Point Clouds (E57, LAS/LAZ)
Everything you need to know about uploading laser scan and LiDAR data to Nira.
Written By Nira.app
Last updated 15 days ago
Prerequisites
A point cloud exported from your processing or registration software in LAS, LAZ, or E57 format.
Plan tier: Point cloud support is available on Individual, Professional, and Enterprise plans. Legacy Core and Business plans do not support point clouds.
Familiarity with your scanner's coordinate reference system (CRS) if georeferencing is required. See Georeference & Map View.
Supported Point Cloud Formats
💡 Which format should I pick? Use LAZ if you just need the points. Use E57 if your scanner captured panoramic photos at each scan position and you want to click between them in Nira (see Bubble Views below).
Point clouds have no hard point count limit in Nira. A 5-billion-point scan renders with the same performance as a 50-million-point scan, because rendering happens on Nira's servers.
Point Cloud Formats NOT Supported
⚠️ PLY is a format with three identities. A PLY file can be a mesh, a point cloud, or a 3D Gaussian Splat — the extension alone tells you nothing. Nira accepts PLY as a mesh and as a 3DGS. Nira does NOT accept PLY as a point cloud. If your scanner exports PLY for interchange, convert to LAS/LAZ/E57 first. See Gaussian Splats and Supported Data & File Types for the full breakdown.
Critical Rule: Point Clouds Cannot Be Appended
⚠️ You cannot add more point cloud files to an asset after it has been uploaded. Once a point cloud asset exists, it is locked. There is no "append," "merge later," or "add scans" option.
What this means in practice:
Plan your upload ahead of time. Have all scans ready before you start.
Merge or register multiple scans in your source software (Cyclone REGISTER 360, Faro Scene, CloudCompare, RiSCAN PRO) before uploading.
If you discover a missing scan after upload, you have two options: create a new asset with the complete dataset, or use Asset Compare to view the two captures side-by-side.
You can upload multiple point cloud files simultaneously in a single asset — but they must all be selected and uploaded in one batch. The system will process them together as a single viewable asset.
Batch upload limit: Up to 300 .laz files can be uploaded into a single asset in one session.
Uploading a Point Cloud
From the Nira dashboard, click New Asset.
Select Photogrammetry as the asset type. (Yes, even for laser scans — "Photogrammetry" is the generic asset category for spatial data in Nira.)
Drag your LAS/LAZ/E57 files into the uploader, or click to browse. Select all files at once if uploading multiple scans.
If the files are georeferenced, Nira will detect and preserve the CRS automatically.
Click Upload. Processing time scales with point count — large scans (1B+ points) may take 10–30 minutes.
Once processing completes, open the asset to view.
[SCREENSHOT: Nira new asset dialog with LAZ files staged for upload]
💡 Tip: Leave the browser tab open during upload. If it closes, uploads can resume when you log back in (within 24 hours) — but staying connected is faster and avoids partial-upload confusion.
See Web Uploader Guide for a full walkthrough and Upload Troubleshooting for failures.
Bubble Views (E57 Panoramic Data)
E57 files can embed 360° panoramic photos from each scan position. Nira calls these bubble views and displays them interactively.
What You Get
Click on a scan position indicator in the 3D view → the embedded panorama opens
Navigate between scan positions visually
Mark up panoramic photos with callouts (in edit mode)
Both spherical and cubemap panorama projections are supported
[SCREENSHOT: E57 scan position markers in the 3D view with a panorama open]
Exporting E57 With Panoramas From Cyclone REGISTER 360
In Cyclone REGISTER 360, open your registered project.
Go to Publish > E57 Export.
In the export options, explicitly enable "Export Images" or "Include Panoramic Imagery" (exact wording depends on your version).
Choose either spherical or cubemap projection — both work in Nira.
Export and upload the resulting E57.
⚠️ If you export with default settings, Cyclone often omits panoramic data. Always verify the "export images" option is checked before exporting.
See Photo Inspection Guide for the full E57 export walkthrough with screenshots per scanner brand.
Georeferencing Point Clouds
Point clouds with embedded CRS data unlock Map View, WGS84 coordinate display, and slope/elevation measurements. Nira will display coordinates in both the projected CRS (e.g., UTM) and WGS84 (EPSG:4326).
Best practice: Export from your registration software in a projected CRS (UTM zone covering your site, or your regional grid). Nira handles the conversion to WGS84 automatically for display. See Georeference & Map View for the full CRS discussion.
Troubleshooting
Problem: Upload succeeds but the point cloud appears empty or the view is blank. Cause: CRS mismatch — points are located correctly but far outside the default camera view, or the CRS was declared incorrectly during export. Fix: In the viewer, click Frame Asset (keyboard: F) to snap the camera to the point cloud's bounding box. If that doesn't help, verify the CRS in your source software and re-export. For a full workflow, see Georeferenced Upload Troubleshooting.
Problem: LAZ upload fails with a format or processing error. Cause: Most commonly, the file is COPC LAZ (Cloud-Optimized Point Cloud), which Nira doesn't support. Fix: Re-export from your scanner software as standard LAZ. In your exporter settings, look for "COPC" or "cloud-optimized" and disable it.
Problem: E57 uploaded successfully, but "panoramic data is not available" when I click a scan position. Cause: The E57 was exported from Cyclone REGISTER 360 (or similar) without panoramic export enabled. Fix: Re-export from Cyclone REGISTER 360 with Export Images / Include Panoramic Imagery explicitly checked. See Bubble Views above.
Problem: I want to add more scans to an existing asset but can't find the "append" option. Cause: Point clouds cannot be appended after upload — this is by design. Fix: Merge the new scans with the original in your registration software, then upload as a new asset. Alternatively, upload the new scans as a separate asset and use Asset Compare to view both together.
Problem: Points appear at the wrong location on the map — off by hundreds of meters or on the wrong continent. Cause: CRS mismatch between the exporter and Nira. Common when a scanner defaults to a local CRS but tags the file as WGS84. Fix: Verify the correct CRS in your registration software and re-export. When in doubt, use the UTM zone covering your capture site.
Problem: "Unsupported format" error uploading a .ply point cloud. Cause: PLY is not accepted as a point cloud in Nira — only as a mesh or 3DGS. Fix: Open the .ply in CloudCompare and export as LAS or LAZ. Then re-upload.
Problem: Trying to upload a .pts, .ptx, or .xyz file. Cause: These plain-text point formats are not supported. Fix: Convert to LAS/LAZ using CloudCompare (free): File > Open your .pts/.ptx/.xyz → File > Save As → select LAS or LAZ.
Technical Notes
Point count limit: None. Nira renders unlimited points via server-side rendering.
Colors and attributes: RGB, intensity, classification, and GPS time are preserved during processing.
Coordinate precision: Sub-centimeter precision preserved for LAS/LAZ/E57.
Mixing with other data: Point clouds can coexist with textured meshes and photos in the same asset — upload everything together in the initial batch.
Processing time: Scales with point count, not file size. A dense 1B-point LAZ can take 20+ minutes.
Asset type: Always select Photogrammetry when uploading point clouds — this is the catch-all for spatial data in Nira, despite the name.