Hi everyone,

It's been a while! Hope you are all well!

I am trying to find out about creating 3D Models form Scan Point Clouds. What software are people using ?

This has probably been asked before, but I'm thinking of buying at the moment and want some up-to-date info if possible please...and I hope I don't start an online debate with this question - or maybe I do, hmmmmmmm!!!

I have been looking at things like Autocad Plant 3D and similar....but I don't really know if that is best. I do a fair bit of industrial scanning, but am doing some heritage and construction work also.....so it's a bit of a mixed bag really - maybe there is no "one size fits all" solution out there, but I am hoping to boil it down as much as I can through this (rather brilliant) forum.

Thanks in advance for any and all help offered,

I didn't find the right solution from the internet. References: https://laserscanningforum.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=12319

motion graphics examples

Hello jensenbreck

Welcome back to the forums I am not familiar at all but looking up some information about Point Cloud the only software name that I came across which I had any familiarity was MeshMixer but not think that it is what you are looking for. I do hope someone with more information and knowledge pops in and is able to give you some more help. But did want to acknowledge that your post was seen and read hope some does chime in soon for you.

Autodesk products have been dealing with point cloud data for some time now, and most of their packages have some form of point cloud modeling or manipulation capabilities. You already mentioned AutoCAD and Revit come to mind immediately. Here's a video showing transformation of point cloud survey data to 3d architectural models in Revit, for example.

A free alternative might be MeshLab. Here's a video showing an example of Point Cloud to Mesh Construction in MeshLab:

MeshLab seems like one of the best solutions as far as dealing with point cloud data and manipulation, and it's totally free to use. The learning curve is steep, but there's plenty of tutorial resources available as well.

So you want to extract BIM models from scans as well as surface (triangulate) the point clouds?

I contract for a 3D scanning company we use multiple applications depending on the job requirements ... Cyclone, Recap, Pix4D, Photoscan and Geomagic. Unfortunately, there is no one size fits all solution.