Hi all! I am currently doing a project comparing the distance between two surfaces using the mesh to mesh tool in CloudCompare. I know that if I create a point anywhere along the heatmap that the software formed, the the info box shows the exact distance measurement at that point. Is there a way I can create a matrix of these points at regular intervals (for example every half inch in the x-y plane) and export these values as a csv file?
I know this is a specific procedure, but I have seen such a function in other softwares for heatmaps but for slightly different applications.
Also as a side question, can I increase the size of the numbers on the color map legend?
Any assistance in solving this would be greatly appreciated!
Creating a matrix of distance measurements with mesh to mesh distances
Re: Creating a matrix of distance measurements with mesh to mesh distances
1- You can only sample points (randomly) on the compared mesh. This will create a point cloud with interpolated distances that you can then export to CSV. By the way,
2- You can change the font sizes in the 'Display > Display options' menu
2- You can change the font sizes in the 'Display > Display options' menu
Daniel, CloudCompare admin
Re: Creating a matrix of distance measurements with mesh to mesh distances
Thank you for the reply! Is what you're reffering to that you can export the information from 2D labels? How would you be able to do that?
Additionally, I thought of another possible solution I could use. If I have two point clouds representing two parallel surfaces, would it be possible to then create a third cloud that represents any variation in their profiles?
I'm not sure how to word this exactly, but the idea would be to compare the third cloud against a 2d plane and sample equidistant points along the plane to get the matrix I'm looking for.
Additionally, I thought of another possible solution I could use. If I have two point clouds representing two parallel surfaces, would it be possible to then create a third cloud that represents any variation in their profiles?
I'm not sure how to word this exactly, but the idea would be to compare the third cloud against a 2d plane and sample equidistant points along the plane to get the matrix I'm looking for.
Re: Creating a matrix of distance measurements with mesh to mesh distances
Here's a poorly drawn 2D example of what I was attempting to explain. I want to combine two surface profiles (red and blue lines) to create a third cloud representative of their combined surface profile. I would be able to sample equidistant points along the black line (2D plane) to create a matrix of distances to the purple line (created point cloud 3).
Re: Creating a matrix of distance measurements with mesh to mesh distances
It looks a little bit like what the '2.5D Volume' calculation tool is able to output. It computes the differences between two regularly sampled grids (which gives a grid with the distances between the two clouds). Then you can export this grid as a cloud.
And if you have meshes, you can convert them to dense point clouds first.
And if you have meshes, you can convert them to dense point clouds first.
Daniel, CloudCompare admin
Re: Creating a matrix of distance measurements with mesh to mesh distances
After playing around with the point densities and the 2.5D volume tool I achieved what I was looking to do. The point cloud generated worked out perfectly, thank you so much!