importing point cloud data - newbie

[timcoddington]

Hi,

   I'm on a steep learning curve and need some help from this community.  I'm new to AutoCAD and would lke to convert our our own point cloud data format to *.pcg.    I've got a lot of questions:

1) What is meant by the term "index" or "indexing" in reference to *.pcg, or point cloud data and Revit/AutoCAD?  I asume I have to do this but I need to know what it is and if not obvious how to do it.  

2) What is or how can I found out what the format is for *.pcg data? 

3) I'm starting from raw x, y, z data and will need to convert ultimately to *.pcg.  Is there another "path" I should take to get to *.cpg?   For example, what is the *.XYZ format and is that easier to convert into and then use some other tools/command to convert to *.pcg

4) currently my point cloud xyz data is stored by scans.  What should I know about the data organization expected by AutoCAD/Revit?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[KyleB_Autodesk]

Tim,

Apologies that these questions went unanswered for so long.  Hopefully the below information makes us suck a little less for such a long delay.

---

timcoddington wrote:

1) What is meant by the term "index" or "indexing" in reference to *.pcg, or point cloud data and Revit/AutoCAD?  I asume I have to do this but I need to know what it is and if not obvious how to do it. 

---

Good starting question.  Indexing is the process of reformatting the raw data for rapid access by our Point Cloud engine.  We are basically applying a spatial structure to the data so we can quickly find data in a particular location.

In most raw point cloud formats (your XYZ a good example), the data is structured based upon the order that the data was captured.  In cases where the raw data contains multiple scans, there is no connection in the data structure between scans.  So, without indexing, we'd be doing more data searching in the raw data and deliver worse performance in Revit or AutoCAD.  With a spatially aware data structure, we can display the point cloud faster.

---

timcoddington wrote:

2) What is or how can I found out what the format is for *.pcg data?

---

PCG is a file format that we defined during the creation of our PCG point cloud engine.  It is not currently an open format, but can easily be created within AutoCAD and Revit using our Indexing service...which I'll cover in question 3.

---

timcoddington wrote:

3) I'm starting from raw x, y, z data and will need to convert ultimately to *.pcg.  Is there another "path" I should take to get to *.cpg?   For example, what is the *.XYZ format and is that easier to convert into and then use some other tools/command to convert to *.pcg

---

No need to get under the hood to do conversion.  The process should be pretty smooth in Revit or AutoCAD.  When you attempt to insert a Point Cloud that is not in PCG format, you'll be prompted to start the indexing process using our built-in Indexing Service.  That will run for a period of time, and then you'll have a shiny new PCG file that can be linked to your Revit project.

---

timcoddington wrote:

4) currently my point cloud xyz data is stored by scans.  What should I know about the data organization expected by AutoCAD/Revit?

---

There's nothing wrong with importing each scan separately, but I wouldn't recommend that you do it that way.  Having multiple scans is usually only valuable if you register the scans against each other, so they are properly located relative to each other.

If you've done that, then you're likely to have it done in software that can aggregate the scans into a single file.  I'd highly recommend that you aggregate scans into logical chunks of the building, and then index those chunks.  That will make the workflow much smoother in Revit, as you can more easily control the visibility of each aggregated scan, rather than managing each individual scan.

I hope that information answers your questions, but you've got my ear so feel free to ask more.

Cheers,

Kyle