random

The random command is used to create a random point cloud. It uses readers.faux to create a point cloud containing count points drawn randomly from either a uniform or normal distribution. For the uniform distribution, the bounds can be specified (they default to a unit cube). For the normal distribution, the mean and standard deviation can both be set for each of the x, y, and z dimensions.

$ pdal random <output>
--output, -o       Output file name
--compress, -z     Compress output data (if supported by output format)
--count            How many points should we write?
--bounds           Extent (in XYZ to clip output to)
--mean             A comma-separated or quoted, space-separated list of means
    (normal mode): --mean 0.0,0.0,0.0 --mean "0.0 0.0 0.0"
--stdev            A comma-separated or quoted, space-separated list of
    standard deviations (normal mode): --stdev 0.0,0.0,0.0 --stdev "0.0 0.0 0.0"
--distribution     Distribution (uniform / normal)