Good morning TBC’ers! Have you ever imported a large point cloud dataset and wished you could simplify your graphic view and focus on just your area of interest? Well, today I will be showing you the Set Limit Box command. The Set Limit Box command displays a customizable planar box in the Plan View or 3D View to select scan points or other objects that you want to view; all objects outside of the box are no longer displayed in the graphic view. You’re able to specify the size, shape, location, and orientation of the limit box using either the Set Limit Box command pane, OR the controls displayed with the limit box in the graphic view. Limit boxes are helpful in hiding extraneous objects in the project, and providing focus only in the area of interest (i.e. a single floor in a multi-floor building).
Although you can display only a single limit box at a time in the Plan View or 3D View, you can create multiple limit boxes with names that you can select to reuse when necessary.
To utilize the Set Limit Box command, follow these steps:
1. Navigate to the Point Clouds Ribbon, and select Limit Box under View:
At the same time the Set Limit Box command displays, a default limit box appears in the selected view. The first time the limit box is activated in a view, it defaults to including all of the objects displayed in the graphic view:
2. In the Set Limit Box command pane, enter in a name in the Name field if you plan to save the limit box to reuse:
3. To change the limit box, complete the edit fields as necessary in the Set Limit Box command pane:
A. Plan View: Specify the box outline color, origin, length/ width/ height, and Z-axis rotation
B. 3D View: Specify box outline color, elevation, origin, length/ width/ height, and X/ Y/ Z-axis rotation
Optionally, use the controls displayed with the limit box in the graphic view to change it:
Plan View
Use click + drag to do the following:
- Move grip (1): Move the limit box in any direction
- Axis grips (2 & 3): Move the limit box north/ south or east/ west. Or, change the Z-axis rotation of the limit box
- Planar grips (4): Change the width (green markers) or length (blue markers) of the limit box. The origin points changes accordingly
- Vertex grips (5): Change the size of the limit box while maintaining the same width/ length ratio. Or, press the Ctrl key when using these grips to make sizing changes without maintaining the same width/ length ratio
3D View
Use click + drag to do the following:
- Move grip (1): Move the limit box in any direction
- Axis grips (2 &3): Move the limit box north/ south or east/ west. Or, change the X-, Y-, and Z-axis rotation of the limit box
- Planar grips (4): Change the width (green markers), length (blue markers), or height (red markers) of the limit box. The origin point changes accordingly
- Vertex grips (5): Change the size of the limit box while maintaining the same width/ length/ height ratio. Or, press the Ctrl key when using these grips to make sizing changes without maintaining the same width/ length/ height ratio
4. Optionally, use the check boxes in the Set Limit Box command pane to display or hide the various limit box controls in the graphic view:
5. Optionally, click any of the following buttons in the Set Limit Box command pane:
A.Reset Axis Rotations: Reset the current axis position back to zero
B.Fit to View: Refit the limit box to the view (AKA include all objects)
C.Create: Save the newly edited limit box so you can reuse it when necessary. Be sure you have first entered an appropriate new name in the Name field. The saved limit box can be selected to use in the Active Limit Box drop-down list in the TBC ribbon
D.Activate/ Deactivate: Activate or deactivate the currently displayed limit box
Note: You can use an active limit box to create a region by selecting the content of the limit box in the graphic view (drag a selection box around it) and select Create Point Cloud Region in Point Clouds > Region. You can also use the Rectangle Select or Polygon Select tool to create a point cloud region with the limit box.
Here is my limit box in the 3D View that focuses just on the church in my point cloud dataset after hitting Close in the Set Limit Box command plane:
I hope this tip comes in handy next time you are working with point clouds in TBC!