CloudCompare forum

Hi is it possible to apply the colors of a point cloud, say from a PTX, to a STL or obj file when exporting and obj or STL?
Is it also possible to export a mesh to DWG format rather than DXF?

Hi,

There's the 'Edit > Colors > Interpolate from another entity' tool (see http://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/in ... her_entity). This will set for each vertex of a mesh the color of the nearest point in a cloud for instance.

The only issue is that neither STL nor OBJ support per-vertex colors! The only formats that support this are PLY and FBX.

And sadly we can't output DWG files as it's a proprietary format for which there's no free SDK...

Thanks, with the interpolation from entity method of applying colour can photos be used? Or do you have to use another point cloud or model object?

Only clouds or meshes actually.

I have a Geoslam Zeb Revo scanner that I use quite a bit. The issue I have is that the scans returned do not have any intensity or colors so working with and registering them can be difficult. I get a las/laz and some associated ply files when processed.

I recently came across the Matterport camera which returns a fully HD .obj mesh or xyz point cloud. In my test with CC, I edited the Matterport xyz file to clear the colors, then saved it as a las file, then re-opened it as well as the original colored xyz cloud. I then registered them together and used the Edit Color - Interpolate and was able to get the cleared cloud re-colored.

I did this as a test in hopes it would work with my scan data. I intend to scan with my Revo, then photograph with the Matterport, then register the two clouds and color the Revo cloud with the Matterport one. I am assuming the the Matterport cloud will not have the accuracy of the Revo cloud, but I guess I'll see.

The main attraction of the Revo is not having to be stationary and set up multiple times. The Matterport must be set up many times in order to capture a full scene. The price point of the Matterport is reasonable and thus far is the only way I have found to colorize a Zeb cloud.

Does this sound reasonable? Does anyone see any problems with this or issues I need to check out or be aware of? Or have other ideas about how to solve my colorization issue?

Thanks,
Gary