E57 point cloud of a building

What is an E57 point cloud from a Matterport scan?

A point cloud is the set of laser measurements taken during the scan: at each position, the Matterport Pro3 camera sweeps the space and records hundreds of thousands of points, each with its position in space and its colour. Matterport’s software then assembles the positions into a single model, in a single coordinate system. The E57 file is the export of that cloud in the open ASTM E2807 format, with the panoramas and the metadata of the scan.

What sets a Matterport E57 apart from a raw cloud is that it arrives already registered: no targets to place on site, no station alignment back at the office. According to Matterport, it weighs about 120 MB per Pro3 camera position and is produced 15 minutes to 1 day after ordering.

E57 or MatterPak: which one to choose?

Both come from the same scan. The E57 file is the dense, registered deliverable meant for point cloud and modelling software: the one an architect or an engineer asks for when they want to draw the existing conditions in Revit or AutoCAD. The MatterPak, at $79, bundles a colourized XYZ cloud, a textured OBJ mesh and high-resolution ceiling and floor plans: an economical option for visualizing the building or preparing a base plan. When in doubt, the 30-minute call is there to choose based on your software.

From the 3D scan to ReCap, Revit and AutoCAD

According to Matterport, the file opens directly in ReCap, Revit, AutoCAD and Civil 3D, and Trimble and Cintoo read it too. The usual workflow: import the E57 into ReCap, convert it to the project format, then model walls, slabs, columns and openings over the points. For teams that would rather receive a model than draw it, the same scan serves as the basis for the Revit LOD 200 model and the DWG drawings.

A 100% Pro3 capture, and why

According to Matterport, any position captured with a phone or a 360 camera in a model, even after a merge, prevents the production of the E57 file, the BIM and the CAD drawings. Our surveys are therefore captured entirely with the Pro3, at standard, medium or high density: high density serves piping and fine wiring, but lengthens the scan. The Pro3 reaches up to 100 m for E57 files, according to Matterport: enough to cover naves, warehouses and mechanical rooms with high ceilings.

Building point cloud in Montreal and across Quebec

The point cloud shown above comes from the Casino de Charlevoix, in La Malbaie, scanned for Loto-Québec. We have also scanned rest areas for the Quebec Ministry of Transport, Hydro-Québec’s Beauharnois dam, the Quebec Ministry of Transport’s fleet management centre in Laval and the City of Gatineau’s drinking water production plant. Based in Boucherville, we scan in Montreal and across Quebec; beyond about 100 km from Montreal, a travel fee of $0.73/km applies, shared between the sites of a single trip.

• Matterport Service Partner, equipped with the Pro3 camera.
• More than 1,000 tours published on Google Maps since 2015.
• A single point of contact, Marc Durand Bréard, from the quote to the delivery of the files.
• Service in French, with scans possible in the evening and on Saturday mornings.

The limits, stated plainly

The Pro3’s accuracy of ±20 mm at 10 m, according to Matterport, is enough for an as-built survey, a renovation or site coordination; it is not enough for fabrication tolerances, a land survey or sealed drawings, which require a terrestrial laser scanner or a land surveyor. The blurring applied in the tour is not kept in the file: put confidential documents away before the scan. For the full set of deliverables, see 3D building scanning and our architecture and construction and industrial sectors. See our prices or write to us for a 30-minute call.