Point Cloud to Civil 3D surface

[Anonymous]

Hi Guys, 

What is the proper way to convert our point cloud into civil 3d Surface? Our existing point cloud captures all the surroundings including the tress, buildings, poles, etc. But we only need the ground surface? 

Thanks!

[Pointdump]

Hi @juanhg1989,
Welcome to the Autodesk Forums.
Is your point cloud >>>classified(ground, vegetation, water, etc)<<<?
Dave

[neilyj666]

Usually the workflow is to open the cloud in Recap and create an rcp file for import to Civil but the Dotsoft free Point Cloud tool from @TerryDotson may be of use to you.

[Anonymous]

Hello. Yes, our point cloud has a lot of structures in it. Including tress, etc. We only want to create the topo ground surface that includes roads, building pads. etc. 

[Anonymous]

Hi. Yes. Recap to Civil 3D is what we are doing. But in this project we have, they capture all the existing structures. Which usually takes a lot of time to edit it in Recap. How does that Dotsoft free point cloud works? Do you have a download link and tutorial video? 

Thank you very much!

[Pointdump]

@juanhg1989,
ReCap can't pick Ground (2) Classification points out of a point cloud. So you need to use Infraworks or the >>>DotSoft Lidar Tools<<<.
Another option is to use >>>CloudCompare<<<.
Dave

[Anonymous]

How will it work on infraworks? 

Will have a look on the dot soft and cloud compare.

thanks!

[pperales2]

You can try and insert it using Planning and Analysis.

Workflow:

MAPWSPACE>Top Right  Data button>Bottom insert point cloud

If you have the data as an ascii, laz, and las file you can try using LASTOOLS to extract just the bare ground points and export it either as an ascii, laz, las, tin, or dem.

[pperales2]

https://rapidlasso.com/lastools/

[young8885 · Accepted solution]

This should help you out, nice little video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t4b_0MkZBaY

[Anonymous]

This works! thanks!

[jefflambert9091]

I was always hesitant to use 3rd party software, but going through recap was so "clunky" I explored other options. The DotSoft Lidar tools is so user friendly and I cut my work flow time by 3/4.  

[TerryDotson]

... I cut my work flow time by 3/4.  

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Thanks, who would prefer to launch Recap, wait for indexing (consume 10x extra drive space), insert a point cloud (potentially adding bloat and drawing slowdown), remember a sequence  of instructions just to end up with the EXACT same TinSurface they could have gotten by simply selecting their LAS/LAZ files (with freeware) and entering 2 for the classification?  For those with good memories Civil3D used to work the same way before the forced detour through Recap.

All I can hope is that nobody has the nerve to bill clients for the wasted hour(s).

[TerryDotson]

... end up with the EXACT same TinSurface ...

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So just to prove that statement, I took a .LAZ file, went through the Recap > Point Cloud > Map3D> process and created a "CloudTin" surface, then I used the Freeware to create the "LidarTools" surface, then I did a volume surface between them and ...