I’ve been testing out instant-ngp recently, it’s an open-source software from Nvidia that generates neural radiance fields. That’s a 3D representation of an object that is fundamentally different from the points or verticies and faces we may be used to. Rather than representing an object through 3D coordinates, connections between them, and colours (i.e. vertices... Continue Reading →
[Photogrammetry Testing] COLMAP 3.7 and OpenMVS v2.0 [now with CUDA]
I saw recently that COLMAP had received an update to 3.7 in late Jan '22 (I'd previously tested 3.6 a year or more ago), though after a quick, unscientific trial, I didn't notice any particular changes to UI, workflow, speed, or quality of final model, so I didn't think it was worth a blog post.... Continue Reading →
Meshroom CL – The best free photogrammetry software now works without Nvidia
A little while ago I wrote about COLMAP-CL, a fork of the original project re-written so as to remove the reliance on CUDA, and therefore Nvidia GPUs. Now, from the same source, OpenPhotogrammetry on Github, comes Meshroom-CL. It's still in pre-release, at version 0.7, but I gave it a run through on my work iMac... Continue Reading →
Photogrammetry testing [Commercial] – ContextCapture
ContextCapture is Photogrammetry software from Bentley. In fact, it is a pretty comprehensive set of tools for photogrammetry, laser scans, meshing, GIS, etc. I was contacted by someone from Bentley, who asked me if I'd like to give it a test run. I was set up with a trial, but aside from that I've not... Continue Reading →
Adding thickness to your scans for 3D printing. Or… Making 3D surfaces into solids.
I scan a lot of 2.5D things. That is to say, 3D, but only a surface. Think dinosaur tracks, like this: One of the problems you can come across is if you want to 3D print something like this, it needs thickness. Visualization can also be helped if there’s context for the edges. I’ll outline... Continue Reading →
A day out looking for footprints with the BBC
You can listen to the programme here: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswvxr A few months ago, I was contacted about a program on the BBC world service - CrowdScience. I was asked a few things about what I work on, and answered some questions about what we can learn from dinosaur tracks. The idea for the show is that... Continue Reading →
Free photogrammetry software review: 2017
Given how insanely popular my 'trying photogrammetry software' series has been this year, I thought I'd round up what I've tried, what's worked well, and what hasn't. Obviously I gave each piece of software in my blog posts a go with a standard dataset. That photo set was not ideal - it includes photos taken... Continue Reading →
Photogrammetry Testing 6: Autodesk ReMake
Here's the original post, and links to all posts I have previously outlined my goal of testing multiple photogrammetry solutions on a single dataset, and reporting times and results. I'm using a dataset based on photographs of this Styracosaurus model (I've had it since I was quite young): The dataset has 53 photos in total,... Continue Reading →
The importance of 3D for tracks -or- how big is your footprint really!
I should probably have made this post sooner, as it's about my chapter in the Great Dinosaur Track Book Of 2016: "Dinosaur Tracks: The Next Steps". It's a volume I was privileged enough to be an editor for, and it contains a number of excellent chapters. I wanted to post about my own... Continue Reading →
Photogrammetry Testing 4: OpenMVG and MVE (+TexRecon)
Here's the original post, and links to all posts I have previously outlined my goal of testing multiple photogrammetry solutions on a single dataset, and reporting times and results. I'm using a dataset based on photographs of this Styracosaurus model (I've had it since I was quite young): The dataset has 53 photos in total,... Continue Reading →