Construction News

Sat March 30 2024

Related Information

Bentley buys French developer of 3D photo models

11 Feb 15 Bentley Systems has acquired a French provider of software that generates 3D models from photographs taken by anything from a smartphone to a drone.

The system has been used to model cities including Stockholm
The system has been used to model cities including Stockholm

Acute3D’s Smart3DCapture is used for what the developers call ‘reality modelling’. High-resolution, 3D representations are generated from digital photographs taken with any camera, whether highly specialised or embedded in a smartphone.

The idea of reality modelling is to process the existing conditions to represent them within design modelling and construction modelling environments. Rapid technology advancements in scanning and photography – and especially using unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs)– are making the capture of such observations affordable, according to Bentley.

Acute3D software can be used at any scale from a site to a city, said Bentley, with precision limited only by the quantity and quality of photography. The approach is designed to ensure that the existing conditions are considered throughout the design, construction and subsequent operation of any infrastructure asset.

According to the company, photo sequences from UAVs are likely to become the most feasible source for surveying, construction monitoring and inspection workflows. It said that  Acute3D’s accuracy and scalability are making it a preferred technology for this use.

Related Information

Bentley Systems founder and CTO Keith Bentley said, “The world-class Acute3D developers have already achieved two breakthroughs, which remove the barriers to the adoption of reality modelling. First, Acute3D has made it possible for anyone to sufficiently capture existing conditions with just a camera. Of equal importance is the value of the Acute3D result. Rather than a voluminous cloud of discrete points, Acute3D produces a 3D ‘reality mesh’ – intrinsically in the same geometric idiom as engineering models, readily aligning the real-world context.”

Acute3D was co-founded in 2011 by Dr Jean-Philippe Pons and Dr Renaud Keriven, who have attracted and led ateam of researchers and developers, headquartered in Sophia Antipolis - the French ‘Silicon Valley’. Since its founding, Acute3D has attracted a rapidly expanding user base that includes Nokia, Pasco and Saint-Gobain, and OEM licensees that include Airbus Group and Autodesk. In China, internet giant Tencent is working with Acute3D to do 3D city modelling for several mega-cities, from both aerial and street view photography. Other applications of Acute3D have included existing conditions capture for construction sites, manufacturing facilities, mining operations, pipelines, and oil and gas exploration.

Pons said: “When Renaud and I founded Acute3D, our vision was to make widely available, at industrial precision, what we now describe as reality modelling. With our team, we are very pleased to be joining Bentley to complete our reach. Together, we have already shared and embarked upon many new initiatives to incorporate reality modelling within design and construction modelling.”

Got a story? Email news@theconstructionindex.co.uk

MPU
MPU

Click here to view latest construction news »