Point clouds provide a new reference data type available through Smart 3D. Interference checking (IFC) supports the creation of interference checks between Smart 3D data and point cloud data.
IFC processes the contents of a model database by querying the objects based on their LastModified timestamp. When IFC starts processing, it queries objects using two time windows, one towards the future and one towards the beginning of time; that is, the time stamp of the first object in the model.
This process uses a query window whose time request varies from a couple of minutes to an hour. The search towards the future has a lag of a few minutes, such that areas with current edits happening are not looked at until some time has passed and the edits have settled.
Point Cloud data is considered reference data, similar to PDS and MicroStation reference files. For PDS and MicroStation reference files, IFC queries for changes every so often, asking if anything has changed since the last time the reference file was queried for changes. However, point cloud processing is different. With point cloud interference checking enabled, as each object from a time window is processed, it is also processed against the point cloud data to ensure that new objects are properly placed.