Extract Color Lines

Clicking the Extract Color Linesbutton in the Extractpanel of the Action Tab will put the current mode into Extract Color Lines. There are 4 options to choose from, listed below.

Note -for point clouds that have a high density, the time taken to process using these features could be quite considerable so it is advised that the cloud is Cleaned prior to running these routines. For most clouds, the Duplicated Points Distance Thresholdcould be set to 0.04 (which is approx. 0.5 inches) or if using a metric cloud, set the value to 0.012.

Paint Stripe 

Used to extract painted lines from a cloud.

Polyline Layersets the layer that the newly created data will go into. Click on Setto bring up the layer manager.
Strip Width- setting to Autois best used when using the Draw Stripe. Setting this to Customwill allow the user to enter in an approximate width of the lines they would like to select. By clicking on Pickto the right of this, it allows the user to choose two points in the cloud to populate the Stripe Width value

Color Tolerancewill set the color tolerance of the points to be selected. Click on Pickto choose two points in the cloud to set this value.
Create Selectionchooses the points in the cloud. Click on this then the tooltip in the scene will state "Pick a point to sample color". Once a color has been selected, it will select all of the same colored points in the cloud.
Filter Selectionallows the user to filter out the points.

Distance Thresholdis the distance between the points in the cloud. This will cluster all the points together. Try to go slightly larger here. For example, if the points are 0.1 to 0.2 apart, set this to 0.3.

Remove Isolated Pointswill remove any points that are less then the set Minimum Neighbors. That is, any cluster of points that contain less then this value won't be selected.

Remove Thin Lineswill remove any lines that have a width of less then the value nominated here

Remove Small Clusters- by setting the Min Stripe Length, it will remove any clusters that are less then this value. For example, if the lines are parking lines, they're going to be quite long so can set this value to something near the average length.
Remove Large Clusterswill do the opposite of the Remove Small Clusters- set the Stripe Width to the width of the stripe; be conservative on this as this will remove any clusters that are larger in width then this.

Curb Points will remove Selected Points that are a Curb Height higher (specified by the Height of Curbparameter) than other points that are less than the Distance To Curbaway. The idea is that paint stripes will not go over a curb in the majority of cases so if there are some points selected that are on top of a curb then this filter will remove them.

Once the desired filters have been set, click on OK. This will remove the points using the filters that were originally selected using the Create Selectionroutine.

Now that the points have been selected, the option Draw Stripewill be available. Set Stripe Widthto Autothen click on a section of straight line in the scene. It should then draw a polyline of this stripe. Repeat for others. For any curved lines, change the stripe type to Curvedthen click a point on the curve (not too close to an intersection of a straight and the curved line).

Find Allis an automated process to find and create polylines for any paint stripe using the Stripe Widthvariable; it would be worth setting this to Manualand either entering in the width or use the Pick option to set the width.

Edit Polylineallows the user to modify polylines created using this routine.

Parking Lines

Specialized routine for extracting parking stripes. Some of the options are the same that appear in Paint Stripe. This routine works best when there is a clear distinction between the parking lines color and the color of the surrounding surface.

Units- this is critical. By choosing Feet, it looks for parking lines that are about 18 feet long, which is the typical length of parking lines. The Metricoption does the same but in meters.

To start the routine, click on Create Selectionthen click on the parking lines in the scene. Multiple points can be selected if necessary. If there is a good distinction between the parking lines and the road surface, the Toleranceof Mediumshould work fine. Alternatively, change the value to another per-configured setting or choose Customthen click on Pickand select 2 points that best show the parking lines to set the tolerance value.

If the routine picks some points that are not parking lines (i.e. an object that is close to the color of the lines) this is OK. Click on Find Allto draw the polyline for each parking line. The Command History will show the lines being created then the total number of Stripes found.

Note:this routine will normally draw two-point lines if the terrain is flat. However, if there are some bumps in the terrain, the lines will actually have a few points in them so that better follow the curvature of the ground.
Draw Stripeis used when the parking stripe lines are not the pre-configured 18' (or 5.5m) long. First, run Create Selectionand choose the parking stripes. Next, choose Draw Stripeand click anywhere on a well-defined parking stripe. If the user is satisfied with the selection, tick the option Use Last Line As Templatethen click on Find All.

Color Edge

This routine extracts an edge of an object. For example, between a roadway and the grass verge. Some of the options are the same that appear in Paint Stripe.

Search Widthis the width across the two different features in which the routine will examine the points. Users can either enter in a width or click on Pickand pick a point on either side of the edge.

Search Lengthis the length of the search area that the routine will examine. Clicking on Pickwill allow this value to be populated via picking on two points in the scene.

Note:If either of these values are too small, and not enough points are being examined, the software will warn the user about this.
Segment Connectis how the segments will be joined; direct, intersector rounded.

Detect Curveswill try and detect the edge at an angle other then the original line.

Find Edge Between- two options: Color 1 and All Othersallows the user to pick 1 color then tries to find an edge between that color and all other colors while Color 1 and Color 2allows the user to pick two colors to compare.

Draw Color Edgeruns the routine based on the parameters entered in. Click on a point on the edge and it will create a starting point for the line. Click a second point on the edge to get the line started. The routine will run for as long as it can based upon the values entered.

Continue Edgecan be used while within the Draw Color Edgeroutine to continue a line. If the line does not continue as far as it could, the colors may need to be selected again then continue the line work.

Reverse Directionwill start the routine looking in the opposite direction to the initial starting point.

Apply Best-Fitwill apply a best fit line through the segments. If it does not work, use Undo Best-Fitand adjust the tolerance.

Color Polyline

The Extract Polylinecommand "traces" a new Polyline from points within a Cloud, based on color and intensity. Polylines are extracted by holding down the CTRL key and clicking the line in the cloud to extract. Line sets are parallel polylines of equal length such as parking stripes. Line sets can be created by holding down the ALT key while clicking the lines to be extracted to the line set. The polyline length and direction are based on the first line extracted.

Evaluation Radius: specifies the radial distance to use to locate points to evaluate against the remaining criteria.

Chromaticity variance threshold (0-255): specifies how much the color can vary with 0 being an exact match (this almost never occurs) and 255 turning off the color match. The default value of 2 is a good starting value.

I ntensity variance threshold (0-100): specifies how much the intensity value can vary from point to point. Zero (0) would be an exact match and 100 would turn off the intensity match. The default value of 3 is a good starting value.

Maximum gap allowed: Applies only to straight lines. The Maximum Gap Allowed is the maximum gap distance that a straight line may have. The value will depend on the data set being used.

Straight line: This option should be toggled on when extracting straight lines. Points are tested for variation based on the point clicked.

Dynamic base color: When toggled on this option will test points for variation based on the last point deemed to be on the line. This option is more useful when extracting curves.

Number of intermediate lines: This option is strictly for straight line extraction. To activate hold down the ALT key and left click when in the Polyline Extraction mode. The program will use the last line extracted as a guide. Polylines are then created parallel to the last polyline extracted. The new polylines are the same length as the last polyline extracted. The new polylines are placed equidistant from each other and a final polyline is placed on the point selected with the ALT-Click.

Undo will undo only the last command used. 

Edit Vertex edits the vertices of the last polyline extracted. Use the CTRL or ALT key in combination with left-click to pick a new location for a vertex. The vertex nearest the location selected will be moved. In some cases you may need to select intermediate locations to move the desired vertex.

Polyline Layer specifies the layer to draw the extracted polyline on. A layer name may be enter directly in the edit box or a layer may be selected from the layer list by click the Selectbutton.

Tab Location(s): Action Tab
Panel and Button: Extract
Prerequisite: Open scene of a scan, cloud or TIN