1. Base dependencies

CloudCompare requires CMake to be built.

The main dependency of CloudCompare is Qt. CloudCompare 2.14+ requires Qt 6.

• On Windows it is recommended to use the installer from the Qt website.
• On macOs you can also use the installer from Qt's website, or use homebrew.
• On Linux it is recommended to use your distribution's package manager:

Debian/ubuntu package names:

# Pre Ubuntu 24 (Qt5 dependencies)
sudo apt install libqt5svg5-dev libqt5opengl5-dev qt5-default qttools5-dev qttools5-dev-tools libqt5websockets5-dev

# Ubuntu 24 (Qt6 depencendies)
sudo apt install qt6-base-dev qt6-svg-dev qt6-tools-dev \
qt6-tools-dev-tools libqt6opengl6-dev \
libqt6websockets6-dev

2. Cloning

The command to clone CloudCompare is:

git clone --recursive https://github.com/cloudcompare/CloudCompare.git

The --recursive is important as CloudCompare uses Git's submodules system to 'vendor' external libraries or plugins.

3. CMake Configuration

When doing a basic build of CloudCompare, the only CMake arguments that is required is the CMAKE_PREFIX_PATH to tell CMake where to find your Qt installation.

This is only required on Windows and macOs as on Linux Qt is installed in a standard location that CMake will find.

You can also use the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX to customize the path where CloudCompare will be installed.

If you use CMake-GUI the options are the same, you just enter the values in the GUI.

Example:

# Windows
mkdir build & cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=C:\Qt\5.15.2\msvc2019_64 ..

# macOs
mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/usr/local/opt/qt@5 ..

# Linux
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..

You can always take a look at how CloudCompare is being build on GitHub's CI

4. Build

# Still in the build folder
cmake --build .
# or
cmake --build . --parallel # use all available cores

5. Install

# Still in the build folder
cmake --install .

Optional features and plugins

CloudCompare has a bunch of optional features and plugins not built by default. Below you will find a list of these options/plugins. To add an option to CMake use the -DMY_OPTION=ON syntax.

To exemplify, .pcd pointcloud files generated with PCL will not be readable by default unless you compile with qPCL plugin. To solve this active qPCL plugin using -DPLUGIN_STANDARD_QPCL=ON. Similarly to active to enableqEDL plugin, add -DPLUGIN_GL_QEDL=ON argument to CMake at the configuration step.

Thus, the Cmake command becomes

cmake .. -DPLUGIN_STANDARD_QPCL=ON -DPLUGIN_GL_QEDL=ON

The optional features are:

CMake Option	Default Value	Description
OPTION_BUILD_CCVIEWER	ON	Whether or not to build the ccViewer side project.
OPTION_USE_SHAPE_LIB	ON	Use the vendored shapelib to add support for SHP files.
OPTION_USE_DXF_LIB	ON	Use the vendored dxflib to add support for DXF files.
OPTION_USE_GDAL	OFF	Add support for a lot of raster files in CloudCompare/ccViewer with GDAL library.

The following options are Windows-only:

CMake Option	Default Value	Description
OPTION_MP_BUILD	OFF	Visual Studio only (multi-process build --> much faster but uses a lot of CPU power)
OPTION_SUPPORT_3D_CONNEXION_DEVICES	OFF	3D mouses handling
OPTION_USE_VISUAL_LEAK_DETECTOR	OFF	To use the Visual Leak Detector library for MSVC (http://vld.codeplex.com/)

The available plugins are

GL Plugins

Plugin Name	CMake Option	Default Value	Description
qEDL	PLUGIN_GL_QEDL	OFF
qSSAO	PLUGIN_GL_QSSAO	OFF

IO Plugins

Plugin Name	CMake Option	Default Value	Description
qAdditionalIO	PLUGIN_IO_QADDITIONAL	OFF
qCoreIO	PLUGIN_IO_QCORE	ON
qCSVMatrixIO	PLUGIN_IO_QCSV_MATRIX	OFF	Add support for CSV matrix files.
qDraco	PLUGIN_IO_QDRACO	OFF	Add support force draco files
qE57IO	PLUGIN_IO_QE57	OFF	Add support for e57 files using libE57.
qFBXIO	PLUGIN_IO_QFBX	OFF	Add support for AutoDesk FBX files using the official FBX SDK
qLASFWIO	PLUGIN_IO_QLAS_FWF	OFF	Windows only. Support for LAS/LAZ with and without waveform using LIBlas (deprecated, consider using qLASIO instead).
qLASIO	PLUGIN_IO_QLAS	OFF	Support for LAS/LAZ with and without waveform (all platforms) using LASZIP.
qPDALIO	PLUGIN_IO_QPDAL	OFF	Add support for LAS/LAZ files using PDAL (deprecated, consider using qLASIO instead).
qPhotoscanIO	PLUGIN_IO_QPHOTOSCAN	OFF
qRDBIO	PLUGIN_IO_QRDB	OFF	Add support for RDB.
qStepCADImport	PLUGIN_IO_QSTEP	OFF	Add support for STEP files.

Standard Plugins

Plugin Name	CMake Option	Default Value	Description
q3DMASC	PLUGIN_STANDARD_3DMASC	OFF	Automatic point cloud classification: https://lidar.univ-rennes.fr/en/3dmasc
qAnimation	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QANIMATION	OFF	Plugin to create videos: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/Animation_(plugin).
qBroom	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QBROOM	OFF	Interactive cloud cleaning tool: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/Virtual_broom_(plugin)
qCanupo	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QCANUPO	OFF	Automatic point cloud classification: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/CANUPO_(plugin)
qCloudLayers	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QCLOUDLAYERS	OFF	Manual point cloud classification/labelling: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/QCloudLayers_(plugin)
qColorimetricSegmenter	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QCOLORIMETRIC_SEGMENTER	OFF	Point cloud color-based segmentation: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/Colorimetric_Segmenter_(plugin)
qCompass	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QCOMPASS	OFF	Digitization of geological structures and structural traces on point clouds: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/Compass_(plugin)
qCork	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QCORK	OFF	Mesh Boolean Operations: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/Cork_(plugin)
qCSF	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QCSF	OFF	Automatic ground/non-ground classification: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/CSF_(plugin)
qFacets	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QFACETS	OFF	Structural geology plugin: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/Facets_(plugin)
qHoughNormals	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QHOUGH_NORMALS	OFF	Normals computation: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/HoughNormals_(plugin)
qHPR	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QHPR	OFF	Hidden Point Removal: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/Hidden_Point_Removal_(plugin)
qJSonRPCPlugin	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QJSONRPC	OFF	Json/RPC control plugin
qM3C2	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QM3C2	OFF	Robust point cloud distances computation: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/M3C2_(plugin)
qMasonry			Segmentation of masonry structures: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/Masonry_Segmentation_(plugin)
- qAutoSeg	PLUGIN_STANDARD_MASONRY_QAUTO_SEG	OFF
- qManualSeg	PLUGIN_STANDARD_MASONRY_QMANUAL_SEG	OFF
qMeshBoolean	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QMESH_BOOLEAN	OFF	Mesh Boolean Operations: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/Mesh_Boolean_(plugin)
qMPlane	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QMPLANE	OFF	Normal distance measurements against a defined plane: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/MPlane_(plugin)
qPCL	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QPCL	OFF	Interface to some algorithms of the PCL library: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/Point_Cloud_Library_Wrapper_(plugin)
qPCV	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QPCV	OFF	Ambient Occlusion for meshes or point clouds: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/ShadeVis_(plugin)
qPoissonRecon	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QPOISSON_RECON	OFF	Surface Mesh Reconstruction: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/Poisson_Surface_Reconstruction_(plugin)
qRANSAC_SD	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QRANSAC_SD	OFF	Automatic RANSAC shape detection: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/RANSAC_Shape_Detection_(plugin)
qSRA	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QSRA	OFF	Surface of Revolution Analysis: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/Surface_of_Revolution_Analysis_(plugin)
qTreeIso	PLUGIN_STANDARD_QTREEISO	OFF	Individual Tree Isolation: https://www.cloudcompare.org/doc/wiki/index.php/Treeiso_(plugin)

Additional Instructions

Some plugins do not have their dependencies vendored in CloudCompare's repo, thus they require additional steps to install them. This section aims to document the steps for these plugins.

qAnimation

The qAnimation plugin has an additional option QANIMATION_WITH_FFMPEG_SUPPORT to be able to create movies with FFMPEG.

qE57IO

If you want to compile CloudCompare (and ccViewer) with LibE57 files support, you'll need:

1. Xerces-C++ multi-thread static libraries

   • On Ubuntu install the package libxerces-c-dev
   • On Visual C++ (Windows):
     1. select the Static Debug or Static Release configurations
     2. you'll have to manually modify the XercesLib project options so that the C/C++ > Code Generation > Runtime Library are of DLL type in both release and debug modes (i.e. /MD in release or /MDd in debug)
     3. for 64 bits version be sure to select the right platform (x64 instead of Win32). If you use Visual Studio Express 2010, be sure also that the toolset (in the project properties) is set to something like Windows7.1SDK
   • only the XercesLib project neet to be compiled
   • eventually, CMake will look for the resulting files in /include (instead of /src) and /lib (without the Release or Debug subfolders). By default the visual project will put them in /Build/WinXX/VCXX/StaticXXX. Therefore you should create a custom folder with the right organization and copy the files there.

2. LibE57 (last tested version: 2.0.1 on Windows)

   • Checkout the submodule in plugins/core/IO/qE57IO/extern/libE57Format or download and extract the latest libE57Format release

qPCL

qPCL relies on the PCL library. Follow the instructions from their website PCL.

qFBXIO

If you want to compile CloudCompare (and ccViewer) with FBX files support, you'll need: The official Autodesk's FBX SDK (last tested version: 2015.1 on Windows)

Then, the CloudCompare CMake project will request that you set the 3 following variables:

1. FBX_SDK_INCLUDE_DIR: FBX SDK include directory (pretty straightforward ;)
2. FBX_SDK_LIBRARY_FILE: main FBX SDK library (e.g. libfbxsdk-md.lib)
3. FBX_SDK_LIBRARY_FILE_DEBUG: main FBX SDK library for debug mode (if any)

qLASIO

If you want to compile CloudCompare (and ccViewer) with LAS/LAZ files support, you'll need LASZip.

qPDALIO [deprecated]

If you want to compile the deprecated PDAL I/O plugin to load LAS/LAZ files, you'll need PDAL.

qLASFWIO [deprecated]

The deprecated LAS FWF I/O plugin can also be compiled on Windows with LASlib.

You'll have to set the following variables:

• LASLIB_INCLUDE_DIR: LAStools/LASlib/inc
• LASZIP_INCLUDE_DIR: LAStools/LASzip/src
• LASLIB_RELEASE_LIBRARY or LASLIB_DEBUG_LIBRARY, depending on build type: the compiled library, e.g. LAStools/LASlib/VC14/lib/x64/LASlibVC14.lib

GDAL support

If you want to compile CloudCompare (and ccViewer) with GDAL (raster) files support, you'll need a compiled version of the GDAL library (last tested version: 2.2.1 on Windows, 2.0.2 on Mac OS X)

Then, the CloudCompare CMake project will request that you set the following variables:

1. GDAL_INCLUDE_DIR: GDAL include directory (pretty straightforward ;)
2. GDAL_LIBRARY: the static library (e.g. gdal_i.lib)
3. GDAL_BIN_DIR: on Windows, the folder with DLL files

qCork + MPIR support

If you want to compile the qCork plugin (on Windows only for now), you'll need:

1. MPIR 2.6.0
2. the forked version of the Cork library for CC: https://github.com/cloudcompare/cork
   • on Windows see the Visual project shipped with this fork and corresponding to your version (if any ;)
   • for VS2013 just edit the mpir property sheet (in the Properties manager) and update the MPIR macro (in the User macros tab)

Then, the CloudCompare CMake project will request that you set the following variables:

1. CORK_INCLUDE_DIR and MPIR_INCLUDE_DIR: both libraries include directories (pretty straightforward ;)

2. CORK_RELEASE_LIBRARY_FILE and MPIR_RELEASE_LIBRARY_FILE: both main library files

3. and optionally CORK_DEBUG_LIBRARY_FILE and MPIR_DEBUG_LIBRARY_FILE: both main library files (for debug mode)

4. Make sure you have a C++11 compliant compiler (gcc 4.7+ / clang / Visual 2013 and newer)

To compile the project with older versions of Qt (from 4.8 to 5.4) or with a non C++11 compliant compiler, you'll have to stick with the https://github.com/cloudcompare/CloudCompare/releases/tag/v2.6.3.1 version

5. Last but not least, the CMAKE group contains a CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX variable which is where CloudCompare and ccViewer will be installed (when you compile the INSTALL project)

• On Linux, default install dir is /usr/local (be sure to have administrative rights if you want to install CloudCompare there: once configured, you can call # make install from the sources directory)
• On Windows 7/8/10 CMake doesn't have the rights to 'install' files in the Program Files folder (even though it's CMake's default installation destination!)

Other things

linux

With versions of CMake prior to 3.13, the compiled application might not work for all users (due to some libraries being linked from the /usr/local directory). See https://github.com/CloudCompare/CloudCompare/issues/1680.

macOs

If you are compiling and running locally, add -DCC_MAC_DEV_PATHS to the CMAKE_CXX_FLAGS in the CMAKE group. This will look for the plugins in your build directory rather than the application bundle. If you need the shaders as well, you will have to create a shaders folder in the build directory and copy the shaders you need into it.

For convenience, we provide a 100% self contained build system based on pixi. Simply install pixi from the official website and in the root directory of CC code repository simply launch pixi run build and then pixi run CloudCompare. You can also create a portable (relocatable) .app by using pixi run bundle. You could find the bundle in .build/install/CloudCompare directory.

Working with Visual Studio on Windows

As all the files (executables, plugins and other DLLs) must be copied in the CMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX directory prior to execution, the standard project launch/debug mechanism is broken. Therefore, by default you won't be able to 'run' the CloudCompare or ccViewer projects as is (with F5 or Ctrl + F5 for instance).

See this post on the CloudCompare forum to setup Visual Studio correctly.

Debugging plugins

If you want to use or debug plugins in DEBUG mode while using a single configuration compiler/IDE (gcc, etc.) the you'll have to comment the automatic definition of the QT_NO_DEBUG macro in '/plugins/CMakePluginTpl.cmake' (see http://www.cloudcompare.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=2070).

If you wish to specify a custom directory to search for plugins, shaders, or translations, you may set the CC_PLUGIN_PATH, CC_SHADER_PATH, and CC_TRANSLATION_PATH environment variables. The paths may be relative to the current working directory or absolute.