Point Cloud Tools Sidebar

The “Pointcloud” sidebar makes it possible to execute, save and export point cloud selections. The sidebar gives also access to the point cloud legend settings.

An Orbit Point Cloud (*.opc) can be used for point cloud selection. A point cloud selection can be saved as Orbit Point Cloud Selection (*.ops).
It is also possible to delete the selected points from the point cloud. Deleted points are stored in the Orbit Point Cloud Deleting file (*.opd).

The Pointcloud sidebar works on the active dataset only.
The sidebar tools are enabled if the active dataset is an Orbit Point Cloud dataset of the 3rd generation imported in Orbit version 11.0 or higher.

Be attentive to the point cloud dataset crs and Map 3D coordinate system.
The point cloud dataset crs must be defined to be able to display the point cloud. If no point cloud dataset crs is set, define the dataset crs and reload the point cloud resource. To avoid loading time due to on the fly coordinate transformation and/or re-projection it is advised to set the point cloud dataset crs as Map coordinate system. Click the coordinate system label in the Map status bar

New, open, save or export a point cloud selection.

Open
Via the file drop down menu a saved Orbit Point Cloud Selection (*.ops) can be loaded to be applied on the the active point cloud dataset.
There are 4 different operators to load a point cloud selection :

• Open … : replace the current selection by ops
• Open (add) … : add ops to current selection
• Open (intersect) … : retain the intersection of the current selection and the ops
• Open (remove) … : remove the ops from the current selection

Save, Save As…
Save and overwrite the currently opened point cloud selection or save as new Orbit Point Cloud selection.

Export
A point cloud selection can be exported into any write supported lidar format.
The point cloud export will be executed immediately and may take some time to process. The exported point cloud file is not added automatically to Orbit workspace to avoid loading time when exporting to the slow reading las or text file formats.

Select on Map 3D
Make the point cloud dataset active in the Dataset List. Then click “Select” point cloud:

• Rectangle: Click and release to pin the first vertex. Click a second position to close the rectangle (diagonally opposite) and select all points inside the drawn rectangle.
• Polyline: Click and release to pin the first vertex. Every next click will pin another vertex of the polyline. Double click to finish drawing and select all points on the polyline.
  • Line Size: Define the line size on the slider before starting selection. Line size is displayed in pixels. Changing the size is applied on the fly and displayed by the selection indicator on the Map 3D.
• Circle: Click and release to pin the circle center. Click a second position to draw the circle (outline) and select all points inside the drawn circle.
• Polygon: Click and release to pin the first vertex. Every next click will pin another vertex of the polygon. Double click to finish drawing and select all points within the polygon.

Brush on Map 3D
Make the point cloud dataset active in the Dataset List. Then click “Brush” point cloud:

• Brush: Click and release to start brushing. Move the cursor to draw. Click again to finish brushing.
  • Brush size: Define the brush size on the slider before starting selection. Brush size is displayed in pixels. Changing the size is applied on the fly and displayed by the selection indicator on the Map 3D.

Depth
A selection can be limited in depth, the selectable distance from the current 3d view point. The “Depth” slider has logarithmic scale from 1 meter to infinite.

Merge mode
There are 4 operators to apply and combine the new selection with an already existing point cloud selection. These are similar to the above described methods on opening an Orbit Point Cloud Selection.

Clear
Press “Clear” to clear the selected point cloud.

Delete
A single click, no undo, to delete the selected points from the point cloud. The points are not removed from the resource Orbit Point Cloud file, but stored in a separate Orbit Point Cloud Deleting file. The points will be removed permanently when exporting the selection (see above) or reprocessing the point cloud file using the optimize point cloud tool.

Ground
The ground function removes the lowest group of points from the current selection. This functions works perfect to isolate and delete point cloud noise caused by moving objects.

Some simple but very powerful point cloud legend settings and visibility options.
All changed are applied on the fly so try and error to adjust the presentation to your preference.