Enhanced Point Cloud Display & Plot Control

[JADAstudio]

Point clouds are the future. It's fantastic that with ReCap we can easily get point cloud data from various sources into Revit. Once in Revit, however, there are minimal options for controlling how clouds are displayed, rendered, or plotted.

1. Provide access to point cloud classifications via the Visibility / Graphics dialog (in addition to scan location). Allow users to show and hide points by classification. The ASPRS has a standard which should be acknowledged.

2. Allow points to plot in vector mode. Currently points only plot in raster mode.

3. Enable points to display in renderings using both the local and cloud rendering engines.

4. Add provision for users to change the display and plot size and shape of point clouds. For perspective views point sizes should vary with distance to camera to compensate for the decrease in apparent point density.

5. Enable control of point cloud transparency per view.

6. Improve the Toposurface tool to create a toposurface from points with "ground" classification. The current workflow involves round-tripping to Civil3D or a one-way trip to Infraworks, neither of which are optimal.

7. Add a "Point Clouds" tab to the "Visibility/Graphics Overrides" > "RVT Link Display Settings" dialog to allow users visual control over point clouds in linked models without resorting to dedicated worksets in the linked model.

[samuelsanf]

I Agree, with all points.

Also, I have this Idea related to Point Clouds coordinates:
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/acquire-coordinates-form-point-cloud/idi-p/7164962

[Anonymous]

Yes, these features in demand! And, please add option to exporting point cloud in DWG.

[zelenina]

Yes

[rakotoarisoa_m]

Could you add the possibility to change point cloud dots size in a view.

[JADAstudio]

Today I had to turn down a job specifically because of Revit's limited support of point cloud visualization. A potential client had commissioned a terrestrial LiDAR scan of a property (site, no building) and wanted to be able to visualize via polished renderings, animations, etc. their project in the context of the point cloud. As far as I know there is nothing in the AEC Collection that will do this, certainly not Revit. I'd love to be proven wrong!

[etittle]

I definitely agree with all the points above especially when plotting a point cloud.  Take a look at AutoCAD, it does this very well (transparency, point size, Level of Detail). These would all be nice features to add to Revit.  Also, a Point Cloud on/off button or hotkey would also be nice!

[Anonymous]

Another very good option would be to have point cloud points scale when zooming in (Relative to point density) because currently, while you get a good view of the model zoomed out, as soon as you try to zoom in on details, the points just become too sparse to be recognizable as anything.

[Anonymous]

I agree with you all!

I would also love to see Revit improve its ability to conduct floor flatness analysis. As of now, Revit is very limited when it comes to setting a range of elevations and graphically representing that data appropriately. Someone above mentions about Revit mimicking the point cloud settings that are in Autocad. That would be superb!!!

[Anonymous]

I believe you can make regions in Recap and then have access to these in Revit. However, the lack of control in Revit is really annoying for such an expensive tool.

When you pay 20,000$ for a point cloud and you cannot make it transparent, it really does not feel very cutting edge. Especially for something that has been in Revit for many years now.

[Chris999999]

Hi All, 

Can we please have support for a spectrum display of the intensity of point clouds (in the same way that Autocad offers)?  The reason for this is some features in a black and white intensity scan (i.e. mortar lines, joint lines between Alumium composite panels etc) do not show up very clearly when we only have a colour range between two colours (i.e. black to white).  The gaps are dark grey, and every thing else is a slightly darker grey.  In Autocad, the intensity is mapped from Red to yellow to Orange to Green to Blue and it is quite easy to spot these features.

While I'm at it, I'd also request that we gain a tool to adjust the point display size (same as Autocad).  

Thanks!

[doug_magners]

Do you know if anybody is taking a look at revamping the point cloud graphic options in Revit?  Most of my users work in Revit, but AutoCAD has much better graphic display options for point clouds, where Revit is very limited.  AutoCAD has the ability to adjust transparency with the cloud which makes it tremendously easier to read and interpret a cloud.  I always tell people the points clouds in Revit look like they were drawn with a crayon because every point is given the exact same weight as all the others.

AutoCAD also has the ability to apply multi-colored elevation bands to the cloud, and even better, you can change the elevation range to be limited to a specific area. For example, you can tell it to apply the full-spectrum color scheme to the cloud only between 2'-6', and disregard all points outside that range, which also helps with reading a cloud.  In Revit, on the other hand, you are very limited in the color options, and although there is an "elevation" option, it applies a gradient of only two colors (as opposed to being able to add multiple colors in the gradient), and it only applies that elevation gradient to the whole point cloud with no option to set it to a specific range - having an entire point cloud colored with a 2-color spectrum is practically useless as it is nearly impossible to get any meaningful differentiation when working in a normal plan view. 

Thank you for doing this Answer Day and I look forward to hearing back about this from some insiders!  Thank you very much.

Best,

Doug

PS: In the attached images, the two AutoCAD images show no transparency and then transparency set at 40; the Revit sample has the elevation scheme applied to the point cloud; as you can see, no meaningful distinction.

[yurikim]

Thank you for your posting @doug_magners. It's great feedback. Currently, this looks limitation in Revit, and this is great candidate for Revit Ideas board. I was able to find similar request on this topic: 

https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/transparant-pointcloud/idi-p/7947710

Please feel free to vote on this. Or we could help to move your post to Ideas board. 

[JavadHamidi]

It would be great if we could have a built-in adjustment for point clouds in Revit

like the thickness of the points or group them

[wayne]

Ditto, or a live link to Recap.  Change the intensity settings in Recap and hay ho it updates in Revit.  Not to mention the direct transfer of geometry.  One can dream.

[francesco.pusterlaKVQMB]

Would be great to control the point size for imported point clouds.

Cause at the moment if you zoom in too much... you don't see basically anything!

[samuelsanf]

Totally agree.

ReCap and AutoCAD have this option. In Revit I have to Zoom In and Out in order to see if what I'm modeling matches with the point cloud because the point are too sparse when you close.

Point Cloud should look dense to appreciate it a single element.

Here an Idea that also mention Point Size for Point Cloud:
https://forums.autodesk.com/t5/revit-ideas/point-cloud-display-intensity-spectrum/idi-p/8988702

[crullier]

This is a great idea request, I would like to see some of the point cloud visualization tools that you find in AutoCAD in Revit, especially the ability to have a point receive shading in the 3d view to better visualize single color point clouds.

[yae_hagiwara]

お世話になります。

普段、点群をトレースしてモデル化する業務が多いのです。

他社のCADですが点群を透過表示にしたら入力した部材がとても見やすく操作性が良かったです。

【表示/グラフィックの上書き】の点群の項目に透過を追加するか、

カラーモードに透過50％を追加できないでしょうか。

宜しくお願いいたします。

[Kevin.Bell]

Revit really needs the ability to adjust point cloud dot sizes, it becomes almost unworkable to use a point cloud when the dots become tiny...