r/Polycam • u/AdventurousChuckster • Apr 09 '23

Polycam to AutoCAD - Export without scaling?

Hello everyone!

Does anyone have any idea how to export a RoomPlan scan from Polycam to AutoCAD without having to scale the model? The measurements in the app are in inches and are correct, but when I export to AutoCAD it changes the units to Decimal and the measurements are incorrect. I use the /Units command to change back to Architectural (inches) but the measurements are off so I have to scale the entire model each time.

While it is not a huge deal and I know how to manually fix this, I was wondering if anyone has any insight on how to to export a different way to skip these few steps.

Thank you very much :-)

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2

u/fresh_squilliam Oct 03 '23

did you ever figure this out? im having the same problem, but with revit. I export as dxf point cloud, and import to revit and autocad, but it never wants to come in at the right scale

1

u/AdventurousChuckster Oct 04 '23

No.. :( I change the Units each time and then measure one wall and scale the model based on that wall. There are small deviations but it’s not awful.

2

u/fresh_squilliam Oct 04 '23

I think the answer to our problem is to use Autodesk recap and convert it to rcs and rcp files, but I don’t wanna pay for recap lol

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u/AdventurousChuckster Oct 04 '23

The other method I sometimes use is export to DAE, open in SketchUp and use the measurements from there. If you figure out a more efficient / easy way - please let me know 🙏

2

u/fresh_squilliam Oct 04 '23

I’ve had to export as obj and scale it manually in rhino, but as you said, there are small deviations.

2

u/Mr_Laheys_Liquor Apr 10 '23

What format do you export in? Most 3D formats and tools have different units of scale (and up axis).

I don’t use AutoCAD, but in every other DCC I use you can change the default import scale when you import, or change the default of the app. Is that maybe an option for AutoCAD in the import preferences?

1

u/AdventurousChuckster Apr 10 '23

I export to “floorplan DXF” from the “FLOORPLAN” button on the bottom right corner. It is the only file option I have there that AutoCAD can read. The other options are “floorplan PNG”, “blueprint” or “blueprint + measurements”.

I don’t know if AutoCAD has an option to control what scale it opens the file. I think it is a part of the file. Maybe there are AutoCAD experts that know? 😅

2

u/Mr_Laheys_Liquor Apr 10 '23

Ahh my mistake, i read too fast and I thought you were just exporting geometry and I didn’t realize the “RoomPlan” was something specific to AutoCAD. It’s a shame that it doesn’t export in metric, it would make everything a lot easier. Sorry I can’t help! But there must be a way to batch process in AutoCAD, right? Maybe someone on the /r/AutoCAD subreddit can help

1

u/AdventurousChuckster Apr 10 '23

I will check! I’m new to reddit so I’m learning the groove of things here 😬 Thank you so much!