I experimented with macro photogrammetry using a small fossil and a Nikon Z8 camera with MC105 VR S lens. I used focus-shift and focus-stack with shallow depth of field. Reality Capture produced a good model from the focus-stacked images, but using the lens at f51 also yielded a great result. Both methods have their benefits.
News/Blog
An Excellent Free and Open Source focus-stacking solution
I struggled with merging focus-shifted images using Photoshop and Affinity Photo but found success with Helicon Focus, though with some limitations. I then discovered focus-stack on GitHub, a simple command-line tool, which was comparable to Helicon Focus.
My experience training a local LLM (AI chatbot) on local data…
The user encountered challenges while attempting to use various methods to feed information into local Large Language Models (LLMs) via RAG (Retrieval-Augmented Generation). They explored methods such as Nvidia Chat with RTX, Ollama with Python scripts, and Ollama with Open-webui. Results varied, with some methods providing inaccurate or incomplete outputs. Comparatively, Microsoft Co-pilot, running GPT4-Turbo, significantly outperformed the local methods.
[Academic Tech] JBL Tour One M2 Noise Cancelling Headphones
*Note, I was sent these headphones for review by JBL nearly a year ago, but they've had precisely zero input into this review (obviously, given I haven't written it until now), and it doesn't affect what I'm writing at all. The only benefit I stand to gain is the amazon affiliate link I'll shove at... Continue Reading →
Reality Capture going free for everyone*
The other day, I saw that Capturing reality announced a new pricing plan for their photogrammetry software Reality Capture: https://twitter.com/peterfalkingham/status/1767573164614103112?s=20 Reality Captured wormed it's way into my heart as my favourite photogrammetry software. Initially, while I was blown away by the speed of Reality Capture, I had a bit of a rough first impression due... Continue Reading →
Beholder Vision Desktop
I reviewed Beholder Vision back in 2022, and then it was a web-based service, where you upload your photos, it produces a model, and you then download it. That service is still available, but Beholder have now released a desktop version. Best of all, it’s complete free for personal use. It’s technically ad-supported, though so... Continue Reading →
RealityScan – Photogrammetry on Android
As with so much of my gadget life, I've been looking longingly over at the Apple ecosystem, in this context specifically for the amazing 3D scanning apps that are available for the iPhone and iPad. Because those devices have lidar on the back, 3D scanning apps work really well - using the camera to texture... Continue Reading →
[Academic Tech] Surface Laptop Studio (gen 1) long term review
Back in September last year, I wrote a post about the Surface Laptop Studio I'd just bought. I'd only had it a few days at the time, and so it was very much a first impressions post. I've now had the device over a year, and with the second gen released just last month, now... Continue Reading →
Reality Capture v1.3: The fastest just got faster
Yesterday Capturing Reality released Reality Capture 1.3. Key among the change log was "faster model reconstruction and texturing", as well as some improved UV unwrapping. I've enjoyed the speed of Reality Capture for a while, and last year declared myself a reality capture convert. In fact, I now use Reality Capture as a matter of... Continue Reading →
Windows is getting me down
**WARNING - this is a very niche rant** I'm quite a tech nerd. I enjoy gadets, and phones, and even writing software and addons. A big part of this is that I just generally enjoy interacting with my computer's operating system to get stuff done. I've been firmly embedded in Windows most of my life,... Continue Reading →