Autodesk: Beyond the point cloud with Pointerra

Beyond the point cloud with Pointerra
Autodesk and Pointerra build enhanced BIM workflows by putting data at the center.
Annie Phan
August 14, 2018

The scan-to-BIM workflow is ripe for disruption. You may have heard of Autodesk’s engagement with Pointerra through our Forge and BIM 360 initiatives. They’re becoming a notable player in the 3D data capture, consumption, and design business.

We invited the global cloud-based data as a service (DaaS) storage platform to test our reality solutions SDK. After a few short weeks, Pointerra fully integrated the SDK, becoming one of the first adopters. Read on to hear from Pointerra’s point of view why utilizing the SDK is a step in the right direction and get a look at how it all works.

Autodesk’s Global Digital Leader in AEC, Brett Casson, explains the potential of our affiliation:

“Pointerra’s common data environment for point clouds and Autodesk ReCap enables our customers to streamline reality solution workflows. The newly released Autodesk Reality Solutions SDK enables our customers to utilise reality data in Autodesk-authoring solutions such as InfraWorks, AutoCAD Civil 3D, Autodesk Revit and Autodesk Navisworks direct from our partners. Hosting and sharing of critical project information becomes seamless, and users gain access to real-time digital data with greater accuracy.”

Ryan Pearce, Pointerra Ltd.’s Regional Business Manager, shares his thoughts about Pointerra’s integration of the SDK.



Ryan Pearce is the Regional Business Manager for PointerraLtd, providing the Pointerra solution globally to the AEC sector. Having worked in the construction, digital technologies, and software industries for past 10 years, and most recently working with Reality Capture and 3D laser scanning technology and its application to construction challenges.
Pointerra gives its users greater control of their 3D point cloud and digital data, enabling anytime, anywhere access while enhancing the full capture-to-design workflow at a scale and performance level that adds value to all parties. This also includes 3D datasets generated through photogrammetry, LiDar, MLS, terrestrial laser scanners.

Our users can ‘clip and ship’ data in smaller sections directly to Autodesk-authoring solutions such as InfraWorks®, Civil 3D®, Revit®, and Navisworks®. Thus solving the once prevalent issue of storing and working with large amounts of point cloud data.


Pointerra’s cloud-connected solutions enable greater control of digital data with seamless integration from hardware-captured data to key Autodesk design tools.

The customer challenge
Pointerra solves the problem of receiving and uploading data. This gives the user the ability to share and extract the data to design. Our workflow didn’t support the function to allow Recap RCS and RCP files to be uploaded and exported. Adopting the SDK allowed Pointerra to enhance the capture-to-design workflow for Pointerra and Autodesk customers. You can easily manage the data in a common data environment (CDE) allowing you to easily export portions of a point cloud directly to your Autodesk products and directly integrate with BIM360 for collaboration.

Easy as 1-2-3
Here’s a look at the interface and workflow in Pointerra built on the reality solutions SDK technology. You can measure, add Points of Interest in both a plan and the 3D view. All this can be shared easily using Pointerra’s instant share link option.


3D view of a ReCap project in Pointerra

Once you see the data in the 3D view, you can select portions of the scanned area. Pointerra users can ‘clip and ship’ large point clouds to smaller, more manageable sections and export directly as a ReCap project file in RCS or RCP format.


‘Clip and Ship’ step 1: easy selection of a scanned area in Pointerra


‘Clip and Ship’ step 2: exporting the selected section in a ReCap fiel format (RCS or RCP).

Data at the center means huge ROI
Having identified the problem most people face day to day with Big Data and the ability to refine their workflow, we believe the use of the reality solutions SDK will better the experience of our shared customers.

The ability to upload all files types of 3D point cloud data from any device, accessing the data easily and via a web-based solution and finally sharing and exporting the data to ALL Autodesk products is a valuable and exciting user experience.

Companies have become increasingly aware of the need to have a common data environment (CDE) for their 3D data. Now, we have a more efficient workflow for them. Project efficiencies are enabled by:

• Converting data to a more manageable size.
• Accessing data easily in a centralized portal for project files.
• Accepting all 3D data file types.
• Downloading and exporting data directly to a ReCap project.
• Sharing instantly without the need to send hard drives or using third-party sharing software.

The result: our customers enjoy more than five-fold savings in time, resources, and mulitiple software needs.

Pointerra is your one stop solutions for all your 3D data! Pointerra offers a number of options for the Data as a Service subscription. Either sign up online or contact Ryan for further details.