Capturing and Viewing
This chapter describes how to use RVCManager to capture point clouds and images, and how to adjust point cloud display effects.
Capturing
RVCManager provides two Capturing modes: capture once and capture continuously.
Capture Once: Get a single capture image. 3D capture once can get a single point cloud, depth map, 2D image, confidence map, 2D capture once can get a single 2D image.
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Capture 3D Once: Click
to complete one capture.
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Capture 2D Once: Click
to complete one capture.
Capture Continuously: Capture at fixed intervals and generate data continuously, meanwhile, parameters can be modified in real time. Click the button to start continuous capturing mode, click again to stop capturing. 3D continuous capturing can continuously acquire point cloud, depth map, 2D image and confidence map, while 2D continuous capturing can continuously acquire 2D image.
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Capture 3D Continuously: Click
to start continuous capture, the icon will change to
, click again to close the continuous capture. When the icon is closed, point cloud, depth map, 2D image and confidence map are generated at the same time.
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Capture 2D Continuously: Click
to start continuous capture, the icon changes to
, and click again to close continuous capture. The 2D image is generated when it is closed.
Viewing Images
The captured point cloud or image can be viewed directly in the Display Area of the main interface. Click the tab
to switch the display to 3D point cloud, depth map, 2D image, confidence map, or capture parameter information.
Image Types
Icon | Display type | Action | Description | Example |
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3D Point Cloud | See Operation for details: Point cloud display. | A collection of point data on the surface of an object captured by the scanner. | ![]() |
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Depth Map | Placing the mouse cursor over an image point position displays the X, Y coordinate values, depth value and grayscale value of the corresponding point. | Each pixel value in the depth map is called a depth value and indicates the distance from the camera to a point in the scene. Areas of the depth map that appear black and have a depth value of NAN indicate missing data. | ![]() |
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2D Image | Place the mouse cursor over the image points to display the X, Y coordinate values, grayscale values (mono scanner) or RGB values (color scanner) of the corresponding points. | The 2D image can be compared with the 3D point cloud to check the lighting of the capturing scene, the placement of objects, and the absence of the point cloud. When Capturing in 2D, click the ![]() |
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Confidence Map | Placing the mouse cursor over an image point to display the X, Y coordinate values of the corresponding point along with the confidence value. | A confidence map is equivalent to a probability density function on a new image. The darker the color of the point, the lower the confidence level. | ![]() |
Besides viewing different image data, RVCManager also provides the function of viewing capture parameters. Capture parameters include device name, capture mode, parameter setting information related to capture and post-processing, and coordinate system information, which can be viewed by clicking the icon.
View Operations
When viewing a point cloud or image, the view can be adjusted by mouse and keyboard operation. See the following table for the operation methods.
Function | Operation mode |
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View zoom | Mouse cursor on the Display Area, scroll wheel down: view zoom out. Zoom factor: 1.5. Mouse cursor on the Display Area, scroll wheel up: view zoom in. Zoom factor: 1.5. |
Image panning | Click left mouse button or right mouse button and drag: the depth map/2D image/confidence map will be panned in the direction of mouse dragging. |
Point cloud panning | Drag with right mouse button: point cloud panning in the direction of mouse drag. |
Point cloud rotation | Click middle mouse button to select the center of rotation. Click left mouse button to drag up and down: the point cloud is rotated in Z-axis direction. Click left mouse button and drag left and right: the point cloud is rotated in X-axis direction. |
Point selection | Click on ![]() |
View reset | Spacebar: Switch back to the initial view of the point cloud. You can also click ![]() |
Window full screen | Click ![]() ![]() Or press F11 to display the point cloud in full screen, press Esc to exit the full screen. |
Pop-up window | Click ![]() ![]() |
Point Cloud Display
When viewing 3D point cloud data, click the Display Area hover button
to toggle the 3D point cloud display parameters. Click
to complete a simple measurement. Examples of display parameters and functions are shown below.
Point cloud colors
You can select the mode in which the point cloud displays color, with 4 types of options: solid color, pixel, heatmap, and pseudo-color.
Point cloud color | Description | Example |
---|---|---|
Color: Solid | Displays a solid color point cloud. The point cloud color can be black/white/custom color. You can check the missing data by looking at the distribution of blank areas. | ![]() |
Color: Pixel | Displays the pixel color of the captured object to make the point cloud effect clearer and more intuitive. Shown in grayscale for mono scanners and in color for color scanners. | ![]() |
Color: Heatmap | Distinguish the "height information" of the point cloud with different colors to clearly view the height distribution and changes of the point cloud by color layering. | ![]() |
Color: Pseudo | Overlays the pixel colors of the point cloud with the heatmap colors to provide a more comprehensive view of the height distribution and topography of the point cloud. | ![]() |
Auxiliary Display
Display Type | Description | Example |
---|---|---|
Visible: Coord | Displays the axes of the default coordinate system, red, green and blue represent the positive direction of X, Y and Z axes respectively. | ![]() |
Visible: Customser Coord | Before capturing, set the customer coordinate system in the Settings to display the axes of the customer coordinate system, see Coordinate Parameters for details. The red, green, and blue colors represent the positive directions of the X, Y, and Z axes respectively, but the lines are thicker and shorter than those of the default coordinate system. | ![]() |
Visible: Plane | The gray plane formed by the X-axis and Y-axis of the default coordinate system, which is used as a reference to view the point cloud data. | ![]() |
Visible: Normal Vector | Set Calculate Normal Vector in Parameter Settings → Post-processing Parameters before capturing, display the normal vector of the point cloud. See Calculate Normal Vectors for details. | ![]() |
Visible: Data Range | Use red, green and blue lines to frame the X, Y and Z ranges of the point cloud respectively. | ![]() |
Visible: Rotate Center | The center of rotation is by default the center of the data range of the point cloud, indicated by a small yellow solid circle. | ![]() |
Function: Choose Rotate Center (Mid Button) | After clicking the "Choose Rotate Center (Mid Button)" option, click the middle button of the mouse to select a point to change the center of rotation for the current view. | ![]() |
View Switching
Select a view that shows the point cloud in front, back, left, right, top, or bottom view, the default negative Y-axis direction is front. You can return to the initial view with "View: Reset".
View: Front | View: Rear | View: Left | View: Right | View: Top | View: Bottom |
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Point Cloud Size
Select the size of the individual points displayed in the point cloud view, in units as small as 1 pixel.
Range Settings
Set the point cloud display range and heat map display range by modifying the data, the point cloud will be updated after successful setup.
Point Cloud Range
By moving the slider to adjust the value or clicking to input the value, you can set the range of point cloud display, and the point cloud that is not within the range will not be visible. With the "Save with current view range" function, it can be used to cut some unnecessary backgrounds.
The right side of the pop-up window shows the actual range of values for the X, Y, and Z directions of the point cloud. You can quickly adjust the upper and lower limits of the X, Y, and Z axis display range by clicking on the different axis range values. Click the [Self-Adaption] button to automatically adapt to the appropriate display range. When modifying the point cloud range, you can enable the measurement/customer coordinate system function at the same time to determine the appropriate value range.
Take setting the display range of X-axis direction as an example:
Description | Example |
---|---|
When the X-axis display range is greater than or equal to the actual value range, the point cloud is displayed in the X-axis direction according to the actual size. | ![]() |
When the X-axis display range is smaller than the actual data range, the point cloud displays only part of the point cloud in the X-axis direction according to the set range value. | ![]() |
Heatmap Range
Check the X, Y, Z axis to select the heatmap channel, move the slider to adjust the value or click to input the value, you can change the Step Range (segment range) and Step Count (the number of segments) of the heatmap color and adjust the heatmap color display area.
The right side of the pop-up window displays the actual range of values in the X, Y, and Z directions of the point cloud. You can quickly adjust the upper and lower limits of the axes segmentation range by clicking on the different axis range values. Click the [Self-Adaption] button to automatically adapt to the appropriate segmentation range. When modifying the range of the heatmap, you can enable the measurement/customer coordinate system function at the same time to determine the appropriate value range. The default number of heatmap segments is 1. The higher the Step Count, the richer the color will be (if the Step Range is unchanged).
Take the Z-axis heatmap as an example:
Description | Example |
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When the Z-axis segment range is equal to the actual data range, the heat map shows the color of the entire ribbon. | ![]() |
When the Z-axis segment range is smaller than the actual data range, the point cloud outside the Z-axis segment range is displayed in black. | ![]() |
When the Z-axis segment range is larger than the actual data range, all the point clouds display the heatmap color. If the number of segments is unchanged, the larger the segment range set, the fewer colors will be displayed. | ![]() |
Measurement
RVCManager provides the function of measurement, which can select several points from the point cloud to complete a simple measurement, including "Measure: Point, Measure: Point-Point, Measure: Angle, Measure: Plane (Circle), Measure: Plane-Point, Measure: ReChoose Point, Measure: Close". You need to select the function first, and then click the middle mouse button to select points.
Icon | Submenu | Function Description | Example |
---|---|---|---|
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Measure: Point | Click the middle mouse button to select a point on the point cloud, and the interface displays the coordinates of the point. | ![]() |
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Measure: Point-Point | Click middle mouse button to select two points, the interface displays the coordinates of the two points and calculates the distance between the two points. | ![]() |
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Measure: Angle | Click middle mouse button to select three points, the interface displays the coordinates of the three points, and calculates the size of the angle constituted by the three points in turn (with the second point selected as the vertex of the angle). | ![]() |
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Measure: Plane (Circle) | Click middle mouse button to select the three points to fit the circle, the interface displays the coordinates of the three points and calculates the radius of the fitted circle. | ![]() |
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Measure: Plane-Point | Click middle mouse button to select three points to determine the plane, and then select a point outside the plane, the interface displays the coordinates of the four points and calculates the distance from the last point to the plane. | ![]() |
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Measure: ReChoose Point | Cancel the currently selected point. | |
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Measure: Close | Turn off measurement. |