Best apps for 3d imaging

Ggirf14 · Dec 6, 2015

I would like to start a list of software for 3d imaging.

Solo is a great stable platform.
GoPro is so popular I came across tons of lens available
Tower application to scan a scructure
All we are missing is a software to put the image together to form a 3d image

Autodesk Memento: Requires OpenGL 3.3 or higher (I cannot upgrade higher than 3.1 on my laptop)
Autodesk Recap: Same as above
123D Catch, Freeware limited with 70 photos Pictures to upload to Autodesk cloud who do the processing.
Agisoft PhotoScan Standard Edition179.00$ and Professional Edition 3499.00$

Feedback and suggestions are welcome.

Jim..... · Dec 6, 2015

Not the most user friendly software but I've managed to get some useable results from this.
VisualSFM : A Visual Structure from Motion System

Ggirf14 · Dec 6, 2015

VisualSFM seems interesting but it's not free for comercial use.

Ggirf14 · Dec 7, 2015

I found quite a list on Wikipedia
Comparison of photogrammetry software - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Jim..... · Dec 7, 2015

Good link.

Got a six month trail, yes six months of Trimble's UAS master but have not had time to investigate yet.

Trevor · Dec 7, 2015

im interested as well. i have always wanted to try this.

Trevor · Dec 7, 2015

Pix4D UAV mapping photogrammetry software, Pix4Dmapper i had looked at this previously as well.

Ggirf14 · Dec 8, 2015

Testing Agisoft Photoscan. Demo mode does not allow to save anything but full functionalities of all features.
Trial mode unlocks everything but limited to a months.
Not an expert in photography but looks like the standard lens of Gopro fisheye creates problems.
Once the lens will be fix I will try and maybe activate the trial mode and if happy I would consider buying it.
Keeping the lens topic to an other active post :
Peau Productions 4.35mm f/2.8 GoPro Lens | 3D Robotics Drone Forum

Ggirf14 · Dec 9, 2015

Ouf what a load on a computer, 3 hours+ to crunch 44 pictures with gopro standard lens 12 Mb wide. +~ 7Mb per file.
Result is fair. With 11 image the result was less than poor. It looked more like a horror movie setup.
Waiting for a lens to flip Agisoft Photoscan from demo to trial. In demo I cannot save anything. Looks like testing and experience is needed to get good results. There might be type of subject to avoid.
Please share your results Agisoft can save in PDF. Are you able to save in a common format?
Running a laptop
CPU I7 2.8ghz
RAM 12 gb
Win7 64 bits

Dieter · Dec 11, 2015

Scanner Killer by XYZ RGB.... they are the pioneers of Photogrammetry for live body scanning and their services are used on the majority of high-end Hollywood VFX films. But alas I don't think their software is commercially available any longer.

Jim..... · Dec 12, 2015

Ggirf14 said:
Ouf what a load on a computer, 3 hours+ to crunch 44 pictures with gopro standard lens 12 Mb wide. +~ 7Mb per file.
Result is fair. With 11 image the result was less than poor. It looked more like a horror movie setup.
Waiting for a lens to flip Agisoft Photoscan from demo to trial. In demo I cannot save anything. Looks like testing and experience is needed to get good results. There might be type of subject to avoid.
Please share your results Agisoft can save in PDF. Are you able to save in a common format?
Running a laptop
CPU I7 2.8ghz
RAM 12 gb
Win7 64 bits

Here is an example from a photoscan demo. It seems to me that photoscan is a little better at processing "difficult" datasets for example where overlap is not all it should be.

Ggirf14 · Dec 12, 2015

Scanner Killer seems limited to work with 2 cameras (stereo imaging), how would you set this up on solo?

Ggirf14 · Dec 12, 2015

There seems to be people who choose to use a fisheye lens for special environments like tight spots. Looks the get good results. It involve to understand how to calibrate the camera and provide appropriate pics.
Testing with pictures of a brick wall and looking if the bricks are straight than turn the wall 90 degrees and check if it'still straight.
Looks like once I find everything that'she needed I would stick to this.
I will post my findings once I get good results.

Please share your settings and the way you take the pictures (ex. 50% or more overlap in every directions)

Ggirf14 · Dec 12, 2015

Here is a link to what can be done
Taking fisheye to the extreme

Dieter · Dec 12, 2015

Ggirf14 said:
Scanner Killer seems limited to work with 2 cameras (stereo imaging), how would you set this up on solo?

It would require two calibrated cameras.

Without getting into too much detail on: bundle adjustments and intrinsic/extrinsic calibrations, etc... all Photogrammetry is based on stereo images i.e. 2 cameras correspondences. Agisoft can also solve using only two images IF you have a very strong calibration.

There are two fundamental approaches to Photogrammetry 1) a pre-calibrated stereo pairs (SK) which produce scale accurate 3D outputs or 2) A SFM (Structure from Motion), like Agisoft which requires many photos to calibrate, and does not produce scale accurate data output i.e. the 3D data is typically scaled using a known reference. There are many other differences between the two software's. Both are great tools and both have their own advantages/ disadvantages.

The output from Scanner Killer in my opinion using only 2 cameras is better than Agisoft using many more photos for certain applications, but there is more post work in SK to stitch multiple stereo-pairs together. Agisoft is a very good 'all-in-one' solution that requires very little knowledge to use, but also doesn't provide any control which Scanner Killer does. I happen to have both suites- here's a side by side using a basic 8MP camera.

Some comparisons from over the years...

Ggirf14 · Dec 12, 2015

Thank you Dieter this is very valuable information. The images worth a thousand words. I will dig to see how Scanner Killer can work with solo who have a single camera. Christmas is just around the corner pardon me if I'may not getting back very fast.