Autodesk Labs has recently announced the availability of a new “Point Cloud Shape Extraction Plug-in for AutoCAD”. This is a potentially very important development, particularly if Autodesk has been able to solve some of the difficult problems that surround this critically important issue.
My son and I were discussing this very topic with Jarlath O’Neill Dunne from the University of Vermont and the Spatial Analysis Lab today over lunch. Jarlath has done a lot of thinking and hands on research into automated feature extraction, as have many others including the US military. This is the “search for the Holy Grail”.
If Autodesk has something new and exciting it certainly has the potential to be a game changer for the laser scanning industry. Kudos to all involved and please let me know what you think of the software.
The videos look pretty impressive, I particularly like the polyline section extraction from the skeletal hand!
We traditionally use Civil 3D 2007-2010 with Leica Cloudworx for our drafting but I am confused as to which version of AutoCAD 2011 has the best point cloud support and most powerful point cloud engine. Is the Civil 3D 2011 version aimed more at Lidar data and regular AutoCAD more toward terrestrial applications? We are interested in upgrading and all of our applications are terrestrial.
Also, has anyone figured out an easy way to get Leica pointcloud data (ptx, pts) into 2011? I tried to load the free 64bit version of kubit onto windows 7 64bit but couldn't make it work. Frankly I find it bizarre that there is no native point cloud support for the laser scanner manufacturer with the largest market share. Having to move large point cloud files around through third party software is far too time consuming.
I had seen that before but couldnt sucessfully convert a pts to las. I keep getting an error relating to the input file not being in the correct format. Maybe you could post something describing how you do it?
That is actually looking like it might turn out to be a very good set of tools.
From an Industrial plant modelling perspective, I am interested in its ability to extract cylinders from point cloud data, and possibly steel structures.
I am going to put 2011 onto my super computer soon and see what this can really do.
In all science, error precedes the truth, and it is better it should go first than last. ~Hugh Walpole
I had seen that before but couldnt sucessfully convert a pts to las. I keep getting an error relating to the input file not being in the correct format. Maybe you could post something describing how you do it?
Cheers,
Chris
Hello Chris, In my case i use this command line: txt2las -parse xyzsRGB name.pts In this case you don´t need to rename your pts file to txt since the program read the pts file as is. Note that i use a S in the middle of the file format, since i only use the RGB colors, not the laser intensity.
Ok, I have am able to export a PTS file from Cyclone and bring it in to AutoCAD Civil 3D 2011 with no issues just for the record but back to the thread...
Has anyone had any success with Shape Extraction? I would be interested to hear. I keep getting the classic Fatal Error when I try to use it. I am running 64 bit Windows 7.
