Using point clouds

[tcorey]

I have an RCP point cloud file of a building. I want to view in Infraworks.

I can import into Infraworks, but all I get after all the processing is a flat surface. Shouldn't I see the point cloud in 3D?

I have not imported any other data, just the point cloud. Is that a possible issue? Do I have to have a terrain first?

Thanks in advance for any advice....

Tim

[DarrenP]

i just tried it here you should see a point cloud in 3d i do not have a terrain imported or anything else

could be a graphics card issue?

[DarrenP]

an example

[tcorey]

Thanks, Darren, that's what I am expecting to see, but I just get a flat plane. I'm going to keep playing with it. Maybe I don't have the coordinate system setup correclty. That could screw it up, right?

[DarrenP]

i don't know

when i brought that point cloud in it was already setup with a coordinate system by default

i just put it as 0,0,0

[martin.huxol · Accepted solution]

Hi

That a flat surface has been generated is actually a good sign, because it means that the point cloud was valid and could be generated. It could be, that the point cloud has a large offset and is way over the terrain, or mybe below it. In order to make sure the point cloud is visible at all you can import into a model that has a terrain and place it manually. Once you see it there then you know if it is visible and the you can play around with the offest during import in order to place it where it should go.

I hope this helps,

Martin

[tcorey]

That's got to be it. For some reason, this customer's point cloud has z values over 24,000. Thanks, Martin.

[tcorey]

Follow up.

I was originally trying to view the point cloud as a single object in a blank session of InfraWorks. If I viewed from below ground, I could see the point cloud way up, dare I say it?, in the clouds.

If I insert a surface first, then I can place the point cloud and give it a point in my state plane coord sys as its local origin. Once I adjust the local z a few times, voila, point cloud in InfraWorks.

Martin, thanks. Your post made the lightbulb come one.

Tim