This article explains how to adjust the visual display of a point cloud in the 3D viewer and tune performance for different hardware. The display controls are grouped in the viewer sidebar under Color, Modes, Points, Rendering, and Performance.
What you will need
An Emesent account with Aura Cloud access.
A point cloud open in the 3D viewer. See View and navigate point clouds.
A modern web browser. Google Chrome on a desktop or laptop is recommended.
Display controls
The controls below adjust how the point cloud looks in the viewer. Camera modes, zoom sensitivity, clipping planes, and keyboard shortcuts are covered separately in View and navigate point clouds.
Color
The Color section sets how points are colored.
Control | Effect |
|---|---|
Color by | Sets the attribute used to color points, such as Intensity (the strength of the laser return signal). Other attributes color points by values such as elevation or range. |
Color ramp | Sets the gradient applied to the selected attribute, such as Warm (a yellow to red gradient). The Min and Max fields set the value range the ramp is mapped across. |
Modes
Control | Effect |
|---|---|
Show 360° panos | Shows or hides the 360° pano markers in the viewer. Available only when the scan includes 360° imagery. See Use the 360° panos. |
Points
The Points section adjusts how individual points are drawn.
Under Shape, select Circle for points that blend smoothly, or Square for points that define edges more sharply.
Drag the Size slider to set the point size. Use a smaller size for detail work, or a larger size for visibility from a distance.
Turn Eye Dome Lighting on to add shading that makes edges and depth easier to see.
Rendering
Control | Effect |
|---|---|
Show grid | Shows or hides a reference grid in the 3D scene that helps gauge scale and orientation. |
Show cursor | Keeps the cursor on screen while clicking and dragging in the 3D scene. |
Point cloud budget (m) | Sets the maximum number of points rendered, in millions (range 1M to 50M). Reduce it if performance is slow, or increase it for more detail. |
Background color | Sets the color shown behind the point cloud. Pick a color from the gradient or enter a Hex, R, G, or B value. |
Performance
Control | Effect |
|---|---|
Display quality | Controls the resolution quality. Set to Automatic to let the viewer adjust quality to maintain performance, or Manual to keep a fixed quality. |
Tune performance on lower-spec hardware
If navigation stutters or the viewer is slow on a large scan, adjust these controls to favor performance:
Reduce the Point cloud budget (m) so fewer points are rendered.
Set Display quality to Automatic.
Confirm the browser is using the dedicated GPU. See Aura Cloud troubleshooting for the steps.
Outcome
The point cloud is displayed in a way that suits the scan, the task, and the available hardware.