Do you currently use LiDAR scanners to create 3D point clouds of the interior of your space/buildings? Have you ever struggled using the scanners for the exterior? Covering the roof, tops of parapets or the exterior of buildings at higher elevations is a challenge with LiDAR scanners. But have you ever thought about flying a drone to cover those hard-to-reach places with your scanner? I have been successful at combining the point clouds from both the drone and the LiDAR point cloud in Autodesk Recap Pro.

Recap Pro no, Recap Photo!

If you have recap pro, then you have recap photo! They come in a set, and as long as you have Autodesk credits you can process your drone data in Recap Photo! Upload your images from your drone flight into Recap Photo. Feel free to use ground control points and assign it a known coordinate system. It is a cloud based processing software, so when the results are completed you can download the point cloud as an RCS file.

Now…Recap Pro

In the same Recap Pro project with the LiDAR scanning registration, add the RCS file of your drone point cloud. LAS format will work too. Register the point cloud datasets the same way you would register two scans together.

Conclusion: Top Off Your LiDAR Dataset!

Since the aerial photogrammetry has been combined with your terrestrial lidar, the top of your scan is now visible, which would be unobtainable at ground level.

For more information on other Autodesk products, please visit our Autodesk Products page, or check out Leica 3DR.

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This blog is written by Sr. Reality Capture Technical Specialist David McQuillan. If you have any questions or need help with your Reality Capture needs, please email us at whyATG@atgusa.com.