Tag: memento

Import any 3D geometry (like Google Earth terrain) to Revit environment via Memento and Recap

Luke Johnson

I got a virtual tap on the shoulder from Brian Nickel over at The Revit Saver today. He said he had been “searching for an answer like this for a year or two, and the guy posted it two days ago overseas! Talk about a neat workflow!“

What are we talking about?

Basically, it is an inventive way to use the mesh tools in Memento, which can consume images, make meshes, and export them to Recap. From there, we can easily get that into Revit for quick site context investigations. The actual implications of this workflow are pretty big… hypothetically, it allows you to use any good series of images to automatically make some 3d geometry and bring it into the Revit environment for further modelling.

Funnily enough, this workflow is just a logical extension of the stated aims of Memento, namely images to meshes as a ‘great companion to ReCap’:

Here’s how arnebjelland describes the workflow from Google Maps to Revit (via Photoshop, Memento and Revit), In short:

  • open google maps in full screen and find your building site
  • rotate the view around your site meanwhile you press «print screen» as often as you wish
  • with dropbox installed, the «print screens» should be perfectly downloaded automatically
  • you should crop your photos to get rid of unwanted text/labels. You can do this by making an «action» in Photoshop and then choose «File» – «Scripts» – «Image Processor» to crop every photos in a folder
  • then you make a mesh in Memento with your cropped photos and export it in RCP
  • import it into Revit and enjoy

Screencast (Brian Nickel):

Images (Brian Nickel):

Steps from arnebjelland at:
Combining Google Maps, photogrammetry and pointcloud into Revit | Digital story of an architect

Heads-up from Brian Nickel at:
The Revit Saver: Combining Google Maps, Photogrammetry and Pointcloud Data into Revit 2016

A little Memento and some Recap Photo

Luke Johnson

For some time, I have been looking for a way to get 3D geometry from any format, make it into a nice, Revit-friendly SAT and then use it in massing or visualizations.  Can Memento help me with this?  Answer – not really.

What it can do:

  • Import and Export formats: OBJ and RCM (Recap)
  • allows users to easily (?) fix meshes for digital use or fabrication
  • fix topology or texture issues (holes, spikes, tunnels, particles, etc.) prior to downstream use

First, download and install it:
Direct Download Link

Read more at:
Autodesk Labs Project Memento

Ok, now that you have installed it… I previously explored point cloud geometry workflows at:
https://wrw.is/2013/06/using-point-cloud-tools-to-convert-any.html

Upon opening an OBJ file, Memento will create an associated RCM (Recap mesh) in the same folder.  Here’s what I did (this is a failed workflow):

  1. Downloaded an SKP of something interesting
  2. Imported to 3dsMax, cleaned it up a bit, exported to OBJ using Deep Creator preset
  3. Imported OBJ to MeshMixer, exported to XYZ as per this guide
  4. Imported the XYZ to Recap, and used decimation at 50mm (note, there is a Recap update at http://updatesdl.autodesk.com/updates/files/autodeskrecap_sp1_for43.24_x64.msp)

I realised at this point that you can’t make an RCM file from Recap… What a pain!  So, looks like we need to make one using Recap Photo.  To use Recap Photo, upload some images to Autodesk 360.

This time, I sort of succeeded by:

  1. Importing an interesting model into Revit
  2. Making a Walkthrough that circled the object, and exported to a set of JPGs
  3. Uploaded them to Autodesk 360
  4. Selected them and clicked on the little Create 3D button (only 250 images will be accepted for processing)
  5. Waited overnight for the model to process…
  6. Opened Autodesk 360 and downloaded the file .obj.zip
  7. Now, use Memento to open and edit the OBJ – and try to fix the holes in it.

My first experience with Memento wasn’t great … I was expecting a Fix All button 🙁

  1. Opened the OBJ in Memento
  2. Click find defects (middle of top of the screen)
  3. After they are found, click next or previous, then click Fix
  4. Rinse and repeat thousands of times

Note: Memento will not run on Windows XP.


Heads-up via