Syntax FACTORY_DEF VectorToPointCloudFactory [FACTORY_NAME ] [INPUT FEATURE_TYPE [ ]* []*]* [SPACING ] [MEASURES_TO_PRESERVE ] [ATTRIBUTES_TO_PRESERVE ] [EXTRACT_RASTER_NODATA (yes|no)] [COUNT_ATTRIBUTE ] [ACCUMULATE_ATTRIBUTES (yes|no)] [GROUP_BY []+]* [REJECT_INVALID_FEATURES (yes|no)] [OUTPUT FEATURE_TYPE [ ]* []*]* [OUTPUT FEATURE_TYPE [ ]* []*]* Overview This factory takes a set of point, linear, surface, solid, polygonal and/or donut features, and converts them into the resulting point cloud. Point and linear features will be converted point for point. Polygonal, donut, surface and solid features will be converted into a grid of points lying inside the area on the 3D plane represented by the area's calculated normal. Any existing component values stored as measures or attributes may be preserved. Rasters will be converted to point clouds as follows: - The x and y components will be created from the columns and rows. - The first selected numeric band will become the z component. - The first selected bands with red/green/blue/gray interpretations will become the color_red/color_green/color_blue components. - Additional selected bands will also be preserved. If the band has a name, the component name will be the band name. If the band has no name, the component name will be bandN, where N is the band index. If a point cloud feature is supplied, it will be passed through unmodified. Parameters ~~~~~~~~~~ The input features may be partitioned into groups based on attribute values using the GROUP_BY clause and one point cloud feature is output for each group. If the GROUP_BY clause is not specified, then all input features will be processed together and a single point cloud will be output. Attributes specified in the GROUP_BY clause are carried across from the INPUT features to the OUTPUT features. The MEASURES_TO_PRESERVE and ATTRIBUTES_TO_PRESERVE parameters specify components that should be preserved. These parameters are comma-delimited lists of component names and types. For example, the value "returns,uint8,number_of_returns,uint8" specifies that the attributes "returns" and "number_of_returns" should be preserved with a type of uint8. There is one special case in these lists: the attribute "fme_color" will be preserved as three separate components: color_red/color_green/color_blue. If neither MEASURES_TO_PRESERVE nor ATTRIBUTES_TO_PRESERVE is specified, the schema of the output point cloud will be determined by examining the first input vector feature. In this case, the following measure/attribute names will be preserved as components if present on this feature: fme_color fmepc_intensity fmepc_classification fmepc_return fmepc_number_of_returns fmepc_angle fmepc_flight_line fmepc_scan_direction fmepc_point_source_id fmepc_posix_time fmepc_user_data fmepc_gps_time fmepc_gps_week fmepc_flight_line_edge The EXTRACT_RASTER_NODATA parameter specifies whether points should be created for nodata cells in rasters. When set to Yes, a point will be created for every cell in a raster, regardless of whether it is nodata. When set to No, points will not be created for nodata cells. A cell is considered to be nodata when, for each selected band, the value for that cell is equal to that band's nodata value. If any cell value is not equal to that band's nodata value, the cell will be considered data. If the optional COUNT_ATTRIBUTE clause is given, a new attribute will be created on every output feature, containing the number of input features that were combined to form the output. If grouped, the output feature's count attribute will have the number of input features combined within its group. If yes is specified for the ACCUMULATE_ATTRIBUTES clause, the attributes of each input feature are merged onto the feature being output. If grouped, the attributes of each input feature within a group are merged onto the group's output feature. If no is specified for the clause, no user attributes will be carried across from the input features to the output features. The SPACING parameter controls the size of point grid created for area based features such as polygons, donuts, surfaces and solids. The parameter provides the spacing between generated points in ground units. It is important that this parameter is set to a reasonable value with respect to the source ground coordinates. The REJECT_INVALID_FEATURES clause specifies whether the factory will fail upon being supplied invalid features or output them to the port. Output Tags The VectorToPointCloudFactory supports the following output tag. COERCED The point cloud created from a group of features. The output feature that is deemed to be invalid input for any of the following reasons: - The feature has type non-spatial geometry - The feature has spatial, but incompatible geometry