Working with Point Clouds

Basic Concepts and List of Supported Point Cloud Formats

A point cloud is a set of vertices in a three-dimensional coordinate system that is created by 3D scanners and used for 3D representations of object surfaces.

Point cloud data is stored in a file of a specific format that generally includes the main point cloud information: coordinates of all points that construct the cloud and their attributes, such as color and intensity.

The basic tasks of point cloud processing are the following:

Reading and writing files of a specific format used for representing a point cloud
Visualization of point clouds

ODA Platform provides a set of tools for processing point clouds.

The main supported file format for point clouds is RCS and its associated format RCP. These formats are the core of the point cloud engine.

The PCG file format is partially supported.

Any other unstructured formats are supported by converting to the RCS format using a special converter described in the documentation.

Libraries for Working with RCS/RCP Formats

The main library for working with RCS/RCP formats is the RcsFileServices library.

Starting from version 22.1, this library is a separate product located in the repository and archive named PointCloud. Header files that define the public interface are located in the repository and archive of Kernel SDK.

RcsFileServices Public Header Files

Repository/archive:	Kernel
Path to the source in the repository:	`Kernel/Include/RcsFileServices`

RcsFileServices Implementation

Repository/archive:	PointCloud
Path to the source in the repository:	`PointCloud/Source/RcsFileServices`
Example path to the LIB files in the archive:	`PointCloud_vc15_amd64dll_22.1/lib/vc15_amd64dll/RcsFileServices.lib`
Example path to the executable files in the archive:	`PointCloud_vc15_amd64dll_22.1/exe/vc15_amd64dll/ RcsFileServices_22.1_15.tx`

RcsFileServices Usage Examples

Example name:	RcsPointCloudReadEx	PointCloudConverterSample
Purpose of the example:	Demonstrate reading point cloud data from RCS/RCP files	Demonstrate converting point clouds from unstructured formats to RCS format
Repository/archive:	PointCloud	PointCloud
Path to the source in the repository:	`PointCloud/Examples/RcsPointCloudReadEx`	`PointCloud/Examples/PointCloudConverterSample`
Example path to the executable files in the archive:	`PointCloud_vc15_amd64dll_22.1/exe/vc15_amd64dll/RcsPointCloudReadEx.exe`	`PointCloud_vc15_amd64dll_22.1/exe/vc15_amd64dll/PointCloudConverterSample.exe`

When building the RcsFileServices library, the following libraries must be included in the linking list:

minizip_mem.lib
TD_Zlib.lib
libXML.lib
ThreadPool.lib

RcsFileServices is required for working with RCS/RCP formats. It should be built and then loaded in the application.

In addition to RcsFileServices, ODA SDKs offer tools for visualizing RCS/RCP files:

Visualization of RCS/RCP files attached to .dwg files is implemented in Drawings SDK.
Separate visualization is implemented in Visualize SDK.

Basic Concepts and List of Supported Point Cloud Formats

Libraries for Working with RCS/RCP Formats

RcsFileServices Public Header Files

RcsFileServices Implementation

RcsFileServices Usage Examples

See Also