Point cloud display in Revit views / pixel size / dot size

[t.metcalf]

Hello there,

Hopefully this is a very basic question. In Recap 360 there's an option to display the individual points of a point cloud at different "point display sizes" (from 1 up to 10).

This is very helpful for areas of scans which have less scan density / resolution.

We're hoping there's a similar option for displaying point clouds in Revit views? Currently all we've found under visibility graphics is the ability to change the color mode.

We typically bring in point clouds in RCP format, if that helps at all.

Thanks in advance.

[RSomppi]

"These places" are for solutions.

Try the IDEAS forum to request new features.

[wayne]

Yep you gotta pay several thousand pounds for Revit then several thousand more pa to get it to work with point clouds.  Hence, why I am still using 2017!  As well as point size, having the same intensity rainbow as Recap and a quick button turn the PC on / off would be useful for a start.

[j.joos]

very sad, that there is still no solution

[victor.misula]

AutoCAD has this function and Revit doesn't, something extremely basic for interpreting the point cloud, it's a shame it still doesn't have it, to say the least...

[DA.GS]

Those working with RVT2024 and above can additionally to changing the pointclouds color to "single color" change the Canvas Theme to dark aswell.

This helps the visibility.

Still would like the ability to change the size of the points though 😇

[Isaiah_Narvaez]

This worked perfect! Thank you!

[AFAJohn]

I thought I might see if it was possible to use AI coding to solve this and according to ChatGPT it's not possible at the moment.

"Display settings for point clouds (point size/density) are handled by Revit internally and are not exposed via the API."

[HVAC-Novice]

Check out Qbitec.

You can change quite a lot of the visibility:

And you also can see the panoramic images from the scan locations (the spheres you see).

You can get a free trial. I just started using point clouds a few weeks ago and can't imagine not using Qbitec anymore. I tried the native point cloud with a recap file..ugggh.... that felt like using stone tools after using power tools. The Qbitec method also uses fewer resources than the recap file. If you spend money on scanning... don't skimp on Qbitec. 

I use the point cloud all the time even in design after I built the existing model. I work in remodels and it is just great to see all the time what is going on in a space. 

[tilo_pfliegner]

ChatGPT is right, and so is HVAC-Novice 

[RSomppi]

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@tilo_pfliegner wrote:

ChatGPT is right, and so is HVAC-Novice 

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And others...

[MiWolff]

Will AD reduce the subscription price by some amount in order to fill the gap with an addin? Seems a good piece though.

[tilo_pfliegner]

Haha, sounds like a great question to take up with your Adsk sales rep 😉

But honestly, our plugin is quite practical and fairly priced.

[webmasterY7WBQ]

Hi, not a basic question at all—this comes up a lot.

Short answer: Revit doesn’t have a point size control like ReCap. In Revit, point clouds are displayed using a fixed visual style, so you can’t directly increase or decrease individual point sizes the way you can in ReCap.

A few practical workarounds people use:
anges how dense the cloud looks based on zoom level.

• Switch visual styles (Hidden Line vs Shaded) and color modes to improve contrast.

• Thin regions or crop tightly so Revit loads fewer points and they appear clearer.

• Do detailed review and cleanup in ReCap, then use Revit mainly as a reference for modeling.

If scan density is critical for viewing (especially low-density areas), ReCap is still the best tool. Revit is really optimized for modeling off the cloud, not for detailed point visualization.

[wayne]

The point being better visualisation of the point cloud improves modelling efficiency and accuracy.  We can't model in Recap.  (why we can pick wick walls in Recap, and they appear in Revit is another matter.)  Here is a non-colour point cloud in Autocad 2017!  We just need contrasting colours by intensity.   The two colour option in Revit is insufficient.  

Revit by intensity

While we wait for Revit to pull it socks up (10 years I have been waiting for this) in Recap if we could export the point cloud, save as, with our intensity colours it would be very helpful.