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built-in way to retrieve certain points from cloud and potential bug in Hoops2dView.PointCloudPick

  • 1.  built-in way to retrieve certain points from cloud and potential bug in Hoops2dView.PointCloudPick

    Posted 22 days ago
    Edited by Ronny Schneider 22 days ago
      |   view attached

    Hi,

    what's the most performant way to get a list of Point3D's either within a certain radius or box around a given Point3D (not station), assuming I have list of GUID's of all currently visible cloud regions.

    To get that center point I use Hoops3dView.PointCloudPick, that works in 3D. But in planview the Hoops2dView.PointCloudPick always returns NaN. Is this a bug?

    I'm currently building my own cloudpoint Octree during macro startup and after a ViewfilterChange. That is time consuming at first but works reasonably well during runtime.

    Box filtering is quite a bit faster than circular.



    ------------------------------
    Ronny Schneider
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  • 2.  RE: built-in way to retrieve certain points from cloud and potential bug in Hoops2dView.PointCloudPick

    Posted 22 days ago

    Hey Ronny, 
    Any chance you have played with the FilterByBox in the Sde library?

    Something like this. 

    // Given: Point3D center, double halfSize, IPointCloudRegion region

// 1. Get the SDE CloudId from the region integration
var integration = region.Integration.Provide<IPointCloudRegionIntegration>();
var cloudId = integration.Provide<Sde.CloudId>();
if (cloudId == null) return;

// 2. Build an axis-aligned box filter around your center point
var origin = new Point3D(
    center.X - halfSize,
    center.Y - halfSize,
    center.Z - halfSize);
var axisX = new Vector3D(2 * halfSize, 0, 0);
var axisY = new Vector3D(0, 2 * halfSize, 0);
var axisZ = new Vector3D(0, 0, 2 * halfSize);

var boxFilter = new Sde.FilterByBox(
    origin.ToSde(), axisX.ToSde(), axisY.ToSde(), axisZ.ToSde());

// 3. Create a filtered Cloud - SDE handles spatial culling internally
using (var cloud = new Cloud(cloudId))
using (var filtered = new Cloud(cloud, boxFilter, SdePointSource.Full, out var exclusion))
{
    exclusion?.Dispose();

    var results = new List<Point3D>();
    foreach (SdePointInfo pt in filtered)
    {
        results.Add(pt.FromSde());
    }
}


    ------------------------------
    Bryce Haire
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 3.  RE: built-in way to retrieve certain points from cloud and potential bug in Hoops2dView.PointCloudPick

    Posted 21 days ago
    Edited by Ronny Schneider 21 days ago

    Hello Bryce,

    thanks for the code.

    no, I wasn't aware of it and how to use it, and it doesn't seem to be straight forward as the error below shows.

    It's not a standard Trimble.Sdk assembly and mostly undocumented in the object browser.

    We still haven't got any decent documentation on how the pointcloud database works internally and how everything is intertwined.

    The last reasonably decent documentation we received was for IFC objects, and that dates more than 1 year back, https://community.trimble.com/viewdocument/2023-2024-bimifc-schema-update?CommunityKey=8a262af4-a35e-4e9a-9dd3-191cc785899a&tab=librarydocuments

    There are database files, guids, the standard serial numbers, several types of integrations???, what does SDE stand for, spatial data engine?? ......

    A decent tree-like view would be good for this.

    And please keep in mind that you're advertising the macro language to be used with IronPython, no help/samples/documentation/templates are provided to use C#.

    A lot of the above code doesn't work straight away in IronPython. I had to rely heavily on a chatbot. I finally got to the point where I do get a filter result, but now I'm stuck on looping over the filtered list. 

    So far, I've got to this point

                closesttocursor = self.activeForm.View.PointCloudPick(e.MousePosition.X, e.MousePosition.Y, False)

            # for some reason those SDE classes are stored in a separate assembly
            clr.AddReference ("SDE.NET")
            from Trimble.Sde import Cloud as SdeCloud, FilterByBox as SdeFilterByBox, CloudId as SdeCloudId, SdePointSource

            # visibleclouds contains region objects of type  Trimble.Vce.Data.Scanning.ExposedPointCloudRegion or DefaultExposedPointCloudRegion
            # in IronPython the <> need to be []
            cloudId = self.visibleclouds[0].Integration.Provide[SdeCloudId]()
            cloud = SdeCloud(cloudId)

            # casting with an extension like ToSde() doesn't work in IronPython
            # either import
            # from System.Windows.Media.Media3D import Point3D as SdePoint3D, Vector3D as SdeVector3D
            # and build the objects manually
            # or import Point3DExtensions
            # problem with those is that they are spread over multiple assemblies, you need to add the proper reference
            # Point3DExtensions.ToSde is in Namespace "Trimble.Vce.Geometry" but inside "Trimble.Vce.Scanning"
            # if you reference "Trimble.Vce.Geometry" only you won't have access to the methods in Trimble.Vce.Scanning->Namespace:Trimble.Vce.Geometry.Point3DExtensions
            # but once you reference "Trimble.Vce.Scanning" it's enough to import from "Trimble.Vce.Geometry"

            clr.AddReference ("Trimble.Vce.Scanning")
            from Trimble.Vce.Geometry import Point3DExtensions
            # now you can do the following

            r = self.captureradius.Distance
            boxorigin = Point3DExtensions.ToSde(Point3D(closesttocursor.X - r, closesttocursor.Y - r, closesttocursor.Z - r))
            # or build the correct type objects manually, as for instance the vectors below; is probably simpler than finding the assembly the extensions are hidden in
            boxfilter = SdeFilterByBox(boxorigin, SdeVector3D(2*r, 0, 0), SdeVector3D(0, 2*r, 0), SdeVector3D(0, 0, 2*r))

            exclusion = clr.StrongBox[SdeCloud]()
            filtered = SdeCloud(cloud, boxfilter, SdePointSource.Full, exclusion) # and here it fails, it wants more arguments

    it fails on the last step with "expected IntPtr, got NoneType".

    From the VS object browser

    Cloud(Trimble.Sde.Cloud sourceCloud, Trimble.Sde.Filter filter, Trimble.Sde.SdePointSource pointSource,
out Trimble.Sde.Cloud filterExclusion, Trimble.Sde.ProgressionDelegate progressionCallback = null, IntPtr userData = null)

    it seems to ignore the missing "ProgressionDelegate", but insists to get the "IntPtr"

    using

                filtered = SdeCloud(cloud, boxfilter, SdePointSource.Full, exclusion, None, None)

    it complains about NoneTypes

    using IntPtr with an arbitrary number works, why does it need this pointer? what is this pointer?

                filtered = SdeCloud(cloud, boxfilter, SdePointSource.Full, exclusion, None, IntPtr(0))

    But now I'm unable to loop over the filtered list. It says it contains some points, but the enumerator is empty. I have the feeling this is using some extension again.

    I tried

    filtered.GetEnumerator()

    but doesn't work either



    ------------------------------
    Ronny Schneider
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 4.  RE: built-in way to retrieve certain points from cloud and potential bug in Hoops2dView.PointCloudPick

    Posted 21 days ago
    Edited by Ronny Schneider 21 days ago

    I found the issue with the enumerator.

    It's an absolute MUST to dispose of the cloud object, otherwise something gets completely messed up internally. It looked as if all enumerating/looping in any kind of list got broken.

    Only a TBC restart fixed it.

    This works

                boxorigin = Point3DExtensions.ToSde(Point3D(closesttocursor.X - r, closesttocursor.Y - r, closesttocursor.Z - r))
            # or build the correct type objects manually, as for instance the vectors below; is probably simpler than finding the assembly the extensions are hidden in
            boxfilter = SdeFilterByBox(boxorigin, SdeVector3D(2*r ,0, 0), SdeVector3D(0, 2*r, 0), SdeVector3D(0, 0, 2*r))
            
            for region in self.visibleclouds:
                # visibleclouds contains region objects of type  Trimble.Vce.Data.Scanning.ExposedPointCloudRegion or DefaultExposedPointCloudRegion
                # in IronPython the <> need to be []
                #cloudId = region.Integration.Provide[SdeCloudId]()
                cloud = SdeCloud(region.Integration.Provide[SdeCloudId]())
      
                
                exclusion = clr.StrongBox[SdeCloud]()
                filtered = SdeCloud(cloud, boxfilter, SdePointSource.Full, exclusion, None, IntPtr(0))
                exclusion.Dispose() # !!!!!! super important
                for p in filtered:
                    self.overlayBag.AddMarker(Point3D(p.Coordinates.X, p.Coordinates.Y, p.Coordinates.Z), GraphicMarkerTypes.BigDot_IndependentColor, Color.Orange.ToArgb(), "", 0, 0, 1.0)

                cloud.Dispose() # !!!!!! super important

    Is quite a bit slower than my own Octree approach. That one needs quite some time to create the lookup table but seems much faster for basic box filtering where the box axes are aligned to world.
    ------------------------------
    Ronny Schneider
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 5.  RE: built-in way to retrieve certain points from cloud and potential bug in Hoops2dView.PointCloudPick

    Posted 21 days ago
      |   view attached

    Blue selection is using my Octree. That one needs as uncompiled Python script 18 sec to populate the 875000 points, but refresh rate is much better, at least with an axes aligned simple box. With a circle it gets similar to the built-in rate.

    Orange selection is with FilterByBox.



    ------------------------------
    Ronny Schneider
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 6.  RE: built-in way to retrieve certain points from cloud and potential bug in Hoops2dView.PointCloudPick

    Posted 16 days ago

    I found a bottle neck, where I don't know if this is a Python issue.

    Iterating over the filtered cloud enumerator

                    for p in filtered:

    , which usually contains about 100 points takes about 0.1 seconds. This is way too slow. Creating the "filtered" object from a 20-million-point cloud takes the same time.

    If I manually create 1000 points and add them to the overlaybag it only takes 0.001 seconds, at least 100 times faster. No idea why the enumerator is so slow.



    ------------------------------
    Ronny Schneider
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 7.  RE: built-in way to retrieve certain points from cloud and potential bug in Hoops2dView.PointCloudPick

    Posted 16 days ago

    The enumerator requires a P/Invoke call per point retrieved unfortunately. The overhead with that will add slowness.  



    ------------------------------
    Bryce Haire
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 8.  RE: built-in way to retrieve certain points from cloud and potential bug in Hoops2dView.PointCloudPick

    Posted 15 days ago

    That is rather disappointing. How does the GetMinMaxPoints do it then? This one also needs to inspect/loop all filtered points but needs just around 0.01 seconds. Not superfast, but acceptable.

    There is no way to quickly get a list with coordinates, GetPoints()?

    Filtering from several hundred million points being sometimes faster than retrieving that filtered list of coordinates is definitely worth improving.



    ------------------------------
    Ronny Schneider
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 9.  RE: built-in way to retrieve certain points from cloud and potential bug in Hoops2dView.PointCloudPick

    Posted 15 days ago

    GetMinMaxPoints requires 1 P/Invoke call, where the calculation is done itself in the library we're using. There is no equivalent "GetAllPoints" available to us. 



    ------------------------------
    Bryce Haire
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 10.  RE: built-in way to retrieve certain points from cloud and potential bug in Hoops2dView.PointCloudPick

    Posted 14 days ago

    Disappointing. Need to try to avoid it then, although I'd love to have it as selection overlay and to compute a best fit plane on the fly.

    A few more questions:

    • in case of multiple cloud regions on the screen, I assume it would be faster to combine them first into one Cloud object and use the filter just once, instead of creating a cloud object from every region and filtering every single one separate?
      • is this even possible?
      • I haven't managed to get this one to work yet
    • any idea why the Hoops2dView.PointCloudPick doesn't return a valid result
    • is there an event that is being triggered when a LimitBox's shape is changed? I know the one when it's being activated, but not upon changing i.e. its size
      • I'm wondering if it's worthwhile to create a filtered cloud based on the limitbox and then in a second step having to filter just that pre-filtered cloud when the cursor is moving, would also increase speeds


    ------------------------------
    Ronny Schneider
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 11.  RE: built-in way to retrieve certain points from cloud and potential bug in Hoops2dView.PointCloudPick

    Posted 12 days ago
    Edited by Ronny Schneider 12 days ago

    Referring to the previous post:

    • Point 1
      • I managed to do it the following way, is pretty quick 
                self.activeForm = TrimbleOffice.TheOffice.MainWindow.AppViewManager.ActiveView
        try:
            self.activeViewFilter = self.currentProject.Concordance.Lookup(self.activeForm.ViewFilter)  
        except:
            self.activeViewFilter = None

        if self.activeViewFilter:
            # create SdeCloud for each region and add to tmp list
            sdecloudstmp = []
            self.visiblesdecloud = None
            for region in ExposedPointCloudRegionContainer.GetInstance(self.currentProject):
                if self.activeViewFilter.IsVisible(region):
                    sdecloudstmp.Add(SdeCloud(region.Integration.Provide[SdeCloudId]()))

            # create SdeCloud object for all visible regions            
            if sdecloudstmp.Count > 0:
                self.visiblesdecloud = SdeCloud(sdecloudstmp, None, IntPtr(0))

                # cleanup tmp objects and list
                for c in sdecloudstmp:
                    c.Dispose()
                sdecloudstmp = None
    • Point 3 is not worth pursuing
      • I tested some code that creates a box filtered SdeCloud with a box that is 10 times bigger than the one just used below the cursor
      • trying to avoid filtering from 200 million points upon every cursor movement
      • that prefiltered SdeCloud is only recreated if the box around the cursor crosses it; centering on the current cursor position
      • that way, instead of filtering from 200 million points, the box around the cursor had to filter from an SdeCloud with only 200000 points or even less
      • no speed improvement; still took about 0.07 to 0.1 seconds; curious why; Point 1 definitely combines them and improves speed
      • in this example it seems I'm stuck with ~15 FPS just for filtering and dropping to ~5-7 FPS if I want the point coordinates
      • the lower the point count in the original region the faster it is
    •  when applying the filter, what's the exact difference between the 2 SdePointSource enums? What is CloudCache referring too? 



    ------------------------------
    Ronny Schneider
    ------------------------------

    Original Message


  • 12.  RE: built-in way to retrieve certain points from cloud and potential bug in Hoops2dView.PointCloudPick

    Posted 11 days ago

    Ran into another hiccup.

    How can I 'AND' the view filter's visibility state of regions and scans?

    I only want to filter over the points currently visible on the screen.

    The following adds the whole region with all scan stations, not all of the latter might be ticked to be visible

                for region in ExposedPointCloudRegionContainer.GetInstance(self.currentProject):
                if self.activeViewFilter.IsVisible(region):
                    sdecloudstmp.Add(SdeCloud(region.Integration.Provide[SdeCloudId]()))

    adding an additional step and check the scan visibility is getting me close, but will add the whole scan station instead of the few points included in the current region

                for region in ExposedPointCloudRegionContainer.GetInstance(self.currentProject):
                if self.activeViewFilter.IsVisible(region):
                    #sdecloudstmp.Add(SdeCloud(region.Integration.Provide[SdeCloudId]()))
                    for scan in region.Scans:
                        if self.activeViewFilter.IsVisible(scan):
                            sdecloudstmp.Add(SdeCloud(scan.Integration.Provide[SdeScanId]())) # this adds all points of the scan, I just need the ones visible in that region


    ------------------------------
    Ronny Schneider
    ------------------------------

    Original Message