In this article, we present an interview with Mr. Daniel Girardeau-Montaut in Japanese. Mr. Girardeau-Montaut is the developer of CloudCompare. The interview took place in “Click 3D Episode 50” and was conducted by Mr. Eugene Liscio, another expert in point clouds. The interview is available on YouTube. We have obtained permission from both Mr. Girardeau-Montaut and Mr. Liscio to create this Japanese translation. We would like to extend our gratitude to both gentlemen for their cooperation.
Introduction
Hello, I'm Eugene Liscio. Welcome to Click 3D. In this program, we discuss all things related to 3D, including photogrammetry, laser scanning, structured light scanners, software, hardware, and more. Sometimes we even interview some very interesting people. That's actually what today's episode is all about.
Many of you in the field of handling 3D data might have heard of a program called CloudCompare. It’s an open-source program developed by Daniel Girardeau-Montaut from France and is widely used across various industries. However, not many people know about Daniel or the origins of CloudCompare. They just know it’s free software. CloudCompare is used by many people. In fact, Daniel told me there are 30,000 downloads a month. Just imagine how many users that represents over the past 10 to 15 years.
I reached out to Daniel for an interview, and he actually agreed. What follows is an interview with Daniel Girardeau-Montaut, the author of CloudCompare. He is an incredibly talented individual and his contributions to the 3D community are absolutely phenomenal.
So, let’s get started. I hope you enjoy it.
Eugene Liscio
Interview Main Content
Eugene: “Hello Daniel, thank you for being here today. I appreciate you taking the time, especially since it’s late in France.”
Daniel: “Thanks for inviting me.”
Eugene: “First, I’d like to start with you and your background. Can you tell us about your background before you started CloudCompare?”
Daniel: “I’ve always been interested in computer science. In fact, my mother was a C++ teacher. So, I learned Pascal, C, and C++ at a very early age. I earned an engineering degree in France and then went on to get a Ph.D. It was during my Ph.D. that I started CloudCompare.”
Eugene: “Where did you study?”
Daniel: “I studied at the School of Mines in Nancy, France. It’s not related to mines anymore. There’s a quite famous computer science lab in the northeastern part of France. I met people from EDF there and completed my Ph.D. with the support of EDF in Paris.”
By Artem Nancy – Own work, CC BY-SA 4.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=52505530
Mines Nancy (Nancy School of Mines) is one of the leading French engineering Grandes Écoles.
It is located in the campus Artem, in the city of Nancy, Eastern France (only 1h30 from Paris by TGV), and is part of the University of Lorraine. Around 400 students are taught general science and management and 300 follow specialised Master programs. These students are taught by 60 permanent professors. There are also 400 researchers including a hundred PhD students. Despite its small size, it is well represented in the French industry. Most of its alumni hold executive positions in the industry and large corporations or scientific research positions in France or abroad.
source Wikipedia
Eugene:
“What was the concept or the birth idea behind CloudCompare?”
Daniel:
“My main theme during my PhD was emergency mapping. I was researching whether we could integrate information from drones, UAVs, satellite images, etc., in case of accidents at facilities like power plants. And EDF (Électricité de France) had already been using LIDAR scanners, especially ground-based LIDAR scanners, since that time. Also, the EDF team had the idea of mounting LIDAR scanners on UAVs. So, we had a lot of data, particularly a huge amount of point clouds. As it was for emergency mapping, the goal was to compare the data before and after the accident. That naturally led us to differential analysis of point clouds.
However, at that time, there were no (or hardly any known) software with such functionalities. Under groping conditions, we attempted to perform temporal difference extraction in 3D using raw point clouds.”
A: Difference between laser point clouds and 3D meshes (blue: smaller difference > red: largest difference) B: Automatic classification of ‘changing’ areas (statistical and spatial filtering) C: Labeling of connected components
Source: Website of Daniel Girardeau-Montaut
Eugene:
“Were you the main person involved initially?”
Daniel:
“Yes, I was the only person. I was also working with non-technical people at EDF and with a lab in Paris called Telecom Paris.”
The French Electric Power Company (EDF) is the largest electricity company in France. As of February 2023, the French government owns more than 90% of its shares. Until November 19, 2004, EDF was a wholly state-owned company with 100% of its shares held by the French government. On November 20, 2004, approximately 15% of these shares were sold, and EDF was listed on the Euronext Paris, becoming a publicly traded company.
EDF is one of the largest electric utility companies in the world. In 2003, it produced 22% of the electricity within the European Union. In response to the oil crisis of 1973 and the lack of fuel resources in France, EDF aggressively pursued the development of nuclear power and has a monopoly on the construction and operation of nuclear power plants in France.
As of 2004, EDF operated more than 58 nuclear reactors at over 20 sites within France. It also operates the Rance Tidal Power Station, the world’s first tidal power station, since 1967. While EDF did not have a monopoly on power generation in France, it had a monopoly on distribution until the electricity market was liberalized in 1999. With the gradual opening of the French electricity market in accordance with the European Union’s energy liberalization policy, EDF lost its monopoly, and electric power and energy companies from various countries entered the French market. However, EDF has been actively acquiring shares in electricity companies in other countries undergoing liberalization.
EDF has become a multinational corporation with subsidiaries and affiliates in various countries around the world, including European nations, China, Vietnam, the United States, South America, and Africa.
source Wikipedia
Eugene:
“Can you tell us about the initial main features of CloudCompare?”
Daniel:
“The main feature was definitely the comparison of point clouds. EDF was already extensively using scanners, and they were involved in activities that compared point clouds with CAD models.”
Eugene:
“When did you start developing CloudCompare?”
Daniel:
“That’s a good question. I started my Ph.D. in 2003. It took three years, and I obtained my Ph.D. in 2006, around which time CloudCompare existed. The main feature at that time was also the comparison of point clouds, but archaeology was also a major application within EDF.”
Eugene:
“How did EDF get involved in archaeology?”
Daniel:
“It was completely by chance. A prominent archaeologist needed EDF’s technology for a project in Egypt. They conducted a large archaeological survey in Egypt, and the television program produced based on it garnered a lot of attention, leading to a surge in archaeological research within EDF.”
Eugene:
“Why did you make CloudCompare public?”
Daniel:
“After I finished my PhD and worked at EDF for an additional year, they hired me to commercialize CloudCompare. Then, after working at EDF for five years, I wanted to explore other opportunities and decided to leave.
At that point, they realized they were losing the main developer of CloudCompare. So, to continue my involvement with the project even after leaving the company, we decided to release it as open-source. It took some time to get the approval, but it was officially released as an open-source project in 2009.”
Eugene:
“When did CloudCompare start to gain popularity?”
Daniel:
“Honestly, I don’t know. It’s been 13 years since 2009. It seems to have gradually spread. More and more people started asking for new features and bug fixes. The first time I thought ‘this is really becoming something interesting’ was in 2014 when I was invited to a 3D point cloud workshop in Mexico. They covered all my expenses, including the flight and accommodation, and gave me the opportunity to talk about CloudCompare. This event made me realize more strongly that CloudCompare had become a meaningful project.”
Eugene:
“That’s great. Were there other programmers or partners involved with CloudCompare initially?”
Daniel:
“At first, it was just me. Later, a new Ph.D. student joined EDF, and he helped a bit. He developed some new features, but it took time for others to get involved with CloudCompare after he left.”
Eugene:
“Regarding the download numbers, how many users do you think CloudCompare has now?”
Daniel:
“I don’t know the exact number, but now it’s roughly about 30,000 downloads a month. So, when you add in the people downloading the Mac or Linux versions, the number of downloads is even higher.”
Eugene:
“You’re involved in projects other than CloudCompare today, right?”
Daniel:
“Yes, indeed, I’m deeply involved in programming for medical robotics.”
Eugene:
“Are there still people contributing to CloudCompare?”
Daniel:
“Yes, there is a small community. Not all of them are involved full-time; many contribute to the development in their free time. The developers of CloudCompare are professionals working in companies and PhD students, all of whom are passionately engaged in the project.”
Eugene:
“What about the types of users who use CloudCompare?”
Daniel:
“I don’t have exact numbers, but the largest user groups are undoubtedly archaeologists and structural geologists. These fields use a lot of 3D data, scanning, and dense photogrammetry. Then there’s a broader community, including surveyors and remote sensing scientists.”
Eugene:
“You know that CloudCompare is used in forensic science as well?”
Daniel:
“Yes, of course. CloudCompare is used in forensic science for combining photogrammetry and laser scanner data.”
Eugene:
“Do you receive requests from companies for adding features to CloudCompare or for supporting additional point cloud file extensions?”
Daniel:
“Yes, we do receive many requests from companies. Some of them support us to make CloudCompare compatible with their file formats. There are not many, but there have been some users who requested support for specific extensions, and driven by necessity, we have tried to persuade manufacturers. The only exception is RIEGL. They truly embody the spirit of open-source. They are very proactive, developing and maintaining a filter to import their file extensions. They are accustomed to collaborating with researchers, and I really like this company and what they have done.
There’s also Dot Product, a company that actively supports making their file extensions compatible with CloudCompare. They are also very motivated.”
Eugene:
“Are the specific individuals you’re referring to at those companies Rafael Spring and Tom Greaves?”
Daniel:
“Yes, that’s correct.”
Eugene:
“Can you talk about the current state of CloudCompare, any future plans, or new features?”
Daniel:
“Actually, we are close to releasing the official 2.12 version. It’s been more than a year and a half since the last version, but the release has been delayed due to COVID and my time spent on other projects. New features have been added regularly, and there are quite a few new plugins. These plugins are developed not only by me but also by members of the community. There’s an increase in plugins for classification, especially focusing on manual classification of point clouds.”
Eugene:
“What should someone know if they are interested in developing plugins for CloudCompare?”
Daniel:
“Plugin development mainly requires knowledge of C++. Familiarity with the Qt framework, which we use, is also necessary. We provide as much support as we can, offering the code of many existing plugins as examples. The quality of these plugins is very high, and it speaks to the strength of our community.”
Eugene:
“Can you tell us about recent improvements, like the animation plugin for CloudCompare?”
Daniel:
“Yes, that’s a collaboration with 3G Robotics, a Canadian company that recently changed its name.”
Eugene:
“Could you tell us about the CloudCompare community? Is there an active forum?”
Daniel:
“Yes, our forum is very active. We get about 10 to 20 new messages a week, and I try to respond to them. We also have a GitHub page, but that is mainly for developers. For the most dedicated members of our developer community, we have a Slack space.”
Eugene:
“There are also many videos on YouTube for those interested in CloudCompare.”
Daniel:
“Yes, that’s right. And we have a donation page to support developers and others who dedicate their time to contributing to CloudCompare.”
Eugene: “CloudCompare is a fantastic contribution to the entire 3D community. It is widely used in various fields including forensics, architecture, and more. CloudCompare is a wonderful product, and its community is very strong.”
Daniel: “Thank you.”
Eugene: “That was Daniel from CloudCompare. It was an interesting interview. If you have any questions about CloudCompare, please write them in the comment section. CloudCompare is open-source and available for free. I’ll post the download link in the comments. See you all next time.”
(End)
＜Message from the Editorial Department＞
How did you find the content of the interview? While many of us use CloudCompare regularly, information about its development background and the personality of its developer is scarce, so this interview provided valuable insights. As mentioned at the beginning, the actual interview is publicly available on YouTube. If you’re interested, please check it out as well. If you have any questions about the article or inquiries related to 3D measurement technology, please contact us through the form provided below. We look forward to your comments.
Editor: Shiro Yoshida (Paraworld)
Supervised by: Kenta Itakura (Im Vision Labs.inc)
Last updated: 2024-03-14