Bentley Pointools V8i has a useful tool; the Plane Shader, which gives the user a way of colouring point clouds based on their position in any direction. Typically this would be used in the Z axis and called a height shader, but we can use it in any direction to show, for example, the deformation of a non-planar wall.
To do this
- Align yourself to the wall using the Align 2 Point tool. You can find this in the View ribbon. Simply click two points as far as apart as possible to align yourself to the plane they lie in. This will keep the Up vector, so it's perfect for aligning to a wall.
- Open the Shader Settings menu and go to the Point Clouds / Plane Shader options
- Enable the Plane Shader by checking the check box
- Select Vector from the Axis drop down
- Click the Align View button to align the vector to the current view
- Adjust the Distance and Offset to get the shading you want:
Distance : The actual distance over which the colour ramp is spread
Offset : The point at which the shading starts
The Edge setting determines what happens to the colour at the edge of its range. By default it just repeats, but it can also be clamped or set to black.