Working with Point cloud

Commands

POINTCLOUD command, POINTCLOUDALIGN command, POINTCLOUDATTACH command, -POINTCLOUDATTACH command, POINTCLOUDCOLORMAP command, POINTCLOUDCROP command, POINTCLOUDCROPSOLID command, POINTCLOUDDELETEITEM command, POINTCLOUDDETECTFLOORS command, POINTCLOUDEXPORT command, POINTCLOUDFITPLANAR command, POINTCLOUDIMPORT command, POINTCLOUDPOINTSIZE_MINUS command, POINTCLOUDPOINTSIZE_MINUS command, POINTCLOUDPOINTSIZE_PLUS command, POINTCLOUDPREPROCESS command, -POINTCLOUDPREPROCESS command, POINTCLOUDPROJECTSECTION command, POINTCLOUDREFERENCE command, POINTCLOUDSHOWBUBBLES command, POINTCLOUDUNCROP command, POINTCLOUDPOINTMAX system variable

Point cloud functionality is significantly faster and more powerful in BricsCAD v21 and is even more powerful with a BIM license.

Pre-processing

The E57 file format is added to the supported files for pre-processing.

When you attach a point cloud that requires pre-processing, it converts 5 to 8 times faster in BricsCAD v21 than in v20.

The log file can be found in C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Bricsys\BricsCAD\V21x64\en_US\PointCloudCache\{Folder_for_processed_pointcloud}, only if this path is set in POINTCLOUDCACHEFOLDER system variable. Inside this folder, the current state of processing can be observed.

Alignment

The new POINTCLOUDALIGN command automatically rotates a point cloud to optimally align it with the X and Y axis. To determine the best alignment, it can analyze the entire point cloud, or you can specify the most relevant area.

Bubble Viewer

The point cloud displays bubbles at all the scan locations. It’s at those locations where you will experience the most realistic visual representations.
Double-click one of the bubbles in model space to open the Bubble viewer. You can press the middle mouse button and move the mouse to view the point cloud in any direction from that scan location. You can also zoom in and out using the mouse wheel.

Press the Tab key to cycle between three different visual modes.

The first mode displays the points as their actual colors or in greyscale, depending how the data was scanned.

The second mode displays the points as red, green, or blue according to their normal vectors. The colors correspond to the UCS axes.
The third mode displays the points from light to dark as the distance from the scan location increases.
You can easily sync the drawing view to match the Bubble viewer by pressing Ctrl A.

Entity snaps

The new Point Cloud Nearest Point entity snap significantly improves your ability to select relevant point cloud points. It uses an imaginary cylinder from the current viewpoint toward the cursor.
The radius of the imaginary cylinder is defined by the Entity snap aperture box setting.

Enable the new Point Cloud Nearest Point entity snap along with other 3D entity snaps in the Entity Snap menus, toolbar, and settings.

Note: Make sure that only the bit 128 of 3DSMODE is set.

Export

The new POINTCLOUDEXPORT command allows you to export a cropped selection of a point cloud to a .pts file.

Floor Detection

SectionPlanes work on point clouds as well, they can be used to show parts of point clouds. The difference between point cloud crops and SectionPlanes is that point cloud crop only clips the point cloud while section planes will clip all geometry in your drawing.

The new POINTCLOLUDDETECTFLOORS command generates volume sections for each floor found in a point cloud representing a building. The detection is based on regions of points with similar Z-coordinates. The generated volume sections can help in navigating point clouds of buildings.

Point cloud projection

The new POINTCLOUDPROJECTSECTION command enables you to detect walls from the volume section of a point cloud based on a variety of wall detection options. You can create volume sections automatically for each floor in a building. You can use these sections to generate 2d lines to create a 2d floorplan or a vertical section. This is a background process and multiple sections can be processed in a queue. This way it is possible to run this command in full resolution on all sections.
At the same time, a raster image will be generated. In some cases, it is not necessary to recreate the existing building. Background images can give so much more context to the design documents. These can be used to verify the created 2d geometry but in high quality scans these images can also be used as graphical material. For example, as a background image for a BIM model in renovation projects where modern intervention are made in historical buildings.

Planar Fit

The new POINTCLOUDFITPLANAR command enables you to create 3d geometry based on the point cloud. It will create a planar surface or solid after a selection of one point in a point cloud. The points that seem to be in a plane are never exactly in one plane, therefore a threshold value is set as a property of the point cloud entity. This also works in bubble view.

In bubble view

If the bubble viewer is open before launching the command, BricsCAD expects you to select in the bubble viewer. The cursor will give you a preview of the direction of the plane. When you click you get a preview in both bubble view and model view. You can toggle between 2 shape representations using the CTRL-key.

In model space

You can also use this command in the model space when the bubble viewer is not open. BricsCAD will ask you to select a point of the point cloud in model space. Depending on the size of the cropped point cloud, it takes more time, but it has 2 advantages by searching multiple scan positions:

  • It can create larger surfaces where only parts are visible in each scan position
  • It can detect wall and slab thickness since it can take the opposite surface into account.