Point cloud in rhino to list of points in Grasshopper?

[alexand]

Is there any way to convert a Point cloud in rhino to list of points in Grasshopper?

[alexand]

I figured it out. Use Explode and then select your point cloud, then it can be used as a data source for Points in Grasshopper.

[Joseph_Oster]

I wrote this a month ago using Python to take a Rhino Point Cloud and return lists of points and colors.

Sorting point cloud by its RGB colour range in grasshopper

Well, there are all kinds of games that can be played with colors, but as I like to say, this is your art project. I’ll post the code I have, knowing there are more ideas to explore. You need to right-click the Cloud_ID component (cyan group) and then click the point cloud in Rhino. The purple group at the top limits the points used unless you choose ‘All’ in the blue group FILTER. WARNING!! ‘All’ is slow! [point_cloud_2022Oct22a4] point_cloud_2022Oct22a.gh (24.9 KB) Here is the Python…

Here is the Python:

import Rhino
import rhinoscriptsyntax as rs
mport scriptcontext as sc

sc.doc = Rhino.RhinoDoc.ActiveDoc
cloud = sc.doc.Objects.Find(PtCloud)
rs.EnableRedraw(False)

cloud_points = rs.PointCloudPoints(cloud)
cloud_colors = rs.PointCloudPointColors(cloud)
print len(cloud_points)
pts = cloud_points
colors = cloud_colors

[AndyPayne]

Rhino 8 WIP has a point cloud data type so you should be able reference in a point cloud from your Rhino model and work from there. If you need additional features, please let us know.

[Pedro_Varela]

I see the Point Cloud container component, and I am able to reference a Rhino Pointcloud to it. But what can I do with it after? I would like to cross section, for example.

[AndyPayne]

Hi Pedro. Can you explain what you mean by taking a cross-section of a point cloud? You’re correct that currently there’s not a whole lot that you can do with the point clouds in Grasshopper… However, one thing you can do is to feed them into the ShrinkWrap component and return a valid mesh.

[Joseph_Oster]

@Pedro_Varela

I would like to cross section, for example.

I imagine a cross-section of a point cloud to be a thin planar box, gimbaled by azimuth / altitude controls, infinite in relative X and Y with a Z ‘Tolerance’ (height or thickness) control that determines how many points of the cloud will be found inside the thin box.

[Pedro_Varela]

This is what I mean: PointCloudSection | Rhino 3-D modeling

[AndyPayne]

I see. Thank you for the clarification. I have added it as a feature request and made a YouTrack issue for this. Thanks!

[anon78208900]

Sorry for being nosy! I noticed this and I think it’s great, thank you! It takes less time to reference a cloud from rhino with the ‘new’ component in grasshopper - l mean less time than via the python method, or the .E57 plugin (speaking for myself/my case). However, that’s just for referencing the cloud…similar to what @Pedro_Varela mentions, I cannot find other cloud point options within grasshopper other than referencing the cloud from Rhino. In my case I’m importing a .PLY with grayscale colors. Are more options coming to the pointcloud referencing within gh for R8 to facilitate ‘DeCloud’ stuff? What I mean is obtaining attributes such as color information per point given the cloud is already getting displayed with color/brightness levels. I know I can use a .PLY mesh instead and deconstruct that mesh to get the color, however we’re dealing with a workflow involving many pointclouds coming in one at a time and not all of them can get meshed quickly or automatically.The python method from @Joseph_Oster has been saving us lately!
Thanks for your attention!

*extra/p.s.:
we’re using lidar data to turn them into wall patterns - the styles or sizing of these patterns come from the brightness or color levels in the point clouds - this is for historic preservation/restoration purposes: ‘bringing back’ previously-existing (and 3D-scanned) walls that are no longer existent.

[AndyPayne]

Yes, we do plan to add more components to help deal with Point Clouds… and part of the new “Data Types” project we’ve been working on for Grasshopper will included getting access to the attributes to these new data types (like point clouds). So this is on our road map… but thank you for bringing this to our attention.

[AndyPayne]

@Pedro_Varela @anon78208900 I just wanted to let you know that the latest Rhino 8 WIP now has several new Point Cloud components. Some of them are located under the Vector → Point category, while the Point Cloud Section/Contour components are found under Intersect → Mathematical.

[Pedro_Varela]

That is great! I am eager to try it! (asaiht)

[AndyPayne]

I should note that there are “extra” parameters that can be set on the Section and/or Contour components. Right-click on the component and select “Show All Parameters” to expose these extra values (in case you need them).

[gy2106 (Gilly)]

Hi Andy, is there a way to import point clouds to grasshopper from file path? i don’t see an option for import. Thanks.

[AndyPayne]

Yes. You can use the Import Content component and specify a point cloud file and it will import the point cloud. You can also import the point cloud object into your Rhino document and reference it into Grasshopper via the Point Cloud parameter or via the Query Model Objects component.

[gy2106 (Gilly)]

Thank you that’s pretty cool. I’m trying to import e57 specifically but it doesn’t seem to generate the point clouds, is it only useful for ply?

[AndyPayne]

I’m not 100% sure as it really boils down to the Rhino 3dm import functions. Can you upload a simple e57 file for testing?

[gy2106 (Gilly)]

cuboid.e57 (2.5 MB)
Here’s a sample

[gy2106 (Gilly)]

To give some color; Volvox does this with no issues but has an abort input and doesn’t work in Rhino 8 anymore. I’m not sure they support it anymore but it would be a huge loss for Rhino and GH not to have CloudCompare interactions.