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/Guides/Point cloud to CAD

PhotoCAD Guides

Point Cloud to CAD: 2D Plans, Elevations and Sections

A 3D laser scan, a LiDAR or walk-through scan, a Matterport or Polycam capture. Export a view of it as an image, and PhotoCAD drafts the floor plan, elevation, or section as a scaled DWG.

PhotoCAD drafts from a view of any of these

  • Tripod laser scans

    Export a plan slice or an orthographic view from Cyclone, SCENE, RealWorks, or ReCap, and PhotoCAD drafts the plan or elevation.

Create as-built drawings from a scan

Floor plans, elevations, and sections of existing conditions, each from an image exported from a laser scan and converted in PhotoCAD. Drag the slider to compare.

Original photo of Zobor Church Ruin Plan from a Laser Scan
Floor plan line drawing of the ruined church of St Joseph on Zobor Hill, Slovakia, drawn from a horizontal slice through a laser scan

Church ruin, Zobor Hill, Slovakia. Laser scan: P. Gawronek, CC BY 4.0, adapted.

Floor plans from a point cloud slice

Cut the point cloud about a meter above the floor and export the view from above. PhotoCAD draws both faces of every wall as closed outlines, with the openings and piers, and leaves the stray points out.

Original photo of Santa María de Melque Elevation from a Laser Scan
Elevation line drawing of the Visigothic church of Santa María de Melque, Spain, stone by stone, drawn from a laser scan intensity view

PhotoCAD compared with the other ways to draft from a point cloud

PhotoCAD compared with the other ways to draft from a point cloud
MethodTimeCostWhat you get
Trace it by handTimeHours per drawingCostYour timeSlice the cloud in AutoCAD or Revit and draw over it, wall by wall. Exact, and the slowest part of the job.
Point-cloud softwareTimeHours, partly automaticCostFrom €1,200 a year per seatA plug-in snaps lines to clean edges inside your CAD program. You still draw masonry, ruins, and anything irregular.
Drafting serviceTimeDaysCostHundreds of dollars per elevation

From scan to CAD drawing, step by step

  1. 1

    Export a view of the scan

    In your point-cloud software, clip to one floor, one wall, or one cut and export the view as an image: a slice from above for a plan, a view square-on for an elevation.

How to export a view for PhotoCAD from your software

Every point-cloud program can show the view PhotoCAD needs, and most can save it as an image. This is where to find the export.

How to export a view for PhotoCAD from your software
SoftwarePlan sliceElevation or sectionWorth knowing
Autodesk ReCap ProTop view, a limit box around one floor, then Export ImageOrtho camera, a limit box around the wall, then Export Image

Scanning a building takes an afternoon. Drawing it takes days: someone slices the point cloud in AutoCAD or Revit and traces every wall, opening, and stone by hand to make the floor plans, elevations, and sections the client asked for. In a typical measured survey the office time is several times the time on site, and this scan-to-CAD step is where it goes.

Tracing tools cannot take that work on, because they follow pixel edges, and a point cloud has no lines in it, only millions of points. PhotoCAD works from a semantic understanding of the image instead. It recognizes what the exported view shows, the walls, the openings, the masonry, and drafts it as clean, proportionally accurate vector lines, leaving out the speckle, the gaps, and the stray points. Set the scale from one length you know, place the drawing on a sheet, and download a DWG that opens at real size.

PhotoCAD does the initial drafting, not the surveying. The drawing follows the image you export, so its accuracy comes from your scan and the scale you set. Review it against the cloud, correct what needs it in CAD, and issue it as you would any drawing from your office.

Export settings for the cleanest drawing

  • Hide the tools

    Measurements, cursors, grids, tags, and markers are part of the picture. Turn them off before you export.

Ready to try it?

Export a slice or an elevation from your scan and see PhotoCAD draft it in a minute.
Your first 3 conversions are free — no card required.

Convert a scan image

Frequently Asked Questions

Not the file itself: PhotoCAD works from an image of the scan. Open it in your point-cloud software, export a plan slice or an orthographic view as a PNG, JPG, or TIFF, and upload that. The table on this page shows where the export is in ReCap, Cyclone, SCENE, RealWorks, CloudCompare, Revit, Matterport, and Polycam.

As accurate as the view you export and the scale you set: PhotoCAD drafts the geometry in proportion to the image, and the scan itself is as accurate as your scanner and registration. Like any drafting, it can occasionally misread a small detail, so review the drawing against the cloud before you issue it.

Yes, and it is the usual route. In AutoCAD, POINTCLOUDATTACH brings in a ReCap project (RCP or RCS); in Revit, Insert > Point Cloud links it. You then cut the cloud and draw every wall and opening by hand. PhotoCAD drafts that drawing from an exported view in about a minute, and the DWG opens in AutoCAD or Revit at real size for checking against the cloud.

Yes. Export the schematic floor plan from Matterport, the floor plan from Polycam, or a top-down view of the scan, as an image, and PhotoCAD turns it into an editable DWG and DXF, set to scale from a length you know. Check the key dimensions: camera and phone scans are less exact than a laser scanner.

One floor for a plan, one wall for an elevation, one cut for a section. PhotoCAD converts each image at a fixed resolution, so a whole block in one image keeps less detail than a close crop. For stone-by-stone work, convert one bay at a time and lay the bays side by side on the sheet.

Yes, from a clean exported view. Walk-through scans often show people and moving objects as ghosts, so clip them out before you export. A phone scan is less exact than a tripod scanner: check the key dimensions against a tape.

Keep exploring

Categories

Architecture & BuildingsMaps & Geography

Use cases

SurveyorsArchitectureHeritage & Archaeology

Converters

PNG to DWGJPG to DWGPDF to DWGImage to CAD

Guides

Orthophoto to CADArchaeological drawingFloor plan to CADPhoto to elevation drawing

Walk-through scans

Handheld and mobile SLAM scans, even in intensity grays on black. Export the view as you see it.

  • Matterport and phone LiDAR

    A Matterport, Polycam, or Scaniverse floor plan or square-on view, turned into an editable DWG.

  • Revit and viewer views

    A plan or section of a linked point cloud in Revit, or a screenshot from any viewer.

    • Santa María de Melque, Spain. Laser scan: J. Raimundo, CC BY 4.0, adapted.

    Elevations, stone by stone

    An orthographic view of the front, in intensity or color. PhotoCAD picks out every stone, the horseshoe-arch door, the window, and the roof tiles, and ignores the scanner noise.

    Original photo of Zobor Church Ruin Section from a Laser Scan
    Section line drawing through the nave of the Zobor Hill church ruin, with the interior wall beyond, drawn from a laser scan

    Church ruin, Zobor Hill, Slovakia. Laser scan: P. Gawronek, CC BY 4.0, adapted.

    Sections

    A vertical slice through the building. PhotoCAD draws the cut walls and the interior face beyond them.

    Original photo of Zobor Church Ruin Interior Elevation from a Laser Scan
    Interior elevation line drawing of one wall of the Zobor Hill church ruin, rubble masonry and a doorway, drawn from a laser scan

    Church ruin, Zobor Hill, Slovakia. Laser scan: P. Gawronek, CC BY 4.0, adapted.

    Interior elevations

    One wall seen square-on from inside the room. PhotoCAD draws the masonry, the openings, and the arches, stone by stone.

    Send the scan out and get plans and elevations back to your layer standard, then check them.
    PhotoCADTimeAbout a minuteCost~$1 per drawingDrafts the view you exported as clean linework at real scale, on a sheet, as DWG. You review it and finish it.
  • PNG
    2

    Upload it to PhotoCAD

    Drop the PNG, JPG, or TIFF into PhotoCAD, up to 150 MB. One view per upload; a whole building is several.

  • 3

    Convert

    PhotoCAD recognizes the walls, openings, and masonry in the view and draws them as clean vector lines, leaving out the speckle, the gaps, and the stray points.

  • 8.40 m
    4

    Set the scale

    Click the two ends of a length you know, the longer the better, and type it. The whole drawing scales to match, in meters or feet and inches.

  • GROUND FLOOR PLANDRAWN BYSCALE1:100
    5

    Dimension and sheet it

    Add dimensions and labels, and lay the plan, elevations, and sections on a titled sheet at 1:50 or 1:100.

  • plan.dwg
    6

    Check it and finish in CAD

    Compare the drawing with the scan, then open the DWG in AutoCAD or Revit at real size and assign the linework to your layers.

    • Convert a scan image

    3 free conversions. No card required.

    The image has no scale. Set it in PhotoCAD from a length you know.
    Leica Cyclone REGISTER 360Ortho Image from above, with a slice thicknessOrtho Image on a vertical planeSet a high pixels-per-unit so fine detail survives.
    Leica Cyclone 3DRExtract OrthoImage, top viewExtract OrthoImage, elevation view from three picked pointsSaves a world file beside the image.
    FARO SCENECreate Orthophoto from aboveCreate Orthophoto on the facade planeEmpty areas export as transparent; PhotoCAD reads them as white.
    Trimble RealWorksOrtho-Projection on a horizontal planeOrtho-Projection on the facade planeChoose true color or intensity.
    CloudCompare (free)Top view, cross-section tool, then Render to FileFront view, cross-section tool, then Render to FileChange the background first: its default is a blue gradient.
    Autodesk RevitA plan view cut through the linked cloud, then Export > ImageAn elevation or section view of the cloud, then Export > ImageHide grids, tags, and elevation markers first, so they stay out of the drawing.
    MatterportThe schematic floor plan imageA square-on view of the spaceA quick alternative to ordering a CAD file of the space.
    PolycamThe floor plan, or a top-down view of the scanA square-on view of the scanA phone scan is less exact than a laser scan: check the key dimensions.

    Walk-through scanners (NavVis, GeoSLAM, BLK2GO) and any other software: open the registered scan in one of these, or take a square-on screenshot with the tools and cursor hidden.

    Clip what you do not want

    Take the ceiling off a plan and the foreground off an elevation. One floor, one wall, or one section per image.

  • Export big, crop close

    Export at the highest resolution your software offers and keep to the part you need: a room, a bay, an elevation.

  • Know one length

    A wall you measured, a door, two control points. One known length sets the scale of the whole drawing.

    • Whichever shows the edges most clearly: white, black, or gray all work. Avoid a gradient, and turn off anything drawn over the cloud. Whatever the background, check the drawing against the scan.

    PhotoCAD puts the converted linework on one layer, and the dimensions, labels, and title block you add on layers of their own. Reassign the linework to your office's layers in CAD.

    CloudCompare is free for viewing a point cloud, cutting it, and exporting views as images, and AutoCAD and Revit can load a cloud to trace over, but the drawing itself is done by hand. Software that automates part of it is paid. PhotoCAD's first 3 conversions are free, no card required, then ~$1 per drawing.

    PhotoCAD does scan to 2D. Scan to BIM builds a 3D model in Revit or ArchiCAD; PhotoCAD drafts the 2D plans, elevations, and sections, which open in Revit or ArchiCAD at real size. When a job needs only the 2D drawings, it is the faster route.

    Yes. PhotoCAD never trains AI models on your images or your drawings, and deleting a conversion permanently destroys the image and the drawing within 30 days. For confidential work, PhotoCAD Stealth keeps processing on a contractual no-training chain and deletes automatically; the Trust page has the details. To set up a confidential workflow for a client, talk to us.

    DWG, DXF, SVG, and PDF from the one conversion. The DWG opens at real size in model space in AutoCAD, Revit, ArchiCAD, BricsCAD, or SketchUp, with the sheet as a paper-space layout if you laid one out.