CloudCompare forum

Hello,
I have two point clouds that are two sections of the same gravel bar. I need to align them and merge them into 1 cloud. I have tried doing this using the translate/rotate tool, but this changes the elevations of known points within my cloud (I have permanent GCPs at my site that have been surveyed so I know the true point elevations). The two clouds also share overlap, so I know that they can be tied together. Is there a better way to merge them that won't change my known elevations?
Thank you for your time!

Normally, if one of your cloud is already correctly positioned, then it should be used as 'reference', and you should only move the other cloud. Either manually indeed, or with the Point-pair alignment tool, or the Fine registration (ICP) tool. See http://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/in ... gistration.

As long as you never move the reference cloud (and the alignment tools will do the same), then your coordinate system should be preserved.