[GIS] Converting LiDAR point cloud to 3D mesh

convertlaslidarpoint cloudtin

I have an unstructured point cloud of a street in LAS format (.las), scanned from a driving car. The point cloud also stores RGB information.

Is there any software that can convert the point cloud to a 3D mesh, for example FBX or OBJ? How?

I've tried:

  • Autodesk Recap Pro – it doesn't work with unstructured point clouds.
  • RealityCapture – it's not compatible with LAS format.
  • Pix4D – it requires photos for reconstruction.

Best Answer

Be aware that .las and .obj are not the same type of data, in which the first is composed by points, and the second is a type of surface.

So, even processing the point cloud to output a surface it is needed that the points in the .las file make sense to what is being generated. For example, triangulating first returns (for DSM) or last returns, or returns from class 2 (for DTM).

With that being said, it is possible with LAStools' las2tin. See some examples:

Triangulates only first returns and stores the resulting TIN in OBJ (for DSM).

las2tin -i lidar.las -first_only -o tin.obj

The same, but triangulates only returns classified as ground (class 2, for DTM).

las2tin -i lidar.las -o tin.obj -keep_class 2
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