Create a Mesh Model on the Desktop

The quickest and easiest way to create a mesh model is to use the New Project wizard, or, if you have already set up a project in imported data, the Workflow wizard. See New Project Wizard.

  1. Open or create a project that contains the point clouds.
  2. Click Create Mesh Model and select Desktop . You can also press the shortcut key, Z, or select Edit > Create Mesh Model.
  3. The Create Mesh Model (Desktop) dialog is displayed.

  1. Ensure the Scan Group containing the point data to convert is selected. If it contains multiple point clouds, all are selected by default, to combine in a single mesh model.
  2. Choose an Output Name.
  3. Choose a Processing Profile, which determines the resolution and tolerances of the mesh model. Either select an existing processing profile from the dropdown list or click New. See Processing Profiles.
    • If you choose a custom processing profile, you can amend settings by double clicking in the Value column and typing a new value.
    • If you choose one of the profiles supplied with PointFuse (Handheld, Terrestrial, or Airborne), the Resolution is not editable and any other values you change will not be saved for future conversions.
  1. If the point cloud has RGB or intensity data, you can select Generate Textures to include that data in the mesh model and a Maximum Texture Resolution. This may increase processing time.
  2. You can uncheck Generate Supertiles or change the Maximum Supertile Size. However:
  • If you don't generate supertiles, or if you increase the maximum size, third party software may not be able to use the mesh models.

  • PointFuse recommend a maximum of 400MB for CAD/BIM design packages (such as Autodesk Revit, Bricsys BricsBIM), and up to 1000MB for coordination packages (such as Autodesk Navisworks).

  • You might uncheck Generate Supertiles to produce a mesh with very high resolution textures, but only if the tiles are small. For example, an 8K texture for each small tile.

  • Another use case is to open all the supertiles in a single view and then export as a single model as FBX, with multiple textures for visualisation. Alternatively, use the batch export to export each of the tiles individually, with their textures, to work with each one separately.
  1. Click OK to create the mesh model. When finished, it is added to the Mesh Models folder in the Project Explorer and displayed in a new viewport tab.