Dense cloud editing - add "edit selected" or "isolate" to simplify cloud edits

[andyroo]

In complex terrain I often have difficulty seeing and isolating points I want to edit, and if I am using other tools like select points by color or misc classify tools, if I use settings that get all the surf noise out, it often edits out parts of the land I want to keep.

I really like how PhotoScan edit tools are evolving, but if I were able to select a part of the dense cloud (like a section of shoreline or deep part of a river with high/low noise) - then isolate it so everything else disappeared (sort of like Adobe illustrator's "isolation mode", then many of these tools would be more useful.

For example, I could run noise classification on only that isolated part, or manually edit only that part by turning it on edge and trimming the noise, or select the dark blue/white parts of deep water/surf for only that part.

I think it would be especially useful for speeding up manual edits while avoiding accidentally clipping areas of the dense cloud that are hidden/far away because of my view.

Andy

[jedfrechette]

Agreed.

Another software I use for point cloud editing has exactly this functionality. You can select points then temporarily hide them (or keep them visible and hide everything else). Being able to hide either unselected or selected points is useful because you can do an initial rough selection and hide everything else, then refine the visible area by selecting unwanted parts and hiding them until only the exact region or object you want is visible. Combined with keyboard shortcuts this makes for an extremely efficient way to isolate a small area, do some work on it, and then go back to viewing the full dataset.