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I am using gazebo_ros_depth_camera to generate a point cloud with Gazebo 1.9.2, ROS Hydro, and Ubuntu 12.04 LTS. Here is the relevant section of my URDF file:

<gazebo reference="bottom_mast_camera">
  <sensor name="bottom_mast_camera" type="depth">
    <always_on>true</always_on>
    <update_rate>${mast_cam_frame_rate}</update_rate>

    <camera>
      <horizontal_fov>${mast_cam_h_fov}</horizontal_fov>
      <image>
        <width>${mast_cam_img_width}</width>
        <height>${mast_cam_img_height}</height>
        <format>R8G8B8</format>
      </image>
      <clip>
        <near>${mast_cam_near_clip}</near>
        <far>${mast_cam_far_clip}</far>
      </clip>
      <depth_camera>
        <output>points</output>
      </depth_camera>
    </camera>

    <plugin name="bottom_mast_depth_camera"
            filename="libgazebo_ros_depth_camera.so">
      <cameraName>bottom_mast_camera</cameraName>
      <frameName>bottom_mast_camera_frame</frameName>
      <updateRate>${mast_cam_frame_rate}</updateRate>
      <pointCloudCutoff>2.0</pointCloudCutoff>
    </plugin>
  </sensor>
</gazebo>

Notice that I am using "points" in the <output> element, not "depths". Is such a point cloud supposed to be a color point cloud? I found the Gazebo source code that creates the point cloud, and it is producing a color point cloud. However, when I subscribe to the cloud on a ROS topic, the green and blue values are always zero. Red is usually 128 or 160. <output>depths</output> results in a correct color point cloud.