You had an interesting task, so I looked for a possible solution and was able to transfer the data from a LAS file (Lidar) to a SKP (surface) file, with Open source softwares.
From a site that offers Lidar data I downloaded a LAS file (104 MB) and after a google search I found and followed this tutorial:
and these Youtube tutorials
STEPS:
- In CloudCompare I opened the LAS file (~4,000,000 points), compute the normals, created the surface and exported it as a PLY file (I got a 366 MB file).
- In MeshLab I imported the PLY file, cleaned and simplified it from ~ 8,000,000 faces to 300,000 and I exported the mesh as OBJ file (24 MB).
- In SketchUp, with the help of the Universal Importer plugin, I imported the OBJ file, reducing it to only 40,000 faces. After saving, a 3 MB SKP file resulted.
