What is it?
The Point Cloud Library (PCL) is a standalone, large scale, open project for 3D point cloud processing.
The PCL framework contains numerous state-of-the art algorithms including filtering, feature estimation, surface reconstruction, registration, model fitting and segmentation, as well as higher level tools for performing mapping and object recognition. Think of it as the Boost of 3D point cloud processing.
PCL is released under the terms of the BSD license. It is free for commercial and research use. We are financially supported by Willow Garage, NVidia, Google, Toyota, Trimble, Urban Robotics, Honda Research Institute, and Sandia Intelligent Systems and Robotics.
In 2011, PCL was awarded the Grand Prize (highest distinction) at the Open Source Software (OSS) World Challenge in Seoul, South Korea.
Quick Links
- Users: API Documentation / Users forum
- Developers: Developer Zone / Build Farm / Developers forum
Events
Point Cloud Registration and Kinect Fusion tutorial with PCL at RSS 2012, July 12, 2012 in Sydney, Australia.
Advanced 3D Image Processing with Point Cloud Library (PCL) Tutorial at CVPR 2012, June 17-21, 2012 in Providence, Rhode Island, USA.
Point Cloud Library (PCL) Tutorial at CRV 2012, May 27, 2012 in Toronto, Canada.
Advanced 3D Point Cloud Processing with Point Cloud Library (PCL) Tutorial at ICRA 2012, May 18, 2012 in St. Paul, Minnesota, USA.
News
Google Summer of Code 2012 ready to begin!
The awesome team we have selected to represent PCL for GSoC 2012 is ready to start ...
First PCL Code Sprint - TOCS - a success !
The first ever PCL code sprint has recently ended, with the submission of the final reports.
New Object Segmentation Algorithms
New real-time point cloud segmentation tools available in trunk!
PCL-NVCS is ready to start! The sprint will cover 3D algorithmic work for human body recognition, deformable object modeling,…
PCL - Google Summer of Code 2012
We are very proud to announce that the Point Cloud Library has been accepted for the second time in the Google Summer of Code…
PCL-SRCS is ready to start! The sprint will cover 3D algorithmic work for surface reconstruction and large scale mapping for …
PCL-HRCS is ready to start! The following developers will work on 3D technologies for driver-assistance systems...
PCL and Sandia Robotics Code Sprint 2012
It is our immense pleasure to announce the beginning of a new PCL Code Sprint sponsored by the Sandia National Laboratories' …
PCL and NVidia Code Sprint 2012
It is our immense pleasure to announce the beginning of a new PCL Code Sprint sponsored by NVidia: PCL-NVCS 2012!
2nd ICRA Workshop on Semantic Perception, Mapping and Exploration (SPME 2012)
The second workshop on Semantic Perception, Mapping and Exploration will take place at ICRA 2012.
Code Sprints
Google Summer Of Code (GSOC) 2012
Google is sponsoring PCL development during the summer of 2012. Now accepting applications. For a list of previous GSOC results, see our blog.
NVidia is sponsoring algorithmic and optimization work development for GPU and Tegra3 mobile platforms in PCL.
Sandia Robotics Code Sprint (SRCS)
Sandia Robotics group is sponsoring 3D algorithmic work for surface reconstruction and large scale mapping for PCL.
Honda Research Institute Code Sprint (HRCS)
Honda Research Institute is sponsoring the development of 3D technologies for driver-assistance systems in PCL.
Urban Robotics Code Sprint (URCS)
Urban Robotics is sponsoring the integration and extension of their highly scalable, spatially searchable and colorized 3D octree-based point cloud format in PCL.
Trimble is sponsoring development of several projects in different research areas involving 3D perception.
Toyota is sponsoring development of new algorithms for surface reconstruction and real-time localization.