Point clouds made easy
Anyone who has ever worked with point cloud data knows the struggle. The bigger dataset, the more problematic is navigation and its modification. Today I want to share my ways how to make it easier. It’s all possible when you select only part of the point cloud. Fortunately, in Pointscene you’ll find a toolbox designed specifically for this purpose.
To better illustrate my point, let’s look at some real life examples. In the first case, we have 3D point cloud of Faringdon Folly Tower in Oxfordshire. The tower is surrounded by dense forest. Supposing we are interested in details of the building. So we try to navigate closer and zoom in. The result isn’t satisfactory. No matter what we do, at certain angles trees are blocking the view. Luckily, there is a solution. We create section box around the tower and hide surrounding points from view. Now the building is perfectly visible from all sides.
Let’s look at another example. This time we want to examine the shape of 12th-century Russian Sobor. To achieve this, we construct thin section box, slicing the object in horizontal (or vertical) plane. And again, hide unnecessary points. The contours of the building are clearly visible now. What is more, we can measure dimensions more precisely. The results can be exported.
It’s time now for some more instructions on how to create section using Pointscene tools. Section toolbox is located in the upper left corner of the window.
To place section box, choose Place Section (1.) tool. Create the first point by clicking in chosen place with left mouse button. Add next points in the same way. When you’re done, finish drawing with right mouse button. Section box is created. Modify its location and extent by dragging the walls. Change orientation of the box by dragging the handles on top of the box. Useful Tip: Toggle clip mode (2.) will highlight your selection. That way you can check if everything you wanted to select is inside the section box. If you approve your selection, click Toggle Clip mode and choose Clip outside, to hide all the points outside of the box. If the owner allows it, you can download selected points (3.) to chosen format (LAS/CSV/XYZ). When you’re done, clear selection (4.) with the last tool.
Be sure to try out sections while working with point clouds. I’m sure you’ll find them useful. In case you have any questions, don’t hesitate to ask!
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Want to know how to include point clouds in your projects? Visit www.pointscene.com to explore many examples in gallery or start free trial and upload your own data within minutes.
