point cloud

A set of 3D points, typically with no connectivity between them, representing a scene's geometry.

A point cloud is a set of 3D points -- each triangulated from stereo or multi-view correspondences, or measured directly by a depth sensor -- representing a scene's or object's geometry with no assumed connectivity between points, as opposed to a mesh's explicit surface triangles.

Examples

Triangulating a thousand matched stereo correspondences produces a point cloud outlining a room's walls and furniture, with nothing connecting the individual dots into a surface.