Bentley Pointools V8i – Quick Start Guide

Version 02.00.01.00

Written by Bentley

We understand that you may be eager to start working with Bentley Pointools before reading through the entire user guide, so we have created this quick tutorial to show you:

• How to load a POD file
• Navigate around the point cloud
• Change some view settings; and
• Create a basic animation.

For help with other tools, hit F1 in the Bentley Pointools app to open the full User Guide.

POD Files

POD (Point Database) files are Bentley's native point cloud format. These files enable rapid background loading and compact file size through compression.

All objects are inserted by using the Attach command. The Open and Save options are for PTL project files only.

To view a POD file, select Attach from the Home ribbon menu. Alternatively use the Ctrl+I keyboard shortcut.

Navigate to and select a POD file in the file browser, and click Open.  The point cloud will take a few seconds to cache and will then start to appear on screen.  The second time you open the same POD file it will load instantly.

Navigating

Bentley Pointools' controls have been designed to give you full navigation using the mouse only:

• The Left Mouse Button (LMB) Rotates the view around the target
• The Middle Mouse Button (MMB) Pans the view
• The LMB+RMB together Zooms in and out
• The mouse scroll wheel Zooms in and out.

The Zoom and Pan modes in the Navigate tool menu can be useful when using a laptop that has only Left and Right click buttons.

Rotation of the view occurs around the View Target. To change the View Target press X on your keyboard whilst the mouse cursor is hovering over the point you want to make the target. Alternatively you can use the Set View Target tool in the toolbar on the upper right of the viewport window.

Changing Shader Settings

Shader settings can be changed to enhance the clarity of the point cloud. Intensity and RGB Colour can be toggled by pressing the keyboard shortcut I.

Intensity Mapping - Intensity values are mapped to an intensity colour ramp. The default ramp is a greyscale ramp but can be changed. The contrast (scaling) and brightness (offset) of the mapping can also be adjusted.

Adjusting Contrast and Brightness:

• Open the Shader Settings menu by clicking on the Shader Settings icon in the Point Clouds ribbon.
• Change the Contrast by dragging the Contrast slider. The view updates as the value is adjusted.
• Change the Brightness by dragging the Brightness slider.

Colour (RGB) - Enable colour by ticking the Show RGB box in the Shader Settings menu.  If no colour is displayed it is likely that your POD file does not contain colour.

Animation

Once the appropriate shader settings are adjusted to provide an optimum display, the point cloud can be rendered as a fly through animation.

• Click on the Animation Wizard button on the animation toolbar below the viewport and select Fly Through.  The Animation Wizard creates a 3 dimensional path along which the camera travels. The path is calculated from user-defined key-frames and the smooth movement between these key-frames is achieved by interpolation of the camera position. 
• Use the Enter Position button to add a key-frame. This button records the current camera position in the viewport. Each click will add a key-frame to the animation path. Navigate in the viewport to the starting position (the dialog box will stay on screen), press Enter Position to add the first key-frame. 
• Navigate again to move the camera to a second point, and press Enter Position again, this is the second key-frame. 
• Continue this process of moving the camera, and pressing Enter Position until the animation path has been defined.  When complete, press Next. 
• Set the length in seconds for the animation; the default is 30 seconds.  Leave the FPS (frames per second) at 25. Press Next again.
• Select Try to Keep Constant Speed (this spaces the key-frames in such a way that the overall speed of movement of the camera is kept constant). 
• Select Finish and Create Keys.

The view will jump to the start frame of the animation and a few white boxes on the timeline at the bottom of the viewport will be displayed.  These denote the key-frames.  Press the Play button to review the animation path. The animation will be played at real time speed so the quality of display will be reduced.

Make any adjustments and then proceed to rendering.

Rendering

• Click on the Render Settings button on the animation toolbar below the viewport. The Right-docked-menu opens. The From and To boxes show the start and end frames of the animation
• Change the Resolution to HDTV 1280x720 from the drop down list. This is a large enough resolution to give a crisp end result without taking too long to render each frame.
• Ensure Output Video File is checked, and click Browse to set a filename for the animation.
• Choose AVI or MOV and select a video compression Codec from the drop down list. If there are only a few present select Cinepak Codec.                                         
• Set the Quality to Anti-aliased, and select Render!  If you haven't saved, you will be prompted to do this now.

The anti-aliased renderer window will open and display the current frame.  Note that each frame is rendered in full detail.  Render speed will vary, for these settings but expect it to take around 1 second per frame. Once finished the produced AVI or MOV file can be played back in the associated media player.

 

Do you have questions regarding Pointools V8i or other software solutions? Benefit from our free technical consulting.