Here are some tips on Importing and Exporting camera paths using Pointools View Pro/Edit and 3D Studio Max:

To Export Camera Path from Pointools for 3D Studio Max:

• Right click the Camera controller and select Camera Path Export and specify the location for the camera path to be saved.
• Click on Save to export the camera path.


To Import a Camera Path into 3D Studio Max from Pointools:

• In 3D Studio Max go to MAXScript>Run Script.
• Click on the Pick File Button and locate the file camera_R.ms
• Expand the Camera Importer toolbar using the ‘+’ icon
• Click on Pick File and select the *.txt camera path file from Pointools.
• Click the IMPORT button to import the camera path.

Note: 3D Max units need to be set to meters before importing a camera path from Pointools.
To do this go to: Customize/Units Setup and click on System Unit Setup. Make sure that 1 Unit = 1.0 meters.


To Export Camera Path from 3D Studio Max for Pointools:

• In 3D Studio Max go to MAXScript>Run Script.
• Click on the Pick File Button and locate the file camera_R.ms
• Expand the Camera Exporter toolbar using the ‘+’ icon
• Click on the Pick Camera button and select the camera to be exported.
• Click the Select File button and specify the location for the path *.txt file to be saved.
• Click the Export button to export the camera path.

for 3D Studio Max 2013 the script file you need has changed slightly, this can be downloaded by going to the 3D Imaging and Point Clouds > Files section of Bentley Communities, and looking for Camera Controller import > script file for 3D Studio Max 2013

To Import a Camera Path into Pointools from 3D Studio Max:

• Right click the Camera controller and select Camera Path Import and locate the camera path *.txt file to be imported.
• Click Open to import the camera path.

Camera paths - each value explained

A few people are asking about the meaning of each variable in the camera path file recently. This is becoming popular due to more of our customers wanting to recreate the path of their mobile scanning systems within Pointools, either for an added sense of realism or to directly compare the point cloud to a video stream.

This is just to explain what you get out of Pointools 'export camera path' tool. The values under each heading are from my example file, with everything as default.

right-click and save file if you can't read it