SBL has been making steady and sustained progress in developing its BIM services portfolio over the last couple of years. Our last blog post on our BIM services was nearly 4 months back (October 2016) when we showcased our capabilities to Model railway assets using point cloud data acquired from mobile and terrestrial scanners. Since then our BIM and LiDAR teams have been quite busy in working on a variety of BIM and LiDAR projects and pilot samples. One such interesting work was from the UK where our BIM team was given a 3D point cloud data acquired using ZEB-REVO handheld scanner. The ZEB-REVO handheld scanner was used to acquire the internal details of a Warehouse at nearly 37000 ppm². The acquired point cloud data had only elevation values and no RGB values. No reference photographs were provided.

Figure 1 – Input point cloud data thematically represented by elevation data

The lack of RGB values in the input point cloud data and the absence of reference photographs poses a challenge to anyone desiring to model the individual features present in the data. SBL overcame this challenge due to the availability of highly skilled and experienced modellers who were fully conversant of the features expected to be found in a warehouse. The internal features of the warehouse was modelled with high accuracy using Aecosim Building designer software from Bentley. The 3D model of the warehouse was rendered to create realistic looking and highly accurate photo images of the warehouse. Multiple views of the rendered model are included below.

Figure 2- Rendered output of the warehouse (view 1)

Figure 3 – Rendered output of the warehouse (view 2)

Figure 4 – Rendered output of the warehouse (view 3)

This 3D models was used by the architects of the warehouse to notice design issues or weaknesses in the structural integrity of the site and to predict failures such that preventive maintenance can be done to minimize damage. Architects and engineers can also manipulate 3D models in a way they often can’t with 2D CAD drawings. Professionals are able to test what-if scenarios with their designs in 3D, helping to validate their plans and identify any problems with design quality. In addition, these types of models can also give architects and engineers an accurate picture of how they can change their designs if they need to. Because of the accuracy and flexibility of 3D models, architects and engineers are able to spend less time on the design stage of their projects and more time on the actual completion of each task. Professionals are able to identify any issues ahead of time by using 3D modeling, saving them from having to rework schedules and increase budgets. 

With this project completed successfully, the SBL BIM – LiDAR team once more proves that it has the technical acumen and skills to overcome the toughest of challenges in completing projects in their domain of expertise.