POINT CLOUD PROCESSING IN AUTOCAD

Luigi Barazzetti
Politecnico di Milano
GICARUS Lab. – via Ponzio 31, Milan & via Previati 1/c, Lecco (Italy)
http://www.icet-rilevamento.lecco.polimi.it/
luigi.barazzetti@polimi.it

This short manual describes the use of point clouds in AutoCad 2015 (2016 and 2017
is fine as well). A small project made up of 4 registered scans is illustrated:
- Scan 061 and scan 063 = ground floor;
- Scan 137 = courtyard;
- Scan 161 = first floor.

The “object” is Castel Masegra, Sondrio (Italy). Please use the following link to
download the example dataset (500 MB):

https://polimi365-my.sharepoint.com/personal/10009456_polimi_it/_layouts/15/guestaccess.aspx?docid=1086b20c8ee644e35b63ec6e46a2732b7&authkey=AaRyiLuJOyNIl5HT3AI6AJc

As things stand at the present (2014) point clouds can be managed in AutoCAD for
Windows. AutoCAD for MAC does not support point clouds. This means that students
with a MAC need Windows installed on their machine (Bootcamp can automatically
install Windows). It is important to remember that AutoCAD 2015 does not work on
Windows Xp.
Data description:
The dataset example.zip can be downloaded from the Internet. Files must be
“unzipped” before they can be used.

The folder contains:

- autocad_example.rcp = this is the project file. It allows one to open the whole
dataset (you need a good machine in the case of large projects composed of
several scans);
- another folder autocad_example Support with independent scan files (061.rcs,
063.rcs, 131.rcs, 163.rcs). This file can be used when you need only some
specific scans (this is good when memory issues arise).

An important consideration deserves to be mentioned: a real laser project can be huge

(billion points) and the whole dataset is several gigabytes. This could be the case of
the dataset of our course. In this case you must follow the procedure able to load only
a limited number of clouds (see next section). Alternatively, as students have a specific
part of the building, “useless” scans can be removed (*.rcs file from the Windows
folder). Another solution is the scan manager tool (see next sections).
Data processing in AutoCAD:
First of all, the scale of inserted objects can be set to meters: command units

You can import (i) the whole dataset or (ii) only a limited number of scans. This choice
depends on your machine and the size of the dataset. The dataset used in this short
manual is small and both solutions are feasible. In the case of large projects the use
of few point clouds is a good choice.
In both cases, data can be imported into AutoCAD with the UCS set to WORLD (point
clouds are registered in this global reference system).

You can use the command “Insert  Attach” to import the whole dataset. Select the
file autocad_example.rcp in the main folder and disable translation, scale, and
rotation options (see next figure). The laser project has a fixed reference system that
cannot be modified. In other words, the point cloud should be preserved (commands
like “scale”, “move” , etc., are prohibited). The point cloud is registered in a fixed
reference system (geodetic network with total station in this case). The different parts
(scans) of the project can be automatically merged when the reference system does
not vary.
Click on the point cloud to activate the POINT CLOUD MENU
Select Scan Colors and then Intensity to color the points (tip: Hardware acceleration
should be on)
The POINT CLOUD TOOLBAR has a Point Cloud Manager Tool that allows us to handle
different clouds. This is useful when only a limited number of scans is needed.

If you need only a limited number of scans you can import (Insert  Attach) only the
files inside the folder autocad_example Support. These “.rcs” files correspond to the
different scans of the project. The procedure is the same previously described, but
you can import only 1 file (one by one).
If you want to extract a horizontal slice (e.g. for the plan of a building) you can change
the point of view (from top to front). You can draw a horizontal line where the new
plan is needed (e.g., 1m or 1.2 m above the average floor level). Therefore you need
a horizontal line. Then you can create a parallel line with the command offset.

Click on the point cloud and select Rectangular. You can now crop the point cloud and
obtain a thin slice made of points. You need a thin slice (e.g. 1 cm, 2cm) because walls
are not perfectly vertical!
You can change the point of view (from front to top) in order to visualize the
“perimeter”. The reconstruction can be carried out with the command pline without
“snap”.

Remark: lines must be drawn with the command “pline”. The objet snaps (F3) must
be off (exception made for the closure). An example is shown in the following figure
The same procedure can be used for vertical sections and facades, but you must set
a new UCS.

The reconstruction of the façade (see next figure) can be carried out by drawing a
“pline” that gives the direction of the façade. This “pline” is the reference object for
the new UCS.

Command ucs  you can set the direction of the X axis as follows:

(1) (2)
You can choose the direction of the Y axis in order to obtain the new UCS.

(3) (4)

The project has a new UCS that can be renamed as follows  command ucsman
Right click on the unnamed UCS: the new name can be “Facade” , then “Set current”

Select the option “Orthographic UCSs”, relative to “Facade”, “Front”, “Set Current”
If you want to remove the previous clipping box used for the plan you can select
Uncrop All from the POINT CLOUD TOOLBAR

You can create a new polygonal clip that contains only the facade
Finally, you can change the point of view (from Top to Front). You can draw with the
command “pline”.

Final remarks
AutoCAD 2015 is still a little bugged. For instance, the visualization of points inside a
thin slice (e.g. 1 cm) could be carried out by drawing two parallel lines. Then, the
rectangular selection tool can be used to select only the points belonging to the slide.
This is what you can see without zooming: the cloud and your two lines, which
become a single line in this visualization (obviously, this is a 1 cm slice).

A zoom on the left and right sides is needed when you want to crop the cloud with
the rectangular tool. On the other hand, the cropping tool of the clouds has a
fundamental drawback: you cannot use the zoom because there is a variation of the
area (you should try it for yourself).
As things stand at the moment you can draw two small lines on the opposite sides to
identify the exact location of the area.

Then, you can select the area with the endpoint snap (without zooming).