Install, upgrade and
configure PCCTools

Quick answer

Requirements

• AutoCAD 2018-2027, or an AutoCAD-based vertical: Civil 3D, Map 3D, Architecture, MEP, Mechanical, Electrical, Plant 3D, Advance Steel. Version 3.1 is a native ObjectARX module and runs the same crop engine on all of them.
• Windows 10 or later, 64-bit.
• A point cloud attached in model space as an RCP or RCS reference.
• AutoCAD LT is not supported: it cannot load ObjectARX modules.

Install

1. Close AutoCAD. The installer checks for a running session and asks you to close it.
2. Run the installer. It detects an existing PCCTools installation and offers to remove it first.
3. The bundle is placed in %APPDATA%\Autodesk\ApplicationPlugins\PCCTools.bundle and a per-user uninstaller is created. No administrator rights are needed.
4. Start AutoCAD. The PCCTools ribbon tab and the three toolbars appear automatically; no manual loading or configuration is required.
5. Attach a point cloud and run any command to confirm the module is live.

The bundle carries one binary and one ribbon file per ObjectARX generation, and the Autoloader picks the pair matching the running release:

Upgrading from version 3.0

Remove the 3.0 bundle (DG_PCCTools_v3.bundle) before installing 3.1. Both versions register the same command names, so with both loaded it is unpredictable which one a ribbon button runs. The installer offers to do this for you.

What carries over without any action:

• Your licence. A licence activated with 3.0 is accepted as it is; no reactivation is needed.
• Crop states and sections. They are read out of the old dictionary layout the first time a 3.0 drawing is opened in 3.1.

What changed in the command set and may appear in your scripts, macros or CUI customisation:

Ribbon and toolbars

Three classic toolbars are installed alongside the tab — PC Cropping, PC Visibility and Isolation, and PC Display Options — and every command can also be typed. The Display panel carries AutoCAD’s own point size and level-of-detail sliders, and Transparency is a split button with 0 / 25 / 50 / 75 / 90 % presets plus Set value, which works with nothing selected.

The docking panels

Crop States and Sections are AutoCAD palettes, the same kind of window as Properties or Tool Palettes. Dock them to an edge, float them, anchor them or set them to auto-hide; AutoCAD stores each one’s size, dock edge and visibility separately and restores them next session. They follow the theme set by COLORTHEME.

They are deliberately two palettes rather than one tabbed window, so you can dock the one you use beside the drawing and leave the other closed. Every panel also has a command-line equivalent for scripting and for sessions where a palette is unwanted: PCCSMANAGERCLI, PCSECTIONMANAGERCLI and PCCSETTINGSCLI.

Settings worth checking first

Run PCCSETTINGS, or press Settings on the ribbon. Settings are stored per user and persist between sessions; the saved cloud set is stored in the drawing. PCCSETTINGSCLI is the command-line equivalent, and Reset all to defaults restores every value on the window.

Cloud selection

• Commands act on — all clouds in model space (the default), ask every time, or the saved cloud set. This is the setting behind most “the command ignored one of my scans” questions. Commands work on model space only.
• Saved cloud set (PCSETDEFAULTCLOUD) — the clouds every command should use. It is stored in the drawing as entity handles, so it survives save and reload; clouds detached since are dropped silently, and if nothing is left PCCTools falls back to all clouds.
• Warn when a cloud is not at the WCS origin — the insertion-point check. A cloud whose insertion point is off the origin can distort scripted crops; PCCTools can correct it, ignore it or stop. It is evaluated in WCS, so changing the UCS never raises a false warning. Run it on demand with PCIPCHECK.

Sections and buffer

All three values are entered in the current drawing units — the unit is shown in the field label — and are rescaled automatically when a drawing uses different ones.

• Section thickness — the default slab thickness for the section commands, also changeable on the fly with the Thickness option inside each one.
• Section step — how far the guided and horizontal step commands move along the path or the elevation.
• Buffer distance — the default half-width for PCBUFCROP.
• Save a plan projection with vertical sections — also stores a plan projection crop you can recall later.
• Draw the section plane for diagnosis — leaves the computed plane in the drawing so an unexpected result can be checked.

Appearance

Preview colour (ACI) sets one AutoCAD colour index for every crop preview: the rings dragged by the rectangle, circle, polygon, slice and buffer commands, the section slab band and its arrows, and the translucent slab and sphere solids. The default is 3 (green); change it when the scan itself is green and the preview disappears into the points.

Licence

PCCTools includes a full-feature trial. PCCTOOLS opens the About and licence page, PCC_OPEN_LIC opens the licence portal in a browser, and PCC_CHECK_LIC re-checks the status and registers the commands. The check runs inside the module and the feature commands are not registered until it passes, so if the crop commands report that they are unknown, start with PCC_CHECK_LIC.

Unload and uninstall

• Unload for the session: close the PCCTools panels and the Settings window, then run PCCTOOLS_UNLOAD. AutoCAD does not need to restart.
• Uninstall: close AutoCAD, then use the Autodesk App Manager, or Control Panel → Programs and Features → PCC Tools.

Troubleshooting