Import, Export, and Visualization

Read, write, and visualize lidar point cloud data, process large point clouds

The toolbox enables you to import and visualize point cloud data in MATLAB^®. You can read data from various file formats, such as PLY, PCD, LAS, LAZ, E57, Ibeo data container, Velodyne^® PCAP, Ouster^® PCAP, and Hesai^® PCAP.

To process large point cloud data that might not fit into memory, you can use the blockedPointCloud object to represent the point cloud as a collection of smaller blocks and process each one independently.

You can also export processed data to the PLY, PCD, LAS, and LAZ file formats. To learn how to work with lidar data, see Read, Process, and Write Lidar Point Cloud Data.

Apps

Lidar Viewer

Visualize and analyze lidar data (Since R2021b)

Functions

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Reading and Writing

`pcread`	Read 3-D point cloud from PLY or PCD file
`pcwrite`	Write 3-D point cloud to PLY or PCD file
`lasFileReader`	Read point cloud data from LAS or LAZ file (Since R2020b)
`lasFileWriter`	Write point cloud data from LAS or LAZ file (Since R2022a)
`velodyneFileReader`	Read point cloud data from Velodyne PCAP file
`ousterFileReader`	Read point cloud data from Ouster PCAP file (Since R2022a)
`hesaiFileReader`	Read point cloud data from Hesai PCAP file (Since R2022a)
`e57FileReader`	Read point cloud data from E57 file (Since R2023a)
`ibeoLidarReader`	Read point cloud data from Ibeo data container (IDC) file (Since R2020b)

Storage

`pointCloud`	Object for storing 3-D point cloud
`lidarPointAttributes`	Object for storing lidar point attributes (Since R2022a)

Visualization

`pcshow`	Plot 3-D point cloud
`pcviewer`	Visualize and inspect large 3-D point cloud (Since R2023a)
`pcplayer`	Visualize streaming 3-D point cloud data
`pcshowpair`	Visualize difference between two point clouds
`pcshowMatchedFeatures`	Visualize matched feature points in two point clouds (Since R2020b)

Large Point Cloud Handling

`blockedPointCloud`	Point cloud made from discrete blocks (Since R2022a)
`blockedPointCloudDatastore`	Datastore for use with blocks from `blockedPointCloud` objects (Since R2022a)

Topics

Introduction to Lidar
High-level overview of lidar concepts and applications.
Coordinate Systems in Lidar Toolbox
Overview of coordinate systems in Lidar Toolbox™.
What Are Organized and Unorganized Point Clouds?
Define unorganized and organized point clouds and how to convert the former to latter.