Plot Point Clouds As 3D Surface

Posted on April 11, 2016 by Dr. Saeid Nourian

In the past Graphing Calculator 3D could import and plot point clouds from a csv file. Now it can also convert those scatter points into a 3D surface. Doing this is incredibly easy:

  1. Click on the open icon directly above the x,y,z table and select the csv file that you like to import. Upon importing the data will be immediately plotted as a point cloud.

    Import Point Cloud    Point Cloud 3D

  2. In order to convert the point cloud to 3D surface, simply change the "Draw" mode from "Points" to "Surface".

    Convert Point Cloud to Surface     Point Cloud Surface

The surface converter algorithm first estimates the bottom horizontal base of the graph, then extrudes the points in the form of smooth hills. This features generates a single layer of 3d surface only, so it works best for flat point clouds with spikes.

This feature is available in the Professional Edition only.

Download point cloud surface grapher

You can download point cloud surface grapher and try the above examples in it.

Note: If you already installed an older version, we recommend downloading and re-installing it again because the auto-update cannot fully update to this particular version.

What do you think about this feature? Is it useful? Leave your feedback below.