Table of Contents

TABLE OF FIGURES ................................................................................................................................................. 3

DISCLAIMER ........................................................................................................................................................... 4

SUPPORTED FILE TYPES .......................................................................................................................................... 5

EDGEWISE STRUCTURE WORKFLOW ...................................................................................................................... 5

CONVERT ............................................................................................................................................................... 6
Split PTX ................................................................................................................................................................6
E57 to PTX .............................................................................................................................................................6

PROCESS SCANS ..................................................................................................................................................... 6

CREATING A STRUCTURE MODEL ........................................................................................................................... 6

OPEN AN EXISTING MODEL ..............................................................................................................................................6
ADDING A BLANK STRUCTURE MODEL ................................................................................................................................7
DELETING A MODEL ........................................................................................................................................................8

USING STANDARDS ................................................................................................................................................ 8

EXTRACT BEAMS .................................................................................................................................................... 9

SELECT BEAMS.............................................................................................................................................................10
EDIT BEAMS ................................................................................................................................................................11
SNAP BEAMS ...............................................................................................................................................................11
COPY SIZE ...................................................................................................................................................................11
EXTEND ......................................................................................................................................................................12
THE ALIGN TOOL ..........................................................................................................................................................13
DELETE BEAMS ............................................................................................................................................................13
ANALYZE BEAMS ..........................................................................................................................................................13

EXPORT STANDARD ............................................................................................................................................. 13

SMARTSHEET AND 2D VIEWPORT ........................................................................................................................ 13

SMARTSHEET ..............................................................................................................................................................14
Edit and Multi-Edit ..............................................................................................................................................14
Resize ..................................................................................................................................................................14
2D VIEWPORT.............................................................................................................................................................14
Navigate ..............................................................................................................................................................14
Move Cross-Section .............................................................................................................................................14
Rotate Cross-Section ...........................................................................................................................................15
Resize Cross-Section ............................................................................................................................................15

AUTOMATICALLY EXTRACTING REPEATED STRUCTURAL PATTERNS .................................................................... 15

AUTOMATICALLY SELECTING REPEATED STRUCTURAL PATTERNS........................................................................ 17

Q/A AND REFITTING STRUCTURAL ELEMENTS ..................................................................................................... 17

SAVING AND EXPORTING MODELS ...................................................................................................................... 18

SAVING ......................................................................................................................................................................18
EXPORTING .................................................................................................................................................................18

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 Smart Points ........................................................................................................................................................18
Remainder Cloud .................................................................................................................................................18
STEP Format ........................................................................................................................................................19
EXPORTING TO REVIT ....................................................................................................................................................19

HOT KEY REFERENCE ............................................................................................................................................ 19

Table of Figures
Figure 1: Open Blank Structure Model. ........................................................................................................ 7
Figure 2: Delete Model. ................................................................................................................................ 8
Figure 3: Extract beams within an active Structure Model. ......................................................................... 9
Figure 4: Select the standard, type, and size of beam prior to beam extraction. ........................................ 9
Figure 5: Extracting a beam using a close-fit (left) versus a loose-fit clipping polygon (right). .................. 10
Figure 6: Example of an actively selected I-Beam....................................................................................... 11
Figure 7: The three different Extend modes represented: Center (Left) Short (Middle) or Long (Right) .. 12
Figure 8: SmartSheet and 2D ViewPort. ..................................................................................................... 14
Figure 9: Use of the "Pattern Extract" tool to automate the extraction of repeated steel patterns. The
selected (green) elements in the left-hand figure were used as a seed to detect all of the yellow features
in the right-most image. ............................................................................................................................. 15
Figure 10: Perpendicular Mode. The two horizontal beams at the bottom are selected as the seed of the
pattern, then the Patterned Extract tool is activated. Next the two corresponding elements between the
first and second occurrences of the seed in the pattern array. ................................................................. 16
Figure 11: Explicit Direction Mode. The green beam is selected as the seed for which to search, and then
the Patterned Extract tool is activated. Next three elements are clicked in the order indicated, with the
last element explicitly indicating the direction of the search. This mode is particularly useful for patterns
of diagonal elements, as it allows a non-perpendicular search direction to be indicated with the third
click. ............................................................................................................................................................ 16
Figure 12: Saving and exporting Structure Models..................................................................................... 18

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Disclaimer
Trimble is disclosing to you, the user, this document (hereinafter “the Design”) describing the EdgeWise
software application and its use. Except as stated herein, none of the Design may be copied,
reproduced, distributed, republished, downloaded, displayed, posted, or transmitted in any form or by
any means including, but not limited to, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise,
without the prior written consent of Trimble. Any unauthorized use of the Design may violate copyright
laws, trademark laws, the laws of privacy and publicity, and communications regulations and statutes.
Trimble does not assume any liability arising out of the application or use of the Design; nor does
Trimble convey any license under its patents, copyrights, or any rights of others. You, the user, are
responsible for obtaining any rights you may require for your use or implementation of the Design.
Trimble reserves the right to make changes, at any time to the Design as deemed desirable in the sole
discretion of Trimble. Trimble assumes no obligation to correct any errors contained herein or to advise
you of any correction if such be made. Trimble will not assume any liability for the accuracy or
correctness of any engineering, technical support, or assistance provided to you in connection with the
Design.
Copyright © 2006-2019 ClearEdge3D, Inc. All rights reserved under the copyright laws of the United
States. The EdgeWise software, as well as the Design, constitute the proprietary, confidential
information of ClearEdge3D, Inc., and may not be disclosed or duplicated without the written
authorization of ClearEdge3D, Inc.

COMMERCIAL COMPUTER SOFTWARE: ALL USE GOVERNED BY THE TERMS OF PRODUCT END USER
LICENSE AGREEMENT.

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Supported File Types
• EdgeWise Scan (.c3s)
• FARO Laser Scan (.fls)
• Leica (.ptg)
• Trimble ( .tzf )
• Smart Point Cloud (.ptx)
• Z+F (.zfs) (.zfprj)
• .E57
• Simple Point Cloud (.pts or .xyz)
• Dot Product (.dp)
• Gexcel (.rgp)
• Recap (.RCP)

EdgeWise Structure Workflow

The recommended EdgeWise Structure workflow looks like this:

1. Create a new point cloud database using the “Process Scans” button.
2. Open the processed point cloud database file.
3. Open an existing structural model or add a blank Structure Model to the scene.
4. Use the I-Beam, Channel, Tee, etc. tools to manually extract beams.
5. Use the Pattern Extract tools to extract out groups or repeatable elements
6. Analyze the extracted beams for accuracy using the Q/A tools in the SmartSheet and 2D
ViewPort.
7. Save the structure models to .c3struct format.
8. Export to Leica COE or to Revit.

The following chapters detail all the tools required to do the set of steps listed above.

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Convert
The Convert menu contains tools that enable the conversion or splitting of scan data. At this time, these
tools are not required components of the EdgeWise workflow, and should only be used if their effects
are desirable (for example, if only a subset of the scans in the file need to be processed).

The tools available in the Convert menu are:

Split PTX
The Split PTX tool will split multi-scan PTX files in to individual .PTX files for each scan.

E57 to PTX
E57 to PTX, as the name implies, will convert and split an .e57 file to individual .PTX files for
each scan in the original .e57 file.

While the names Split PTX and E57 to PTX may imply it, they do not delete the original file, and instead
create a split copy of it. If the input file is 10gb, the split files will also be 10gb in total. Please ensure you
have enough free hard drive space to complete the conversion, as scan files tend to be quite large.

Reminder: Split PTX and E57 to PTX are not required to Automatically Extract data from .PTX and .e57
scans in Process Scans.

Process Scans
Before EdgeWise can display a point cloud, you must first convert your scans to a .c3DB point database
model. To process your scans, first click the “Process Scans” button located under the File tab. Upon
clicking the “Process Scans” button, you will be prompted to choose the scan(s) you wish to process.

You can only load one .c3DB file into EdgeWise at a time, so we recommend processing all scans from
your entire project at the same time to create one .c3DB file, particularly when creating a point
database model; however, this is not required. Once you have chosen the scan(s) you wish to process,
you will be asked to choose which kind of models you would like to extract from the scans: point
database, ground surface, pipes, and planes. Note: To create a Structure Model, only a point cloud
database file is required.

IMPORTANT: The new EdgeWise Structure module (version 4.5 and later) is incompatible with
previous .c3DB files. Older .c3DB files must first be rebuilt using this latest version of the software.

Creating a Structure Model

Open an Existing Model
Once you have processed your scan data, you are ready to add models the scene. To add a model to the
scene, simply click the “Open Model” button located under the File tab on the ribbon bar, and choose
the model you wish to open. Point databases(.c3DB), ground(.c3gm), pipe(.c3m), duct(.c3duct),

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building(.c3bldg), and structural(.c3struct) models. A Point Database (.c3DB) file is required in order
extract Structure within a Structure Model.
Note: If you are opening a Structure Model that was created by an older version of EdgeWise, you may
get a warning screen telling you that the file has objects which refer to a deprecated standard. For
example, the AISC.steel standard was deprecated in EdgeWise 4.5.7SP1; the new version of the standard
is AISC-V2.steel. EdgeWise will offer automatically to update objects whose size parameters have not
changed between the old standard and the new standard; if you click “Yes”, then the standard that
those objects refer to will be updated during the import process. If the new standard has sizes whose
parameters are different from the deprecated version, then objects that refer to those sizes will NOT be
updated. These objects can be located by opening the Structure SmartSheet and will need to be
changed by you manually, so that you can review the changes in shape that are being made while
updating to the new standard.

Adding a Blank Structure Model

To add a blank Structure Model to the scene, select the “Blank Model” button on the File tab (Figure 1),
and choose “New Structure Model” from the drop-down menu. This will open a brand new Structure
Model in the Model Selection Pane (located to the left of the viewing area). You will need to open an
existing point cloud database (.c3DB) file as well in order to start extracting beams within the new
Structure Model. Note: To begin extracting beams within the model, make sure that the model name is
selected and active within the Model Selection Pane.

Figure 1: Open Blank Structure Model.

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Deleting a Model
To remove a model from the scene, simply select the desired model from the Model Selection Pane and
click the “Delete Model” button located under the File tab on the ribbon bar (Figure 2). Alternatively,
you can right-click on the layer name in the Model Selection Pane and select “Remove Model.”

Figure 2: Delete Model.

Using Standards
All structural elements in EdgeWise are based on standards. You must choose the standard you wish to
use before extracting any element, and then EdgeWise will create structural elements that conform to
that standard. EdgeWise comes with several common standards, but you can create your own if you
need to. Simply export an existing standard to a .csv (spreadsheet) file and use this as a template to
create your own standard. Once you have filled in the dimensional information for your custom
standard, save the .csv file to the C:\Users\MyName\Documents\Trimble\Structure\Standards folder.
When creating your own custom standards:

• The first row must be a header row, and it must be identical to that exported as your template
• The first column must contain exactly (spelling) one of the following values: IBeam,
RoundTubing, Channel, AngleIron, Tube, Tee, Rectangular, or Round
• The appropriate columns for each shape must contain values; the others must be blank. Use
one of the ClearEdge-provided standards as a template for knowing which columns are
required.
• Your final file name must be in the following format: X.Y.csv, where:
o X is the name of your standard
o Y is the type of standard (choose from “steel”, “concrete”, or “wood”)
▪ Standard types are case sensitive.
• After saving your file to the C:\Users\MyName\Documents\Trimble\Structure\Standards folder,
restart EdgeWise. Your new standard should show up at the bottom of the Standards drop-
down.

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Extract Beams
To extract beams within a Structure Model, first make sure that the Structure Model is selected and is
active in the Model Selection Pane and that a point cloud database file associated with the model has
been loaded into the scene (Figure 3).

Figure 3: Extract beams within an active Structure Model.

Select the standard, type, and size (Autofit, etc.) of the beam to be extracted from the respective drop-
down menus located in the Structure area of the Model tab (Figure 4). The Autofit feature will
automatically select the closest standard size associated with the extracted beam.

Figure 4: Select the standard, type, and size of beam prior to beam extraction.

Next, press the “Extract” button located to the right of the above drop-down lists (Error! Reference
source not found.), and then click in the scene to outline the appropriate piece of steel to extract. Note
the following tips for better results:
• Extract sections that are free and clear of touching surfaces.
• When using “AutoFit”, draw the clipping polygon very close to the real edges; see Error!
Reference source not found. for an example of a close-fitting versus loose-fitting clipping
polygon.

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Figure 5 shows an example of an I-Beam extracted close to the real edges of the actual beam compared
to an I-Beam extracted with a loose-fitting clipping polygon. When using Autofit for initial sizing, it is
especially important to draw your polygon tightly to the actual surface edges.

Figure 5: Extracting a beam using a close-fit (left) versus a loose-fit clipping polygon (right).

Once you extract a beam that is sized correctly, you can select the “Set To Selected” button to set all
subsequent extractions to that specific standard, beam type, and size; this is especially helpful in scenes
in which numerous beams are of like material and size.

To exit extraction mode mid-process, simply press the ESC key or the spacebar.

IMPORTANT PRODUCTIVITY TIP: If you are modeling many instances of the same-
sized beam, extract the first beam using “AutoFit”, validate that it is modeled with the correct size, use
the “Set To Selected” button to constrain subsequent extractions to use the same size, and then extract
all of the rest of the beams using that one size. When the extraction algorithm is constrained to a single
size, you can use loose-fit polygons and still get excellent results, which can dramatically improve the
extraction time.

Select Beams
To select a beam, activate the “Navigate” tool, and single-click on any beam (Figure 6). To select
multiple beams at once, press the Ctrl+Left Mouse button and select multiple beams. You can also draw
a box around the items you wish to select by pressing Shift+Left Mouse and dragging a box selection.
Press the ESC key to deselect any beams that are currently selected.

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 Figure 6: Example of an actively selected I-Beam.

Edit Beams
Once a beam is selected, you can perform the following actions to manipulate and edit the beam:

• To enable fine tune adjusting—the small arrows—click the “side draggers” checkbox.
• Extrude (lengthen/shorten) an element by using the large red arrows.
• Translate an element by using the small arrows—requires side draggers on—at the center of the
beam.
• Use the small red arrows—requires side draggers on—to perform rotational adjustments at
either end of the beam.
• Free-move an end of a beam by clicking and dragging the blue sphere at either end.
• To copy/paste, select a beam and press Ctrl+C/Ctrl+V.
• Press the “Rotate Left” or “Rotate Right” buttons (Error! Reference source not found.) to rotate
a beam 90-degrees left or 90-degrees right, respectively.
• Press the “Rotate to Flat” button to rotate all selected linear elements, except for elbows and
transitions, about their main axes so that their tops are as closely aligned as possible with the z-
axis. Note: If no elements are selected, all linear objects that are not connected to another
object will be rotated.
• Use the Mirror tool to rotate the element to a mirrored position from the original position
• Use the Thicker/Thinner tool to the set the steel beam cross section to the next
thickest/thinnest—according to web thickness.

Snap Beams
To snap a beam to be perfectly horizontal or vertical, select the beam, drop the “Snapping” options
down, and choose “Horizontal” or “Vertical”. To snap a beam to be parallel, perpendicular, or collinear
with another beam, select the beam you wish to alter, choose “Parallel”, “Perpendicular”, or “Collinear”
from the “Snapping” options, and then select a second beam to which you wish to align the first beam.

Copy Size
Often many of the connection tools will require that two elements have the same standard size in order
to function. The copy size tool allows you to quickly copy the standard size of another element. To use

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the copy size tool select a straight element. Click the copy size button. Then click another straight
element. The selected element—green—will be made the same standard size as the clicked element—
blue.

Extend
To extend one structural object to meet another, perform the following steps:

1. Select the beams you want to extend.

2. Click Extend (Hotkey: C)
3. Click the surface of another structure object to indicate how far you wish to extend the selected
beams. This surface will be referred to as the Target Surface.

The way Extend behaves when the selected beam meets the target surface can be adjusted via the
drop-down menu above Extend. These options generally only apply when the selected beam will meet
the surface at an angle.

The options are as follows:

• Intersect: Center: The selected structural objects will extend until their centerline intersects
the Target Surface. This is the default behavior.
• Intersect: Longest: The selected structural objects will be extended until the last possible
intersection point is met. This will result in more of the selected object intersecting the Target
Surface
• Intersect: Shortest: The selected structural objects will be extended until the first possible
intersection point is met. This will result in the selected object barely intersecting the Target
Surface.

Figure 7: The three different Extend modes represented: Center (Left) Short (Middle) or Long (Right)

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The Align Tool
Align functions similar to Extend, except that the height of the extended endpoint is also adjusted.

This tool contains two modes:

• Top of Steel: The top-most (highest Z coordinate) surface of the selected structural objects will be
considered the “Top” of steel. This is the default option.
• Bottom of Steel: The bottom-most (lowest Z-coordinate)

Despite the modes being named Top of Steel and Bottom of Steel, this tool is compatible with Concrete
and Wood structural objects as well.

To use the Align Tool:

1. Choose either Top of Steel or Bottom of Steel

2. Select the object(s) you want to Align.
3. Activate the Align tool
4. Select the surface you want to Extend the selected objects to
5. Select the surface you want to adjust the height of the selected objects to

Because “Top” and “Bottom” are ambiguous for vertical structural objects, nearly vertical objects cannot
be adjusted using the Align tool.

Delete Beams
To delete beams, select the beam(s) and then press the DELETE key.

Analyze Beams
To analyze the metadata, accuracy, and fit of beams, press the “SmartSheet” button on the Structure
toolbar (Error! Reference source not found.). This opens SmartSheet and the 2D Viewport.

Export Standard
To export the currently selected standard to a .csv file, press the “Export to Standard” button (Error!
Reference source not found.) in the Structure section of the Model tab, and then choose an output file
name. This will allow you to see the dimensions used by the standard for fitting beams.

SmartSheet and 2D ViewPort

To analyze the accuracy and fit of beams and/or to easily update the standards, sizes, and other
metadata associated with beams, press the “SmartSheet” button shown in Figure 7. The SmartSheet
and its corresponding 2D Viewport will pop up in the viewing window (Figure 8).

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IMPORTANT: The 2D ViewPort will only display one cross section at a time. If no beams are
selected, or if there are more than one beam selected, then the 2D ViewPort will be empty.

Figure 8: SmartSheet and 2D ViewPort.

SmartSheet
Each row in the SmartSheet corresponds with a beam in the scene. Clicking on a row in the SmartSheet
will display the beam’s cross-section in the 2D Viewport.

Edit and Multi-Edit

Various characteristics associated with a structural element can be directly changed via the SmartSheet.
Information associated with a beam’s layer, size, and role can be adjusted via pull-down menus.
Additionally, any comments associated with a beam can be noted within the SmartSheet. Groups of
elements can be edited by using the mutli-edit tool in the SmartSheet

Resize
You can resize a beam to another standard size via the SmartSheet by changing the value in the “size”
column of the SmartSheet associated with the currently selected beam.

2D ViewPort
The 2D ViewPort displays the cross-section of the beam currently selected in the SmartSheet.

Navigate
Navigate within the 2D ViewPort in the following ways:
• Pan: Mouse wheel-click and drag
• Zoom: Right-click and drag up or down, or use the scroll wheel.

Move Cross-Section
Move the cross-section to be in better alignment with the points by clicking on the white outline of the
cross-section and then dragging.

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Rotate Cross-Section
Rotate the cross-section 90-degrees by clicking on either of the Rotate buttons on the Structure toolbar
(Error! Reference source not found.). Rotate the cross-section by an arbitrary amount (i.e., free rotate)
by shift-clicking on the white outline of the cross-section and then dragging right and left.

Resize Cross-Section
A beam can be resized in the following ways using the tools located on the Structure toolbar:

1. Press the “Resize” button on the Structure toolbar (Error! Reference source not found.),
and then click to draw a rectangle in the 2D ViewPort around the green points
corresponding to the desired bounding box of the beam. The thickness of the structural
member will remain as close to the original as allowed by the standard being used.
2. Use the “Thicker” or “Thinner” buttons, located on the Structure toolbar, to automatically
increase or decrease the size of the cross-section by incremental amounts. Note: these
tools are constrained to only cycle through very similar sizes of steel, and so you may need
to use the SmartSheet to get a specific size.
3. Via SmartSheet: Change the value in the “size” column.

Automatically Extracting Repeated Structural Patterns

If a scene has repeated structural elements, you can use the “Patterned Extract” tool to very quickly
model these elements. To use this tool, first select one or more structural elements to use as a seed for
the pattern, as shown in Figure 9, then activate the "Patterned Extract" tool.

Figure 9: Use of the "Pattern Extract" tool to automate the extraction of repeated steel patterns. The selected (green)
elements in the left-hand figure were used as a seed to detect all of the yellow features in the right-most image.

Next, use one of the two following modes to send the algorithm searching in a specified direction for
more repeated elements: Perpendicular Mode or Explicit Direction Mode.

The first mode (Perpendicular Mode) works well for elements aligned such that they are perpendicular
to the direction of repetition. It requires to you click a single element in the seed that is perpendicular

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to the direction of repetition, and then double-click an identical, parallel element that specifies the next
corresponding element in the pattern. Figure 10 below illustrates this process.

Figure 10: Perpendicular Mode. The two horizontal beams at the bottom are selected as the seed of the pattern, then the
Patterned Extract tool is activated. Next the two corresponding elements between the first and second occurrences of the
seed in the pattern array.

The second mode – Explicit Direction Mode – does not require the selected elements to be
perpendicular to the search direction and can therefore be used for instances of repeated diagonal
elements like bracing. To use the tool in this mode, click a single element in the seed, single-click the
corresponding next element in the pattern, and then single-click a third element aligned in the direction
you wish to search. Figure 11 below illustrates this sequence.

Figure 11: Explicit Direction Mode. The green beam is selected as the seed for which to search, and then the Patterned
Extract tool is activated. Next three elements are clicked in the order indicated, with the last element explicitly indicating
the direction of the search. This mode is particularly useful for patterns of diagonal elements, as it allows a non-
perpendicular search direction to be indicated with the third click.

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After you have specified the search vector (search direction plus search distance), EdgeWise will
perform a series of passes corresponding to the repeated occurrences of the seed elements. In each
pass, it tries to extract an identical corresponding element, in both cross-section size and (approximate)
orientation from the point cloud in the vicinity of where the corresponding element would be if the
pattern were perfect. The process continues until either all of the extractions in a pass fail or 20 passes
have been performed. Note that the “Lock Orientation” checkbox can be unchecked if you want to
allow EdgeWise to also consider elements that are significantly rotated about the axis from the original
seed element.

After the operation is complete, the newly created elements will automatically be selected.

Automatically Selecting Repeated Structural Patterns

If a scene has repeated structural elements, you can use the “Patterned Select” tool to very quickly
select the entire pattern. The user interface for this tool is identical to that of the “Patterned Extract”
tool. The result of this tool however, is simply to select a pattern of already-existing elements. Instead
of attempting to do an extraction for each element in the pattern, EdgeWise searches for an existing
structural element that is roughly parallel and co-located to the pattern element. Note that there is no
requirement that the existing element be identical in cross-section or orientation (or even type) to the
seed element; the Patterned Select tool only compares centerline information at this time.

After the operation is complete, the seed elements and any “found” elements will automatically be
selected.

Q/A and Refitting Structural Elements

It is always recommended to go through the Q/A process before exporting out a structural model. In
the SmartSheet use the “Approve” button to go through and Q/A the extracted elements. When an
element has been approved it will change from “No” to “Yes” in the Approved column in the structure
spread sheet

If an element does not fit to the point cloud, use the resize tool to change the element size and the refit
tool to perform a re-extraction of an existing structural element. To use this tool, select a structural
element then click the “Refit” button. EdgeWise will then try to extract an identical (in both cross-
section size and orientation) element in the vicinity of the selected element. If the extraction succeeds,
the geometry of the selected element will be replaced with the newly extracted geometry; if it fails then
the selected element will not be modified. As with the Patterned Extract tool, the “Lock Orientation”
checkbox can be unchecked to relax the requirement for identical orientation when performing the
extraction. Note that this operation will never add an element to the model; the extraction is
performed merely to determine the new geometry of the existing element.

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Saving and Exporting Models
Structure Models built within EdgeWise can be saved and exported via the Export area on the File tab
(Error! Reference source not found.).

Figure 12: Saving and exporting Structure Models.

Saving
It is very important to note that ‘Save As’ does NOT save entire projects; rather it saves individual model
file and prompts the user to rename those files. When using Save As, each model in the scene must be
saved separately, or that work will be lost. To save a specific model:

1. Change the Active Model by selecting the model you wish to save in the Model Selection Pane
on the left side of the screen.

Click Save -> Save As under the File tab, and choosea file name. If you want to overwrite your
previous file, do not change the name. Save All will save all models loaded in to EdgeWise, but will
automatically overwrite existing files. If a saved version of the file does not exist (for example, if a
blank model was loaded), the user will be prompted to input a name and location.

Exporting
Structure Models can be exported to the Leica COE format, PDMS format, Smart Points, or STEP format.
To export a structure model, click the “Export” button (located in the Output section of the File tab as
shown in Error! Reference source not found.), select a format, and then choose an appropriate output
file name. Note: Only AISC steel is supported in the PDMS file export option.

Smart Points
The Smart Points export option finds and saves the points in the vicinity of a selected set of objects
to a “Smart Points” ReCap (.rcp) or PTS (.pts) file. If no individual model objects are currently
selected, the points associated with the entire model will be exported. The Inclusive Distance
setting allows for the export of all points within a specified radius of the selected object(s) or model.

Remainder Cloud
The inverse of Smart Points export, the Remainder Cloud export option will export all points outside
of a the Exclusive Distance from all loaded models (except for ground models) – essentially creating
a point cloud that only contains points that do not correspond to any object modeled EdgeWise.

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 STEP Format
It should be noted that there is a known issue with importing a STEP file into AutoCAD. If a STEP
model is imported into an AutoCAD document, and then another model is imported into the same
document, AutoCAD’s importer can become confused and creates bad geometry for the second
model. A workaround is to import into a new document, or to close the document (or AutoCAD) and
reopen it.

Exporting to Revit
In order to export the currently selected Structure Model into Revit, press the “Export to Revit” button
under the Output section of the File tab, and then choose an output file name. Then in Revit, use the
“Open Model” button under the “EdgeWise” tab to import the model. Your structural elements will
come in as beams, braces, or columns depending on the designations you set in the SmartSheet.

NOTE: The Revit importer disallows certain role to be in an incorrect attitude. For instance, a
horizontal angle iron cannot be imported as a column. Before exporting from EdgeWise, you should
check the validity of your steel by looking at the values in the “Revit Valid?” column of the SmartSheet.
Any incompatible configuration will list a “No” under the “Revit Valid?” column.

Hot Key Reference

• Navigate: Spacebar/ Esc
• Focus (reset center of rotation): F
• Refresh Point Cloud: Enter
• SmartSheet: Q
• Approve: Y
• Set To Selected: S
• Extract: X
• 2D Resize: R
• Extend: C
• Multi-select: Shift-Click
• Add-to-selected: Ctrl-Click

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