Improving point cloud displays

VinceWehnes

I'm trying to improve how a point cloud appears in BricsCAD. Thus far, I can't get the same resolution / results that I can in AutoCAD. I've played with the various settings, and also increased the point max variable with no improved results. It seems that the implementation in Brics is more geared to showing things like walls and solid surfaces rather than objects such as pipe and thinner handrails. Or am I missing something? The current form is not workable for me, and BricsCAD is also a lot less responsive than AutoCAD when it comes to orbiting and zooming. The pointcloud shown in the screen shots is a 1.3GB RCS file, but I'm not above using another format if it works better. I've had similar issues with smaller RCS files. Screen shots attached from BrisCAD 21 and Acad 19.

Michael Mayer

Hmmh,
I am not experienced with point clouds.

But in latest Bricscad Releases, beside just scaling point sizes,
there was a Point Cloud auto setting, that scaled point sizes
according to point density for less covered areas.
Which made the scene much more legible than what I have seen
anywhere else ...

Maybe that is more applicable to mostly flat surfaced only geometry (?)

Tijs Vermeulen

Is the setting POINTCLOUDADAPTIVEDISPLAY enabled? (That is the setting Michael refers to I suppose.)

You may also want to try the V22 beta - if you are interested, please enter a support request and ask for beta access.

OmidEkrami

Hi Vince,

Just by looking at the screenshots I can tell you that this is NOT how pointclouds are supposed to be displayed in BricsCAD. There are a couple of settings related to display that might help you here:

POINTCLOUDPOINTMAX - this setting adjusts the maximum number of points displayed at each moment. If you set this too low, the pointcloud will have a low resolution, and too high might make things slower depending on your system. A number around 4 million would work well.

POINTCLOUDADAPTIVEDISPLAY - turning on this options would automatically increase the size of points in low density regions to give a more natural look. You might want to try both states of this option to see which works better for your case.

POINTCLOUDPOINTSIZE to decrease and increase point sizes.

Another thing that might have caused the problem here is the import unit which is prompted the first time that you attach/process a pointcloud in BricsCAD.

"Give unit for point coordinates. [Inches/Feet/Miles/miLlimeters/Centimeters/mEters/Kilometers/micrOinches/milS/Yards/Angstroms/Nanometers/micRons] :"

For RCS files, the import unit should be set as METERS (this is automatically set in the latest versions).
If you've chosen another unit, please delete the pointcloud from cache (POINTCLOUDDELETEITEM) and re-import it with the correct units.

If none of these work, I would suggest to create a support request so we can specifically check the pointcloud you're working with.

Tom Foster

Reviving this thread -> @omidekrami said:

"Give unit for point coordinates. [Inches/Feet/Miles/miLlimeters/Centimeters/mEters/Kilometers/micrOinches/milS/Yards/Angstroms/Nanometers/micRons] :"

For RCS files, the import unit should be set as METERS

What should the other formats - e57 in my current case - be set to?

(this is automatically set in the latest versions).

Just to be clear, is that why the milimeters/meters etc select box in the Attach dialog is already selected and greyed out (not changeable) - and choosing another in Command Line makes no difference?

OmidEkrami

e57's import unit is also in meters by default, and yes, that's why the import unit options are grayed out in the pointcloud import dialog.

Tom Foster

Thank you - a gem of knowlege that would have obviated hours of trying to adjust units - because to start with all attached pointclouds were coming in 1000x too small (actually looked like they weren't coming in at all, until I investigated some tiny dot 'artifacts'). Now, for no known reason, that 1000x isn't happening.