RMSE Calculation From Mean Distance and Standard Deviation in M3C2

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Maik
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Joined: Fri May 15, 2026 6:49 am

RMSE Calculation From Mean Distance and Standard Deviation in M3C2

Post by Maik »

Hello,

As part of my thesis project, I am using the M3C2 plugin in CloudCompare. From two point clouds, I determined the mean distance as well as the standard deviation using Gaussian statistics, and I then obtain an RMSE value in the console.

As far as I can understand, this value is calculated as follows:
square root(mean distance² + standard deviation²). At least this gives me identical results.

Unfortunately, I cannot find any calculation specifications or documentation from CloudCompare that describe or confirm this calculation method.

Can anyone help me or at least confirm whether my assumption is correct?

Thank you very much!
daniel
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Re: RMSE Calculation From Mean Distance and Standard Deviation in M3C2

Post by daniel »

RMS is quite standard and defined here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_mean_square

It's literally the root of the average square distance: square root(mean (distance²))
Daniel, CloudCompare admin
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