PointCloud2 to PCL PointCloud Conversion

Convert sensor_msgs::PointCloud2 objects coming from the velodyne_pointcloud driver to pcl::PointCloud<velodyne_pcl::PointXYZIRT> objects.

The sensor_msgs::PointCloud2 ROS message is constructed by using the PointcloudXYZIRT, or the OrganizedCloudXYZIRT container. Both define the following channels:

• x - The x coord in Cartesian coordinates
• y - The y coord in Cartesian coordinates
• z - The z coord in Cartesian coordinates
• intensity - The measured intensity at the point
• ring - The ring number of the laser
• time - The time stamp of the measured point

To convert a sensor_msgs::PointCloud2 published by the velodyne driver to PCL you could use the following code:

#include <pcl_conversions/pcl_conversions.h>
#include <velodyne_pcl/point_types.h>
#include <pcl/PCLPointCloud2.h>
#include <pcl/conversions.h>

void cloud_callback(const boost::shared_ptr<const sensor_msgs::PointCloud2>& cloud){

  pcl::PCLPointCloud2 pcl_pointcloud2;
  pcl_conversions::toPCL(*cloud, pcl_pointcloud2);
  pcl::PointCloud<velodyne_pcl::PointXYZIRT>::Ptr pcl_cloud_ptr(new pcl::PointCloud<velodyne_pcl::PointXYZIRT>);
  pcl::fromPCLPointCloud2(pcl_pointcloud2, *pcl_cloud_ptr);

  // use pcl_cloud_ptr
}