Yet another Autodesk product is getting native point cloud support. This time it is 3D Studio Max under the name Project Helix. It is an official technology preview available from Autodesk Labs. This is one more piece in the point cloud puzzle. We can now do high quality renders featuring point clouds without the need for another application. I am excited to test this out.

Source: http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/3dsmax_pointcloud/

Not to be out done by Bentley's announcement last week of a deal with Pointools Autodesk has realeased native point cloud support for AutoCAD Civil 3D 2010. It comes via a subscription bonus pack that included a few other features. After some struggles with getting it installed and my data converted I was able to finally get a cloud brought into AutoCAD. Here are my first impressions and how it all seems to work.