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Amorphous

Toggle Point Clouds

Toggle Point Clouds provides a simple, one-click solution for managing point cloud visibility in Revit views. When working with scan-to-BIM workflows or as-built documentation, point clouds can clutter the view and slow down navigation. This add-in allows you to quickly hide all visible point clouds with a single click or a shortcut, and restore them just as easily.

Getting Started

Section titled “Getting Started”

Find Toggle Point Clouds on the Amorphous ribbon tab in the View Tools panel.

The button is enabled when you have an active view in a Revit project containing point cloud instances.

Features

Section titled “Features”
  • One-click toggle - Hide all visible point clouds or restore previously hidden ones with a single button press
  • Per-view state memory - Each view maintains its own independent toggle state
  • Session persistence - Hidden state is preserved across Revit sessions
  • Worksharing support - Uses central model GUID for consistent state tracking across team members
  • Smart validation - Automatically validates that stored elements still exist before restoring
  • Zero configuration - Works immediately with no setup required

How to Use

Section titled “How to Use”

Hiding Point Clouds

Section titled “Hiding Point Clouds”
  1. Navigate to a view containing visible point cloud instances
  2. Click “Toggle Point Clouds” on the ribbon
  3. All visible point clouds in the current view are hidden
  4. The add-in stores which point clouds were hidden for later restoration

Restoring Point Clouds

Section titled “Restoring Point Clouds”
  1. In the same view where point clouds were previously hidden
  2. Click “Toggle Point Clouds” again
  3. All previously hidden point clouds are restored to visibility
  4. The stored state is cleared

Use Cases

Section titled “Use Cases”
ScenarioBenefit
Point cloud to BIMQuickly hide scans to see your model clearly, then restore for reference
Presentation viewsHide point clouds for clean screenshots or exports, restore for continued work
Performance optimizationTemporarily hide large point clouds to improve view navigation speed
Team collaborationState persists per document, so your toggle preferences follow the model
Multi-view workflowsEach view has independent state; toggle point clouds in one view without affecting others

Options & Settings

Section titled “Options & Settings”

Toggle Point Clouds operates with a zero-configuration philosophy. There are no user-configurable options.

BehaviorDefaultNotes
State persistenceEnabledStates stored in %AppData%\Amorphous\TogglePointClouds\
Per-view trackingEnabledEach view maintains independent toggle state
Element validationEnabledValidates stored IDs exist before unhiding

Tips & Best Practices

Section titled “Tips & Best Practices”

Keyboard Shortcut

Section titled “Keyboard Shortcut”

Assign a keyboard shortcut for faster access:

  1. Go to File > Options > User Interface > Keyboard Shortcuts
  2. Search for “Toggle Point Clouds”
  3. Assign your preferred shortcut (e.g., ~)

Working with Multiple Views

Section titled “Working with Multiple Views”

If you want to hide point clouds in multiple views, toggle each view individually. The per-view state ensures you can have different visibility settings in different views - for example, point clouds visible in a coordination view but hidden in a presentation view.

Comparing Model to Scan

Section titled “Comparing Model to Scan”

Toggle Point Clouds is ideal for quick A/B comparisons:

  1. Model with point clouds visible - verify alignment
  2. Toggle to hide - review model geometry in isolation
  3. Toggle to show - check specific areas against scan data
  4. Repeat as needed

Large Point Cloud Projects

Section titled “Large Point Cloud Projects”

When working with multiple large point clouds that slow down view navigation:

  1. Use Toggle Point Clouds to hide scans while navigating or modeling
  2. Restore only when you need to reference specific scan areas
  3. Combine with Revit’s view-specific point cloud settings for granular control

Limitations

Section titled “Limitations”
LimitationDetails
View-specific operationThe toggle only affects the active view; there is no global toggle across all views
Point Cloud Instances onlyOperates on directly linked point cloud elements; does not affect linked Revit files that contatin point clouds
Manual hides not trackedIf you manually hide point clouds through Revit’s UI, this add-in will not track or restore them
View deletionIf a view is deleted, its stored state becomes orphaned (cleaned up automatically when the document changes)

Troubleshooting

Section titled “Troubleshooting”

Toggle doesn’t seem to work

Section titled “Toggle doesn’t seem to work”

If clicking the button appears to do nothing:

  1. Verify the current view contains point cloud instances
  2. Check if point clouds are already hidden (the toggle may be restoring them, but there were none to restore)

Previously hidden point clouds don’t restore

Section titled “Previously hidden point clouds don’t restore”

This can happen if:

  • The point cloud elements were deleted from the project
  • The point clouds were hidden through Revit’s native visibility controls after being toggled
  • The state file was deleted or corrupted

To reset: Delete the state file at %AppData%\Amorphous\TogglePointClouds\{document-id}_state.json and start fresh.

Toggle behavior is inconsistent

Section titled “Toggle behavior is inconsistent”

If the toggle seems to behave unpredictably:

  1. Navigate to %AppData%\Amorphous\TogglePointClouds\
  2. Delete all .json files in that folder
  3. Restart Revit and try again

This clears all stored states and lets you begin with a clean slate.

Section titled “Related Tools”