connections can reduce the efficiency of electrical equipment and increase the risk of outages.
Overloading: Overloading of electrical equipment can cause overheating and damage to the equipment. Autonomous devices equipped with thermal imaging sensors can detect overheating by measuring the temperature of the equipment, and identify other potential safety hazards.
Collecting all that type of information could be very time-consuming that's why users don't do it as often as they want. For that type of application where it is very dangerous to present personally and where you need to do constant monitoring, you can use autonomous devices such as Leica BLK ARC. That scanner was designed to be mounted on any robotic carrier, so it can be controlled remotely or programmed to do repeatable missions without the presence of humans. The device is equipped with a dual-axis lidar sensor, 4 cameras, an inertial system, and an internal CPU which allows it to send all information from it to external systems and can be powered also from an external supply. Which allows it to be independent of internal memory storage and battery capacity. So if you'll put it on some robots with additional sensors such as a high-resolution camera, infrared camera, ultrasonic radar, and others with a combination of artificial intelligence for automatic extraction of desired information you'll get a very powerful solution that will cover and solve all the above topics and problems. And if you'll teach your robot to make decisions based on the extracted information, you'll reach the maximum level of autonomy.
It'll be topics for our future discussions, for today let's see what quality of data we can archive with the Leica BLK ARC placed on the SPOT Boston Dynamics robot dog. That combination of units allows us to do repeatable missions with pre-defined routes uploaded to the robot. And I should mention that BLK ARC can work in two different modes:
Mobile mode - in that mode the device captures data while the robot moving
Static mode - with this mode the device can capture data as a typical terrestrial scanner, which increases the quality of data, but could take a bit more time for capturing. Settings with the predefined locations of static scans could be also uploaded to the robot so it'll make stops in desired locations by itself.
So I have a combination of mobile and static data, which I registered all together in Leica REGISTER 360 PLUS and exported to LGS format. That software is able to combine point clouds from a variety of different sensors, clean noisy points, classify it and georeference your data according to the relevant coordinate system. Usually, we call it the Preparation step, the next step is creating Deliverables. I'll be using BricsCAD BIM software for that purpose with a combination of the Leica CloudWorx plugin which allows us to import point clouds without a converting stage and extract some geometry in a semi-automatic way.
One of the common things which are required for feature extraction is the ground. To generate it we should extract ground points first and then use them for generating the TIN surface. Clip the ground from all other points and then:
Run the Points on Grid tool from the CloudWorx panel,
In the popup window click on the WorkPlane/Grid tab. In the Grid Display set the size of your grid that is desired and check Display.
Next, click on the Points on Grid tab and choose which Smart Pick Method is desired. Select the Ground method.
Note: The grid orientation will follow the UCS, you may want to orientate the UCS prior to creating points on a grid.
Click Place Points. Preview is not required, however, it will temporarily show where points will be placed.
Then type in the command line TIN command, select all extracted points, and click Enter. BricsCAD will generate the TIN surface based on these points. You also can use polylines for the surface generation to add clear breaklines and curbstones.
For extracting standard geometry we can use Fit Cylinder and Fit Steel tools. I demonstrated them in my previous videos:
Even if you don't have pipes or steel you can use these tools for objects with cylindrical and rectangular shapes. Before fitting steels leave on the screen only the relevant points to the object, run the Fit Steel tool, specify in the pop-up window catalog if you would like to use some standard-size elements, and increase the maximum RMS error. For terrestrial scanners, you can use 6mm, but mobile data has more noise in the cloud so it'll be easier for algorithms to extract the geometry if the maximum RMS error will be 2-3 cm. To fit the steel in the point cloud you should specify two points (the first one for section and extraction of the dimensions, second for the direction of extrusion).
For the cylindrical objects use the Fit Cylinder tool, also choose the catalog, if it's needed, and increase the maximum RMS. If you have a noisy point cloud or a very short length of pipe then use the Fence tool to select points for fitting. Keep in mind that you should fence only points relevant to the cylinder.
For non-standard elements, use the native BricsCAD modeling tools. You can switch the workspace to Modeling to get all the relevant tools. Most of them use sections, which you can easily extract from the point cloud. Check the below tools:
Extrude
Revolve
Sweep
Loft
And others
When the main geometry will be done, you can modify it with the below tools:
Subtract
Fillet
Chamfer
And others
Group assembles of elements that are related to a single object and save as a reference block. Next, you can just copy/paste the block into the desired location. Also, you can create some elements directly on the existing surfaces and use the Propagate tool to identify a common area between two details (solids, holes, finishing geometry, etc.) and multiply selected elements automatically to all similar places. That unique tool can greatly speed up all modeling processes if you have a lot of repeatable elements and you need to add some changes to all of them.
When all your model will be done, apply some materials to it to perform better visualization and later use them as a separator. When you bring the model to the Twinmotion there is an option to group elements by materials. As standard, BricsCAD comes with a large number of free materials and textures but even with all these materials at your fingertips, you might still want to add your materials to the library. Although you can create your texture from scratch, it's often easier to simply download them. Here's a useful article with a list of sites where you can download free materials and textures - BricsCAD Tuesday Tips: Rendering materials
The easiest way to add the material to a model:
Open the Render Materials Panel
Select the material you want and your mouse cursor will become a brush. Just select objects which you want to colorize with the selected material. The material will be applied to the whole object
Hold the Ctrl button to assign the material to each face in turn.
To extract wires I prefer to use the Cyclone 3DR with an Electric Line Extraction script. I demonstrated it in my previous tutorials about TRK data processing. To easily separate the wires point cloud from all others use the below workflow:
Import created model with all structures from the BricsCAD
I used the .dxf format, so in my case, I need to Convert this model from CAD to Mesh. Use the Mesh From Geometry tool for that
Select the mesh and point cloud and run the Separate According Distance filter, define the desired range of filtering, and click the Preview. It'll split the point cloud into two parts: 1) all points close to the model and 2) points far than the defined range
To split all wires into different segments use the Distance filter. I also demonstrated this tool many times in my previous tutorials.
Next, apply the Electric Line Extraction script to each segment
To convert extracted wires polylines to the model use the Pipe/Tube along path tool. This command creates 3D mesh(es) corresponding to a circle extrusion along the path(s).
Select one or more paths (polyline, set of polylines, linear geometry, CAD wire, CAD curve, or CAD compound with wires and curves only) to extrude along. Define the Radius of the circle used for the extrusion computation. I used 1cm Radius to generate the model of wires.
You can use this tool also for generating hazard areas, for that just specify a higher Radius in extrusion parameter settings. Then colorize these meshes and make them transparent. It'll give you a clear representation of dangerous areas.
To combine all models and visualize them use the Twinmotion. It's a real-time 3D architectural visualization tool, that easily produces high-quality images, panoramas, and standard or 360° VR videos in seconds! This is one of the best visualization tools for architecture, construction, urban planning, and landscaping professionals which is included in the BricsCAD BIM license. All users with an active, full-commercial BricsCAD Pro V21 or higher (BIM, Mechanical, or Ultimate) license can claim a free perpetual (permanent) Twinmotion license.
To import models from the BricsCAD run the Twinmotion and the BricsCAD simultaneously. In the BricsCAD BIM workspace go to the View / Datasmith/Twinmotion section and click the Connect button. In Twinmotion click the Import button and select the Direct Link option, the software will identify which project at the moment opened in the BricsCAD and will synchronize it with the current scene. After import, you'll be able to interact with the model, for example, apply other high-quality textures on it or add additional decals. To import regular models from other sources use the same Import button, but select the Geometry mode instead of Direct Link. When all models will be imported play with colors, add lights, sounds, some vegetation, and other stuff to bring life into your scene.
You can use this software for the below purposes:
Make basic measurements: between objects, the sag of wires, between objects and point clouds, etc.
Place construction machines and other objects to plan the site work and find out possible collisions in the early stage
Visualize hazard and dangerous zones
Activate and visualize different power lines to see which elements will be active
Train staff to respond in difficult environmental conditions
Add tags with specification information of equipment
Work in VR mode for a better immersive experience
Publish to cloud storage and share access with your colleagues, to create your own little metaverse.
Via browser, you can open this project on tablets or phones
If you still have a question or you want to repeat this tutorial by yourself, but don't have a valid license then you could reach me by clicking the below button or leave a comment.