The section plane tool allows you to display only a section of a point cloud.
To make a section plane in the viewer, click on the magnifying glass icon and select the pen option.
The cutting plane is then created and the window to control it is displayed. This also activates orthographic projection mode and places the camera perpendicular to the section plane.
When created, the cutting plane is on the Z axis with a thickness of 1 meter. This is positioned in the center of all the visible point clouds.
When the window for configuring the cutting plan is displayed, the point clouds are displayed with the “Point source ID” attribute, which colors the points according to their station and makes it possible to identify the deviations of the points associated with each station.
From the window displayed at the bottom of the screen, you can configure the thickness, position and axis of the cutting plane. The thickness is distributed on each side of the cutting plane.
It is possible to configure the section plane with the keyboard arrows if these are not used for navigation:
- Up and down to change the thickness.
- Left and right to change the position.
When the axis changes, the section plane is re positioned at the center of the visible point clouds and the camera is re positioned perpendicular to the section plane
In the lower part, it is possible to configure a project north specific to the section plane, this can be defined manually from 0° to 360° or by clicking on the “define new” button.
In this second case, it asks you to make a line by positioning two points. Project North is defined parallel to this line. The north project allows orienting the camera automatically with an optimal orientation, and to align the volumes more easily at their insertions.
Important point: The project north of a section plane works only when it is activated with the configuration window visible on the screen.
It is also possible to indicate whether you want to cut the objects with the cutting plane.
To exit the tool, simply close the window at the bottom of the screen.
There are 2 possibilities to open a previously created cutting plan.
By selecting the tool in the scene menu, and clicking the Settings button. This displays the cutting plane and opens the window to configure it.
The second possibility is to double-click on the section plane in the scene menu. This displays the cutting plane and opens the window to configure it. In addition, it activates the orthographic projection mode and places the camera perpendicular to the cutting plane.
While using the tool. You can turn off orthographic projection mode or move the camera around to get a better view.
In collaborative mode, the remote user must also select the tool in the hierarchy to view the cutting plane.
The section plane tool is not available on mobile.
In case of problem or difficulty, do not hesitate to contact the platform team.