Industry

Scan to BIM

A cloud the modeller can actually work from. Walk the building, hand over geometry that snaps.

Commissioned in Melbourne
12-month warranty
Product setup support

This job

Capture that feeds a model

Scan to BIM is the workflow that turns a measured point cloud into a parametric model: walls, slabs, columns, services, all placed from real geometry rather than assumed dimensions.

The capture is not the deliverable. The model is. That changes what a good scan looks like, because a cloud that reads beautifully in a viewer can still be miserable to model from.

What makes a cloud hard to model from

Modellers need three things that casual scanning does not provide.

Clean planes. A wall that is two centimetres thick in the cloud is a wall the modeller has to guess at. Cloud thickness matters more here than headline accuracy.

Complete surfaces. A wall captured from one side only gives no thickness. Services captured from below give no top. Modellers cannot invent the face you did not scan.

Consistent registration. If floors are individually accurate but do not stack correctly, every vertical element in the model is wrong.

How the day actually runs

Ask the modeller what LOD they are working to before you walk. It changes how tightly you capture services and how much time you spend on plant.

Walk each level in planned segments with deliberate loop closures. Loops are what keep planes clean.

Capture both faces of anything you need thickness for. Walk each side of internal walls, and get an angle on the top of services where the model needs them.

Use the stair core as the vertical tie. Walk it as one continuous segment between levels so floors stack correctly.

Check coverage on site against the modeller's list, not against your own sense of completeness.

This is a walking job

Part of the job	Capture with	Why
Interiors, all levels	SHARE C1 or C1 Pro	Walk-through geometry, no setups
Stair cores and risers	SHARE C1	Vertical tie between floors
Services and ceiling voids	SHARE C1	Tight access, light unit
Building envelope and roof	Matrice 4E	Only if the model needs the exterior shell

A drone will not help you inside a building. If the model stops at the envelope, this is a handheld job start to finish. Fly only if the exterior shell is in scope.

What the modeller needs

Cloud thickness is the number that matters here, more than absolute accuracy. Within a centimetre gives the modeller a clean plane to snap to. Beyond that they start averaging, and the model inherits the guess.

Relative accuracy governs whether dimensions across a floor hold. Absolute accuracy only matters if the model has to sit on a site grid alongside other data.

Check the stack before you demobilise. Compare a known vertical dimension across levels. If the stair core registered cleanly, the floors will sit right.

What gets handed over

A registered cloud in E57 or RCP, split by level, with a stated coordinate system and origin. Modellers work level by level, so a single undivided cloud of a ten-storey building is a nuisance rather than a gift.

The recipient is a BIM modeller in Revit or ArchiCAD. They will tell you quickly if the planes are noisy or the levels do not stack.

What gets it sent back: missing wall faces, floors that do not align vertically, and clouds with no stated origin.

The common miss

One face of a wall. It looks complete in the viewer because you can see the surface, but the modeller has no thickness and has to assume it.

The other one is scanning to a density that suits viewing rather than modelling. A cloud that looks impressive on screen and has two-centimetre thickness on every plane costs the modeller more time than a sparser, cleaner one.

Ask what LOD before you walk. It is a thirty second conversation that changes the whole capture.

Start with these

One or two kits that fit this job. Family pages cover the rest of the line.

SHARE C1

Walk through. Walk out with a model.

Software and training included
Global shutter colour
Under 1 cm relative

From$7,758 to $9,858

View kit

SHARE C1 Pro

NTRIP RTK handheld. Absolute coords when you need them.

Dual 1" mechanical shutter
Built-in RTK
Sub 5 cm absolute

From$10,010 to $10,985

View kit

Choosing a model

Do I need the C1 Pro, or will the C1 do for scan to BIM?

The C1 finishes most scan-to-BIM work. Cloud thickness and relative accuracy are identical across the range, and those are the figures that govern how clean a plane the modeller gets. Step up to the C1 Pro when the model has to sit on a site datum, when you are combining with drone data, or when the deliverable includes colourised imagery the client will look at.

Is a handheld scanner good enough for BIM, or do I need a terrestrial scanner?

Handheld is good enough for most LOD 200 to LOD 300 work and much faster through a building with many rooms. Terrestrial still wins where you need millimetre detail on a specific element, such as a connection detail or a heritage moulding. Many teams use handheld for the bulk of the building and a TLS for the handful of elements that need it.

Accuracy

What cloud thickness do modellers actually need?

Within a centimetre is the practical target, and that is what this range delivers. Beyond about two centimetres, modellers stop snapping to planes and start averaging, which slows them down and introduces judgement into what should be measurement. If a vendor quotes accuracy without quoting thickness, ask for the thickness figure.

Workflow & data

What format should I hand the modeller?

E57 or RCP, split by level, with a stated coordinate system and origin. Ask before you export, because import preferences vary between Revit and ArchiCAD workflows and between teams. Splitting by level matters more than most people expect, since modellers work one floor at a time.

Do I have to process in SHARE's software?

No. The raw data is open, so you can run your own pipeline, and the pose-tagged imagery supports photogrammetry and mesh workflows. SHARE PointClouds Studio is included with no subscription and handles registration cleanly, but your clouds are not locked in a proprietary container.

In the field

How many levels can I do in a day?

Access dependent rather than hardware dependent. A clear, unoccupied floor plate is quick. Occupied tenancies, locked plant rooms and coordinated access windows are what set the pace. Batteries run long enough that the limit is usually your legs and the building manager's schedule.

Next step

New site, new workflow

Whether you're standing up your first drone program or adding LiDAR to the kit, tell us the deliverable and we'll map the hardware, RTK, and processing path.