---
title: "Basic Tutorial | Classify a cloud manually"
slug: "cyclone-3dr-exercise-classify-a-cloud-manually"
updated: 2026-09-07T11:51:38Z
published: 2026-09-07T11:51:38Z
canonical: "rcdocs.leica-geosystems.com/cyclone-3dr-exercise-classify-a-cloud-manually"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://rcdocs.leica-geosystems.com/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Basic Tutorial | Classify a cloud manually

## Open the file

> [!TIP]
> Open the file **Fountain.3dr** ([download](https://www.cyclone3dr.com/download_helper.php?File=Cyclone3DRSampleData/Fountain.3dr)).

The file contains the point cloud of a part of a city, with building frontages, vehicles and people. We will use manual classification tools to classify the points.

![image2021-9-10_13-48-24.png](https://cdn.document360.io/820e11db-8ed5-45ae-ac86-f6b77dcb2aa7/Images/Documentation/image2021-9-10-13-48-24.png)

The scan of a city

The toolset resembles the one from [Clean / Separate](/v1/docs/cyclone-3dr-cleanseparatecloudc). The principle is close: instead of splitting cloud(s) in parts, it associates each point with a class.

This cloud has no classification data, so the **Classification** representation is not available yet.

> [!TIP]
> Select the cloud and go to [Manual Classification](/v1/docs/cyclone-3dr-cloudmanualclassificationc).

All points are classified as **Created, never classified** for now, and are displayed in dark gray. Start by selecting the main part of the church.

![image2021-9-10_13-4-9.png](https://cdn.document360.io/820e11db-8ed5-45ae-ac86-f6b77dcb2aa7/Images/Documentation/image2021-9-10-13-4-9.png)

Select points to classify them

Just like in [Clean / Separate](/v1/docs/cyclone-3dr-cleanseparatecloudc), you can change the depth of the polygonal selection to take only a part of the selection. Then, you will probably have to refine the selection.

For instance, you can remove the wire from the selection.

![qa2021_n0888.png](https://cdn.document360.io/820e11db-8ed5-45ae-ac86-f6b77dcb2aa7/Images/Documentation/qa2021-n0888.png)

Remove the wire from the selection

Click **Add in Class** and select **6 - Building** from the list. Selected points are now colored in red.

You can hide the classes already used for a better visibility of **Created, never classified** points. You can also lock them to avoid inappropriate selection.

1. Select the other frontages, assert the active class is **Building** and click **Add in Active Class**.
2. Some points are probably still floating in the air. You should identify two wires. Add them to the class 14 (**Wire - Conductor**).
3. Next to the right building, there is a tree to classify in 5 (**High Vegetation**).

To help in the classification, you can temporarily switch the representation of the **Created, Never classified points** to **Real Color** by clicking on the disk icon.
4. Select the road sign, also next to the right building. There is no default class for it: let's make one.
  - Click **Edit Classes**,
  - Double-click on one of the custom ones, for example 255,
  - Edit its name **Road Sign**, color and mark it as favorite (click on the star icon). Click **OK** to exit the settings dialog.
  - Now click **Add in Class**: your custom class is on top of the list, select it.
5. Select the ground and add it to 2 (**Ground**).
6. Cars, bicycle, people and the fence (next to the church entrance) can be added to 65 (**Artifact**).

![qa2021_n0889.png](https://cdn.document360.io/820e11db-8ed5-45ae-ac86-f6b77dcb2aa7/Images/Documentation/qa2021-n0889.png)

Result

Now, you have classified your cloud, you can use [Separate by Attributes](/v1/docs/cyclone-3dr-separatebyattributesc) to extract a cloud from every class, making it easier to mesh buildings or the ground separately; or simply to avoid meshing scanning artifacts.

Exploded clouds can be merged later on without loss of class information.