The profile extraction functionality can be activated by going to the Action Tab and clicking the Extract Profile button. The only requirement for profile extraction is that the data, either a point cloud, a mesh, or a scan is being viewed in a scene. Although Carlson PointCloud will try to extract a profile from a cloud or a scan, it is still best practice to extract from a mesh. Pressing the Extract Profile button also puts the current viewer into profile extraction mode. A tooltip with instructions on how to extract the profile will display when the cursor is in the scene. Left clicking in the viewer will establish the profile location. To exit profile extraction mode, click the End Mode button.
Profiles can be extracted in two kinds of coordinate systems: Real-World and Camera View.
Real-World is the most commonly used method and extracts the profile in the current scene's coordinate system. The z values, or elevation values, are those found in the surface the profile is being extracted from.
Camera View is much less commonly used and uses the current camera as the origin instead of the scene's origin, and elevation values are effectively distances from the camera. This mode can be useful if you're trying to extract a profile out of a vertical surface such as a wall or are trying to get the profile of an object from a direction other than the z axis. Camera View mode gives the best results if the current camera is in parallel projection mode (perspective mode will distort the profile).
The Polyline Simplification option will remove each vertex that is within a certain distance, Threshold, to its least squares approximation. Window is the number of neighbor vertices to use when generating the least squares approximation. Threshold is a positive number that determines the distance under which vertices will be removed from the polyline.
The Polyline Smoothing option will smooth each vertex in the polyline using a least squares approximation. Window is the number of neighbor vertices to use when generating the least squares approximation. Factor is a number between 0.0 and 1.0, 0.0 being no smoothing performed and 1.0 being fitting each vertex to its respective least squares line (usually makes the polyline extremely linear given a window size greater than 8).
If Draw Planes is enabled, plane objects that follow the path of the initial selection polyline will be drawn into the viewer after the profile is extracted. The planes will extend vertically to the low and high elevation matching the limits of the Bounding box. Each plane drawn will also be added under the Planes heading in the Project Tree.
Extract Along Centerline when clicked the user is prompted for the .CL file to use. The horizontal location of the centerline is extracted from the mesh.
After extracting your profile by polyline or .CL file, a dialog will open asking for an action to perform with the extracted profile, this gives you a chance to review the profile and the option to save it to the project or save it to a file.
If Save to File is selected, you will be asked for a filename and directory to place your new .PRO file.
If Save to Project is selected, the profile will be added to your project with its name generated from your project settings. Profiles saved to the project may be drawn in CAD and/or exported to a .PRO file at a later time.
Click to Begin Polyline Left-click in the viewer to create the polyline for the profile, Right-click to end the polyline.
Choose Profile Destination Dialog Select the desired destination for the data, File or Project.
Tab Location(s): Action Tab
Panel and Button: Extract and Profile
Prerequisite: Open scene of a mesh, cloud or can