Smart Select Help Pages
Smart Select - Command Overview (Home) - Click Here
Smart Select - Working with CAD Objects - Click Here
Smart Select - Working with Extracted Surface Data - Click Here
How Does Smart Select Work?
Smart select uses the polygon select control in a smarter / quicker way for selecting data that follows a regular or irregular path, and minimizes the effort of selection by 50% or more.
Polygon select as it was defined in TBC is good for selecting data that spreads over an area that can be defined using a polygonal boundary. You can draw the boundary in a clockwise or anticlockwise direction depending on whether you want to select data that falls fully inside or that falls inside and data that crosses the polygon path that you draw. In polygon select mode you also have to ensure that you remember to zoom to the extents of your polygon area before double clicking the last node to close out the polygon and make the selection, otherwise only data that falls inside the polygon area and that is currently visible on screen will be selected.
Smart select allows you to draw either 2 point lines, multipoint lines and define a width of the polygon that follows the path - when the line is completed, the line is offset by the width you defined to create a polygon area, and it defines the polygon as clockwise or anticlockwise depending on whether you select crossing or not. This saves creating a full polygon that follows the path out and back which eliminates 50% of the effort.
Smart select also allows you to select data in a point cloud using a circle (center point and radius) to select point cloud data that falls within the circle.
Smart Select also allows data selection using existing lines or existing polygons, allowing data extraction along the lines, or inside existing or design polygons.
Smart select can also extract data along cross section lines computed at intervals perpendicular to a drawn path, to analyze linear features e.g. Roads, Railroads, Dams, Pipelines etc.
The point cloud data that is selected can be added to a target point cloud region, allowing you to separate data to clean a point cloud, or to create a new point cloud region for further processing.
Point cloud data extracted along drawn paths or selected feature lines can be pulled onto the path / line and used to create a 3D line to represent cross sections or profiles through the point cloud.
Video Demonstration
The following video shows how Smart Select works with Point Cloud Data.
Command Details
The dialog for this mode of operation looks as follows
CAD objects vs Point cloud
For this mode of operation select the Point cloud radio button.
Smart select vs Standard select
The smart select commands provides easy ways to use the Smart Select controls or the standard TBC rectangle or polygon select controls to select the point cloud data. Choose the option that you wish to use.
Inside selection
Point cloud selection only allows inside polygon selection at this stage, there is no support for the Outside method.
Crossing checkbox
With point cloud data, checking the crossing checkbox will select data that falls exactly on the selected polygon line when working in By Polygon mode.
Action
There are three actions that can be applied in the data extraction process as follows
- Select and add to point cloud region
- Select by path or line (and add to point cloud region)
- Select by path and cross section (and add to point cloud region)
Select and add to point cloud region
This is a simple mode that extracts data from one point cloud region using the different selection methods, and does not provide any ability to create 3D lines along the paths / lines selected, or create surface models from the extracted point cloud data.
Target region
Select or create a new target point cloud region for the extracted data
Select by path or line
In this mode you can extract point cloud data into a new or alternative point cloud region using the different selection methods, in addition you can pull the selected data onto the path or source lines to create 3D lines, and you can add the extracted data to a surface model.
Target region
Select or create a new target point cloud region for the extracted data
Add to surface checkbox
If you wish to create a surface from the extracted data, check this checkbox and select or define a new surface model.
Draw 3D path checkbox
If you wish to create a 3D path line along the drawn path or selected lines, check this checkbox. When checked select or create the target layer for the 3D path lines to be created.
Select by path and cross section
In this mode you can extract point cloud data into a new or alternative point cloud region using the different selection methods, in addition you can extract data along cross sections at intervals along the drawn paths or selected lines, in addition you can pull the selected data onto the path, line or cross section lines to create 3D lines, and you can add the extracted data to a surface model.
Source region
In this mode you can only extract data from a single point cloud region at a time. Select the source region from the list of available point cloud regions.
Target region
Select or create a new target point cloud region for the extracted data
Add to surface checkbox
If you wish to create a surface from the extracted data, check this checkbox and select or define a new surface model.
Draw 3D path checkbox
If you wish to create a 3D path line along the drawn path or selected lines, check this checkbox. When checked select or create the target layer for the 3D path lines to be created.
Interval
Define the interval required between the extracted cross sections.
Left offset
Define the length of the cross sections to the left of the selected lines or paths.
Right offset
Define the length of the cross sections to the right of the selected lines or paths.
Selection Method
To select the point cloud data you have several selection methods to choose from as listed below. Choose the method here that you wish to use. The options include
Disable zoom extents checkbox
When using the multipoint line method, TBC requires that all the data that you are selecting be visible graphically in the view prior to making the selection.
As a result, in Smart Select, when you click Apply or use N to start a new selection in multipoint mode, the command automatically zooms to the extents of the polygon area to ensure that all of the data inside the polygon area is selected. If you wish to manage the zoom to extents manually, you can disable the zoom extents function using this checkbox. Be aware that by doing so, you may end up not selecting all of the data intended if the extents of the polygon area are not visible when you click apply or N.
This control only applies for the Multi Point selection method.
Two point
In this mode you will select two locations that define a single segment line, the line will be offset by the selection width (see below) and a polygon created, inside which the point cloud data will be selected and moved to the target point cloud region.
Multi Point
In this mode you will select multiple locations that define a multi segment line, the line will be offset by the selection width (see below) and a polygon created, inside which the point cloud data will be selected and moved to the target point cloud region.
By line(s)
In this mode you will select one or more existing lines e.g. Design Lines, Feature Lines, Section Lines etc. that can be single or multi segment lines, the selected lines will be offset by the selection width (see below) and polygon(s) created, inside which the point cloud data will be selected and moved to the target point cloud region.
By Polygon(s)
In this mode you will select one or more existing polygon areas e.g. phase boundaries, areas of interest, project sections, exclusion areas, inclusion areas, site boundaries etc. inside which the point cloud data will be selected and moved to the target point cloud region.
By circle
In this mode you will select a center point and radius point to define a circle inside which the point cloud data will be selected and moved to the target point cloud region.
Depending on the selection method you choose, the dialog will change to provide the correct data entry / selection processes for the chosen selection method.
Selection width
There are 9 selection width options to choose from, The selection width is used with the two point, multi point and By line methods listed above, to convert the created or selected lines into a polygon. The width value is used along with the path of the lines to create the polygons. The width value selected is the total width of the polygon and is split equally left and right of the defined line i.e. a 10’ width will be 5’ to the left and 5’ to the right of the line.
Here are the width options available
- Narrow - 0.02 ft
- Medium - 0.5 ft
- Wide - 1.0 ft
- People / pole - 3.0 ft
- Car - 9.0 ft
- Truck - 11.0 ft
- Conex Box - 12.0 ft
- Machine - 16.0 ft
- User Defined
When you select User defined, enter the value that you require for the full width of the polygon area along the line(s) selected.
The People / pole, Car, Truck, Conex Box, Machine options are primarily used for point cloud cleanup using two point line method, where you will select two points along the centerline of the object, creating a polygon slightly larger than the object itself, to select, extract and re region the point cloud data to e.g. a junk point cloud region. Cars are typically 7.0 ft, Trucks are 9.0 ft, Conex boxes 10 ft, Machines 14.0 ft wide, however the width options provided expand those widths to ensure that all object data is extracted leaving a clean ground surface behind. While these options can also be used for the line or multiline modes, they were designed for two point line mode to cleanup point clouds.
Two point method
In this mode, you will click location 1 and location 2 and the selection will happen automatically and restart another two point selection method. You can choose to use Free snap or All selected snaps as an option.
Free snap mode temporarily disables all snap modes, and allows free snap only i.e. you can click anywhere in free space in the plan view to define the locations of the 2 point line. Free snap mode is likely the most common use case, however both options are valid.
All selected snaps mode allows normal snaps to operate in the priority defined by the snaps function accessible from the icons at the base of the graphics area.
Draw selection path
draw the required 2 point selection path either free snapping or using the snaps that you have currently defined, after each location pair is defined, the selection will be made and the selected data will be moved to the selected point cloud region.
Multi point method
In this mode, you will click a series of locations that follow a path. When you have completed drawing the path either click Apply or press the N key to start a new path definition. You can choose to use Free snap or All selected snaps as an option.
Free snap mode temporarily disables all snap modes, and allows free snap only i.e. you can click anywhere in free space in the plan view to define the locations of the 2 point line. Free snap mode is likely the most common use case, however both options are valid.
All selected snaps mode allows normal snaps to operate in the priority defined by the snaps function accessible from the icons at the base of the graphics area.
Draw selection path
Draw the required multi point selection path either free snapping or using the snaps that you have currently defined, after each path is defined, the selection will be made and the selected data will be moved to the selected point cloud region.
By line(s) / By polygon(s)
Select one or more lines or polygons (depending on method selected) that you wish to use for the extraction process.
Press N or Apply to execute the selection process.
By circle
Select a center point and radius to define the circle
Free snap mode temporarily disables all snap modes, and allows free snap only i.e. you can click anywhere in free space in the plan view to define the locations of the 2 point line. Free snap mode is likely the most common use case, however both options are valid.
All selected snaps mode allows normal snaps to operate in the priority defined by the snaps function accessible from the icons at the base of the graphics area.
Use Case Notes
We recommend that you break large point cloud regions into sections where possible. The process of extracting point cloud data is much faster e.g. extracting data along 100 lines from 30 million points than extracting data along the same 100 lines from 300 million points in a point cloud (many times faster).
Hotkey Controls
N = Start a new selection and apply the prior selection
Header Bar commands
The following commands are available from the Header Bar of the command
Help
RPS Settings
PDF Manager
Smart Draw
Smart Edit
Smart Elevate
Create Alignment
Create XLINES
Track Region
Append Line
Create Point Cloud Region
Add To Point Cloud Region
Drape Objects on Point Cloud
New
Pressing the New button starts a new selection without executing the current selection i.e. if you have made a mistake in the definition of a path or selecting lines and you want to start over, click the New button.
Apply
Pressing the Apply button executes the current selection and starts a new selection process using the same settings. Pressing the N key on the keyboard does the same thing.
Switch cmd
Pressing the Switch cmd button, provides you with access to other currently running commands and the ability o close the current command or close all running commands. Pressing ESC key on your keyboard calls up the Smart Switch command list at your current cursor location.
Feedback
If you wish to provide feedback or requests for enhancements to the Smart Select for Point Clouds command, please click Reply below.
Smart Select Help Pages
Smart Select - Command Overview (Home) - Click Here
Smart Select - Working with CAD Objects - Click Here
Smart Select - Working with Extracted Surface Data - Click Here