Analysis Parameters
Basic Parameters
Verity Analysis parameters
The various fields in the Verity Analysis Parameters dialog let you control what algorithms Verity runs, and provides some initial guidance for how to process the points.
Choose your Scan data type
The Scan data type that you choose here will determine whether Verity runs the Structured or Unstructured algorithm during Analyze.
Verity Scan data types
Only the Tripod (Individual Scans) option will run the Structured algorithm. The remaining data type choices will run the Unstructured algorithm.
Structured Data
If you are analyzing a fully structured point cloud (a non-unified cloud with multiple scan locations, typically produced from terrestrial tripod scanners), utilize the Tripod (Individual Scans) data type. This setting takes advantage of scan normals only found in structured data. This runs the traditional Verity Analysis algorithm and produces the most accurate results.
Unstructured Data
If you are analyzing a unified point cloud (a cloud with multiple scans that have been unified into a single file), utilize the Tripod (Unified) data type. This runs the Unstructured algorithm, assuming the lower scan noise typical of most terrestrial scanners. This data type, however, usually does not contain scan normals for Verity to take advantage of, so these results will vary slightly from the Structured algorithm results.
If you are analyzing a point cloud produced by a mobile/SLAM scanner (typically handheld or backpack scanners), and know what type of scanner was used, select the Mobile option for your specific scanner type. If you don’t see your scanner listed, or don’t know what type was used, select the Other Mobile type. These run the Unstructured algorithm, assuming the higher scan noise typical of mobile scans, and so results from this data type will vary from both structured and unified point clouds.
These Unstructured data types can offer significant speed improvements over the Structured algorithm, as well as a lower overall resource cost, as mobile scans are typically much smaller files. Because mobile scanners typically produce more scan noise than tripod scanners, this data type can produce Analyze results that vary from scans with less noise.
To further hone Analyze results for your data, utilize the Expected Scanner Noise setting in Advanced Parameters (see below).
Choose your workflow
Verity can aid in a multitude of workflows. Choose the one that best matches your use-case, or choose Other if your workflow is not specifically listed.
Tolerance
This will set the default value you want to compare against to define if items are outside of tolerance. This value also informs the algorithm’s search radius. It is recommended to keep this under 4 inches or 100mm in the current version for both performance and reliability reasons. For example, if your project’s structural steel has an installation tolerance requirement of 2 inches, you would enter that here.
Indoor Project
This option is off by default. When scanning outside, a hole in the scan data (i.e., no return) is usually a result of things being too far away from the scanner to register (e.g., the sky, distant buildings, etc.). In these cases, Verity’s algorithms assume that items with geometry in those locations are missing since there are no recorded scan points. In indoor projects, holes in the data are usually caused by non-ideal surface quality (e.g., highly reflective, shiny, dark, rough, etc.) that the scanner cannot capture well. By checking the Indoor Project option, you are telling the algorithm to treat missing data accordingly.
Find Installation Status and Conformance to Tolerance
This option is on by default. This checkbox controls whether the algorithms attempt to determine the installation status and the conformance to the tolerance of each item in the table. If unchecked, no initial classification is run, and every item will have to be manually reviewed, classified, and fit. When your geometry and scan data are not similar, each piece of geometry will have to be manually adjusted anyway; so skipping this step may make sense as it will cut down the analysis duration significantly.
Check and Repair Damaged Geometry
This option is on by default. This forces a routine that will check every piece of geometry brought into Verity for mesh corruption issues. Verity will detect any problems and repair them so that the analysis will yield the best results.
Advanced Parameters
The Advanced plus icon at the bottom of the parameters dialog allows users to better control how the algorithms interpret your scan data.
Verity Advanced Parameters
- Expected Scanner Noise – This setting tells Verity’s algorithm the expected range noise in your scan data. If you are using a scanner with higher scan noise, you can increase this setting to ensure that all the relevant scan data is being used to calculate status and fit. If you are using a higher accuracy scanner, then you can decrease this setting to make sure that data from other surfaces very close to the surface you’re analyzing won’t be used to calculate status and fit. For best results, check the specifications of your scanner to calibrate this setting accordingly.
- Expected Surface Deformation – In most cases, the as-built surfaces should have small amounts of deformation from the as-designed. However, for certain types of geometry (rough hand-laid stone walls or beams that are deflecting substantially beyond design tolerances), you may want to increase this setting to ensure all relevant points are being used to calculate status and fit.
- Minimum Number of Points – Sets the bottom threshold of number of points required to consider an element installed. Below this number, the algorithms do not produce results that are as reliable as ClearEdge3D would like to provide. However, there are cases where sparse scans can produce good results. The advanced section exposes this threshold so advanced users can modify the value if they feel the results will be good enough for their purposes.
- Maximum Number of Points - Caps the number of points used per item during analysis. (Only available on Tech Preview licenses).
- Use Multi-threading to Speed up Processing - We recommended always keeping this checkbox checked as it significantly reduces the amount of time Analyze takes to complete.