Complete registration

After the scans are in roughly the correct position, Point Cloud Manager can further improve the registration using its in-built Inter-cloud registration function.

To do this:

1. Right-click the group containing the scans to be registered and select Cloud All. This brings up the Inter-cloud registration options window as shown below:

   

   All the scans to be registered in this way must be loaded in both the 3D and BubbleView first.

2. Set the following options:

   • Maximum iterations: The number of times the Inter-cloud process will run before completing unless it reaches the minimum threshold option as described below. Increasing this value will lead to better registration but will also take longer for the function to complete.

   • Lock Distance: The distance Point Cloud Manager looks for neighboring points within when calculating the registration. The value entered here is the starting value. This value will decrease as the processing progresses.

   • Minimum Threshold: The error per point used that the Inter-cloud process aims for. When the value is reached, the process will complete unless the process reaches the maximum iterations value.

3. Press OK to start the Inter-cloud registration procedure. This may take some time depending on the number of scans to be registered and the initial placement of the scans.

During the Inter-cloud process, if the group node is selected in the Registration tab, the attributes window will display information about the process as shown below. This can be used to gauge how far along the process is.

After the Inter-cloud process is complete, the attributes window will return to displaying information about the group. There will be an additional entry at the bottom of the attributes window called Last Cloud Registration Result.

After the Registration is complete, it is good practice to update the scan headers. This stores the position, rotation and targets in the .zfc file itself rather than just the project file. This means that registered scans can be added to another project still in the correct position. This is also useful for providers delivering to users using AVEVA Point Cloud Manager Modeller or AVEVA Laser Modeller.

To update the scan headers, right-click the group node and select Scan Headers > Update ZFC Headers.

To update the ZFS scan headers, right-click the group node and select Scan Headers > Update ZFS Headers. This preserves the positions of the aligned scans when used in a different project. You can then use the ZFS scan files to produce different outputs (such as Cloudworx, TruView and so on), without having to re-register the scans in another registration toolset.