In this tutorial we will learn how to write point cloud data to a PCD file.
First, create a file called, let's say, pcd_write.cpp
in your favorite editor, and place the following code inside it:
sources/pcd_write/pcd_write.cpp
Now, let's break down the code piece by piece.
sources/pcd_write/pcd_write.cpp
The first file is the header that contains the definitions for PCD I/O operations, and second one contains definitions for several point type structures, including pcl::PointXYZ
that we will use.
sources/pcd_write/pcd_write.cpp
describes the templated PointCloud structure that we will create. The type of each point is set to pcl::PointXYZ
, which is a structure that has x
, y
, and z
fields.
The lines:
sources/pcd_write/pcd_write.cpp
fill in the PointCloud structure with random point values, and set the appropriate parameters (width, height, is_dense).
Then:
sources/pcd_write/pcd_write.cpp
saves the PointCloud data to disk into a file called test_pcd.pcd
Finally:
sources/pcd_write/pcd_write.cpp
is used to show the data that was generated.
Add the following lines to your CMakeLists.txt file:
sources/pcd_write/CMakeLists.txt
After you have made the executable, you can run it. Simply do:
$ ./pcd_write
You will see something similar to:
Saved 5 data points to test_pcd.pcd.
0.352222 -0.151883 -0.106395
-0.397406 -0.473106 0.292602
-0.731898 0.667105 0.441304
-0.734766 0.854581 -0.0361733
-0.4607 -0.277468 -0.916762
You can check the content of the file test_pcd.pcd, using:
$ cat test_pcd.pcd
# .PCD v.5 - Point Cloud Data file format
FIELDS x y z
SIZE 4 4 4
TYPE F F F
WIDTH 5
HEIGHT 1
POINTS 5
DATA ascii
0.35222 -0.15188 -0.1064
-0.39741 -0.47311 0.2926
-0.7319 0.6671 0.4413
-0.73477 0.85458 -0.036173
-0.4607 -0.27747 -0.91676