EdgeWise speeds up your own modelers, especially on walls and piping. Moving Atoms removes the modeling step: you get every object separated, in Revit and IFC, within 48 hours. Choose EdgeWise for steady in-house volume with trained operators; choose Moving Atoms for a finished model without the staffing.
What EdgeWise does
EdgeWise BIM Suite launched in 2013 to extract pipes, conduit, round ducts, walls and windows from laser scan data, and it can export them as Revit family objects. Walls can be exported plumb and square, best-fit to the cloud, or in their as-built condition. Later releases such as EdgeWise 5.0 reworked the automated pipe extraction.
It is still an operator tool. An independent hands-on review found that the version tested needed gridded, per-scan data rather than a unified cloud, produced a fair number of false positives on default settings, and needed quite a few pipes extracted manually. Results depend on the operator and the data.
How Moving Atoms works
Moving Atoms is a Scan to BIM service, not a modeling tool you operate. You upload your scan from any scanner (E57, LAS/LAZ, PLY, RCP/RCS, PTS/PTX, FLS, LGSx, meshes or a zipped project, up to 200 GB per file, resumable in the browser), choose the level of development you need, and within 48 hours every object comes back separated, measured and editable, in Revit, IFC, STEP, USD or GLB. For sites that cannot send data out, the conversion can run on-site so the scan never leaves the building. You can open finished examples, including Revit downloads, in our LiDAR samples.
Side by side
| ClearEdge3D EdgeWise | Moving Atoms | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | Software for your modelers | A service that delivers the model |
| Strengths | Walls, pipes, conduit and ducts extracted to Revit families | Every object separated: equipment, structure, MEP, furniture |
| Who validates | Your operator | Our team; you review the delivered model |
| Output | Revit families via plug-in | Revit, IFC, STEP, USD, GLB |
| Scan input | Point clouds (the reviewed version needed gridded scans) | Any scanner format, unified or per-scan |
| Turnaround | Depends on operator and project | Within 48 hours |
When EdgeWise is the better choice
- You run a scanning and modeling practice with trained operators and steady volume.
- Your projects are mostly piping and walls, and you want to control every extracted element.
When Moving Atoms is the better choice
- You want the finished model, not a faster way to make it.
- You need more than walls and pipes: equipment, racking, furniture and fixtures as separate objects.
- You need open formats (IFC, USD, GLB) alongside Revit, or a model for robot simulation.
Send us a scan and get separated, editable Revit and IFC objects back within 48 hours.
Frequently asked questions
Is EdgeWise fully automatic?
No. EdgeWise automates extraction of walls, pipes and similar features, but an operator reviews and corrects the results. Independent reviewers noted false positives and manual extraction on complex data.
What does Moving Atoms deliver that EdgeWise does not?
A finished model delivered as a service: every object separated (not only walls and pipes), in Revit, IFC, STEP, USD and GLB, within 48 hours, without software to operate.