Point Cloud Visualizer 3.6 Documentation

Display panel contains everything related to how points are displayed in viewport. Main shader for points is chosen with Shader dropdown menu. Default shader offers many options for shading that can be mixed together using Opacity and Mode, other shaders are more analytical (Position Colors, Normal Colors and Height Colors) and offers only a few properties for data they show.

Preset menu in panel header will save all settings in all subpanels into a preset.

Points panel contains settings related to point visibility, shape and size.

• Percentage - Adjust percentage of points displayed
• Shuffle Points - Shuffle points if they are ordered so Percentage lower than 100% shows evenly distributed points
• Use UI Scale - Multiply point size by UI Scale (Preferences > Interface > Resolution Scale)
• Round Points - Draw rounded points
• Size - Point size in pixels
• Adaptive Size - Adjust point size by distance from viewport camera, this is only for perspective projection
• Culling - Cull points facing backwards, requires point normals

Colors panel contains settings related to point color or color generation, shows for Default shader only

• Global Alpha - Adjust overall alpha of points
• Use Alpha Per Point - Use alpha per point if point colors contain alpha value

Colorize points by depth from viewport camera

Colorize points by depth from origin or another object

Colorize points using matcap image, requires normals. Matcap images are listed from BLender > Preferences > Lights > MatCaps and Blender builtin.

Blender 5.0 ships with matcap images as multilayer EXR files, there is no python API to read these images as pixel arrays, so new matcap images from Blender cannot be used. To restore functionality, copy matcap images from Blender 4.5 installation (System Directory) .../4.5/datafiles/studiolights/matcap/*.exr to User Directory .../5.0/scripts/presets/point_cloud_visualizer/matcaps/*.exr (more info about Blender Directory Layout) and old matcap images will show in menu and can be used. If you used any custom matcap images, copy them there as well. If target directory is empty or missing, one matcap image bundled with PCV will show in menu with a warning in panel.

In shader color adjustments, to apply at point colors use Filter > Colors > Color Adjustment

• Per Channel - Adjust Exposure, Gamma, Brightness and Contrast per color channel (R, G and B separate)

Shade panel contains settings related to point shading, shows for Default shader only and each requires normals.

Add up to 3 lights to illuminate points.

Use Phong shading

Shade points by Fresnel value

Draws points in additive mode and those with normal oriented closer to view normal with proportionally lower opacity. Because of additive mode, depth buffer is cleared before drawing.

Effects panel contains settings that manipulate with point location directly in shader. Shows for Default shader only. To apply at points use Filter > Points > Apply Shader Effects

Move points along their normals

Move points randomly

Properties for Position Colors shader contains location color grid scale and each grid cell offset.

Properties for Height Colors shader contains axis selection, remapping options and custom colors.

Contains a list of available scalar fields, value remapping options and colorization schemes.

Clip displayed points by up to 6 planes. You can control each plane individually by gizmo that is enabled by clicking button.

Reset To Data Bounding Box will reset all planes to data bounding box, in local coordinates or in world coordinates.

Clip planes state can be saved per object clicking button and removed by . Stored state will be restored by button on list item.

All planes at once, aligned to a cuboid, can be controlled with Clip Box gizmo, shows translate handles, rotate handles, move box vertices, move box sides and to move opposite faces together or in inverse direction. Clip Box uses all 6 planes to determine its location, rotation and dimensions by intersecting planes together, if that for any reason cannot be done (e.g. 3 planes at corner does not intersect in a single point), it resets itself to data bounding box. If any plane is rotated with Clip Plane gizmo out of right angle, it will reset to data axis aligned bounding box in world coordinates. For most predictable results reset state before enabling and don't mix both gizmos together.

You can also use any Blender Object bounding box to set planes from. If is enabled, bounding box source object can be animated and clip planes will be updated on each redraw.

Set Clip Planes From Object Bounding Box will set planes from object bounding box and Clone Unclipped Points will clone unclipped points to a new PCV instance.

Visualize point normals as lines.

Draw points Bounding Box.

Other Display options

• Use Fast Navigation - Include or exclude from Fast Navigation, see Preferences for more info
• Name - Draw source file name in viewport at origin
• In Front - Draw points above everything else