ClearEdge3D announced the release of Edgewise Plant, a new software tool that automates the extraction of complex CAD geometry from 3D point cloud data, dramatically reducing time to create accurate as-built 3D plant models. ClearEdge3D will debut Edgewise Plant at the SPAR International Conference in Houston, March 21-24, 2011.

EdgeWise Plant uses smart algorithms to identify essential surfaces in a point cloud, discarding irrelevant data and extracting solid, accurate feature-geometry. It eliminates the need to manually trace pipes, walls, joins, and other features, and can automatically process and extract hundreds of pipes (including centerlines), walls, structures, and other complex plant geometry in minutes. The extracted geometry can be exported via DXF into any CAD package for final modeling. Edgewise Plant works seamlessly with multiple scans, which improves the model accuracy as long as the scans are properly registered to each other. It also has very quick and easy follow-on editing tools for connecting pipe runs and full COE compatibility for Leica Cyclone users. A 2-minute video demonstration can be viewed at www.youtube.com/watch?v=paWfpeBXoK0.

Initial beta testers report that they have cut pipe modeling times by fifty-to-ninety percent using Edgewise Plant. One user, Scott Cedarleaf, CEO of scanning service provider SkyBucket, reports:

"EdgeWise Plant is an incredible breakthrough for the plant modeling industry. The pipe extraction tool is remarkable. The cleanup and finishing tools are equally impressive. What would normally take me two hours or more with other software now takes 40 minutes or less."

"Pipe modeling is a tedious business, and I’m very pleased to introduce a solution that will free designers and engineers for more productive tasks," said ClearEdge 3D’s Chief Scientist, Kevin Williams. "We’ve been at this particular set of algorithms for five years and discovered a breakthrough this summer. It all starts with identifying the pipe centerline from millions of points-a particularly challenging math problem. With centerline data almost the entire facility can be identified and automatically extracted."

EdgeWise Plant is available immediately. Pricing is available upon request. A free trial version is available at www.clearedge3d.com.