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Photogrammetry software review, thoughts, and considerations before involving in photogrammetry
In this article, we will review a few basic concepts regarding photogrammetry processing software.
What is photogrammetry and what are its appliances?
Photogrammetry is the science of making a measurement which is made from different types of photographs or pictures. This method is using the parallax obtained between several pictures, made from different perspectives. It can be used to record complex 2D and 3D motions. The best way it can be described is with binocular human vision. Basically, every eye has its own point of view, and when looking at an object in the space each eye measures between it and every point on the object.
Afterwards this data is transferred to the brain, where it’s overlaid (when looking with 2 eyes you don’t see 2 point of views), the result is that you see one 3d image. Similarly, the process of photogrammetry collects the data regarding the shape, the volume, depth of a subject. After that this data can be used for recreating this model in digital environment.
If we continue to follow the logic, this means that each and every object, which can be photographed (or scanned, because it can be done by laser, too) properly, can be transferred into a digital model. These models can be used for whatever purposes needed – from creating topographical maps to models that can be 3d printed, used as models in the movie and game industry, and so on.
How does photogrammetry work?
Photogrammetry works by extracting the geometric information of a two-dimensional image, which represents the two eyes of a human. In order to improve the accuracy, we will need more “eyes”, which transferred to our case means more points of view. All that said, as many photos we can get of an object, the more accurate result we will get.
Photogrammetry in your hand
Deeper analysis of photogrammetry computing
So far, we have mentioned that using a set of images, we can extract geographical positions from them. Plain as it sounds, the processes could be rather computing-intensive. Of course, you can do this on your laptop, personal computer. But the most accurate result you are after, the more complex hardware you will need.
For large area photogrammetry recreations or very high detail scans, you might need hundreds of processors and tens of thousands of gigabytes of RAM if you want your scan completed in your lifetime.
The process is gathering all the points from an image, combining it with the points extracted from every other image from your scan, and with the predefined algorithm every photogrammetry software has to create the digital 3D model of your scan.
What are the best photogrammetry software tools?
MaxCloudOn Photogrammetry Cloud Service
MaxCloudOn Photogrammetry Cloud Service is an independent cloud platform for photogrammetry processing, which includes both software and hardware parts in order to generate photorealistic computer-generated 3d models.
It gives the user professional tools, which – if used properly – will compute photorealistic 3d models from the images provided. In combination with the cloud infrastructure, which basically gives you access to a very large amount of computing processing hardware, it gives you blazingly fast speeds when generating your 3d models.
With all that said about MaxCloudOn Photogrammetry Cloud Service, makes it is literally the best photogrammetry software for processing 3d scans. You wouldn’t need to worry about your workstation’s hardware specs, if you’ll need a faster CPU or graphic card, more system RAM, etc. What you’ll need is the images of the models of which you’ll need to generate 3d models and free registration. Each one comes with a $20 free trial to check and test how our service works.
Following this link will show you a demonstration video of the functionality of how MaxCloudOn Photogrammetry Cloud Service works.
You can register here.
Agisoft PhotoScan (now known as Metashape)
3DF Zephyr Free
Colmap
Autodesk ReCap Pro
Photomodeler Pro 5
RealityCapture
Conclusion
This is just a short and brief article, which mostly tried to cover basis of photogrammetry processing and we just pointed a few of the most known software. The way they work is mostly one and the same, you should pick by your consideration and taste. But keeping all things mentioned in this article, you would be able to make a much more educated guess.
Whatever you decide to use as software, you should firstly consider all the things that you are going to do, all the hardware you are going to use, the licensing you will be going to need/purchase in order to do your photogrammetry processing at your location.
At first glance, it does not look so scary but when you define your targets and sit with a pen to make a bill, you might be frightened. What we offer you is, to make your photogrammetry processing with our cloud service which will save you time and hassle with lots of stuff, and at the same time, you’ll get your 3D scanned models in a very timely fashion at a fraction of the price. We also give you a $20 sign-up bonus to test our service. All you have to do is register to try.
Bonus is received after confirming your email and mobile.