An encoding device and a method for point cloud encoding are disclosed. The method for encoding includes segmenting an area including points representing a three-dimensional (3D) point cloud into multiple voxels. The method also includes identifying a normal score for each of the points of the 3D point cloud and a smoothing score for each of the multiple voxels that include at least one of the points of the 3D point cloud. The method further includes grouping each point of the 3D point cloud to one of multiple projection planes based on the normal score and the smoothing score to generate refined patches that represent the 3D point cloud. Additionally, the method includes generating frames that include pixels that represent the refined patches. The method also includes encoding the frames to generate a bitstream and transmitting the bitstream.