Consultation of point clouds

When you open the Point Clouds and Spherical Photos Lookup Module, you will see the toolbar on the left side of the screen. This bar can be hidden as needed with the button. he web map can be displayed or hidden by clicking on the button . For the rest, the main part of the screen is dedicated to the scatter plot or spherical images.


Point cloud display with framed web mapping



Move

It is easy to move in the point cloud with VisionLidarWeb with a mouse. Here are the main viewing functions available in "Orbit Control" mode, which is the default mode:



Mouse MovementDescription
Drag with left button Rotation of the view.
Drag with right button Pan view
Mouse wheelZoom (front / back)
Double click of the left buttonZoom on the point clicked by refocusing at this point.


Two other viewing modes are available: "Earth control" and "Fly control". These can be selected in the Tools / Navigation menu.



Spherical photos menu

This menu displays the list of spherical photographs available in the VisionLidarWeb project. See the Consultation of spherical images for more details.


About Menu

In this menu it is possible to view the metadata of the point cloud.

  • Project name
  • Name of the source files
  • Origin of the point cloud (XYZ)
  • Point of the point cloud (XYZ)
  • Total number of points
  • Average distance between points
  • Date of the survey
  • Device type


It is also in this interface that the history of Lidar data acquisition projects is available. We can then move from one statement to another, in order to compare the data over time.



Appearance menu

The appearance menu allows you to change the appearance of the viewing window.

  • Max Points: This option allows you to display more or fewer points at a time. The maximum number of points displayed at a time is 5 million.
  • Viewing angle: The viewing angle can be changed between 20 and 100 degrees depending on the user's preferences.
  • Eye-dome-lighting: This option makes it possible to display certain elements more clearly by modifying the shading of the points and by improving the perception of depth in the scatterplot. Two sliders are available to change the display
    • Radius: The added shading radius
    • Intensity: The intensity of the shading added. The higher this value is, the darker the cloud will be.
  • Background: The background option allows you to change the background color of the viewer. The default background is Gradient.



Tools Menu

The tools menu presents measurement tools and also navigation tools.


Measuring tools

It is possible to measure elements directly in VisionLidarWeb. Several measurement tools are available. Each measurement performed appears in the Measurements menu where it can be exported in JSON or DXF format. The measurement tools are as follows:


  • Angle: 3 clics sont demandés et l’angle à chacun des 3 points sera affiché
  • Point: A point is clicked on the screen and the height (elevation) of the point will be displayed.
  • Distance: The distance between two or more points. Right click when the course has been stung.
  • Height: The elevation distance between two points.
  • Surface: A polygon must be stitched on the screen. When at least 3 points have been stitched, right click to close the polygon.
  • Volume: A volume box is placed on the screen and the volume inside the box is calculated.
  • Height profile: A course must be stitched on the screen. After stitching at least 2 points, right click to close the course. The height profile will be displayed in a secondary window called "Elevation Profile".
  • Clip Volume: This option allows you to insert a box to show or hide certain areas of the point cloud. See the "Clipping" menu for more information.
  • Clear All Measures: Clears all measurements that have been made and accumulated in the Measurements menu.

In all cases, a stitch can be moved. If the user wants to move a point, click on a point and move it (drag) to dynamically update the measurement.


Examples of measurements that can be done on the screen


Example of height profile measurement




Navigation tools

As mentioned earlier, the default navigation mode is the "Orbit control" mode.

As mentioned earlier, the default navigation mode is the "Orbit control" mode.

  • Earth control: This mode reverses the mouse controls and adds an icon to the clicked place
  • Fly control: This mode no longer allows zooming in perspective and remains focused on the initial point. Movement (pan) is allowed.
  • Orbit control: Default mode.
  • Full extent: Displays all the points of the cloud.
  • Top view: View from above.
  • Front view: Front view.
  • Left view: Left view.
  • Perspective camera: perspective view.
  • Orthographic camera: Orthogonal view.



Tools Menu

Measurements made from the Tools menu are accumulated here. Each measurement appears according to the tool used. In order to obtain additional information on the measurement, simply click on it. The quilted coordinates are normally displayed along with the distances and angles, if any.

Some measures allow changes. This is the case of the volume and height profile tools. For volume measurements, it is possible to change the width and angles of the sides directly in the Measurements interface. The Clip and Show volume options allow you to show or hide points inside or outside the volume. In the case of profile measurements, it will be possible to modify the width of the section in the Measurements interface. The larger the width, the more points will be included in the Height Profile.


Clipping menu

This menu allows you to show or hide points inside volumes. There are four different modes:

  • Disabled: This disables the Clipping function
  • Highlight: The points inside the volumes in question will be highlighted (red).
  • Inside: The points inside the volumes in question will be hidden.
  • Outside: The points outside the volumes in question will be hidden.



Annotations menu

At this point are annotations of the project. This can be convenient for quickly pointing another user to a place of interest in the scatter plot. For this section to have annotations, it will be necessary to add annotations in the VisionLidar Pro project in advance - before having exported the project in VisionLidarWeb format.

Clicking the on-screen annotation or annotation in the menu list will have the effect of zooming to the user-specified location.

Examples of annotations



Scene menu

This menu allows you to change the unit length of the project as well as the display of the point cloud. To change the display of the point cloud, click on the icon . Here, it will be possible to change the size of the points, their opacity (transparency) as well as their display mode.

There are several attributes that allow different visualization of the point cloud:

  • RGB: The scatter plot will be displayed in RGB if this information exists.
  • RGB and elevation: A composite between the RGB display and the elevation display.
  • Elevation: The scatter plot is displayed according to an altimetric range that the user can modify.
  • Intensity: The scatter plot is displayed in intensity mode and the gamma, brightness and contrast can be dynamically changed.
  • Intensity gradient: The same as intensity mode except that a color gradient is used.
  • Classification: The scatter plot is displayed according to its classification, if it has been made.
  • Number of returns: The cloud is displayed according to the number of returns, if this information exists.
  • Source: Different colors will be used for different sources.
  • Level of detail: Display by current level of detail.
  • Composite: This mode merges two display modes together. For example, it will be possible to display by RGB, intensity and classification at the same time.

For each mode there will be sliders that will optimize the contrast, brightness or the altimetry range, for example.


Display in Elevation mode


Display in Intensity Mode



Classification filter menu

This menu displays the first 11 classes of the point cloud. It is possible to filter these classes, provided that the point cloud has been classified beforehand. VisionLidar Pro classifies the point cloud before exporting to VisionLidar Web.


Sharing the point cloud

An interface makes it possible to obtain and copy the hyperlink of the project to the current location of the user. The hyperlink can be sent to other users to share the project view. This link can be viewed from any compatible web browser.