1.2 Tarasque RealityCapture

Create 2D/3D Maps with RealityCapture

RealityCapture is a perfect solution for your mapping projects. You can create an infinite number of ortho-projections and maps. For each map, area and volume measurements are automatically calculated. Moreover, you can use several options on how to geo-reference your map and with control point experience, you are able to create hundreds of measurements for ground control points within minutes.

Map Wizard

RealityCapture Map Wizard is basically a one-click virtual assistant in the creation of geo-referenced maps and/or models.
It is an easy and intuitive tool enabling you to have end-to-end results in one place.

It works in a few simple steps:

• Drag & Drop images or laser scans
• Import flight log, GCPs or CPs
• Define your goal
• Press GO and obtain a geo-referenced map

Geo-referencing

RealityCapture enables you to use all different types of geo-referencing like:

• Flight logs
• GPS coordinates in EXIF
• Ground control points

Coordinate system mixing: Furthermore, each ground control point or camera can be in a different coordinate system.

Maps/DSMMM

In fact, it has never been so easy to create a map. Just define an area and select a coordinate system. Then, press a button. Your map will be stored in the project. Afterward, you will be able to export it anytime. In other words, export your map in the form of a “True Orthographic Photograph” or a “Digital Surface Model” into:

• Image file formats, such as JPG, PNG, TIF, etc., including the world file.
• Google Earth: KML/KMZ
• GIS software file format: GeoTiff

Arbitrary orthographic projections

In brief, you are not limited just to maps with your projects. You can create arbitrary orthographic projections and cross-sections. In addition, define the projection plane, size, and rotation of the projection area and get the resolution you need. All ortho-projections are saved and can be exported as an image, altitude, or depth layer. This feature is very useful for project documentation.

Assets for Games/Movies with RealityCapture

Create realistic assets and environments. Get the most from the speed.

Create 3D model from photos

Meet your deadlines and create 3D assets 6x more efficiently than with other traditional methods. As an illustration, you can run 4 instances of RealityCapture at the same time. Truly, it’s simple. Use your phone or DSLR and capture an object from every angle.

Use photos to recreate small 3D objects, digital doubles, or big 3D environments ready to export for content-creation and artistic tools.

Build whole environments

Bring physical objects into 3D and be creative. Build your own environment from real-world objects and create a truly immersive experience. Replace manual modeling and speed up your creative workflow with RealityCapture photogrammetry software.

Obtain authentic digital doubles

With RealityCapture you obtain clean detailed meshes with picture-perfect textures. Overall, automate your workflow with the command line to get the result even faster.

Post-Processing tools

RealityCapture offers a variety of tools that helps you to finish your model. Filter unwanted parts, smooth, and simplify your mesh to achieve the best possible result. Export results in all standard formats compatible with third-party software, such as Unreal Engine, Unity, etc..

Full Body Scan with RealityCapture

Get the most authentic digital double or 3D asset. Set a coordinate system, compute a model, decimate, texture, export all in one automated process using RealityCapture CLI.

Scale and Coordinate System Preservation

There are different ways how to preserve coordinate systems across different scans with RealityCapture. To put it another way, it all depends on your camera setup.

XMP: Fixed-camera setup

If you are sure that your camera setup is fixed, then you can use pre-calibration with XMP files. By fixed we mean that your supporting structure is so strong that each camera position and orientation will remain stable (+-0.01mm and +-0.01 degrees) across different scans. Furthermore, your internal camera parameters will remain fixed, as well (no autofocus, no image stabilization, etc.). If you are not absolutely sure about the precision, you can still use XMP files set to draft mode and RealityCapture will fine-tune camera poses and calibration.

Photogrammetry in 3D printing

Photogrammetry is a time-saving, cost-reducing method that helps to better communicate projects and lowers risks of future errors.

For this reason, replace manual modeling and speed up your creative workflow. It’s simple. In effect, use your phone or DSLR, or drone and capture an object from every angle.

Prototyping

Easily edit and re-design the reality-captured models. Design a missing component that will fit perfectly to the object it was made for. A set of integrated post-processing tools will help you to fine-tune your model. In this case, filter unwanted parts, smooth, and simplify your mesh to achieve the best possible result.

Create authentic digital replicas

With RealityCapture you obtain clean detailed meshes with picture-perfect textures. By all means, use photos to recreate from small 3D objects, large cathedrals, to whole cities. Imagine having your favorite objects in miniature size.

Keep your memories alive

So, do you have some precious memories from your childhood? Perhaps family heritage or vacation memory that you would like to preserve as a 3D model? Simply take pictures of the object, turn them into 3D models with RealityCapture, and directly 3D print.

See how to install the product:

• 64bit machine with at least 8GB of RAM
• 64bit Microsoft Windows version 7 / 8 / 8.1 / 10 or Windows Server version 2008+
• NVIDIA graphics card with CUDA 3.0+ capabilities and 1GB VRAM.

We recommend using a machine with at least 4 CPU cores, 16GB of RAM, and 1024 CUDA cores. If you do not have the NVIDIA card, you will be still able to run the application and register images, you will not be able to create a textured mesh.

The CPU is required to support SSE4.2 (Streaming SIMD Extensions 4.2) or higher.

How to find out whether you have CUDA 2.0+ update the drivers and check here: https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-gpus

For Microsoft Windows N you will need to install Media Feature Pack for Windows. Click the following link to install it: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=16546. If you are using Windows Server, then you need to install Media Foundation features.

Memory consumption:

The RealityCapture application uses state-of-the-art out-of-core algorithms for almost every task. Therefore, you do not need to worry about computer memory.

You can easily register an unlimited number of images/laser-scans on a single machine. However, it requires a specific workflow using components. In such cases, 16GB should be enough for thousands of high (36-80 MPX) resolution images. You can find more information about components workflow in the application Help, section Using components.

To align an unordered set of images into one component you will need a certain amount of RAM. The consumption depends on a count of images (irrespective of their size) and a count of features per image. If you restrict the count of features per image from default 40K to 20K, you will double the count of images which can use the same amount of RAM.

Meshing, coloring, and texturing are completely out-of-core. Hence you do not need to worry about computer RAM at all. This means that once you have even one million images or scans registered together, you can create a mesh and a texture on a machine with e.g. 16GB of RAM without any performance loss.

Performance comparison:

Here you can find a performance comparison of a specific HW equipment during processing in RealityCapture provided by Puget Systems:

https://www.pugetsystems.com/all_articles.php?filter[]=RealityCapture

Version 1.2 Tarasque Release

July 2021

This new software release aims for field working professionals requiring the highest precision and speed. We have introduced many new exciting features as well as an improved easy to navigate ribbon.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Projects created and/or saved in this version cannot be opened in the previous versions of RealityCapture.

Highlights:

• Calculation of volume and area for arbitrary shapes.
• Users can now create custom height profiles.
• Contour lines computation and export.
• BETA: Orthomosaic rendering method along with advanced mosaic editing tools.

Selected new features:

• Faster depth-maps calculation (even 2x+)
• BETA: Now possible to detect misaligned cameras within Inspect tool.
• Now possible to create and export cross sections of the models.
• Ribbon improvements and color cursors auto-detection for more intuitive and smoother user experience.
• View context tabs now always visible and extended with selection of view options and tools.
• One-export dialog grouping all export options, most recently used option and search function.
• Export and sharing options added to the main menu.
• Camera uncertainty ellipses now visible in map view for each camera.
• Relative camera position uncertainties now visible in 1Ds for each camera.
• Now possible to freeze simplification of the model edges.
• Added option to choose texture format and layer for Level Of Detail (LOD) model export.
• Several optimizations to LOD export (e.g. size and hierarchy of the exported LOD models).
• Now possible to filter images displayed in 2Ds view – you can drag and drop selections, add, subtract or intersect them or press delete to hide them from 2Ds view.
• Added option to frame images/cameras in the map view.
• Items can be deselected by right-click of the mouse.
• Minimized texture dimensions after fixed and adaptive texel size unwrap.
• Automatic markers detection supported for grayscale inputs.
• Updated database of coordinate systems.
• Now possible to enable slope shading on DTM and DSM.
• Multiple security improvements when running Real-time Assistant.
• Improved results when using Correct Colors tool.

Command Line Interface:

• Added new CLI commands (setGroundPlaneFromReconstructionRegion, exportCrossSections, renameCrossSections, selectCrossSections, computeContours, exportContours, renameContours, selectContours, exportShapes, importShapesToSelectedOrtho, importShapesToOrtho, selectShape, addShapeToSelection).
• Introduced new key “allowReadOnly” for set command for enabling opening project multiple times.

Selected fixes:

• Selected component now saved with the project.
• Map view ordering buttons are greyed out when irrelevant.
• Hot selections are now shown in 1Ds when selecting in other view.
• ESC key cancels tools in 2D.
• Changing of the layout keeps focus of view and ribbon.
• Fixed crashes of LOD models export.
• Fixed crashes on Cesium Ion upload.
• Fixed flipped UVs and rendering issues after importing a large model.
• Fixed incompatibility of exported non-georeferenced models with Cesium Ion.
• Fixed incorrectly exported depths and masks.
• Fixed importing UV indices from FBX file format.
• CLI command exportDepthAndMask now respecting xml parameters file.
• Fixed incorrect export into FBX with special characters in the path.
• Autosaving project now enabled by default.
• Fixed export of ortho-projection into .exr file format.
• Fixed UI artifacts for higher resolution screens.

Minor fixes:

• Fixed incorrectly displayed texts in the exported reports.
• Several fixes to the behavior of silent commands – all unwanted dialogs now should be suppressed.
• Minor fixes in the application Help.
• Progress report now shows Resume when Paused.
• Selected model now deselected by selecting another component.
• Fixed vertex color artifacts after simplification.
• Fixed simplify command not respecting current settings for reprojection.

Version 1.1.1.14251 Blaze Release

December 7, 2020

Version 1.1.0.12901 Blaze Release

Date: September 2, 2020

IMPORTANT NOTE: Projects created and/or saved in this version cannot be opened in the previous versions of RealityCapture.

Highlights:

• Now possible to import also accuracy for the measurements (e.g. import of PPK/RTK data)
• Import of Leica BLK3D data
• Import of Z+F scans (.zfs and .zfprj file formats)
• Point cloud classification (AI classify tool)
• Generation of Digital terrain model (DTM)
• Export Level of Detail (LOD) models
• Export models to Cesium 3D Tiles format
• Direct upload to Cesium ion

Selected new features:

• Added new Accuracy and georeferencing report template
• Application localization into Spanish, Korean, Chinese simplified, French
• Small components grouping and deletion
• New DSM /DTM export options – masking empty pixels using alpha channel, normalizing image and 2 modes of storing depth
• Export of point cloud classification
• Export model into .stl and .3mf file format
• Text file importer improved
• Added more color palettes for displaying DSM/DTM in 2D view
• Possibility to remove input image layer
• Possibility to choose image layer used for coloring
• New numbering formats for export to .obj, .ply, .xyz that support lossless export & import
• Shift + holding left mouse button rotates reconstruction region in 15deg increments
• Possibility to hide texture layer and show vertex colors
• Filter selection now does not reset reconstruction region setup
• Automatic setting for sampling method, supersampling and reprojection distance in texture reprojection tool
• Added option to perform reprojection during simplification in Simplify tool
• Added mesh and texture quality presets for Sketchfab upload
• Added Merge components button in the Alignment tab (removed from Alignment settings)
• Map view improvements – camera selections, using color cursors, placing ground control points

CLI:

• New CLI commands (dtmClassify, export3dTiles, exportLod, importLeicaBlk3D, mergeComponents, selectAllImages, deselectAllImages, invertImageSelection)
• RC CMD line is translated by the string translator before executing, i.e. CLI commands can be controlled using the variables and basic functions.
• Console outputs of the application can by redirected into the text files using getStatus command

IMPORTANT NOTE:
Due to the improvements in the text files importer there is a need to generate the parametric files in the latest version when importing flight log, control points measurements and ground control points via CLI. Specifically, this concerns using commands importFlightLog, importControlPointsMeasurements, and importGroundControlPoints.

Selected fixes:

• Fixed Unexpected program state error during alignment
• Fixed image sorting by index, name and path
• Fixed Autodesk navigation style
• Better progress reporting (smaller jumps) for certain tools
• Collision of point cloud (PTX) file format with Pentax RAW Image File format as a part of Windows Imaging Component codec
• OrthoProjection depth colormapping is smooth
• Fixed issue with memory not being properly released when unloading projects
• Fixed potential issue with memory when smoothing model
• Fix incorrect format of ASCII PLY export
• Fix swapping red and blue channels in ortho projection export to .exr
• Fix banding in DSM and DTM export to .exr
• Fix crash when exporting control points
• Fix lasso, and rect selection sometimes do not show selected vertices or they crash
• Fixed issues with Sketchfab upload
• Fixed error message when reprojecting to a non-unwrapped model via reprojectModel command
• Disabled reproject button in reproject panel when no reprojection type is selected
• Reprojection now creates new texturing layers instead of replacing existing layers
• Fixed source texture alpha transferred to target texture during reprojection
• Fixed possible failure when reprojecting from vertex colors
• Youtube video link shown in help page when being offline

Minor fixes:

• Cannot save project in Viewer mode via CLI anymore
• Fixed incorrect behavior of Distance tool on ortho projection
• Fixed selections occasionally losing their contents
• Fixed potential hard crash of app when using large selections
• Fixed potential smoothing failures on very small parts
• Fixed exporting sampled ortho projection with higher resolution
• Corrections to dialog when HDR images are imported
• Fixed memory leaks when using lasso selection
• Corrected report when using Check topology tool
• Fixed Incorrect selection when distance constraint is changed and clipping box is used