At the recent SPAR Conference Autodesk announced the new release of ReCap and the Reality Computing workflows that solve customer problems in various industries. Here are the highlights from that announcement.

• After more than one year of extensive usage of our first ReCap product line by thousand users, we are very happy to introduce ReCap 360 at SPAR. ReCap 360 unlocks the power of using Reality Data with better measurement, enhanced markup, greater collaboration, search and automatic registration.
  
• Several new features have been added to the FY16 versions of the Autodesk portfolio to maximize the use of Reality Data in your favorite applications and provide end-to-end Reality Computing workflows.
  
• We recently announced the release of Autodesk Memento Beta, a new end-to-end application for Digital Reality. Memento Beta will be also demonstrated at SPAR.
  
• Several new ReCap OEM agreements have now come to final execution, making our point cloud format a must-have in our industry.

 
The new ReCap portfolio includes:

• ReCap, a free application for laser scan preparation: import of scans, viewing, cleaning, clipping, sectioning, basic measurements and indexing of registered scan data. ReCap is the must-have companion to the Autodesk portfolio to convert Reality Data in RCP/RCS files, and to upload Real Views to A360. It is part of all Autodesk Suites and can be downloaded for free from our web site (recap.autodesk.com).
  
• ReCap 360 is a must-have for anyone dealing with a point cloud. ReCap 360 provides several desktop features and web services and is available under subscription at only $500 / year. Included are: 25 GB of storage space, a host of new measurement, markup and collaboration tools, ., and access to our photo-to-3D service in full resolution mode,.
  
• ReCap 360 Ultimate adds more to ReCap 360 and is the must-have solution for anyone with a laser scanner. Featuring a new automatic scan-to-scan, target-less registration engine, together with data quality check and target-based accuracy reports, ReCap 360 Ultimate provides trust to your Reality Data. It is available at $2.000 / year and includes 100 GB of storage space.

What are the new features introduced with ReCap 360?

• New native laser scan imports
  • ReCap is a scanning device-agnostic platform, and we added the native import of various new raw files to our long list of supported scan formats.

 

• Advanced Measurement
  • Measurement is now a snap with smart measurement tools, to easily measure diameters and distances between cylinders and planes with automatic shape fitting.
  • Fast and true clearances can be obtained with a single mouse click.
• Advanced Annotation & Sync
  • The value of point cloud project can now be enhanced with tags, notes, pictures and hyperlinks. These annotations are automatically synced between the desktop app and the cloud.
  • They can also be shared and synced with project collaborators, which empowers a team to markup a project together.
• Search
  • Marked objects, assets, saved views and project tools can now be quickly found with advanced search utilities.

 

• Automatic Registration (a ReCap 360 Ultimate feature only)
  • Combining laser scans has never been easier with our new target-less automatic registration.
  • Quickly, effortlessly and accurately register scans is now possible with little to no user interaction.

   

What is Autodesk Memento Beta?

 

• Memento is an end-to-end solution for converting any reality capture input (such as photos or scans) into high quality 3D models. The computed 3D photo-textured mesh can be cleaned up, fixed, healed, compared over time and optimized for further digital use, for physical fabrication methods like 3D printing and for 3D interactive experiences on the Web.
• It is an all-in-one single app made from scratch specifically for new Reality Computing workflows, particularly in arts, sciences, museums, media & entertainment.
• The beta version can be downloaded from: http://memento.autodesk.com/about

What about Autodesk photo-to-3D service?

• Autodesk continues to improve its photo-to-3D service each year, the cloud-based photogrammetry engine behind 123D Catch for consumers, ReCap 360 for professionals in Autodesk industries (Civil, AEC, Factories…), and Memento for artists and new digital creators.
  
• Recent enhancements include: support of the GoPro Hero 4 camera, processing of GPS information to automatically scale and geolocate photo-scenes, and creation of 2D orthoimages. All these new features are available via ReCap 360 for users processing aerial photos from UAVs.

I am a huge user of ReCap and was in Atlanta last week testing aerial UAV and laser capture of data and processing it all in ReCap and ReCap 360.

Cheers,
Shaan