EdgeWise MEP for Revit

If you use Revit MEP and laser scan data then hopefully you've heard of ClearEdge3D and the new EdgeWise for Revit MEP? They recently announced that they're offering a software solution to bring 3D as-built models of pipes and other cylindrical MEP elements directly into Revit. It automatically extracts pipes, elbows and other features from point clouds and exports them to Revit as fully functional pipe objects. You begin by using their software to analyze point cloud data (the result of conducting laser/lidar scanning on-site). Once processed you can export this interpreted data to several software products including Revit MEP now.

If you are interested in a demo then check out when Beck Group’s Kelly Cone and Autodesk’s Kyle Bernhardt present it, via webinar, on Wednesday, September 26 at 1pm EDT. Beck Group was one of the early testers of the software and Kelly is quite fond of it. There will be a live demo of it too so you can see for yourself how much time it can save. Click here to sign up.

I received an email from them recently and I wrote back to ask a couple questions:

"Is the success of the export and functioning in Revit natively dependent on additional Revit families or based on the what is available in the stock content (US imperial for example)? I ask because I imagine there are elements that can be captured via a laser that your software can understand that might not have an equivalent Revit family element to use. What happens then?"

Christopher Scotton (President & CEO) responded with this:

"Thanks for Reaching out. The success of the import is not dependent on additional Revit families because Revit assigns the imported pipe objects to its stock pipe families, in this case Schedule 40 PVC along with the correct type diameter, elbow bend, etc. The centerlines come in as pipe placeholder. However, the accuracy and utility of the model is greatly enhanced by the use of custom families. In essence, EdgeWise imports cylindrical elements that are spatially accurate to the as-built conditions. Once in Revit, the elements need to be changed from the stock pipe family (if not Sch 40 PVC) to the correct pipe family.

Right now, EdgeWise MEP for Revit only extracts cylindrical features—pipes, round ducting, elbows and conduit—so we’ve not run across many elements that we extract that are not represented by a stock family type. But in those cases, Revit will place a PVC pipe and a placeholder that corresponds to the size, dimension and location of the unrecognized element."

If you are using point cloud data and Revit MEP (even if you use other software) you should check it out!