Point Cloud Tasks Manager

The Point Cloud Tasks (PCT) Manager organizes PCT instances into user-named Groups for easy access. In addition there are Favorites buttons to allow quick selection of task instances from within a Group.

While PCT Manager does not add any new PCT tools to LP360, it does make the organization of PCTs much simpler.  It is ideal for sharing tasks with other users.  Prior to PCT Manager, shared tasks, when imported, just became mixed in with all other PCTs in the user’s system.  Now, if they are exported and imported as members of Groups, they stay organized and easy to find. 

PCT Selection Overview

The main interface to using PCTs is the PCT tab in LP360.

Filtering

Filter By – This drop down allows you to select:

• None - Show the entire OCT instance list (effectively the “old” way of managing PCTs)
• Group – Filter by groups
• Type – Filter by PCT type (template)

Filter - Allows you to filter the list based on the "Filter By" selection. Actions shown in Table below.

Favorites

Favorites can be assigned via the Favorites tab of the PCT Manager.

They appear on the PCT tab as a row of buttons (labeled 1-8) if they have been assigned. Pressing a favorites button sets the Task Selection tp the task assigned to the button. Hovering over a button will show the assigned task name and description via a tool tip.

Task Selector

The Task Selector is a drop-down list of possibly filtered tasks.  The Task showing in this selector is the task that will be executed when you execute a PCT via one of the invocation methods.  You select a PCT by either using this drop-down or by pressing a Favorite button.

The Point Cloud Tasks Manager Dialog

Invoke the PCT Manager from the ellipses button next to the Filter options on the PCT tab.

Note:  Changes you make while in the PCT Manager do not take effect until you OK off the PCT Manager dialog. This gives you the opportunity to undo changes (such as accidentally deleting Tasks) by simply Canceling the PCT Manager dialog.  

Task Tab

The Task tab contains functions for organizing and managing PCT tasks. You can sort columns by left-clicking the column header. You can sort by additional columns by holding down the Shift key while left-clicking the column header.  

The left-most column is the select for edit column. You must check this column (or columns) to perform operations on the task(s). You can multi-select Tasks using the same techniques as are used in Windows Explorer such as Shift-select, Control-select and so forth. 

The Filter tools allow you to reduce or organize the task list.  You can filter by None (shows all tasks), Group or Task.  Select the desired Group or Task type in the Filter dropdown. 

The command tools are invoked by the array of buttons under the tab selection.  Their functions are listed below.

Groups Tab

Use the functions on this page to create and mange PCT Groups.  A Group is simply a named collection of Point Cloud Tasks.  The Group gives you an easy way to narrow down a set of PCTs for specific work.  For example, you might have a Group called “Mining” where you have added tasks for noise filtering, toe extraction and volumetric computations.

Commands for the Group tab are listed in the table below.

Command	Single/Multi Select	Function
Add	n/a	Create a new Group. You can use any alphanumeric name including spaces. The name is case insensitive. You cannot have two Groups with the same name.
Remove	Multi	Delete the selected Group(s). The PCTs contained within the Group(s) are not affected by this action.
Rename	Single	Rename a Group or change its description. Group names must be unique.
Copy	Single	Copy (“clone”) a Group. The new Group will contain all of the members of the Group from which it was copied.
Import	n/a	Import one or more Groups from an XML file. This is a good way to share collections of PCTs with other LP360 users. If an imported Group has the same name as a Group already in the Group table, its name will have a “_#” appended where # is the next integer above 0 needed to make the name unique. If Favorites were assigned to the Group prior to export, they will be assigned to the Group upon import.
Export	Multi	Export one or more Groups to an XML file. Use this for sharing Groups or for making backup copies of your Groups. All of the PCTs within the Group (along with their specific parameters) are copied to the XML file. If Favorites have been assigned to this group, they are recorded in the export file.

PCTs are added or removed from a Selected Group by simply checking PCTs that you want to be members of the Group and unchecking those that you want removed from the group. To quickly see which PCTs are members of the selected group, click on the Edit column in the Task table. 

The Task table can be filtered the same as it is in the Task tab. 

Favorites Tab

Once you have created a Group and added PCTs to that group, you can select one or move of these PCTs for assignment to the Favorites tool buttons on the main PCT dialog.

Tasks are assigned to Favorites buttons by checking the selection column at the left of the list of tasks. The checked tasks are numerically assigned from top to bottom.  

If all tasks for the Group are unchecked, there will be no Favorites buttons assigned to this task. When this Group is selected in the PCT main dialog, the Favorites toolbar will not appear.

You can change the order of numbering by rearranging the tasks in the Task pane of the Favorites tab. This is accomplished by selected the Task(s) that you want to move and using the four move buttons to the right of the pane.