List of programs for point cloud processing

This is an overview of programs for processing 3D point clouds from appropriate photos or surveys with laser scanners.

Programs for photogrammetric creation of point clouds

The programs create point clouds based on appropriate photos to process them to 3D models, e.g. for meshing.

Product name	Manufacturer	Photogrammetry	Scan data import	Import formats	Processing	Export formats	License	Operating systems
VisionLidar	Geo-Plus	yes	yes	photo, laser scan (PTX, E57)	registration, meshing, georeferencing, orthophoto, DEM, point cloud creation, point cloud filtering, point cloud editing, mesh optimization	mesh, web, point clouds, DSM, geotiff, KML	Proprietary	Windows
123D Catch	Autodesk	yes	no	photo	meshing	Autodesk cloud	Proprietary	Android, Mac, Windows
3DF Zephyr	3DFlow	yes	yes	photo, laser scan (PTX, E57)	registration, georeferencing, orthomosaic, true orthophoto, DSM, point cloud creation, aerial triangulation, densification, photoconsistency based mesh optimization	mesh, point clouds, DSM/DTM, geotiff, KML	Proprietary	Windows
Agisoft MetaShape	Agisoft	yes	yes	photo, LAS, LAZ, e57, PTS	meshing	point data, DSM/DTM, LAS, LAZ, e57, PTS	Proprietary	Windows, Mac, Linux
Reconstructor	Gexcel	yes	yes	LiDAR, UAV, and 3D sensors (.txt, .las, .laz, .e57, .ptx, .pts, .asc, .ply, .csv)	registration, georeferencing, orthophoto, DEM, point cloud creation, point cloud filtering, point cloud editing, mesh optimization	Point cloud in LAS, LAZ, XYZ and PLY, mesh, DSM/DTM, GeoTIFF, PDF report, Contour lines in SHP, DXF and PDF	Proprietary	Windows
Bentley ContextCapture	Bentley Systems	yes	yes	photo, laser scan (PTX, E57)	registration, meshing	mesh, web, point clouds, DSM, geotiff, KML	Proprietary	Windows
ELCOVISON 10	PMS AG	yes	yes	photo, laser scan(PTS, LAS, LAZ, XYZ)	registration, georeferencing, orthophoto, point cloud creation	meshes: PLY, point clouds: PTS, LAS, LAZ, Geotiff, DWG	Proprietary	Windows
Pix4Dmapper	Pix4D	yes	yes	Any photos in jpg and tiff 4K videos in avi, mov, wmv, and mp4	aerial triangulation, point cloud densification, 3D meshing, orthorectification	<2D> • Orthomosaic in GeoTIFF • Map tiles in KML, HTML • Vegetation index map in GeoTIFF • Application map in SHP • Thermal maps in GeoTiff <3D> • 3D PDF for 3D mesh • DSM and DTM in GeoTIFF • 3D textured mesh in OBJ, PLY, DXF, and FBX • 3D level-of-detail (LoD) mesh in SLPK and OSGB • Point cloud in LAS, LAZ, XYZ and PLY • Contour lines in SHP, DXF, and PDF • Vector objects in DXF, SHP, DGN and KML	Proprietary	Windows, Mac, Linux
RealityCapture	Capturing Reality	yes	yes	photo, laser scan (ptx, e57)	registration, meshing	point data, DSM, geotiff	Proprietary	Windows
ReCap Photo	Autodesk	yes	no	photo	meshing	Autodesk cloud, RCM, OBJ, STL	Proprietary	Windows
Trimble Business Center	Trimble	yes	yes	JXL for raw photogrammetry data, LAS, LAZ, e57, PTX, PTS, POD, TDX	registration, georeferencing, orthomosaic, raster DSM, point cloud creation	Point Cloud: LAS, LAZ, e57, PTX, PTS, POD, TDX, TopoDOT, RCP, ASCII Image: GeoTIFF, JPEG, KML/KMZ, 3D PDF CAD: DWG, DXF, SHP, SKP	Proprietary	Windows
VisualSFM	ChangChang Wu	yes	no	photo	sparse point cloud creation, dense point cloud creation	PLY	Proprietary (Free for personal, nonprofit, or academic use)	Windows, Mac, Linux
OpenDroneMap	OpenDroneMap	yes	no	Any photos in jpg and tiff	aerial triangulation, point cloud densification, 3D meshing, orthorectification	<2D> • Orthomosaic in GeoTIFF • Vegetation index map in GeoTIFF • Thermal maps in GeoTiff <3D> • DSM and DTM in GeoTIFF • 3D textured mesh in OBJ, PLY • Point cloud in LAS, LAZ and PLY • Contour lines in SHP, DXF	Free and Open Source	Windows, Mac, Linux

Programs for importing laser scanner data as point clouds

The programs can import data of laser scanners or point clouds to preprocess them for 3D modeling.

Product name	Manufacturer	Photogrammetry	Scan data import	Import formats	Processing	Export formats	Operating systems
RiscanPro	Riegl GmBH	no	Developed for Riegl instruments, but can import point clouds from other sources	RiDB, RXP, LAS	collection, registration, filtering, visualization, colorization, export	ascii, las/laz, dxf, pts, ptz, e57	Windows
Quick Terrain Modeler	Applied Imagery	no	independent of manufacturer	las/laz, dxf,	collection, registration, filtering, visualization, analysis, colorization, export	ascii, BPF, LAS, LAS RGB, LAS/LAZ Custom, QTA	Windows
VisionLidar	Geo-Plus	no	independent of manufacturer	various format	meshing, classifying, coloring, texturing, draping, orthographic projection, merging with CAD or GIS data	point data, obj, ply, pod, las, xyz, dsm, geotiff, ortho, textures	Windows
Pointly	Supper & Supper GmbH	yes	independent of manufacturer	LAS, LAZ	Cloud-Application for storing and visualizing large point clouds. Smart selection tools for fast manual classification, Training data generation for 3D Deep Learning. Offers on-demand Object Detection services.	LAS, LAZ	Web browser
3DF Zephyr	3DFLOW	yes	independent of manufacturer	various scanners, pts, ptx, e57, ply, .fls, .fws, .rdbx, .dp, .zfs	automatic registration with or without targets, layouts, profiles, meshing, contour lines, volume calculation (with or without projection on a reference plane), hollow volume calculation, modelling, coloring, texturing, ortho photo creation, 3d and projection based comparison of surfaces and point clouds, HTML export	point data, obj, ply, fbx, xyz, dsm/dtm, geotiff, orthomosaic, true orthophoto, textures	Windows
Reconstructor	https://gexcel.it/en/software/reconstructor	Yes	independent of manufacturer	Imports scans from 3D laser scanner sensors (.fls, .zfs, .rxp, .3dd, .x3s, .x3m, .clr, .cl3, .dp, .ixf, .nctri)	Data Registration, point cloud automatic registration with or without targets, Noise Reduction, Feature Extraction, volume calculation (with or without projection on a reference plane), Ground Extraction, Measurement, Verification against CAD Model, orthophoto, Point Cloud Editing, Ortho Image measurement and exporting, Visualization File Export, Video Creation, CAD Data Import / Export, Annotation Creation	PTX, LAS, LAZ, OBJ, PTS, PTX, TXT, E57, IGES, STEP, ASC, PLY, PTC, DWG, DXF, IXF	Windows
Bentley Descartes	Bentley Systems	no	independent of manufacturer	various format	meshing, classifying, coloring, texturing, draping, orthographic projection, merging with CAD or GIS data	point data, obj, ply, pod, las, xyz, dsm, geotiff, ortho, textures	Windows
Bloom CE	https://bloomce.com/#!/	no	independent of manufacturer	FLS, ZFC, ZFS, TZF, RCP, e57, PTX, DP, LAS, ASCII, IFC, DWG, DGN, SAT, FBX, DAE, JPG, PNG	Combine as-built point cloud and 3D (CAD) design data for deviation analysis, clash detection and change management. Process point cloud data from, LIDAR, Photogrammetry, SLAM, Laser Triangulation, 360 Photography and more. Register to plane, survey control points, cloud to cloud, CAD and spatial coordinates.	Pointcloud: RCP, e57, PTX, ASCII CAD / Mesh: FBX, OBJ	Windows
CloudCompare	cloudcompare.org	no	xyz,las,laz,ply
Blaze3D	http://buckmartin.de/products/blaze3d.html	no	independent of manufacturer	.stl, .ply, .obj, .off, .xyz, .xyzc, .xyzn, .csv, .psl, .ptx, .gcode, .las, .pts			Windows, Linux
InfiPoints	https://www.elysium-global.com/en/product/infipoints/	no	independent of manufacturer	FLS, FWS, PTX, E57, LAS, DP, ZFS, ZFPRJ, CL3, PTS, TXT	Data Registration, Noise Reduction, Feature Extraction, Point Cloud Grouping, Ground Extraction, Measurement, Collision Detection, Verification against CAD Model, Polygon Generation, Point Cloud Editing, Pipe Modeling, Steel Structure Modeling, Equipment Modeling, Duct Modeling, Ortho Image Export, Visualization File Export, Video Creation, CAD Data Import / Export, Revit Plug-in, Data Size Reduction, Annotation Creation, External Referencing	PTX, LAS, PTS, TXT, E57, IGES, STEP, DWG, DXF, CATIA V4/5, JT, Parasolid, ACIS (SAT), IFC	Windows
Leica CYCLONE	Leica Geosystems	no	Leica, Faro and others	Leica, Faro and others scanners	meshing	point data, CAD formats	Windows
Pointer Web-Platform	GeoSignum	no	independent of manufactures	XYZ,PTX,LAZ,LAS	SaaS platform to store, share, process, manage and visualize enormous LiDAR datasets, all within the same web-platform. Fully automated object detection, analysis and point cloud classification using only a web-browser. Detecting and analyzing trees, curbs,roads, crash barriers, pole-like objects, paint markings, sound walls,road signs, vehicles, DSM,DTM	LAS,LAZ,CSV,SHP	Web-browser
Pointools	Bentley Systems	no	independent of manufacturer	various format	classifying, coloring, texturing, animation production	point data, pod, las, obj, ply, xyz	Windows
ReCap	Autodesk	no	independent of manufacturer	XYZ, E57	view, split and export	AutoCAD, RCP, RCS	AutoCAD plug-in, Revit plug-in, 3ds Max plug-in (Windows)
RealityCapture	Capturing Reality	yes	independent of manufacturer	ptx, e57	meshing, coloring, texturing, orthographic projection	point data, obj, ply, xyz, dsm, geotiff, ortho, textures	Windows
Trimble Business Center	Trimble	yes	independent of manufacturer	LAS, LAZ, e57, PTX, PTS, POD, TDX	region classifying, coloring, rendering, sampling, CAD point creation, orthophoto and panorama creation, feature extracting, point-based or automatic registration, georeferencing in a true geodetic environment (coordinate system projections)	Point Cloud: LAS, LAZ, e57, PTX, PTS, POD, TDX, TopoDOT, RCP, ASCII Image: GeoTIFF, JPEG, KML/KMZ, 3D PDF CAD: DWG, DXF, SHP, SKP	Windows
Trimble RealWorks	Trimble	no	independent of manufacturer	various scanners, XYZ, E57, PTX, PTS, LAS, LAZ, ZFS, RSP, FLS, DP	automatic registration with or without targets, layouts, profiles, meshing, contouring, volume calculation, modelling, classification, coloring, texturing, animation production, ortho photo creation, storage tank inspection, 3d and projection based comparison of surfaces and point clouds, publish projects for sharing	E57, ASC, LAS 1.2, LAS 1.4, LAZ, POD, PTS, PTX, TZF, BSF, KMZ, DWG, DXF, DGN, FBX, OBJ	Windows
Undet	Undet	no	independent of manufactures	*.E57, *.FLS, *.ZFS,*.LAS, *.LAZ, *.PTS, *.DP, *.FPR, *.LSPROJ, *.FWS, *.CL3, *.CLR, *.RSP, ASCII / NEZ (X,Y,Z/i/RGB).	classifying, coloring, texturing, animation production	*.LAS, *.TXT	Windows
Voxxlr	Voxxlr	no	independent of manufacturer	XYZ, E57, PTX, PTS, LAS, LAZ,	Cloud application to store, process and share large 3D point clouds entirely online using only a standard web browser. Provides a growing number of measurement and annotation tools as well as various point cloud visualization techniques.	ply, pdf	Web browser

Programs for processing laser scanner data and photographs

The programs can import data of laser scanners, images or point clouds and process them for 3D modeling.

Product name	Manufacturer	Photogrammetry	Scan data import	Import formats	Processing	Export formats	Operating systems
ContextCapture	Bentley Systems	yes	independent of manufacturer	photo (various types, codecs), ptx, e57	meshing, coloring, texturing, orthographic projection	point data, obj, ply, xyz, dsm, geotiff, ortho, textures	Windows
VisionLidar	Geo-Plus	yes	independent of manufacturer	photo (various types, codecs), ptx, e57	meshing, coloring, texturing, orthographic projection	point data, obj, ply, xyz, dsm, geotiff, ortho	Windows
RealityCapture	Capturing Reality	yes	independent of manufacturer	photo (various types, codecs), ptx, e57	meshing, coloring, texturing, orthographic projection	point data, obj, ply, xyz, dsm, geotiff, ortho, textures	Windows

References

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