CC1803

SOFTWARE focus
Snaps to 3D
Vectorworks has introduced a photogrammetry application that can transform a series of digital
photographs into a geometrically correct 3D model
Capturing the 3D form of a
building has now become a lot
easier. All you need to do is take
a number of snaps of the structure in
question, upload them to Vectorworks
Cloud Services, click on an icon and all
of the complicated stuff will be done for
you, and presented to you as a 3D
model, which you can then use as a
reference for subsequent modelling or
for any other visualisation purpose.
There are a couple of reasons you
might want to do this. Buildings might
be designed in isolation, but in reality
they will be situated in an environment
populated by other buildings and will
have to blend in, or they may even form
extensions to existing structures.
Having an accurate model as the
starting point, complete with an
indication of its textures, colours and
other non-geometric imagery provides
architects with the best possible
examples of the building features and
its environment.
You will have noticed that I qualified
the 3D model's attributes. The 3D
surfaces are no more than digital
images blended together to create a
geometrically correct structure, which
have to be scaled before they can be
used. Walls, doors, windows and other
features can be added to the 3D image
using standard architectural tools if you
wish to convert it to a usable 3D model.
So much easier, though, than having to
do a complete manual survey of a
building before you can work on it.
Photogrammetry is a reality capture
functionality that has been integrated
within Vectorworks 2018, announced
alongside the latest enhancements to
Vectorworks Cloud Services, which you
must also have signed up for, as that's
where all the hard work is done.
Loading the file of images is a simple
drag and drop operation, or you can
use the Nomad app, of which more
later. The application looks at all of the
images - which must have a degree of
overlap between each - and stitches
them together, rather like panoramic
scenes that are created within standard
digital cameras, to provide an accurate
3D image of the complete structure.
At this stage, there is no scale to the
3D model. To add a scale, from which
you will be able to draw other
measurements, you simply select a
door or window which has a height or
width known to you, and mark that on
the model. The software then has a
reference measurement that can be
used to size the whole model, and
subsequent measurements taken from
it will be to the same scale.
All of the 3D model's surface features
are used as reference points for the
14
March/April 2018