But now the facade has been be fabricated, transported and mounted, and it is time to judge the final results.
Let us start with the construction phase. I am not found of surprises and that is why I detailed the facade down to the nuts and bolts. I was concerned that the manufacturer was not able to deliver good solution for important detail/concepts and therefor I wanted to be proactive. The result was that there were no bad surprises making the modules or when mounting them to the building.
And frankly, I am quite happy with the facade. I like how the facade reflects the light on the aluminium cladding, and the champagne color is playing well with the surrounding buildings. And keep in mind it is not an expensive facade, but together with the manufacturer we have found good solutions that we have discussed thoroughly.
Remember that this is written by an architect. An architect that is not interested in reading technical manuals, or do to many preparations. So this is not a review. It is more a list of thoughts:)
Trimble DPI-8
I have tested the Trimble DPI-8 scanner for 24 hours now, and it is time to make a summary of my experience. But first of all, what kind of scanner is the DPI-8? The scanner is an handheld scanner that weight about a kilo so it is just light enough to be held with one hand. The other hand can easily operate the touchscreen when you are configuring the scan. The touchscreen is in fact a pad that runs on Android, and on the back of the pad there is attached to a scanner and a camera. They are connected to the pad with an micro USB cable. It seems fairly well built, but at the same time it is just basic components that is connected together. Why not? And why should you be interested in this scanner?
As an architect, I sometimes get comments from the entrepreneurs that I should be more on the construction site to see how it is actually being built. And there is nothing more I want to do, but the construction time is so cramped and I have to prioritize my time very carefully. In addition when I ask for surveys for my detaildrawings, they do not manage to survey them in time before my deadline. Yes we are talking about the importance of collaborating together in a multidisciplinary BIM model, with the benefits of clash detection etc. But there is little talk about how to gather information during construction time.
Sometimes you are a bit lost…
Here is where we can improve by using new techniques of building data capture, with more efficient collaboration processes. That is why I see a lot of potential in the DPI-8. It is not perfect, and in many ways it feels like the first generation of this type of scanner, but it gives an great insight in how the future of handheld/robot scanning should be. And I am looking forward seeing all the technology that is pushing in this direction, with Google tango and Intel pushing each other.
…but usually you are on track
Okay. The DPI-8 is intuitive. The software is an app and it is pretty straight forward. I did not miss any functionality during my limited test period and the software seemed rather stable. Regarding the scanning, there was a steep learning curve but not in a frustrating way. The information that is displayed on the screen during the scan is constantly giving you feedback how you should proceed scanning, and what area you have scanned so far. If it is displays as green you have a good scan of that area, and if it is yellow you have a medium good scan. And the best part is actually that you can study your scan immediately after the scan is done on the pad. This way, you can see if you have a successful scan before you leave the construction site.
Point cloud in Recap based on four DPI-8 scans
The software offers different export formats and during my test period, I ended up exporting to PTS and imported this to Recap. I tried to import it directly to Revit, but while indexing the point cloud, it failed halfway. Other remarks in a randomly order:
scanning and exporting drains the battery. Make sure it is fully charged
since the memory is (too) small during scanning, you have to «divide» your scans. The is an option called «append» that let you use the same origo as the previous scan. It works surprisingly well.
It is a little bit confusing the difference between «scene», «session» and «export»
this scanner do not work in strong daylight
go slooowly. Or else you will «loose track»
when transferring files from the pad, to the PC be careful! I experienced multiple severe windows crashes
when scanning mirrors, you can get some funny results
read more about the accuracy of the scanner on Trimble webpage. I have not compared it to my results yet.
Yes I have used the scanner only one long day and night… But finally I could play with a gadget that actually made sense. I had great fun testing the scanners limits and I am wondering if this scanner should be a standard equipment for an architect firm? Maybe for architect firms that do a lot of refurbishment? The future is exciting and I am looking forward seeing the construction site being scanned live and continuously with robots or fixed scanners in every room.
They are becoming cheap and I want one!
PS! Special thanks to Geomatikk Survey who let me test the DPI-8, and to Margarida Jerónimo Barbosa who gave me valuable feedback on my post
Update 05.07.2015: The scanner is owned by the Norwegian University of Life Sciences for research purpose but have been sponsored by Geomatikk Survey
I have been taking a lot of photos lately to test different photogrammetry software, and sometimes I feel that the results is better than it should have been since I usually shoot from my hip.
One of my favorite programs is Memento from Autodesk that is a really great software. Memento is in Beta mode but has the tools you need to generate a mesh/pointcloud from your pictures. The interface is really great and it is easy to use.
It has some issues with Z-direction and scaling when you export it, but hopefully they will fix this bug shortly. It is also frustrating that it is not possible to import the mesh into Revit. Therefor you need to export the model as a pointcloud to import it to Revit, and that is a pity. It would have been great to use the mesh to create sun study for instance, or to create the surroundings to your project. This is not a Memento problem. It is a Revit problem.
Remember to import your cool models into Sketchfab so you can show them to your colleges or embed them into your homepage (if they support it…) 🙂
Digital story of an architect 