Labeling Scenes

We strongly recommend enabling graphics acceleration in Chrome when working with PCD Scenes.

In-Editor Tutorials

Scene-type Projects include interactive in-editor tutorials that guide you through key annotation workflows step by step. Each tutorial auto-advances as you complete actions in the editor, so you get immediate feedback as you practice on a live scene.

In-editor tutorials are only available in Scene-type (3D LiDAR/point-cloud) Projects.

Cuboids across time

The Cuboids across time tutorial teaches you the full multi-frame cuboid tracking workflow. It takes approximately 5 minutes and covers 10 steps:

1. Select an existing cuboid in the 3D view
2. Copy the cuboid to the clipboard
3. Navigate forward several frames and place the copied cuboid using Shift + Click
4. Interpolate between keyframes to fill in-between frames
5. View the cuboid’s trajectory in the 3D view and on the timeline
6. Enable Auto interpolate in the editor settings so adjustments re-interpolate automatically
7. Edit the trajectory in grid view by dragging the cuboid in any frame column
8. Toggle a keyframe using Alt + K
9. Lock the cuboid size to keep it uniform across all frames
10. Mark the object as static using Alt + S

The tutorial auto-advances when the editor detects you have completed each step. Step 5 (view the trajectory) requires you to click OK to advance manually. After you finish a step, you can click its title to re-expand and re-read the instructions at any time.

To start the tutorial:

1. Open the Help panel

   Click the Help button in the top toolbar.

2. Navigate to Tutorials

   Click Tutorials in the Help panel.

3. Start the tutorial

   Find the Cuboids across time card and click Start.

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Label and Review Scenes

We strongly recommend that Taskers use a mouse when annotating or reviewing Scenes. Using a mouse makes annotating or reviewing Scenes significantly easier.

1. Click Start task or Initiate to annotate a PCD data unit.

   The Label Editor opens with a PCD data unit ready for annotation.

2. Use the Editor controls and Toolbar buttons to navigate the PCD workspace.

3. Select an object label from the left-hand menu and begin annotating the PCD data unit.

4. Use your input device (mouse or trackpad) to create a label in the PCD workspace.

Default layout for image-only Scenes

For Scenes that contain image or video channels but no 3D channels, the Label Editor automatically arranges the camera views in rows of up to two tiles. Channels with matching left and right names appear together first, with the left view before the right view. The remaining channels are ordered alphabetically, and an unpaired final channel appears in its own row.

Navigating in the Scene

Context-sensitive keyboard hints display in the top-right corner of the 3D view.

Move:

Use the WASD keys to move along the X axis in the workspace.

Elevate:

Use the QE keys to move along the Y axis in the workspace.

Rotate:

Hold down the scroll wheel and move your mouse to rotate.

Pan:

Hold down the right mouse button and move your mouse to pan around.

Go Faster:

Hold Shift while using the WASD, QE, or camera movement keys to move faster.

Annotations

Cuboids

Automatically Create Cuboids

To automatically create a cuboid:

1. Select a cuboid object from the left-hand navigation. A dialog box appears.

2. Click One-click cuboid button from the dialog.

   Use the hotkey J instead of clicking the button.

3. Hover over an object in the point cloud workspace.

4. Click the previewed cuboid to create the cuboid in the Scene.

Smart Interpolation

Smart interpolation tracks a cuboid across frames directly from the point cloud. Instead of placing the cuboid manually on every keyframe, you click a cluster of points on different frames. Encord fits a cuboid to each cluster, then uses the motion of the cluster to interpolate the object’s position on every frame in between.

Smart interpolation is available for cuboid objects in Scenes.

Smart interpolation uses a fitted ground mesh to track objects accurately as the terrain rises and falls. If no ground mesh is present, the Smart interpolation panel shows a reminder to add one. Use Adjust ground to fit a ground mesh that follows the terrain before you start adding keyframes.

To track a cuboid with smart interpolation:

1. Create a cuboid keyframe

   Place a cuboid on the object in at least one frame. You can draw it manually or use One-click cuboid.

2. Start smart interpolation

   Right-click the cuboid and select Smart interpolation (the magic-wand icon) from the context menu. The Smart interpolation panel opens.

   Smart interpolation is only available for a single, unlocked cuboid on an editable label in a Scene. It is not available for locked or approved labels, or in review and view-only modes.
3. Add keyframes by clicking clusters

   Move to another frame and click a cluster of points that belongs to the object. Encord adds a keyframe and fits a cuboid to that cluster. Repeat on as many frames as you need — the more keyframes you add, the more closely the track follows the object.

   Expand Show how-to in the panel for an illustrated reminder: Click a cluster of points to add a keyframe. Right-click a new keyframe to remove it.
4. Adjust and finish

   Fine-tune any keyframe (see below), then click Finish to write the interpolated track to the object. Finish becomes available once you have at least two keyframes. To leave without saving, click Close (the X in the panel).

Adjust keyframes in the interpolation preview

When a cuboid keyframe is active in the interpolation preview, use the standard cuboid controls to move, resize, or rotate it. Translation is available on all three axes, so the cuboid is not restricted to the ground plane. You can also use the keyboard shortcuts shown in the top-right corner of the 3D view, including R to switch between translation and rotation and X, Y, or Z to constrain the adjustment to an axis.

Enabled orthographic side views track the current preview cuboid on both keyframes and interpolated frames, helping you inspect its fit from multiple angles as you move through the preview.

Lock the cuboid size

By default, smart interpolation can resize the cuboid to fit the cluster on each keyframe. To keep the cuboid a consistent size across the whole track — useful for rigid objects such as vehicles — click the Lock size toggle (the padlock icon) in the top-right of the panel. Click it again to unlock. The size lock is stored per object, so it is remembered the next time you interpolate that cuboid.

Remove a keyframe

To remove a keyframe you added during smart interpolation, right-click it. The remaining keyframes are re-interpolated automatically.

Cuboid trajectory in grid view

When you work in grid view with a cuboid selected, the top-down (bird’s-eye) tile displays the selected cuboid’s full trajectory path as a semi-transparent gray line. This gives you a spatial reference for the object’s direction of travel across all frames, making it easier to verify and correct cuboid orientation without switching back to the main 3D view.

The grid-view timeline shows the frame ranges for the selected cuboid. While grid view is open, playback and frame navigation stay between the cuboid’s first and last annotated frames. Use the frame skip control to move by one frame for precise adjustments or by five frames to move one grid window at a time.

The trajectory path only appears in the top-down tile of grid view. It does not appear in side-view tiles (front, back, left, right) or camera-view tiles. You must enable Show Cuboid Trajectories in the Cuboid settings section of the editor settings for the trajectory to display.

Use the trajectory overlay in the top-down grid tile to spot heading errors across keyframes — for example, when a vehicle’s cuboid orientation does not match its direction of travel. You can correct the orientation directly in grid view without switching back to the main 3D view.

Copy and pasting Cuboids

Copy labels from within the same frame using Command + C and Command + Shift + V on Mac, or Ctrl + C and Ctrl + Shift + V on Windows.

You can select multiple cuboids, copy them as a group, and paste them all at once onto any frame. The copied group moves together as a preview that follows your cursor, preserving each cuboid’s relative position and orientation.

Only cuboid objects are included in a bulk copy/paste. If your multi-selection includes non-cuboid objects (such as polygons or polylines), those objects are not copied.

Copy/paste keyboard shortcuts:

Action	Windows	Mac
Copy selected cuboid(s)	Ctrl + C	Command + C
Place copied cuboid(s)	Shift + Click	Shift + Click
Yaw-rotate group before placement	R	R
Select all cuboids	Ctrl + A	Command + A
Clear clipboard	Ctrl + C (nothing selected)	Command + C (nothing selected)

Stereo Cuboid Tool

The stereo cuboid tool provides an assisted workflow for creating and editing 3D cuboid annotations using camera image data. The stereo tool button, Edit in stereo mode context-menu option, and associated keyboard shortcuts are available in any Scene that contains at least one image or video channel.

The stereo cuboid tool is available for Scene-type datasets only. It requires edit permissions on the label and is not available on approved labels.

The stereo tool checks calibration data for each image at fit time. If your single camera image lacks calibration data, the tool may be available but the stereo fit could fail. Ensure your image has valid calibration data for best results.

If you work with wide-angle or fisheye camera lenses and camera tiles appear cropped, enable Render full camera image in the Editor settings panel to display the full captured area.

Stereo cuboid keyboard shortcuts

Action	Windows	Mac
Activate stereo tool	Stereo hotkey (tools:stereo)	Stereo hotkey (tools:stereo)
Toggle stereo preview	Stereo preview toggle (tools:stereo-preview-toggle)	Stereo preview toggle (tools:stereo-preview-toggle)

Edit in stereo mode

To edit an existing cuboid in stereo mode, right-click the cuboid annotation and select Edit in stereo mode from the context menu. This option is available in any Scene with at least one image or video channel.

Toolbar

Setting cuboid orientation

You can show or hide the orientation of cuboids using the “cuboid orientation” setting:

You can change the front face of a cuboid by holding Alt (on Windows) or Option (on Mac) and clicking any face of the cuboid. This works whether the cuboid is currently selected or unselected.

When you hold Alt / Option, the drag-handle controls hide automatically so your click targets the cuboid face rather than a resize handle. The operation updates only keyframes — interpolated frames rotate to match but retain their interpolated status and are not promoted to keyframes.

This changes the front face of the cuboid across all the frames where it exists.

Height Filter

The height filter lets you restrict which points the editor displays and which points segmentation tools can select, based on each point’s height above a reference surface. Click the Height filter button in the toolbar to open the height filter popover.

Height filter modes

The height filter offers two reference modes. The mode selector label updates dynamically depending on which ground reference is currently active:

Mode	When available	Description
Ground plane	Always	Measures each point’s height relative to the flat (or tilted) ground plane. The label changes to Ground mesh when a fitted ground mesh is active.
Ground mesh	Only when a fitted ground mesh is active	Measures each point’s height above the local mesh surface rather than a flat plane. Use this mode for curved roads, slopes, and uneven terrain.
World axes	Always	Measures each point’s height along the world vertical axis, ignoring any ground plane tilt or ground mesh.

The Ground mesh option appears in the mode selector when you activate the automatically detected mesh using Adjust ground → Use ground mesh. If no ground mesh is active, the selector shows Ground plane instead.

Min/Max snap buttons

Each Min and Max input in the height filter popover includes a snap button that links that bound to the active ground reference. The button label updates to reference either “ground mesh” or “ground plane” depending on which is active:

• When unlinked: Snap min/max to the ground [plane/mesh] and track it
• When linked: Min/Max tracks the ground [plane/mesh] (click to detach)

Using the height filter with a ground mesh

1. Fit a ground mesh

   Click Adjust ground in the toolbar, then click Use ground mesh when the automatically detected mesh is ready.

2. Open the height filter

   Click the Height filter button in the toolbar.

3. Select Ground mesh mode

   In the mode selector, click Ground mesh. The histogram and min/max range update to reflect heights above the mesh surface.

4. Set your height bounds

   Drag the slider or type values into the Min and Max inputs to define the height range you want to keep visible. Use the snap buttons to link a bound to the ground mesh surface.

Lasso (freehand) and brush segmentation tools respect the ground-mesh-relative height filter when Ground mesh mode is active. Only points above the mesh surface within your defined range are selectable.

The height filter range initializes to the 0.5th–99.5th percentile of point heights in the scene, giving you a wider default range that includes more of the point cloud.

Label Branches

Label branches let you keep multiple versions of a Project’s labels side-by-side. Use them to preserve a labeled state before a re-labeling pass, run an experiment without disturbing main, or hold a reviewer-only copy of labels.

Create Label Branches

Label branches are created in the Label Checkpoint Workflow stage, or using the SDK.

View Label Branches

This feature is only available to Workspace and Project Admins, and Team Managers in the REVIEW and COMPLETE Workflow stages.

To view labels from other branches:

1. Click the Branches button in the Label Editor header. The branch overlay panel opens.

2. Select the checkboxes for the branches you want to overlay. Each branch displays with a unique color indicator.

3. Click outside the panel to close it. The selected branch labels now appear as read-only overlays in the 3D scene.

Branch label comparison is available in Review and Complete editor views — no feature flag or admin configuration required. Overlay labels are read-only. You cannot edit annotations from other branches directly in the overlay view.

Audio and text-document modalities do not yet display branch names on overlay labels. The vertical fan-out uses fixed pixel offsets and is not collision-aware; in very dense scenes with many overlapping annotations, labels from multiple branches may still be difficult to read.

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Point Cloud Segmentation

Automatically Create 3D Segmentations

To automatically create a 3D segmentation:

1. Select a 3D segmentation object from the left-hand navigation. A dialog box appears.

2. Click One-click segmentation button from the dialog.

   Use the hotkey J instead of clicking the button.

3. Hover over an object in the point cloud workspace.

4. Click the previewed segmentation to create the segmentation in the Scene.

Merge 3D segmentations

You can merge two or more 3D segmentations of the same Ontology class into one object. Select the segmentations in the timeline or the left sidebar, right-click the selection, and choose Merge segmentations into or Merge into. Then select the segmentation that you want to keep as the target.

The target keeps its object identity and class, and its segmentation includes all points from the merged objects. The other objects are removed.

Scene Slicer

The Scene slicer isolates point cloud data so you can focus on a region and prevent points outside it from being selected for annotation. Click Isolate points in the 3D scene toolbar, then choose one of the following tools:

• Box: Drag a box around the points you want to keep.
• Polygon: Click around the points you want to keep, then press Enter or click Submit to close the polygon.
• Split: Click two points to draw a line, then click the side you want to keep.

You can combine up to six slices. Use Reset in the Isolate points pane to remove all slices, or use undo and redo to step through individual slicing changes. A polygon can contain up to 24 points.

Editor actions

Center camera on origin

Hot key: Shift + C

Brings the POV to origin. When you have an object selected (cuboid, keypoint, or polyline), this command centers the camera on that object instead of the origin.

Align camera with tile

Hot key: ALT/OPTION + T

Brings the POV to the “tiles” listed in the drop-down that appears.

Adjust ground

Sets the position and rotation of the ground plane in the workspace. The ground plane is used for navigation (see “pan along ground” setting) as well as determining the initial position of cuboids.

Click the ground plane icon in the toolbar to open the ground height controls:

Auto-detection: Encord detects and fits a terrain-conforming ground mesh in the background as the scene loads. Click Use ground mesh when it is ready. Click Use ground plane to switch back to the flat ground plane without discarding the detected mesh.

Automatic ground segmentation is a preview capability. Advanced controls for ground mesh fitting parameters and the segmentation grid overlay are available in the debug panel for internal and developer users. Known limitations include reduced accuracy on steep slopes and uneven terrain in some configurations.

Set Manually:

• Slider: Drag to adjust the ground height. The range spans from the lowest to the highest point in the point cloud along the up axis.

• Visibility toggle: Show or hide the ground grid overlay in the 3D view.

• Fit from 3 points: Select 3 points on any point cloud to automatically fit the ground plane. This is useful when the ground is not flat or is at an angle.

  You can also enter “Fit from 3 points” mode directly using the keyboard shortcut Option + G (Mac) or Alt + G (Windows), without opening the popover first.

  When fitting mode is active, the toolbar button changes to show how many points remain to be picked:

Click 3 points on the point cloud surface to define the ground plane. The counter updates as each point is picked. Click the x on the button or press Escape to cancel.

When the ground plane is rotated (tilted), rotation information is displayed in the controls. Use the Reset rotation button to return the ground plane to flat.

When the ground grid is visible, it is displayed as a grid in the scene:

For ground mesh fitting (an improved, terrain-conforming alternative to the flat ground plane), see the Ground mesh fitting settings below.

Radius indicators

Hot key: Option + R

Radius indicators are useful guides when annotating in 3D space. For example, you might only want to annotate anything that comes within 3 meters of your object (vehicle, robot, drone). You would then use a radius of three and only annotate anything within that radius.

• ON: Displays one or more radii centered on the object (vehicle, robot, drone) that captured PCD. You can select the color used for all radii.
• OFF: Hides all the radii.

Adjust scene origin

Specify custom or use “tile” coordinates as the Scene origin.

Merged cloud point view

Hot key: ALT/OPTION + M

Displays point cloud data from multiple frames simultaneously in the workspace. When enabled, you can use the frame range controls to specify which frames to merge.

• ON: Displays PCD from multiple frames at once. Click the dropdown arrow next to the button to access the controls.
• OFF: Displays the PCD for the current frame only.

By default, all frames in the scene are included when merged view is enabled.

Show points in images

Hot key: ALT/OPTION + I

Displays point cloud data in 2D images.

Set camera target

Hot key: CONTROL + ALT/OPTION+ C

Specify the camera target on a single point in the PCD data.

Use this feature with Center camera on orign.

View options

Display or hide various elements in the PCD space.

• Show side view: Displays the side work area. In 3D mode, use Side view options to show or hide the top, left, right, and front views.
• Show control hints: Displays context-sensitive keyboard shortcut hints in the top-right corner.
• Show camera switcher: Displays video views for the Scene.
• Show zoom indicator: Displays zoom level information.
• Show size rulers: Displays a scale ruler in the orthographic side views showing world unit measurements.

When the Scene includes camera images, select Camera in the side work area or press Shift + V to switch between 3D and Camera modes. Use Follow camera target in camera views to turn tracking on or off. When tracking is on, the side work area displays the camera views in which the selected cuboid is visible and focuses each view on the cuboid. If no cuboid is selected, the camera views follow the camera target. Hold Ctrl on Windows or Command on Mac while hovering over a valid point to preview that point as the target; when the preview ends, the camera views return to the camera target you set.

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Editor Settings

General settings

Input Device

Specify using a mouse or trackpad to rotate or pan in the workspace.

We STRONGLY recommend using a mouse to rotate or pan in the workspace.

Pre-load data

Pre-load data in the background for smoother navigation. Enabling this setting can improve performance when annotating or reviewing point cloud data.

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Cuboid settings

Face

Shows/Hides the “face” of cuboids in the PCD workspace.

Orientation

Shows/Hides the orientation of cuboids in the PCD workspace.

Set front face from motion

When enabled, Encord automatically orients the front face of a cuboid annotation based on the object’s direction of motion whenever you add or paste a keyframe. Encord re-orients all existing keyframes for that cuboid in the same operation, so undoing the action also reverts the orientation change.

This setting is disabled by default. When disabled, the front face follows how the cuboid was originally created. You can always set the front face manually at any time using Alt+Click.

Use Set front face from motion when annotating moving objects (such as vehicles or pedestrians) to keep cuboid orientations consistent with the direction of travel across all keyframes.

Setting the front face manually with Alt+Click

Hold Alt and click any face of a cuboid to designate that face as the front face. This shortcut works whether the cuboid is currently selected or unselected — you no longer need to deselect a cuboid before using Alt+Click.

While you hold Alt, Encord hides the cuboid’s drag-handle controls and makes the cuboid body the click target, so you can accurately pick the intended face without accidentally resizing the cuboid.

When you set the front face, Encord rotates every frame of the cuboid to match the new orientation. Keyframes update their stored rotation, and interpolated frames rotate to match but retain their interpolated status — the operation does not promote interpolated frames to keyframes.

Show Cuboid Trajectories

When enabled, Encord renders the selected cuboid’s full trajectory path across frames. The trajectory path appears in the main 3D view and in the top-down (bird’s-eye) tile of grid view, giving you a visual reference line for the object’s direction of travel. The trajectory does not appear in front, back, left, right, or camera-view tiles — only the top-down tile shows it, because the path collapses to a point or line from those angles.

Use the trajectory path in the top-down grid view tile to verify and correct cuboid orientation against the object’s actual direction of travel, especially when a vehicle or object has an incorrect heading across keyframes. You can do this without leaving grid view.

The trajectory overlay in the top-down grid tile requires Show Cuboid Trajectories to be enabled. Cuboids with only a single frame of annotation have no trajectory data and display nothing.

Helpers

Ground

Shows/Hides the “ground” plane as a grid in the PCD workspace.

Axis

Shows/Hides the axis of the point of origin in the PCD workspace.

Cameras

Shows/Hides camera helper lines to aid in annotating PCD.

Background

Shows/Hides the background in the PCD workspace.

Color filter

The Color filter button appears in the 3D scene editor toolbar only when the loaded point cloud contains color or intensity data.

The color filter applies globally to all loaded point clouds in the scene. When you enable the filter, points outside the selected range are hidden in the viewport and cannot be selected by any segmentation tool.

Enabling the filter

Click the Color filter button in the toolbar to toggle the filter on or off.

Filter modes

Open the Color filter popover (click the chevron next to the button) to configure the filter. Select a mode using the mode selector at the top of the popover:

• RGB — Filter points by red, green, and blue channel ranges (0–255 per channel). Available when the point cloud contains file color data.
• HSV — Filter points by hue, saturation, and value ranges. Available when the point cloud contains file color data.
• Intensity — Filter points by intensity range (0–100%). Available when the point cloud contains intensity data.

Use the range sliders to set the minimum and maximum values for each channel. Only points whose color or intensity falls within all specified ranges remain visible.

Eyedropper (Pick color from scene)

Click Pick color from scene in the popover to activate the eyedropper. Then click any point in the 3D viewport to seed the filter with that point’s color or intensity. The sliders update automatically to a range centered on the sampled value.

Composition with other filters

The color filter works together with the height filter and slicer planes. A point must pass all active filters to remain visible and selectable.

Segmentation tool integration

When the color filter is active, the lasso, brush, and cuboid segmentation tools automatically exclude filtered-out points from selection. Only visible points can be selected.

If the cuboid tool cannot resolve a point cloud in the rendered scene, it falls back to unfiltered selection for that cloud.

Point cloud settings

Color settings

You can change the color of point cloud data in the PCD workspace. Here are the options:

• Solid: Displays points with a single uniform color.
• Origin: Displays points in colors based on the distance from the world origin point.
• Camera: Displays points in colors based on the distance from the camera position.
• Height: Displays points in colors based on the distance from the “ground” plane.
  You can adjust the “ground” plane using the ground height feature on the Editor toolbar.

• Provided: Displays points in colors based on how they were originally captured and recorded.
• Image: Displays points in colors by projecting camera image data onto the points.
• Sensor: Displays points colored by the sensor that captured them, making it easy to visually identify which sensor contributed which points in a multi-sensor setup.

• When you enable Color by sensor mode, points from different sensors are automatically assigned distinct colors from a fixed palette of 20 maximally distinct colors.

• Sensor colors are assigned consistently based on the sensor’s stream ID, so the same sensor is always use the same color across different frames and sessions.

PCD display settings

You can change the display settings of point cloud data in the PCD workspace. Here are the options:

• Show: Displays point cloud data in the PCD workspace.

• Merge: Displays all point cloud data across time in the PCD workspace.

• Uniform size: Displays all point cloud data in a uniform size in the PCD workspace.

• Hide segmented: Hides all point cloud data that is behind segmented objects in the PCD workspace.

  Only segmented objects that are set to be hidden hide all point cloud data behind them.

• Hide Unsegmented: Hides all points not covered by any segmentation label. This toggle is off by default. You can also toggle this setting using Shift+U.

  When you enable Hide Unsegmented before creating any segmentations, no points are hidden because no segmentation coverage exists yet.

  You can combine Hide Unsegmented with Hide segmented to show only points that belong to visible segmentation labels.

  Use Hide Unsegmented when trimming or refining segmentations on large point cloud scenes — hiding background points reduces visual clutter and prevents the brush and lasso tools from accidentally selecting unlabeled points.

Point cloud size

Specify the size of cloud data points in the PCD workspace.

Point cloud opacity in 2D views

Specifies the opacity of PCD in 2D views.

The default value is 0. PCD does not display in 2D views with a value of 0.

Render full camera image

Renders the full image captured by the camera beyond the source image’s nominal bounds. Enable this setting when working with wide-angle or fisheye lenses in 3D scenes to display the complete captured area in the rectified camera view.

This setting is off by default. When disabled, the rectified camera view clips to the source image’s nominal bounds. This setting is only visible when you are working in a 3D scene context.

Enable Render full camera image when your camera tiles appear cropped. You can also search for this setting in the settings panel using keywords such as “fisheye”, “wide-angle”, “distortion”, “rectified”, or “clip”.

Ground mesh fitting

The ground mesh fitting tool improves ground detection in LiDAR/point cloud scenes, including curved roads and uneven terrain. Encord automatically detects and fits the mesh in the background as the scene loads. You can then activate it as an overlay in the 3D viewer, giving you a visual reference for scene geometry and making it easier to focus on objects of interest.

Ground segmentation

Encord automatically segments the point cloud into ground and non-ground points as the scene loads. Click Adjust ground in the toolbar, then Use ground mesh when the detected mesh is ready. To switch back without discarding the detected mesh, click Use ground plane. The segmentation algorithm handles curved and uneven terrain more accurately than a flat ground plane.

Height filter integration

When you fit a ground mesh, the height filter gains a Ground mesh mode. In this mode, the height filter measures each point’s height above the local mesh surface rather than a flat plane, enabling accurate filtering over curved or uneven terrain such as cambered roads or hilly ground.

To use the height filter with a fitted ground mesh:

1. Click Adjust ground in the toolbar, then click Use ground mesh when the detected mesh is ready.
2. Close the Adjust ground pane.
3. Click Height filter in the toolbar.
4. Select Ground mesh from the mode selector. The selector shows Ground mesh when a fitted mesh is active, or Ground plane when only a flat ground plane is available.
5. Adjust the Min and Max bounds. The histogram and range reflect heights above the mesh surface.

The Ground mesh option appears in the height filter mode selector only when a fitted ground mesh is active. If no ground mesh has been fitted, the selector shows Ground plane instead.

Use the ground snap buttons next to the Min and Max inputs to snap a bound to the ground mesh surface and keep it tracking as you navigate frames. The button labels update dynamically to reference “ground mesh” or “ground plane” depending on which reference is active.

Lasso (freehand) and brush segmentation tools respect the ground-mesh-relative height filter when Ground mesh mode is active, so only points above the mesh surface at the specified height range are included in your selection.

To disable the height filter at any time, press Alt+Shift+H.

When you select a cuboid and click Level, Encord aligns the cuboid with the local slope of the active ground mesh. If you use the ground plane instead, Level aligns the cuboid with that plane. The action preserves the cuboid’s position, size, and heading.

Cuboid fitting on the ground plane currently uses the flat ground plane, not the terrain mesh. Full integration with the terrain mesh is planned for a future release.

Ground mesh fitting runs in the browser. On large or merged point clouds, the fitting process may temporarily affect UI responsiveness while it completes.

Faded point opacity

Specifies the opacity of data points that fade into the background. For example, all data points outside of a Scene slice.

Color points inside cuboids

Controls whether points that fall inside cuboids are highlighted with special coloring to make them more visible. This setting overrides the normal point coloring mode for points contained within cuboid annotations.

Option	Description
All cuboids	Highlights points inside every cuboid annotation (default behavior).
Selected only	Only highlights points inside the currently selected cuboid.
None	Disables cuboid point highlighting entirely.

Use “Selected only” mode when working with many overlapping cuboids to focus on the cuboid you’re currently editing.

Label color mode (review)

Controls how 3D labels are colored during workflow review and consensus review tasks. This setting applies to all 3D label types: cuboids, spheres, polylines, and keypoints/points.

This setting only takes effect when you are in a workflow review stage or consensus review stage. It has no effect outside of review tasks.

By review status

When you set Label color mode (review) to By review status, all 3D labels in the point cloud viewport are recolored according to their current review state:

Review state	Color
Pending	Orange
Approved	Green
Rejected	Red

Labels you action (approve or reject) during the current review session fade to the opacity configured in Reviewed label opacity, reducing visual clutter as you work through the scene.

The opacity fade applies only to filled shapes — cuboids and spheres. Polylines and keypoints/points are recolored by review status but do not fade.

Selected 3D labels retain their review-status fill color when selected. Only the selection outline switches to the selection highlight color, matching the behavior in 2D review tasks.

Reviewed label opacity

Specifies the opacity applied to 3D labels that you have actioned (approved or rejected) during the current review session. Reducing this value fades reviewed labels into the background, making it easier to focus on labels that still require review.

The opacity fade applies only to filled shapes — cuboids and spheres. Polylines and keypoints/points are recolored by review status but are not affected by this opacity setting.

This setting only takes effect when Label color mode (review) is set to By review status and you are in a workflow review stage or consensus review stage.

In-editor tutorials (Scene projects)

Scene-type (3D LiDAR/point-cloud) projects include interactive in-editor tutorials you can access directly from the label editor. Each tutorial guides you through a specific workflow step by step, and the editor automatically detects when you complete each action so the tutorial advances in real time.

Accessing tutorials

Click the Help button in the top toolbar, then select Tutorials. The tutorials panel lists all available tutorials for your project type. Click Start on any tutorial card to begin.

Cuboids across time

The Cuboids across time tutorial teaches you the full multi-frame cuboid tracking workflow. It takes approximately 5 minutes and covers 10 steps:

1. Select a cuboid — select an existing cuboid in the 3D view.
2. Copy the cuboid — copy the selected cuboid to the clipboard.
3. Place it on a later frame — navigate forward several frames, then hold Shift to preview the copied cuboid and click to place it.
4. Interpolate between keyframes — fill every frame between your two keyframes using the interpolate shortcut or the right-click menu.
5. View the trajectory — review the trajectory the editor draws between keyframes, then confirm with OK.
6. Turn on auto re-interpolation — enable Auto interpolate under Drawing in the editor settings so the editor automatically re-runs interpolation when you adjust a keyframe.
7. Edit the trajectory in grid view — open grid view, drag the cuboid in any frame column to refine its position, and close grid view when done.
8. Toggle a keyframe — use Alt+K to unmark or re-mark the current frame as a keyframe.
9. Lock the size — click Lock size in the cuboid pane to enforce a uniform size across all frames.
10. Make it static — use Alt+S or the pushpin in the cuboid pane to mark the object as static, copying its current pose to every frame.

After you complete a step, the tutorial advances automatically. Step 5 (View the trajectory) requires you to click OK to advance manually. Once you finish a step, you can click its title to re-expand it and re-read the instructions at any time.

The Cuboids across time tutorial is only available in Scene-type (3D LiDAR/point-cloud) projects. It does not appear for other project types.