Command Line Processing

XML Settings File #

The file that holds the true power of PCMasterCL is the .xml settings file. This file contains all of the configurable settings within PCMasterGL and can be pre-configured within this .xml to utilize over the course of CL processing.

If a user decides to run PCMasterCL without utilizing an xml file (only CL exe and .pcmp paths), then processing will default to standard settings produced by the One-Click Processing method.

The configurable settings within the .xml include:

• Export:
  • <batch> — true / false
    • Enables this xml processing mode, which triggers automatic processing of the project. Set to true for command-line use; false would skip processing.
  • <noColor> — true / false
    • Exports a point cloud without RGB color (intensity/reflectivity data only). Set to true to produce a standard LiDAR-only output.
  • <color> — true / false
    • Exports a point cloud with RGB colorization applied from camera images. Only relevant for projects that include a camera (CAM projects); ignored otherwise.
  • <colorizationQuality> — Standard / High
    • Colorizes the point cloud using the selected pipeline – one that prioritizes speed and one that prioritizes quality.
  • <expByPath> — true / false
    • Controls whether the export is split into separate files per scan path (true) or merged into a single combined output file (false). All projects are configured with the entire trajectory unless selected and saved in PCMasterProGL.
  • <exportLAS> — true / false
    • Outputs the point cloud in uncompressed .las format. If both exportLAS and exportLAZ are true, both formats are kept.
  • <exportLAZ> — true / false
    • Compresses the output to .laz format. If exportLAS is false, the intermediate .las file is deleted after compression.
  • <additiveColorization> — true / false
    • Utilizes this tool in order to provide an enhanced level of colorization through calculated estimations of nearest neighbors.
  • <K> (under Export) — integer (e.g. 10)
    • The number of nearest-neighbor camera pixels used when colorizing each LiDAR point. Higher values sample more images for smoother color blending but are slower. Only used when blending is on.
  • <blend> — true / false
    • Applies a blur/blending effect to the camera cloud colors to reduce sharpness
• Trajectory:
  • <selectAllPaths> — true / false
    • When true, ignores any flight path selections saved in the project and processes the entire trajectory from start to finish. Setting to false only matters if paths are pre-selected and entered into the project file.
  • <profile> — 0, 1, 2, 3, or 4
    • Sets the GNSS/IMU processing profile optimized for the platform type:
      • 0 = Automatic Detection
      • 1 = UAV
      • 2 = Airborne
      • 3 = Ground Vehicle
      • 4 = Marine
      • 5 = Pedestrian
  • <frequency> — 0, 1, or 2
    • Sets the GNSS processing rate:
      • 0 = Automatic
      • 1 = 20 Hz
      • 2 = 1 Hz
  • <refine> — true / false
    • Enables automatic lever arm refinement, where the software fine tunes the IMU-to-antenna offset using the data itself to improve accuracy. Lock for specific applications.
  • <Primary x=”…” y=”…” z=”…”/> — decimal meters
    • The physical offset (lever arm) from the IMU to the primary GNSS antenna, in the sensor body frame. X = forward/backward, Y = left/right, Z = up/down, all in meters. Leaving blank will use “0” for value input.
  • <Secondary x=”…” y=”…” z=”…”/> — decimal meters
    • Same as Primary, but for the secondary GNSS antenna (used in dual antenna setups for heading). Leave blank if not applicable.
• Coordinate Systems:
  • <horizontal> — string (e.g. “EPSG:32632”)
    • The target horizontal coordinate reference system for reprojection. Leave empty to use the project’s default.
  • <vertical> — string (e.g. “EPSG:5703”)
    • The target vertical datum for reprojection (e.g. an ellipsoidal or geoid height system). Leave empty to use the project’s default.
• Base Station:
  • <x>, <y>, <z> — decimal coordinates
    • The known position of the GNSS base station. X and Y are typically easting/northing or longitude/latitude in the project’s CRS; Z is ellipsoidal height in meters. Leave empty to use the position stored in the base station file.
  • <antennaOffset> — decimal meters
    • The height of the base station antenna above the ground mark (ARP height). Added to Z when computing the true antenna phase center height.
  • <arpApcOffset> — decimal meters
    • The offset from the Antenna Reference Point (ARP) to the actual phase center of the antenna. Provided in antenna calibration specs. Sometimes read automatically from base file.
  • <useAntennaOffset> — true / false
    • Whether to apply the antennaOffset and arpApcOffset corrections. Set to false if your base station Z coordinate already accounts for antenna height.
• Outlier Removal:
  • <enabled> — true / false
    • Runs statistical outlier removal on the point cloud before export to remove noise and isolated points.
  • <K> (under Denoiser) — integer (e.g. 10)
    • The number of nearest neighbors analyzed per point when detecting outliers.
  • <sigma> — decimal (e.g. 5.0)
    • The standard deviation threshold for outlier rejection. Points whose mean neighbor distance is more than this many standard deviations above the global mean are removed. Lower values are more aggressive.
• Filters:
  • All filters share the same attributes: enabled=”true/false”, min=”…”, max=”…”.
    • Only points within the [min, max] range pass through when enabled.
  • <Distance> — meters
    • Filters by the raw LiDAR range (distance from the sensor to the return). Useful for removing close-range noise (e.g. keep min=”8.0″) or far-range noise.
  • <AngularRate> — degrees per second
    • Filters by the sensor’s rotation rate at the time of each shot. Can be used to exclude points captured while the platform was maneuvering sharply.
  • <Azimuth> — degrees (0–360)
    • Filters by the horizontal scan angle of the LiDAR beam. Useful for masking specific directions, e.g. excluding returns directly beneath the aircraft or behind a sensor blind spot.
  • <Reflectivity> — unitless scale (0–100)
    • Filters by the intensity/reflectivity of each return. Can remove very low-reflectivity returns (noise) or very high ones (retroreflectors).
  • <CoordinateX> — projected meters (Easting)
    • Filters by the final projected X (Easting) coordinate of each point. Useful for clipping output to a geographic region.
  • <CoordinateY> — projected meters (Northing)
    • Filters by the final projected Y (Northing) coordinate of each point.
  • <CoordinateZ> — meters (Altitude/Elevation)
    • Filters by the final Z (elevation) coordinate. Useful for removing ground or above-canopy points outside a known height band.
  • <TimeOfWeek> — seconds (0–604800)
    • Filters by GPS Time of Week — the number of seconds since the start of the current GPS week. Allows processing only a specific time window within the flight.

An example of what the xml formatting should be can be found below. Below also shows the recommended starting point for settings to process with when using the xml. It’s recommended to start with this as the baseline and edit only as needed.