viewing 3D point cloud using APIs by Open source PCL

Question

I use a ToF (Time of Flight) camera to obtain depth data in XYZ format.

For visualization purpose as a 3D point cloud, I want to use the APIs provided by open source PCL mentioned at http://pointclouds.org/documentation/tutorials/pcl_visualizer.php

What is a good starter tutoarial example (.cpp) file to look at in order to construct a point cloud GUI running in a separate display thread ?

Answer 1

1. Looks like you're not linking the PCL visualization lib file and probably others. Do this in the project properties > Linker > Input > Additional Dependencies. The path to your PCL lib directory should be specified in Project properties > VC++ Directories > Library Directories. At the same time the path to your PCL include directory should be specified in Project properties > VC++ Directories > Include Directories.
2. PCL functions and types are templated on the point type. So you will use pcl::PointXYZ as the point type for all functions.
3. No. Yours will be more similar to the Simple Cloud Visualization example in the CloudViewer tutorial .
4. You don't copy the PCL .h and .cpp files into your solution. You #include the PCL headers that remain in their installed location, and you link in the PCL lib files, (see 1 above.)
5. None. If the PCL bin/ directory is not in your $PATH then place the PCL .dlls alongside your .exe.

Make sure you match release libraries with a release build and debug libraries with a debug build. Make sure you're building either for Win32 or x64 depending on which pre-installed binary you installed.