Technical Information PointCloud

Technical Information about PointCloud

The following pages will give you a detailed overview of the possibilities while
using PointCloud. For further questions or comments please do not hesitate to
contact us or one of our local resellers.

kubit GmbH
Fiedlerstr. 36, 01307 Dresden, Germany
Fon +49 351 41767-0 Fax +49351 41767-29
Email info@kubit.de Web www.kubit-software.com

Q1 What is PointCloud?
Q2 What kind of AutoCAD versions does PointCloud support?
Q3 What types of 3D laser scanners are supported?
Q4 What image data can be used in PointCloud?
Q5 What is 3D drawing?
Q6 How are the point clouds saved?
Q7 How can the point clouds be organized?
Q8 Why is PointCloud this fast?
Q9 What are the advantages of the “SendToKubit” function?
Q10 What is the secret of the PointCloud Free Edition?
Q11 How can I try out PointCloud?
Q12 What kind of functionality is supported PointCloud and the Pro version?

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Technical Information PointCloud

Q1 What is PointCloud?

PointCloud is an AutoCAD
application for visualizing and
working with 3D point clouds.
The documentation of
historical buildings and
monuments, industrial plants
and others can be done with
the expected level of detail.
Even other documents (e.g.
images, floor plans or other
CAD elements) can be combined with the point cloud to be processed.
Millions of points captured with a 3D laser scanner can be used efficiently
where all modelling tools are sufficiently present – in AutoCAD. Using the
AutoCAD functionality “Object Snap”, the user has access to every single
point and its 3D coordinates. Therefore all AutoCAD commands – and also
the functionality of third-party applications – know about the exact geometry
of the scanned object.

Q2 What kind of AutoCAD versions does PointCloud support?

AutoCAD 2007 to 2011 and all vertical AutoCAD applications such as

Architectural Desktop, AutoCAD Map, Civil 3D, Plant 3D etc are supported.
PointCloud is supporting both the 32 bit and the 64 bit flavours of AutoCAD.

Q3 What types of 3D laser scanners are supported?

Since all common scanner types provide an export to ASCII format for their
point cloud data PointCloud can be used with all scanners. PointCloud
converts the ASCII file into a binary kubit point cloud format (*.ptc) or a native
AutoCAD point cloud file (*.pcg).
Some scanners and software packages do even provide export to PTC files.
Currently optimized interfaces are provided for the following scanner systems:
• FaroScene (FARO)

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• Ilris3D-Parser (Optech)
• LaserControl (Zoller&Frölich and Leica HDS4500/6000)
• Polyworks (Inovmetric)
• JRC 3D Reconstructor (Gexcel/Topotek)
• RealWorlsSurvey (Trimble)
• RiScanPro (Riegl LMS)
• Scan Master (Topcon)
• Pointools (pointools)
• LupoScan (Lupos3D)
• Scan Manager (3D Scanline)
• etc

Furthermore, PointCloud supports the direct import of RiSCAN PRO projects

and Leica HDS PTZ files, which are automatically converted into the
PointCloud binary data format (*.ptc) or a native AutoCAD point cloud file
(*.pcg). The PTZ files can be created with the following software products:
• Cyclone Register
• Cyclone Viewer Pro

Q4 What image data can be used in PointCloud?

PointCloud provides functionality to post-process 3D information of point

clouds together with the high resolution information of images. For this
purpose PointCloud offers special import functionalities. Orthophotos that
have been created using RealWorks Survey (Trimble), JRC 3D Reconstructor
(Gexcel/Topotek) or RiSCAN PRO (Riegl LMS) can be imported directly at the
correct position in the drawing. Additionally, in the PointCloud Pro version,
oriented images created in RiSCAN PRO (Riegl LMS, undistorted images) or
Reconstructor (JRC/Topotek, ORI image files) can be imported directly into
AutoCAD.
PointCloud Pro is also providing a feature for image orientation. The process
of image orientation simultaneously determines interior and exterior camera

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Technical Information PointCloud

parameters from 3D (measured control points) to 2D (image) point

correspondences.
The resulting oriented images can be used for 3D drawing:
1. 3D drawing using oriented images and surfaces
2. 3D drawing using multiple oriented images

Q5 What is 3D drawing?

3D drawing using oriented images and surfaces:

The user clicks a point on an oriented

image. The intersections of the projection
ray of the clicked point with the selected
surfaces (point clouds, planes, cylinders)
are calculated. The resulting 3D point on
the first intersected surface is returned to
the predefined AutoCAD commands.

3D drawing using multiple oriented images

The user is clicking 2 corresponding points on different oriented images. The

intersection point is calculated and returned to the currently running
command.

Q6 How are the point clouds saved?

Every (ASCII)-import leads to a PTC file for the corresponding point cloud.
Compared to the ASCII format, the PTC file is handling the point cloud in a
very compact manner. In addition, such a PTC file can be loaded faster then
a simple ASCII file because the points are already arranged in a way, that the
necessary points are displayed immediately.
The points are automatically sorted in the 3D space. To allow this, a special
functionality called Octree is applied (recursive division of a 3D space in 8
parts with the same size).
The PTC file is referenced in the AutoCAD drawing like it is done with images.
Accordingly, the size of the drawing is NOT increased.

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PointCloud also supports the native AutoCAD point cloud file (*.pcg). All
imported scan formats can optionally be saved in PCG or PTC format. The
PCG format was implemented by Autodesk starting AutoCAD 2011. This
format allows to work with much larger point clouds and provides a better
display performance.

Q7 How can the point clouds be organized?

Different parts of a point cloud (e.g. a single tube) can be coloured,

displayed or hidden. A manager for visible sectors allows a convenient
organisation of the point cloud for someone’s own perceptions.
This, for instance, can be very useful when modelling special parts of the
scanned object inside AutoCAD while all other information (i.e. points) is not
of interest. The visible parts can be defined as a box, slice or even as free
polygons.
Additionally the point cloud also can be reduced to its visible section. So, the
parts of the point cloud which are improper or not of interest would be
omitted and enable more memory. A new point cloud (ptc or pcg file) is
generated.

Illustration 1 Definition of a visible sector (in this case as a vertical slice); Hiding all other
points; Vectorisation of a contour line.

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Q8 Why is PointCloud this fast?

The most important reason for the high performance is very simple. Only those
points which are actually visible are displayed. This very easy and effective
principle needs some sophisticated computing behind it since the software
itself has to determine which points have to be displayed. There is a maximum
number of 0.7 million points (1024x768) even if the point cloud has 30 million
points.
Due to this, PointCloud is always showing the points with the correct draw
order. Points which are situated in the background (behind other points) are
not displayed. This makes it easier for the operator to understand and to work
with the cloud.
Point cloud display operator

Illustration 2 Only the points in the front (dark points) are visible for the operator and are
drawn from PointCloud. While zooming, panning or applying the 3D orbit, the visible set of
points is changing.

Compared to usual AutoCAD points, the points within PointCloud are very
‘light-weighted’. AutoCAD points are holding additional information like layer
name, point style etc. Data in PointCloud does not have all of this information
in order to save storage space and to increase performance. Even though
the point cloud is a single AutoCAD element (custom entity), the user has
access to every single point of the point cloud. The object snap ‘point’ is
supported and so a common processing of the data (drawing polylines,
dimensioning etc.) can be done.
While applying the 3D orbit, the point cloud is thinned out for fast rotating and
navigating.

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Q9 What are the advantages of the “SendToKubit” function?

The current version of PointCloud contains a library (SendToKubit) which

allows external programs to send coordinates to AutoCAD/PointCloud for any
command, which then expects a coordinate as input (polyline, spline, but
also copy, rotate etc). A typical application is the digitizing of point clouds
directly in the viewer software that is provided by many scanner
manufacturers.

For digitizing, the better display of a point cloud is in an application especially developed for
point clouds (left). At the same time, ‘SendToKubit’ allows the usage of all AutoCAD
commands for processing (right).

“SendToKubit” is currently provided for the following software systems:

• FaroScene (FARO)
• JRC Reconstructor (Gexcel/Topotek)
• RiSCAN Pro (Riegl LMS)

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• LupoScan (Lupos3D)
• PlanarView (kubit)

Q10 What is the secret of the PointCloud Free Edition?

The Free Edition is provided for AutoCAD 2011 and higher. It does not require
any PointCloud license. You simply install the standard setup and are able to
use the import to PCG or PTC functionality for various scan data like ASCII,
Riegl, Leica, etc. Afterwards all points can be accessed using the AutoCAD
object snap (OSNAP) and thus are available for the AutoCAD commands.
The Free Edition does not provide any further PointCloud commands
The Free Edition is free of charge. It extends the import of scan data which in
AutoCAD 2011 is limited to FARO and LAS files.

Q11 How can I try out PointCloud?

PointCloud and all of its functionality can be fully tested for free. Different
point cloud data sets are included in the download. In addition, the user is
able to test his/her own data as well. To do so, please contact kubit or visit the
kubit website for more information (contact details are listed on the first page
of this documentation).

Q12 What kind of functionality is supported PointCloud and the Pro version?
PointCloud
FEATURE LIST PointCloud Pro

Insert point cloud x x

Set current point cloud x x
Set point cloud parameters (average distance, noise) x x
Set preferred point cloud format x x

Manage kubit point clouds (PTC)

Load point cloud x x
Unload point cloud x x
Merge point clouds x x
Crop point cloud x x
Set grip position x x
Settings for display performance x x

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Show/Hide Bounding Box of point clouds x x

Show/Hide grip of point clouds x x
Modify point size x x

Manage AutoCAD point clouds (PCG) [AutoCAD 2011 and higher]

Convert kubit point cloud to AutoCAD point cloud x x
Reindex AutoCAD point cloud x x
Set point density for modeling tools x x
Optimize display x x

Import
Import point cloud (ASCII) x x
Import Leica HDS PTZ files x x
Import Riegl RiSCAN Pro rsp - project
file - point cloud x x
- oriented image x
- orhto image x x
Reconstructor - import orhto image x x
Trimble RealWorks Survey - import ortho image x x

Sections
Define slice - parallel to UCS planes x x
- around a planar AutoCAD object

Shift slice x x
Change slice thickness x x
Define multiple slices - parallel to UCS planes x x
- along an AutoCAD curve object x x
Define clipping box x x
Define section inside a polygon x x
Define section outside a polygon x x
Restore previous section definition x x
Section manager - show/ hide sections x x
- create new sections x x
- colour sections x x
- export sections x x
- conjunction of sections x x
- sorting x x
- load/save/copy section definitions x x

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Digitizing tools
Set elevation (from point) x x
UCS from plane x
UCS from slice x x

Clash detection x

Modeling 2D
Fit outline plan x
Fit outline plan - with restrictions x
Fit polygon x
Draw circle through 3 points (independent from UCS)
Draw arc through 3 points (independent from UCS)

Modeling 3D
Cylinder
Fit cylinder x
Draw cylinder x
Connect cylinders with torus x
with elbow x
with cylinder x
Insert reducer x
Intersection of cylinders x
Center cylinder (to a reference cylinder) x
Bend cylinder (to a reference cylinder) x
Explode cylinder to axis line x
Explode cylinder to an AutoCAD 3D solid x
Create pipeline x
Plane
Fit plane x
Fit plane - with restrictions x
draw plane x
Modify plane - Extend (2 planes) x
Modify plane - Intersection line (2 planes) x
Modify plane - Intersection point (3+ planes) x
Modify plane - New rim x
Modify plane - Modify rim x

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Working with images

Insert oriented image (kubit ORI format) x
Insert raster image x

Manage control points (define, import, adjust size, align, search) x

Set UCS from view x
Image orientation x
Camera view and navigation x
Modify display style of oriented images x

3D Drawing with oriented images and surfaces (point cloud, plane,

cylinder) x
3D Drawing - Intersection point from 2 images x

Furthermore, PointCloud supports the AutoCAD object snap and working in

AutoCAD perspective projection mode.

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