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Import Command
(PCCImporter)



Short Description

This command is able to import point or mesh data from different sources.

Usage

This is a command (PCCommand). See using commands for an overview.

Parameters:

Notice: The VertexDescriptor of the target cloud should be compatible with the import-data to avoid loss of data. Therefore the attributes used in the importer should exist also in the target point cloud with the same dimension and type. Data of attributes which exist just in the importer but not in the target cloud will be thrown away, attribute-channels which exist just in the target cloud but not in the importer will be filled with 0.

Notation of attribute channels in this text: an attribute named "color" of dimension 3 and type float will be termed "color 3f" as abbrevation.


Reader Subtypes

The importer architecture allows to connect different "readers" (responsible for reading point data from files) with different "adders" (responsible for adding the points to different types of target clouds/meshes). As the reader has to be chosen manually (or semiautomatically by file ending), the adder will automatically be selected depending on the target cloud/mesh type.

There are different file readers for different file types or purposes:

PointCloudImporterReaderCustomASCII

Reader for user definable files, where the point data is saved as ASCII-Text. Every single line in the file is associated with exactly one point of the point set.

PointCloudImporterReader2DImages

This is a reader for different image types (BMP, JPG, PNG). The picture is imported as a colored flat plane of points.

PointCloudImporterReaderMSDepthBMP

This is a reader for Microsoft Depth Bitmaps (BMP) from a microsoft research project, but it should work with other pictures plus heightfield data as well. It needs two input-files: the filename of the color-picture has to start with "color", the filename of the heightfield must have the same name but starting with "depth". Example: "colorMyImage.bmp" and "depthMyImage.bmp". The second image containing the depth data should be an 8 bit greyscale image with the same width and height as the first image. The calculation of the z-values from greyscale is hardcoded at the moment and may not be optimal for arbitrary input images, but you can play with the MinZ and MaxZ values to somehow influence the result. The import results in a depth image point cloud, where the points get their color data from the color-image and their z-values from the heightfield.

PointCloudImporterReaderPLY

Reader for ascii and binary PLY files. Supports the most common ply-elements, but no exotic definitions. The following ply-element propertys will be mapped:
element: properties: mapped to attribute:
vertex x, y, z position 3f
vertex nx, ny, nz normal 3f
vertex red, green, blue color 3f
face vertex_indices triangle-pointset: index 3i (if target is a mesh)

PointCloudImporterReaderSMFOBJ

Reader for SMF (SimpleModelFormat) or OBJ files. Tries to read or calculate color and normal data if possible.
smf: should work with most basic smf-files but doesn't support textures, transformations or grouping
obj: should work with simple obj files but doesn't support many features

PointCloudImporterReaderVRML

Very simple reader for VRML files. Reads just points and faces not considering other geometry or object grouping etc. All points are colored with the last found diffuse color in file.


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