Potree is a free open-source WebGL based point cloud renderer for large point clouds. It is based on the TU Wien Scanopy project and it was part of the Harvest4D Project.
Newest information and work in progress is usually available on twitter
Contact: Markus Schütz (mschuetz@potree.org)
Reference: Potree: Rendering Large Point Clouds in Web Browsers
Make sure you have node.js installed
Install all dependencies, as specified in package.json, then, install the gulp build tool:
cd <potree_directory>
npm install
npm install -g gulp
npm install -g rollup
Use the gulp watch command to
- create ./build/potree
- watch for changes to the source code and automatically create a new build on change
- start a web server at localhost:1234.
gulp watch
Go to http://localhost:1234/examples/ to test the examples.
Download PotreeConverter and run it like this:
./PotreeConverter.exe C:/pointclouds/data.las -o C:/pointclouds/data_converted
Copy the converted directory into <potreeDirectory>/pointclouds/data_converted. Then, duplicate and rename one of the examples and modify the path in the html file to your own point cloud.
PotreeConverter source and Win64 binaries
Take a look at the potree showcase for some live examples.
| Browser | OS | Result | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chrome 64 | Win10 | works | |
| Firefox 58 | Win10 | works | |
| Edge | Win10 | not supported | |
| Internet Explorer 11 | Win7 | not supported | |
| Chrome | Android | works | Reduced functionality due to unsupported WebGL extensions |
| Opera | Android | works | Reduced functionality due to unsupported WebGL extensions |
- The multi-res-octree algorithms used by this viewer were developed at the Vienna University of Technology by Michael Wimmer and Claus Scheiblauer as part of the Scanopy Project.
- Three.js, the WebGL 3D rendering library on which potree is built.
- plas.io point cloud viewer. LAS and LAZ support have been taken from the laslaz.js implementation of plas.io. Thanks to Uday Verma and Howard Butler for this!
- Harvest4D Potree currently runs as Master Thesis under the Harvest4D Project
- Christian Boucheny (EDL developer) and Daniel Girardeau-Montaut (CloudCompare). The EDL shader was adapted from the CloudCompare source code!
- Martin Isenburg, Georepublic, Veesus, Sigeom Sa, SITN, LBI ArchPro, Pix4D as well as all the contributers to potree and PotreeConverter and many more for their support.