A point cloud is a scan or survey kept as millions of plain points: no triangles, no drawing objects, just each point’s position and whatever the scanner recorded about it (colour, intensity, classification, return number and, if you asked for it, GPS time).
Kirra keeps a point cloud as its own kind of data, labelled Point Cloud (KAD Cloud Entity - Increased Point Capability) on the import dialogs. It draws in 2D and 3D, prints, saves with your project and can be exported to LAS. You can select its points and delete, crop or split them, merge clouds, make KAD points from them, and triangulate them into a surface. LAS and LAZ files import this way by default, so a survey of tens of millions of points opens without being thinned to a drawing-object limit.
Use the import row for your file, or drag the file onto Kirra:
| File | Row | Opens |
|---|---|---|
.las / .laz |
LAS Point Cloud (Surfaces / Mesh tab) | Import LAS Point Cloud |
.xyz / .txt / .csv / .pts / .ptx / text .ply |
Point Cloud (Surfaces / Mesh tab) | Import Point Cloud |
In both dialogs, set Import As: to Point Cloud (KAD Cloud Entity - Increased Point Capability). It is the default for every LAS and LAZ file, and for a text cloud with more than 1,000,000 points. A smaller text cloud still defaults to Surface (triangulated mesh), as it always has, so choose Point Cloud (KAD Cloud Entity - Increased Point Capability) yourself if you want a cloud.
The full list of options is on Surfaces and Point Clouds. The ones that matter for a cloud:
When the import finishes, Kirra says how many points it imported, and zooms to fit all your data. If the file held more points than the draw budget, the message says so and that the points were thinned evenly.
The cloud is named after the file, starting Cloud_ (for example Cloud_pit_scan), with
_2, _3 and so on added if the name is taken.
A cloud is saved with your work. It comes back after a reload. If the browser has no room to store it, Kirra says Point Cloud Not Saved: the cloud stays open for that session but will not return after a reload.
The most points Kirra reads and draws for one import is set on the Performance tab of Settings: Max Point-Cloud Points, 30,000,000 by default. It uses about 24 bytes of memory a point, so 30,000,000 points is roughly 720 MB. Lower it on a computer with little memory. See Settings.
A file with more points than the budget is thinned evenly across the whole file, not cut off.
Each cloud is listed in the Data Explorer under the
Point Clouds group, which sits between Images and Geology. Clouds are not on a
drawing layer, so layer controls do not touch them. The grey text on a row is the number of
points, for example N=10,040,120.
| Control | What it does |
|---|---|
| Eye | Shows or hides the cloud. The eye on the Point Clouds group shows or hides every cloud |
| Lock | Locks the cloud. The lock on the Point Clouds group locks every cloud. A locked cloud cannot be deleted until you unlock it |
Right-click a cloud row:
| Item | What it does |
|---|---|
| Rename | Renames the cloud |
| Properties | Opens Cloud Properties |
| Hide / Show | Hides or shows the cloud |
| Delete | Deletes the cloud. Kirra asks first: Delete Point Cloud — Delete 1 point cloud(s)? This cannot be undone. |
| Select Points… | Selects points by class and height — see Selecting points |
| Clear Point Selection | Clears the cloud’s selected points (shown when the cloud has a selection) |
| Delete Selected Points | Removes the selected points (shown when the cloud has a selection) |
| Crop to Selection | Keeps only the selected points (shown when the cloud has a selection) |
| Split Selection to New Cloud | Moves the selected points into a new cloud (shown when the cloud has a selection) |
| Convert Selection to KAD Points | Makes KAD points from the selection (shown when the cloud has a selection) |
| Merge Clouds | Joins two or more clouds into a new one (shown when two or more cloud rows are selected) |
Warning: Deleting a point cloud cannot be undone with Undo. Export a KAP project first if you may want it back.
Sort… on the Point Clouds group orders the rows in the tree only; your data does not change.
A hidden cloud is not drawn in 2D or 3D, does not print and is not written to a LAS export.
Right-click a cloud in the Data Explorer and choose Properties. Cloud Properties opens with the cloud’s current look. Every change shows on the canvas straight away.
The Style row at the top saves the dialog’s settings as a named preset, so you can apply the same look to another cloud. Use the buttons beside it to save a new preset, update the selected one, delete it, or export and import presets as a file. Hidden classes are not part of a preset; they belong to each cloud.
| Setting | Default | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Point size (px) | 1 | The size of each point on screen, 1 to 10 pixels. Larger points are easier to see and slower to draw. 1 is the fastest |
| Transparency | 100% | A slider from 0% to 100% |
Colour by decides what colours each point. The list holds only the choices the cloud has data for.
Classification, Return number and GPS time are listed only when the cloud holds that column, and they are shown greyed out, with a short note, when every point has the same value and so nothing could be told apart. The note reads, for example, GPS time (all values are 0) or Classification (all the same). Intensity is not checked this way. If a cloud’s saved choice has become unavailable, it stays selected, greyed out.
| Choice | Needs |
|---|---|
| RGB (colour from the file) | Colour in the file. The default for a cloud that has it |
| Elevation | Nothing. The default for a cloud without colour |
| Intensity | Intensity in the file |
| Classification | Classification in the file, with more than one value (otherwise greyed out with a note) |
| Return number | Return numbers in the file, with more than one value (otherwise greyed out with a note) |
| GPS time | Keep GPS time ticked at import. Greyed out with a note when every time is the same |
| Single colour | Nothing |
| Setting | When it is available | What it does |
|---|---|---|
| Colour | Single colour | The colour of every point |
| Color Gradient | Elevation, Intensity, Return number, GPS time | The colour ramp: Default, Viridis, Turbo, Parula, Cividis or Terrain. The same ramps as surfaces |
A setting that does not apply to the chosen Colour by is greyed out.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Limits | Min-Max (data) stretches the ramp over the cloud’s own values. Fixed uses your Min and Max, so several clouds can share one scale |
| Max | The top of the ramp when Limits is Fixed. Blank uses the highest value in the data |
| Min | The bottom of the ramp when Limits is Fixed. Blank uses the lowest value in the data |
Limits, Max and Min apply to the ramp choices only. Max and Min are active only when Limits is Fixed; the blank box shows the data’s own value.
Shown for a cloud that holds more than one class; a cloud with a single class has nothing to tell apart and no Classes group (unless that one class has been hidden, so it can be shown again). One row for each class in the cloud, with:
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| Tolerance (m, 3D) | The distance used by Remove duplicates (default 0.01 m) |
| Remove duplicates (button at the foot of the dialog) | Keeps the first point and drops any point closer than the tolerance, in 3D, to one already kept. The result is a new cloud named <name> (deduped). The original is not changed |
Kirra reports how many points it removed, or that none were within the tolerance. The dialog stays open.
Read-only facts about the cloud: Name, Points, Easting (X), Northing (Y),
Elevation (Z) (each as a minimum to maximum), and Attributes kept (RGB, Intensity,
Classification, Return number, GPS time). A cloud read from a LAS file also lists the File
format (for example LAS 1.2, format 3), the File CRS when the file names one, and the
Source file.
With the Legend display option on, a visible cloud coloured by Elevation gets a legend entry like a surface, over the same range its points are coloured with.
A visible point cloud prints with the rest of the plan, on the Kirra Inbuilt plot and in the map cell of a template, in raster and vector PDF alike. It prints as one picture of the cloud seen from above, in the same colours and point size as the screen.
On a very large page at a high resolution, Kirra lowers the cloud picture’s resolution rather than crop it. Everything else on the page keeps its own resolution.
Kirra never moves a point cloud. The cloud holds exactly the coordinates in the file.
A scan taken in its own scanner frame, with coordinates near 0, 0, brought into a project in UTM therefore stays near 0, 0, a very long way from your design. When a new cloud lands 100 km or more from the data you already have, Coordinate System Mismatch asks what to do:
| Button | Result |
|---|---|
| Ignore & Import | Import the cloud where the file puts it |
| Clean & Replace | Clear the existing data, then import |
| Cancel | Stop. Nothing is added |
See Checks on import. The check runs only when there is already data to compare with. To bring a scan onto your site grid, georeference it before you import it.
| To | Do this |
|---|---|
| Write a LAS file | Visible clouds are included in the LAS export. Only the LAS export writes point clouds; the XYZ, CSV, PTS and PTX point-cloud exports do not |
| Keep it in a project | A KAP project carries point clouds, and asks first because they can be large. A KAT template never does |
You work on a point cloud by selecting a region of it and acting on the whole selection. Single points cannot be dragged; to edit single points, convert a small selection to KAD points and edit those.
With Polygon Select (2D or 3D)
Selected points are drawn in the selection colour, slightly larger than the rest. In 2D the shape selects what lies inside it in plan view; in 3D it selects what you see inside it on screen, and points cut away by the Section Plane are not selected. The status bar says how many points are selected, for example 121 point-cloud points selected.
With Select Points…
Right-click the cloud row and choose Select Points…:
| Field | What it does |
|---|---|
| Class n (count points) | One tick per class in the cloud. Untick classes to leave them out |
| Min Z (m) / Max Z (m) | A height band. Leave blank for no limit |
| Selection | Replace the selection, Add to it, or Remove from it |
Click Select.
Only what is drawn can be selected: hidden clouds, locked clouds and classes hidden in Cloud Properties are left out. A selection is not saved; it is cleared when the cloud changes.
Right-click the cloud row. Each item asks first and says how many points it affects.
| Item | What happens |
|---|---|
| Delete Selected Points | The selected points are removed. With every point selected, Kirra offers to delete the cloud instead. The Delete key does the same when only cloud points are selected |
| Crop to Selection | Only the selected points are kept |
| Split Selection to New Cloud | The selected points move to a new cloud named after this one with (selection) added, for example Cloud_scan (selection) |
| Convert Selection to KAD Points | The selected points become one KAD points entity, <cloud> points, in the colours they are drawn in. KAD points are limited to 1,000,000; above that Kirra asks to thin the selection evenly |
To build a surface from a cloud, use the Triangulate tool. It uses every visible cloud: the selection when the cloud has one, otherwise every drawn point. It uses up to half of Max triangles per surface (3D) in Settings > Performance points (a surface has about two triangles per point), spread evenly; the status bar says so when it thins. Estimated points in its dialog includes the cloud points.
Undo (Ctrl+Z) reverses Delete, Crop and Split. A cloud larger than 256 MB cannot be undone; Kirra says so in the question before it changes anything.
Kirra makes a new cloud, Merged cloud, holding every point; the original clouds stay. The new cloud takes the first cloud’s colouring and point size. If some clouds have no colour (or no GPS time, classification and so on), their points hold 0 there and the message says which — points with no colour show black until you colour the cloud another way. If the merged cloud would hold more points than the draw budget, Kirra asks to thin it evenly first. Undo removes the merged cloud.
My text point cloud became a surface. A text cloud with 1,000,000 points or fewer defaults to Surface (triangulated mesh). Choose Point Cloud (KAD Cloud Entity - Increased Point Capability) in Import As:.
I chose KAD points and got Too Many Points for KAD Points. KAD points carry more data per point and are limited to 1,000,000. Click Use KAD Cloud to import the whole file as a point cloud, Thin to 1,000,000 KAD points to keep KAD points, or Cancel. See Surfaces and Point Clouds.
Colour by has no RGB, Intensity or GPS time. The file did not hold it. For GPS time, Keep GPS time may not have been ticked when you imported; import the file again with it ticked.
Classification, Return number or GPS time is greyed out in Colour by. Every point in the cloud has the same value (the note says all values are 0 or all the same), so colouring by it would show one colour. Choose another Colour by.
The cloud is not on the screen after import. Check the eye on its row and on the Point Clouds group. If the cloud is 100 km or more from your design, Kirra zooms out to take in both after the import, so your design looks small; see Coordinates and scans that start at 0, 0.
Point Cloud Not Saved. The browser has no room to store the cloud. It stays open for this session but will not return after a reload. Export a KAP project, or free browser storage.