Point Clouds are unique from Points and Point Groups because they are optimized for data storage and minimum memory usage. All cloud points are treated as a rigid body so point offsets and meta data are only recorded on the cloud level not with the individual points. Point Clouds are therefore ideal for large amounts of data, such as data measured with a laser room scanner or arm scanner, but can also be used to reduce the size of scanned measurements from a laser tracker with offsets.
The standard point cloud format is the simplest and most generic format of point clouds. Each cloud point consists of nothing more than and XYZ position and an index. The cloud contains targeting offsets (applied to all included cloud points) and visual controls.
Scan Stripe Clouds were added to provide a missing piece of information necessary for meshing. In this format a transform representing the instrument probing direction is saved per scan stripe. Scan Stripe Clouds, therefore, contain slightly more information but are otherwise the same as Standard Clouds. For this reason Scan Stripe Clouds can be converted to Standard Clouds but Standard Clouds cannot be converted to Scan Stripe Clouds. Point Clouds are a collection of compressed point locations in a format that is optimized for working with large amounts of data.
Cross Section Clouds were added as a convenient way to process a cloud or group of clouds in cross sections. It provides access to a set of filtering controls and the cloud visualization tools for cross sections.