# Looking for software for a presentation **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [November 1, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-software-for-a-presentation/770362 "2016-11-01T14:36:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-software-for-a-presentation/770362/1 "2016-11-01T14:36:44Z")
Okay, so I am doing a presentation in a week on the capabilities of our [DEL]drone[/DEL] unmanned aerial vehicle, and I would like to find some software that I can use to create some short videos of the final products. It is a surveying unit, and can create some very nice looking point cloud models. I have a great model of a gravel pit that I flew a few weeks ago, and what I would like to have is a short video showing it… but the effect is best seen with the model rotating in space. I could manually rotate it in the software I have, but if there is something out there that can take a 3D model or point cloud and rotate a camera around a specific point following some pre-set parameters, I would really like to use it. If this makes sense, does anybody have any suggestions? ---
**Author:** ![Amateur\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/59ef9b/32.png) [@Amateur\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amateur_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-software-for-a-presentation/770362/2 "2016-11-01T14:51:31Z")
Adobe Acrobat accepts 3-D modeling and allows freeform manipulation of the models - Companies are doing data sheets for things like complex fittings, and one page is a 3D model of the fitting that the engineer or purchaser can rotate, zoom, etc. That might be the best platform overall, but you will have to get your material there through tools that can export to PDF. You can also embed most media forms, including audio and video, and pretty much any platform that has a current version of Reader will play it/allow viewing of it. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-software-for-a-presentation/770362/3 "2016-11-01T15:02:24Z")
What format is your data in? ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-software-for-a-presentation/770362/4 "2016-11-01T15:10:23Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > What format is your data in? Point clouds are in true color .LAS (laser file) format. ---
**Author:** ![Kron](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kron/32/12444_2.png) [@Kron](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kron)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-software-for-a-presentation/770362/5 "2016-11-01T15:13:09Z")
> [@Amateur\_Barbarian](#): > > Adobe Acrobat accepts 3-D modeling and allows freeform manipulation of the models - Companies are doing data sheets for things like complex fittings, and one page is a 3D model of the fitting that the engineer or purchaser can rotate, zoom, etc. That might be the best platform overall, but you will have to get your material there through tools that can export to PDF. > > You can also embed most media forms, including audio and video, and pretty much any platform that has a current version of Reader will play it/allow viewing of it. Definitely a possibility. I believe AutoCAD exports to 3D PDF; I’ll see if it can handle a point cloud export. One concern I have is I won’t be using my high-powered machine (the presentation is not going to be at my office), so the laptop I have may not be able to handle rendering all of those points and manipulating them. I’ll do some testing. ---
**Author:** ![Dickerman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/8baadc/32.png) [@Dickerman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dickerman)\ **Post date:** [November 1, 2016, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-software-for-a-presentation/770362/6 "2016-11-01T16:14:34Z")
For more information on the PDF option, check out Tetra4D. They have a free trial for converting various 3D formats. ---
**Author:** ![griffin1977](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/977dab/32.png) [@griffin1977](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/griffin1977)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2016, 2:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/looking-for-software-for-a-presentation/770362/7 "2016-11-02T02:43:30Z")
Unity3D has a point cloud viewer package: > **[Unity Asset Store - The Best Assets for Game Making](https://assetstore.unity.com/)** > > Discover the best assets for game making. Choose from our massive catalog of 2D, 3D models, SDKs, templates, and tools to speed up your game development process. Would take a little bit of scripting, but would be possible to put together something much like what you are after.