Using As built Modeler/Virtusurve "send to" to get levels into Autocad

Discuss FARO As-Built software here.
Post Reply
fobos8
V.I.P Member
V.I.P Member
Posts: 246
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 9:19 pm
5
Full Name: Andrew
Company Details: NDC Surveys
Company Position Title: Surveyor
Country: Uk
Linkedin Profile: No
Has thanked: 56 times
Been thanked: 22 times

Using As built Modeler/Virtusurve "send to" to get levels into Autocad

Post by fobos8 »

All rights guys

Whilst I have some downtime I've been looking at using Faro As build Modeler/Virtusurv to send levels into Autocad. I'd like to create a Macro that sends floor levels into Autocad and then create a text field in the spot I click on that says FL XXX.XXX.

Can someone point me in the right direction on how to do this - or better still send over a Macro that does something similar.

Kind regards, Andrew
fobos8
V.I.P Member
V.I.P Member
Posts: 246
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 9:19 pm
5
Full Name: Andrew
Company Details: NDC Surveys
Company Position Title: Surveyor
Country: Uk
Linkedin Profile: No
Has thanked: 56 times
Been thanked: 22 times

Re: Using As built Modeler/Virtusurve "send to" to get levels into Autocad

Post by fobos8 »

I sorted this out - it was straightforward. If anyone needs to know how to do it let me know.
jedfrechette
V.I.P Member
V.I.P Member
Posts: 1237
Joined: Mon Jan 04, 2010 7:51 pm
14
Full Name: Jed Frechette
Company Details: Lidar Guys
Company Position Title: CEO and Lidar Supervisor
Country: USA
Linkedin Profile: Yes
Location: Albuquerque, NM
Has thanked: 62 times
Been thanked: 220 times
Contact:

Re: Using As built Modeler/Virtusurve "send to" to get levels into Autocad

Post by jedfrechette »

I'm sure some future user how stumbles on this thread would appreciate having your solution recorded.

Image
Jed
fobos8
V.I.P Member
V.I.P Member
Posts: 246
Joined: Sat Jul 07, 2018 9:19 pm
5
Full Name: Andrew
Company Details: NDC Surveys
Company Position Title: Surveyor
Country: Uk
Linkedin Profile: No
Has thanked: 56 times
Been thanked: 22 times

Re: Using As built Modeler/Virtusurve "send to" to get levels into Autocad

Post by fobos8 »

Jed - what a wonderful cartoon - I love it!

On the Faro As build modeler website is access to many macros that you can import into As-built modeler. I used one that creates a Block in Autocad on the same co-ordinate you click on in As-built modeler.

What you have to do is have the same block name prepared in Autoacad so that when As-build modeler sends the _INSERT command, Autocad knows which block to insert. You can then write the block in Autocad to display the z value of the place where the block was inserted. You do this by having an Attribute within the block - see below.

I don't know if this is the best way to do it but it worked for me. If anyone needs more info send me a PM.

Cheers, Andrew

BLOCK FORMAT FOR AS BUILT.png
You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.
Thomas Goodliffe
I have made 80-90 posts
I have made 80-90 posts
Posts: 86
Joined: Tue Jan 20, 2009 12:14 pm
15
Full Name: Thomas Goodliffe
Company Details: Thomas Goodliffe Surveying Limited
Company Position Title: Director
Country: UK
Linkedin Profile: Yes
Location: North Norfolk, UK
Has thanked: 1 time
Been thanked: 1 time

Re: Using As built Modeler/Virtusurve "send to" to get levels into Autocad

Post by Thomas Goodliffe »

The fieldbook in virtusurv would have made this quite easy for you creating an xyz file with multiple feature codes. Sadly virtusurv has been discontinued and the fielbook is not included in asbuilt modeller.
Tom Goodliffe
Thomas Goodliffe Surveying Ltd
User avatar
landmeterbeuckx
V.I.P Member
V.I.P Member
Posts: 1616
Joined: Tue May 01, 2012 5:19 pm
11
Full Name: Lieven Beuckx
Company Details: Studiebureau Beuckx
Company Position Title: Owner
Country: Belgium
Linkedin Profile: Yes
Has thanked: 183 times
Been thanked: 548 times

Re: Using As built Modeler/Virtusurve "send to" to get levels into Autocad

Post by landmeterbeuckx »

Thomas Goodliffe wrote: Sat Apr 18, 2020 9:58 pm The fieldbook in virtusurv would have made this quite easy for you creating an xyz file with multiple feature codes. Sadly virtusurv has been discontinued and the fielbook is not included in asbuilt modeller.
This is a real shame. I still have an older version with the fieldbook. The only downside to virtusurv was the slow importing and huge data file sizes.
I don't understand why they've abandoned it.
I bought at Kubit but after they were bought by faro it went downhill.
LSBbvba
Surveying services - 3D Laserscanning
Tel : +32477753126
www.lsbbvba.be
[email protected]
User avatar
MaZschi
I have made 40-50 posts
I have made 40-50 posts
Posts: 48
Joined: Wed Aug 16, 2017 12:26 pm
6
Full Name: Marc Zschieschang
Company Details: Private
Company Position Title: Product Manager
Country: Germany
Has thanked: 2 times
Been thanked: 6 times

Re: Using As built Modeler/Virtusurve "send to" to get levels into Autocad

Post by MaZschi »

landmeterbeuckx wrote: Sun Apr 19, 2020 7:55 am
Thomas Goodliffe wrote: Sat Apr 18, 2020 9:58 pm The fieldbook in virtusurv would have made this quite easy for you creating an xyz file with multiple feature codes. Sadly virtusurv has been discontinued and the fielbook is not included in asbuilt modeller.
This is a real shame. I still have an older version with the fieldbook. The only downside to virtusurv was the slow importing and huge data file sizes.
I don't understand why they've abandoned it.
I bought at Kubit but after they were bought by faro it went downhill.
Hello community,
It is unfortune that this is the perception of our work. Our teams are working hard to provide the best quality for our products and provide you reliable tools for your work.

I would like to give you some insights about the discontinuation of VirtuSurv. VirtuSurv is a mature product, provides good workflows but also has its trade-offs which customers reported as obstacles to be productive.

One of the biggest trade offs was already mentioned in this thread. The heavy time consumption for scan import. Another one is need for a specific receiver in AutoCAD which must be maintained for every AutoCAD version which is released and unfortunately leads to a slight delay in compatibility between the latest Autodesk Version releases and VirtuSurv. A third one is the wish to work also in 3D next to the planar scan views to get a better understanding of the scanned environment during evaluation.

Speaking to our customers it quickly turned out that these trade-offs are a real bottle necks in their workflows motivating us to make it better. That’s why we decided to migrate the VirtuSurv functionality to a more powerful technological foundation called As-Built Modeler. It can open FARO SCENE data in no time while maintaining the possibilities to import data from other sources, provides 2D and 3D data views, and next to many other things the Send To functionality is a much more versatile tool also support every AutoCAD Version directly from its earliest release date.

To help VirtuSurv users to preserve their workflows we are offering direct import of VirtuSurv Macros into As-Built Modeler. We created a path to convert VirtuSurv projects into As-Built Modeler projects if the raw data is not accessible anymore. As-Built Modeler is included in As-Built for AutoCAD, As-Built for Revit and As-Built Suite default product content next to VirtuSurv to get familiar with the new tool during the transition period. Our goal is to provide all the offered workflows with VirtuSurv (and much more) within As-Built Modeler before VirtuSurv is out of support and provide a crossgrade path for VirtuSurv customers owning the tool outside of the current As-Built products.

I would really appreciate if you let us know what else we can do to reduce the impact of this migration for you to a minimum and I would be more than happy to get in direct contact to discuss your needs of a field-book workflow inside As-Built Modeler.
Just PM me or get in touch via [email protected]

Wish you happy scanning,
Marc
Marc Zschieschang
JMontie
I have made 80-90 posts
I have made 80-90 posts
Posts: 80
Joined: Thu Jul 16, 2015 3:02 pm
8
Full Name: James Montie
Company Details: ReCon Engineering
Company Position Title: Piping Designer
Country: USA
Linkedin Profile: No
Been thanked: 4 times

Re: Using As built Modeler/Virtusurve "send to" to get levels into Autocad

Post by JMontie »

MaZschi wrote: Thu Jun 04, 2020 4:43 pm
landmeterbeuckx wrote: Sun Apr 19, 2020 7:55 am
Thomas Goodliffe wrote: Sat Apr 18, 2020 9:58 pm The fieldbook in virtusurv would have made this quite easy for you creating an xyz file with multiple feature codes. Sadly virtusurv has been discontinued and the fielbook is not included in asbuilt modeller.
This is a real shame. I still have an older version with the fieldbook. The only downside to virtusurv was the slow importing and huge data file sizes.
I don't understand why they've abandoned it.
I bought at Kubit but after they were bought by faro it went downhill.
Hello community,
It is unfortune that this is the perception of our work. Our teams are working hard to provide the best quality for our products and provide you reliable tools for your work.

I would like to give you some insights about the discontinuation of VirtuSurv. VirtuSurv is a mature product, provides good workflows but also has its trade-offs which customers reported as obstacles to be productive.

One of the biggest trade offs was already mentioned in this thread. The heavy time consumption for scan import. Another one is need for a specific receiver in AutoCAD which must be maintained for every AutoCAD version which is released and unfortunately leads to a slight delay in compatibility between the latest Autodesk Version releases and VirtuSurv. A third one is the wish to work also in 3D next to the planar scan views to get a better understanding of the scanned environment during evaluation.

Speaking to our customers it quickly turned out that these trade-offs are a real bottle necks in their workflows motivating us to make it better. That’s why we decided to migrate the VirtuSurv functionality to a more powerful technological foundation called As-Built Modeler. It can open FARO SCENE data in no time while maintaining the possibilities to import data from other sources, provides 2D and 3D data views, and next to many other things the Send To functionality is a much more versatile tool also support every AutoCAD Version directly from its earliest release date.

To help VirtuSurv users to preserve their workflows we are offering direct import of VirtuSurv Macros into As-Built Modeler. We created a path to convert VirtuSurv projects into As-Built Modeler projects if the raw data is not accessible anymore. As-Built Modeler is included in As-Built for AutoCAD, As-Built for Revit and As-Built Suite default product content next to VirtuSurv to get familiar with the new tool during the transition period. Our goal is to provide all the offered workflows with VirtuSurv (and much more) within As-Built Modeler before VirtuSurv is out of support and provide a crossgrade path for VirtuSurv customers owning the tool outside of the current As-Built products.

I would really appreciate if you let us know what else we can do to reduce the impact of this migration for you to a minimum and I would be more than happy to get in direct contact to discuss your needs of a field-book workflow inside As-Built Modeler.
Just PM me or get in touch via [email protected]

Wish you happy scanning,
Marc
VirtuSurv open views quickly, probably due to the file size/file compression. Planer views in As-Built Modeler not quickily, just like Scene.

One of the issues I have is allowing designers to open the Scene project. We run some larger projects and we break these down into small sets of scans. This makes it easier for the designers to use, and not overload the designer computer. Now I have to create multiple copies of projects, delete the clusters down to a manageable size for them to work on. Not to mention most of these large projects are still being scanned while designers are working on scans that have already been processed.

In VirtuSurv, you could go to greyscale and use the histogram to bring out the contrast. As-Built Modeler has none of this.

I understand your frustration at peoples reaction to this product you have put so much time in. Understand ours when you give us something new that has more bugs and less features than what we had. The interface is clunky and uses more resources than VirtuSurv (at least that is how it feels). You can't dock the toolbar for Sendto. I will stick with VirtuSurv as long as it will work.
Post Reply

Return to “FARO As-Built”