How to save raw point cloud and Spatial Mapping output as PLY files with ZED 2i

Software
1

Hi Stereolabs team,

Following up on my previous post titled “Question about ZED 2i point cloud, positional tracking, and overlaying external gas sensor data”, I would like to ask for some help with the first simple step of my workflow.

Before I overlay external sensor data onto the reconstructed 3D map, I first want to confirm how to obtain and save:

  1. the raw point cloud from the ZED 2i camera, and
  2. the fused spatial mapping output from the Spatial Mapping module.

My questions are:

  1. What is the simplest way to retrieve the raw point cloud data from the ZED SDK?
  2. How can I save the raw point cloud as a PLY file?
  3. How can I enable the Spatial Mapping module and save the fused spatial map as a PLY file?
  4. For my robot mapping use case, should I use FUSED_POINT_CLOUD instead of MESH if I want to overlay sensor data later?
  5. Is there a simple Python or C++ example that shows how to save both the camera trajectory and the fused spatial map?

At this stage, I only want to confirm that I can successfully save the point cloud and spatial mapping data first. After that, I will move on to overlaying external gas sensor data onto the 3D map.

Thank you very much for your help.

Best regards,
Hong Wei