1: Introduction
In this section:
1.1: About
1.2: Installation
1.3: Data formats
1.4: Loading and saving
1.5: Centre pivot point control
1. 1 About
Welcome to the user guide for the Veesus Point Cloud plug-in for SolidWorks.
At the core of the plug-in is our unique point rendering engine that enables the rapid loading and visualisation of unlimited point cloud data sets – the XStreamEngine. The XStreamEngine powers all Veesus products, including our fully-featured standalone point cloud editing tool, Arena4D.
This user guide will help you understand how to use the features of this plug-in, which can only be used in Dassault Systems’ SolidWorks tool. If you find you have any issues or questions which this guide doesn’t answer, you can contact us at support@veesus.com.
1.2 Installation
Point Clouds for SolidWorks is an add-in for SolidWorks, and therefore will not run outside of SolidWorks. To install the software, first run the setup wizard and follow all the steps and on-screen prompts during the installation process.
Only tick the “Reset License” box if you are upgrading from a demo license to a full license!
If you’ve previously installed a demo licence on your machine and you are now upgrading to a full licence you will still need to run the installation. When the option appears in the wizard, select “Reset Licence”. Under no other circumstances select this option. If in doubt, continue the installation without the option selected and contact Veesus support.
Select “Tools” to find the add-ins menu, where you can activate Point Clouds for SolidWorks.
Once the wizard has finished:
- Load SolidWorks
- From the “Tools” menu select “Add Ins…”
- Make sure “Arena4D for SolidWorks” has both “Active”and “Start Up” selected
And that’s it! Your edition of Point Clouds for SolidWorks should be installed.
Make sure both the “Active” and “Start Up” boxes are selected when activating the plug-in in SolidWorks
1.3 Data formats
Point Clouds for SolidWorks requires point cloud data to be in the Veesus VPC format. You can convert your point clouds into VPC files for free using the standalone VPC Creator, which can be downloaded from the Veesus website.
1.4 Loading and saving
All Arena4D options are saved into the SolidWorks document. However the point cloud itself is saved as a reference – meaning that if you move or delete the VPC file after saving the document it will not be loaded the next time you open and you’ll receive an on-screen notification.
1.5 Centre pivot point control
When manipulating around a point cloud (especially a large-scale point cloud) it’s a good idea to centre the “pivot point.” This gives you accurate rotation of the camera in a perspective view. To centre the pivot point, double click the left mouse button on on the point you want to make the centre pivot point whilst holding the ‘shift’ key.
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