jp.keijiro.pcx

Pcx - Point Cloud Importer/Renderer for Unity
=============================================

!GIF
!GIF

Pcx is a custom importer and renderer that allows for handling point cloud data
in Unity.

System Requirements
-------------------

- Unity 2019.4

Supported Formats
-----------------

Currently Pcx only supports PLY binary little-endian format.

How To Install
--------------

The Pcx package uses the [scoped registry] feature to import dependent
packages. Please add the following sections to the package manifest file
(Packages/manifest.json).

To the scopedRegistries section:

``
{
"name": "Keijiro",
"url": "https://registry.npmjs.com",
"scopes": [ "jp.keijiro" ]
}
`

To the dependencies section:

`
"jp.keijiro.pcx": "1.0.1"
`

After changes, the manifest file should look like below:

`
{
"scopedRegistries": [
{
"name": "Keijiro",
"url": "https://registry.npmjs.com",
"scopes": [ "jp.keijiro" ]
}
],
"dependencies": {
"jp.keijiro.pcx": "1.0.1",
...
`

[scoped registry]: https://docs.unity3d.com/Manual/upm-scoped.html

Container Types
---------------

!Inspector

There are three types of container for point clouds.

$3

Points are to be contained in a Mesh object. They can be rendered with the
standard MeshRenderer component. It's recommended to use the custom shaders
included in Pcx (Point Cloud/Point and Point Cloud/Disk).

$3

Points are to be contained in a PointCloudData object, which uses
ComputeBuffer to store point data. It can be rendered with using the
PointCloudRenderer component.

$3

Points are baked into Texture2D objects that can be used as attribute maps
in [Visual Effect Graph].

[Visual Effect Graph]: https://unity.com/visual-effect-graph

Rendering Methods
-----------------

There are two types of rendering methods in Pcx.

$3

Points are rendered as point primitives when using the Point Cloud/Point
shader.

!Points
!Points

The size of points can be adjusted by changing the material properties.

!Inspector

These size properties are only supported on some platforms; It may work with
OpenGLCore and Metal, but never work with D3D11/12.

This method is also used when the point size is set to zero in
PointCloudRenderer.

$3

Points are rendered as small disks when using the Point Cloud/Disk shader or
PointCloudRenderer`.

!Disks

This method requires geometry shader support.

Acknowledgements
----------------

The point cloud files used in the examples of Pcx are created by authors listed
below. These files are licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution license
([CC BY 4.0]). Please see the following original pages for further details.

- richmond-azaelias.ply - Azaleas, Isabella Plantation, Richmond Park.
Created by [Thomas Flynn].
https://sketchfab.com/models/188576acfe89480f90c38d9df9a4b19a

- anthidium-forcipatum.ply - Anthidium forcipatum ♀ (Point Cloud).
Created by [Thomas Flynn].
https://sketchfab.com/models/3493da15a8db4f34929fc38d9d0fcb2c

- Guanyin.ply - Guanyin (Avalokitesvara). Created by [Geoffrey Marchal].
https://sketchfab.com/models/9db9a5dfb6744a5586dfcb96cb8a7dc5

[Thomas Flynn]: https://sketchfab.com/nebulousflynn
[Geoffrey Marchal]: https://sketchfab.com/geoffreymarchal
[CC BY 4.0]: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/