3D capture comes with its own vocabulary. Here is what the common terms actually mean, in plain language.
Capture and data
3D laser scanning (LiDAR)
Measuring a space by firing laser pulses and timing their return, building up millions of precise 3D points. LiDAR (Light Detection and Ranging) is the underlying technology.
Point cloud
The raw result of a scan: a dense set of measured 3D points describing every surface in the space. It is the foundation that drawings, models and twins are built from.
Registration
Aligning the many individual scan positions taken around a site into a single, consistent point cloud. Good registration keeps alignment error low.
E57
An open, vendor-neutral file format for point clouds. An E57 file can be opened in any major CAD or BIM package, so your team is not locked to one tool.
What you can show
Digital twin
A navigable 3D replica of a building that clients and tenants can walk through online, room to room, in any browser.
Virtual tour
An interactive walkthrough of a space, used for marketing, leasing, off-plan displays and remote sign-off. A Matterport twin is one kind of virtual tour.
Matterport
A camera and hosting platform that produces photo-real digital twins and virtual tours. We capture with the Matterport Pro 3.
Facilities-management (FM) twin
A hosted digital twin kept live so whoever operates a building can navigate it, locate assets and brief contractors without a site visit.
What you build from
As-built
Drawings or a model of what was actually constructed, as opposed to the design intent. As-builts capture the building that exists, including every variation from the original plans.
Scan-to-CAD
Turning a point cloud into measured 2D CAD drawings, such as floor plans, sections and elevations.
Scan-to-BIM
Turning a point cloud into a 3D BIM model, with elements modelled to a defined level of detail.
BIM
Building Information Modelling: a 3D model where elements carry data, used for design coordination, documentation and clash detection.
LOD (Level of Development)
How detailed and reliable a BIM model is. LOD 200 is approximate geometry; LOD 300 is precise, documentation-ready geometry; LOD 350 adds the connections between elements for clash detection. See our guide on what LOD you need.
DWG
The native drawing file format for AutoCAD, the most common way 2D CAD drawings are exchanged.
Reflected ceiling plan (RCP)
A plan that shows the ceiling as if reflected in a mirror on the floor: lights, services, grids and diffusers in their real positions.
Accuracy
Tolerance and accuracy
How close a measurement is to the true value, usually stated as plus or minus a distance. The right tolerance is the one your project actually needs, no more.
Survey-grade
Millimetre-level accuracy, captured with instruments such as the Leica RTC360 to around 2mm (datasheet). It is the right tool where millimetre tolerance is the job: structural steel setout, prefabricated facades and services, dense MEP coordination, and heritage recording to conservation standard. That is a different job from the reality documentation, visuals and as-builts most building projects need. See our accuracy page for the data you get from us.
Progress capture
Scanning a construction site at each stage, before work is closed up, to keep a permanent record of what is behind the walls and ceilings.
Have a building to capture?
Tell us what you are working on and we will translate it into the right deliverables and a fixed price. Greater Sydney.