CloudCompare forum

Hi,

I often use point cloud projection for curved objects. And it works very nice when object has cylindrical shape.
Another situation is with free-form objects. For example, I have a pointcloud of a road. And I need to "unroll" it into a straight line along the axis.
It's axis is not an arc so projection on the cylinder will not help. I need a projection on the vertical surface, which goes through the axis.
Is it possible to realize this function?
Earlier I was cutting the point cloud into several pieces, which are close to straight line or and arc, and made an analysis for each piece separately. But now I have 10 km of road in the mountains and previous approach doesn't work anymore.

I guess the 'Unfold' tool should help you:
http://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/in ... a_polyline

You can also look at this post: http://www.danielgm.net/cc/forum/viewto ... 1417#p5456

If I misunderstood your needs, don't hesitate to notify me (or ask any question about this tool otherwise).

Yes, this is it! And it works perfectly!!!
Thanks!

Hello again. Some new questions raised during work with "unfold" tool.
I need to make an analysis on every 20 meters of the unfolded cloud. But I can't find the start of the axis on the unfolded cloud.
I thought, that coordinate start (0;0 point) of the unfolded point cloud will be at the same place, where my axis starts. Or point cloud will be cropped by the extend of the axis. But as I see from the results, it is not.
It there a way to find the start of the axis on the unfolded cloud?

It seems that the unfolded cloud always starts at the minimum bounding-box corner (the bounding-box of the input cloud).

What would you expect exactly?