Bridging the gap: learning processes in analog, hybrid and digital formats

Laptop is required to participate in the workshop!

The current situation, namely the ongoing Corona crisis, has demonstrated that digitalization of teaching is not only an option, but the indispensable necessity of present reality. The pandemic has particularly affected those academic programs, where classroom teaching is unavoidable, for example, in practical courses with surveying equipment.
The project VRscan3D (established on Digital Technologies in Heritage Conservation) is designed to develop a virtual laser scanner simulator and related training concepts to support universities and user groups that have no or only very limited access to real terrestrial laser scanning equipment. The program allows to simulate all processes of the fieldwork phase of terrestrial laser scanning and generate results comparable with the data generated by real physical scanners on-site. These results can be processed further in common software packages, analogous to real surveying practice.
With the VRscan3D simulator it is possible to create realistic environmental scenarios that largely meet the requirements from practical projects. It is possible to move interactively with an avatar, define measuring stations and targets, select different scanner types with their respective specifications or use custom settings During simulation, an angular grid of rays is projected from the scanner centre and the intersection of each ray with the closest surface gives the discrete point coordinates that are enriched with noise and intensity values. The maximum range of surface search is limited to the scanner range specification. The result of the simulation is a structured 3D point cloud in different file formats for import in further processing software. For each scan station, a single point cloud is generated given in the local scanner coordinate system.
Moreover, integrated digital environment can simulate real world objects, i.e., buildings or sites. To create real world replica/digital twin within the simulator environment, the existing building should be recreated as 3D model and integrated.
VRscan3D is developed within Unreal Engine, hence user’s computers should satisfy its minimum requirements. Main simulator functions are programmed with Blueprint Visual Scripting system of Unreal Engine. That makes the system very flexible and allows modifications of software modules without recompiling the whole code. Some modules were programmed with C++ language due to Blueprint limitations and to improve the overall performance of the software. Virtual environment 3D models (in IFC format) are imported to Unreal engine using Datasmith plugin.
Currently a basic generic scanner and three commercial scanner models are implemented. VRscan3D is available as a free demo version providing a generic scanner model and a limited number of scanning stations. A full version with different scanner models and unlimited functionality will be available in due time (see http://vrscan3d.com).