Point Cloud

To index a scan file, do the following:

1. On the ribbon, click Manage tabPoint Cloud panel Index. The Select Data File to Index dialog box displays.
2. Navigate to the folder than contains the scan file you wish to index. Select the file and click the Index button to close the dialog box.

3. The Index dialog box appears and displays the source file name you selected and the name of the file when indexing is complete. A progress bar displays the progress of the indexing process.
4. The status of the file is reported in the Status column. The file can have four states - Waiting, Indexing, Completed, or Error.

5. If you wish to index another scan file, click the New button and select the file from the Select Data File to Index dialog box.
6. Click the Pause button if you wish to momentarily stop the indexing operation. If you are indexing more than one scan file, click Pause All at the bottom of the dialog box.
7. When you wish to restart a paused indexing operation, click the Resume button . If you have more than one indexing process paused, click the Resume All button at the bottom of the dialog box.
8. To remove a file from the list, select the file name and click the Delete button .
9. Click the Close button when the indexing operation is complete.

To attach a point cloud, do the following:

1. On the ribbon, click Manage tabPoint Cloud panel Attach. The Select Point Cloud dialog box displays.
2. Navigate to the folder than contains the indexed file (.pcg) you wish to attach. Select the file and click the Open button to close the dialog box.
3. Pick a point in the graphics window to place the point cloud. The Attach Point Cloud dialog box appears.
4. Enter X, Y, or Z offset values in the corresponding text boxes if you wish to move the point cloud relative to the base 0, 0, 0 origin.
5. Enter X, Y, or Z rotational values (in degrees) if you wish to rotate the point cloud about one or more axes.
6. Activate the Adjust density manually check box if you wish to decrease the density of the point cloud. The number of attached points and total points decreases with a decrease in point density.
7. Increase or decrease the scale of the point cloud as necessary using the Scale text box.
8. Click the OK button to close the dialog box.

Attaching a point cloud creates a new Point Clouds node in the browser . Expand the browser node to see all of the point clouds attached to the current part or assembly file.

Do the following if you wish to edit an attached point cloud.

1. Locate the point cloud node in the browser that you wish to edit.
2. Right-click over the node and select Edit Attached Data from the pop-up context menu.
3. The Attach Point Cloud dialog box appears showing the current values for the selected point cloud.
4. Make any required changes and click OK to close the dialog box and end the command.

To perform a Box Crop operation, do the following:

1. On the ribbon, click Manage tabPoint Cloud panel Box Crop.
2. A window selection set glyph appears in the graphics window. Pick two diagonal corners that fully enclose the objects you want to include in the cropped portion.
3. After picking the second diagonal corner, a rectangular 3D bounding box displays around the area you selected. The X and Y bounding box dimensions are determined by the X and Y values defined by the diagonal corners of the selection window. The Z value is adjustable.
   Note A box crop selection set can include more than one point cloud. If there are multiple point clouds in the graphics window and one is inadvertently included in the crop selection, use Ctrl + Select to deselect it.

4. You can use the distance manipulators on the bounding box to dynamically increase or decrease the dimensions of the bounding box, if required.
5. Also appearing in the in-canvas display is the Point Cloud mini-toolbar. As an alternative to the distance manipulator, you can enter the desired Z value directly in the value input box on the mini-toolbar.
6. Next, determine whether you want to use the Keep Inside or Keep Outside crop option. Both options are available from the Point Cloud options drop-down menu.
7. The default Keep Inside option retains the portion you crop inside the bounding box and discards the remainder of the point cloud outside the box.
8. The Keep Outside option removes the portion you crop and retains the remainder of the point cloud outside the bounding box.
   Note Regardless of which Keep option is selected, retained points in the cloud always appear in gray (the original color of the point cloud). Points to be discarded appear in a different color. That color is determined by the current Inventor color scheme in use.

9. Click the OK button on the mini-toolbar to perform the crop and end the command.

To perform an Uncrop operation, do the following:

1. First, make sure that the Uncrop icon on the Point Cloud panel is not grayed-out (inactive). The active icon indicates that a point cloud box crop has been performed and may be reversed.
2. On the ribbon, click Manage tabPoint Cloud panel Uncrop.
3. Any cropped portions of the point cloud are restored.

To attach a cloud (work) point to a point in a point cloud, do the following:

1. First, zoom up the area of the point cloud where you wish to attach the cloud point.
2. On the ribbon, click Manage tabPoint Cloud panel Cloud Point.
3. Place your cursor over the point in the cloud where you wish to attach a cloud point.
4. When the small circle glyph appears over the point, click to place the cloud point.
5. The cloud point is created coincident with the point you selected.