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 use selected lines or to freehand draw 2 point lines or multipoint lines, define the 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) or pre defined polygons to select point cloud data that falls within the circle or polygon boundary.
Smart select can also extract data along cross section lines computed at intervals perpendicular to a drawn or selected 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. The data that is pulled onto the path lines can be filtered to find the Highest, Lowest, Average or Median values at intervals along the path, line or polygon as well as the unfiltered lines as a cross check or review of all of the point data that was utilized to create the filtered 3D linework.
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 and process 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 or path / line mode.
Action
There are five 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 sections (and add to point cloud region)
- Select by elevation (no point cloud region extraction)
- Filter by path or line (no point cloud region extraction)
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.
The command dialog for this mode looks as follows
Target region
Select or create a new target point cloud region for the extracted data
Export target region to file checkbox
When checked, a file of the same name as the target region will be written in .las file format. The file will be stored in the project folder. The file will contain all of the point cloud data selected by the process in a single file.
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.
Compute statistics checkbox
When enabled, the selected point cloud data is analyzed and key statistics computed and reported to the results pane. Note that this analysis can take some time to process on large point clouds. This applies to data selected using the By Polygon or By Circle methods only.
Statistics computed for each selected polygon or circle include
Mean X
Mean Y
Mean Z
Median X
Median Y
Median Z
Variance X
Variance Y
Variance Z
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.
Compute statistics checkbox
When enabled, the selected point cloud data is analyzed and key statistics computed and reported to the results pane. Note that this analysis can take some time to process on large point clouds. This applies to data selected using the By Polygon or By Circle methods only.
Statistics computed for each selected polygon or circle include
Mean X
Mean Y
Mean Z
Median X
Median Y
Median Z
Variance X
Variance Y
Variance Z
Select by elevation
This mode is ideal for horizontal plane slicing through vertical or near vertical structures like shafts, buildings, dams, elevator shafts, columns to analyze actual vs design differences or structural movements over time.
in this mode you can slice a point cloud using horizontal plane slices with two elevation offsets above and or below the elevation planes defined. All of the selected points in the point cloud will be pulled onto the defined elevation plane to create an unfiltered line, and the selected point cloud data can be filtered to find a minimum, maximum, average and median offset line in relation to a seed line or lines.
Source region
Select the source point cloud region from which to extract the 3D points for the elevation slices. The pull down list defines all currently available point cloud regions.
Note: The source point cloud region needs to be visible in the view filter manager for the process to function correctly. If the source region is hidden at the time of execution, no data will be extracted.
Single elevation or Elevation intervals
Select the method that you wish to use for the data extraction process. The options are
Single elevation - this will extract data at a single elevation from the point cloud. When selected, define the elevation you require as well as a top and bottom offset value e.g. extract elevation 96.00 with a top offset of 0.05 and a bottom offset of -0.05. This would extract data between 95.95 and 96.05. Note that the offsets can be entered as positive or negative numbers, so both values can be above or below the elevation requested i.e. Selecting 96.00 and 0.10 and 0.05 would extract the point data that lies between 96.05 and 96.10.
Elevation intervals - this will extract multiple bands of points from the selected point cloud region. When selected, enter the elevation interval e.g. 1.0, the top offset and bottom offset e.g. 0.05 and -0.05, the start elevation and end elevation e.g. 90.00 and 93.00. This would extract data within the following elevation bands
89.95 to 90.05
90.95 to 91.05
91.95 to 92.05
92.95 to 93.05
Note that the offsets can be entered as positive or negative numbers, so both values can be above or below the elevation requested i.e. Selecting 96.00 and 0.10 and 0.05 would extract the point data that lies between 96.05 and 96.10.
Filters
The extracted point data will be pulled onto the defined elevation planes. The points are then connected together into an unfiltered line that includes all of the selected points - this is the unfiltered plane option checkbox. In addition you can select to create any of the following additional filter lines. To create the additional lines, you will need to select a seed line or lines (design shape), an interval at which to compute the required filter values, and a filter radius within which points will be sampled around the interval location. The filters are applied to the extracted interval points to determine the Outermost, Innermost, Average and median offset values and associated 3D lines.
Outermost - in the event of a closed shape like a shaft or building outline, this is created using the points with the maximum offsets from the seed line.
Innermost - in the event of a closed shape like a shaft or building outline, this is created using the points with the minimum offsets from the seed line.
Average - in the event of a closed shape like a shaft or building outline, this is created using the points with the average offsets from the seed line.
Median - in the event of a closed shape like a shaft or building outline, this is created using the points with the median offsets from the seed line.
Selection methods
There are two selection methods that can be used to select the point cloud data that will be sliced in this filtering process.
By polygons - when this option is selected, select the polygons that you wish to extract point cloud data within from the source point cloud region.
By circle - when this option is selected, you can elect to use Free snap only or All selected snaps, and then select the center point and radius point for each circle of data to process. When Free snap only is selected, this will eliminate any possibility of selecting any object (point or line) by accident, however you can only use this mode in the plan view. When All selected snaps is selected, this will honor the running snaps that are currently selected using the Snap button at the base of the TBC graphics window.
Disable zoom extents checkbox
When using polygon select methods, the graphics window needs to zoom to the extents of all selected polygons or the selected circle diameter so that all possible data that falls within those shapes can be selected. If part of the selected polygon areas are off screen, this will impact the selection of the point data that lies off screen if the disable checkbox is enabled.
We recommend that you leave this checkbox disabled unless you need to enable it for some specific reason.
Apply
Click the apply button to trigger the extraction and filtering process.
Filter by path or line
This mode is ideal for slicing vertically through the plane defined by 2D curvilinear lines, in order to elevate the 2D lines to 3D using smart filtering methods to determine the High, Low, Average, Median and Unfiltered lines along the paths of the selected 2D lines.
Source region
Select the source point cloud region from which to extract the 3D points for the elevation slices. The pull down list defines all currently available point cloud regions.
Note: The source point cloud region needs to be visible in the view filter manager for the process to function correctly. If the source region is hidden at the time of execution, no data will be extracted.
Use reference line checkbox
When you are working with 2D lines that represent road features e.g. edge of pavement, lane markings, medians, curb or sidewalk lines etc. You may want to calculate the elevations of the selected lines at the same stations along a selected reference line or alignment. If this is the case, enable the check box and then select a reference line or alignment.
Once a reference line has been selected, you may also want to define a station range of the reference line (From and to Station), to limit the filter calculations to just that station range. Select the range option from the following options
- Start to location 1
- Location 1 to location 2
- Location 1 to end
- Start to end
When a location based option is selected. select the station value that you wish to use along the reference line for that location. You can enter a station or select the location graphically with the mouse.
Sampling settings
There are two levels of sampling available. The primary sampling is always applied, the secondary sampling is optional. The intent of the secondary filter is to identify primary filter locations that may fall within a hole or on a bump in the point cloud e.g. a pothole or surface debris on a road model. The secondary filter extracts two additional locations around the primary locations, at a user defined linear offset before and after the primary location. The computed elevation when secondary filter is applied, is computed using a weighted average method, that to a large extent removes the effect of the pothole / debris at the primary sampling location.
In addition to the sampling interval, all nodes (start, end and other nodes) along the source lines are also computed. Where a computed sample location is close to a line node location, the line node will be computed and the sampling location eliminated from the line elevating process.
The primary and secondary filter uses a filter radius, to extract a core of points that fall within the diameter of the core, that are then analyzed to determine the Highest, lowest, Average and median elevation values at the sampling location. In addition, you can define a % of the points to be used e.g. 80%, which will eliminate the highest and lowest 10% of values before determining the highest, Lowest, Average and median values.
In addition to the filter lines defined above, an unfiltered line is also created from all of the points that are sampled. All of the extracted points are pulled onto the path of the line, and are then connected in order of increasing station. This is the raw data line, and can be used to check / verify the accuracy of the High, Low, Average and median filter lines that are created.
Sampling settings
Primary sampling interval
The seed lines that you select for the process will become 3D lines after the process has been completed. The process will compute elevation values at each node along the selected seed lines and at intervals defined by this setting. If you set this value to e.g. 5.0’, then samples are taken at 5, 10, 15 …etc. along the line.
Sample radius
The sample is extracted at the sample interval, within a core of radius defined here. i.e. if you define an interval of 5.0’ and a sample radius of 0.1’ then a circle of 0.1 radius is drawn at each of the sample interval locations and all points in the source point cloud region that fall within the sample circle are selected for filter analysis.
Sample %
The sample will use 100% of the data that falls within the sampling radius core. If you want to exclude any extreme outliers in the data, you can elect to only use a % of the total number of points extracted in the radius core sample. If you enter 80% it will eliminate 10% at the high and low end of the data sample.
Secondary sampling offset checkbox and value
If you want to apply the secondary sampling, check this checkbox and enter a sampling offset. You want the offset to be greater than 2x the sampling radius value. This will create two additional sampling points for each sample interval location. For example you may enter 5.0’ for the primary sampling interval and then 1.0’ for the secondary sampling offset. This will create samples at 4,5,6 and then 9,10,11 etc. along the line in addition to any node locations defined in the seed lines. If you use a sample radius of e.g. 0.1 this would be a good solution. If you used a sampling radius of 0.5 for example, then this would be a poor selection as it is exactly 2x the sample radius.
Filter options
When creating the 3D lines from the 2D seed lines, you may want to derive any one or more of the following depending on the use case of the derived 3D linework. The unfiltered line comprises all the extracted 3D points and acts as a check line for the processing. The average or median option are the most likely elevations of the lines, the highest and lowest options are the worst case alternatives for the line elevations.
Filter highest
Filter lowest
Filter average
Filter median
Save unfiltered line
Offset source line checkbox
In some scenarios, the selected line(s) (normally one line at a time in this mode) may lie at the top or base of a near vertical face e.g. a curb line or a retaining wall line. In this case, you may want to offset the source line to derive the elevation values at an offset to the source line, and then apply those to the source line in its true position e.g. for a curb line, it would be wise to compute the elevation at an offset > the filter radius defined, so that the values are determined from a relatively flat surface and so that no points on the curb face are detected, this can also reduce the likelihood of detecting points on debris surfaces that may lie along the selected seed line. Once elevations are computed, you can apply a vertical offset to the computed elevations, to allow for any slope of the ground between the computation line and the seed line.
Horizontal Offset - the offset from the seed line for the computation line
Vertical Offset - the vertical offset to apply to the computed elevations to adjust for ground slope between the computation line and the seed line location.
Apply
Click the apply button to trigger the extraction and filtering process.
Use Case Notes
Note: 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).
Note: When secondary filtering is applied, the computations will take ~3x longer to calculate the filter lines because the command has to do 3x the number of data extractions and data calculations to derive each elevation value.
Note: Selecting 2 or more filter line options, does not cost you much extra processing time, the secondary filtering has the most significant impact on processing time.
Note: We recommend using the Point Cloud processor first to intelligently reduce the point cloud to fewer points for the source region - this will significantly reduce the time required to compute the filtered 3D lines from the reduced point cloud.
Note: When creating the 2D lines for the seed lines, we recommend ensuring that they have sufficient nodes to accurately define the path of the line. You can use straight line and arc or spiral elements in those lines. We also recommend where two or more lines come together, that all lines are given a node at the intersection point, this will allow you to check the elevation accuracy of the elevation values derived from the filtering process.
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