PhotoModeler Scanner

NEW: The PhotoModeler Scanner White Paper >>>DOWNLOAD HERE<<<

PhotoModeler Scanner

PhotoModeler Scanner provides the tools for you to create accurate, high quality 3D models and measurements from photographs. PhotoModeler Scanner is capable of performing many modeling and measuring tasks, and differs from the base PhotoModeler product by its ability to scan photo pairs to produce dense point cloud and meshed surfaces.

PhotoModeler Scanner has all the capabilities of the PhotoModeler product plus the capability to do Dense Surface Modeling (DSM). PhotoModeler Scanner also includes, as part of the packaged price, the Coded Target and Idealize modules.

Dense Surface Modeling is used in any application where a large number of 3D points are needed.  The surfaces being modeled need a natural or random texture (or that texture can be applied or projected).  Most applications where a laser scanner works, DSM will work also.

How it works

The central algorithm in PhotoModeler Scanner is Dense Surface Modeling (DSM for short).

DSM is a search algorithm that uses an existing pre-oriented project and pairs of photos from that project to search for image patches that ‘look’ alike.  This search is done in a regular grid-like manner so a grid of 3D points is computed. When a good match is found between two photos, the orientation and camera data allows the program to compute the correct 3D location of the surface point corresponding to the image patch.

For a Dense Surface Model project to work well there are some requirements.  These requirements are associated with how the photographs are taken, and the nature of the surface being modeled.

DSM Photo Requirements
Photographs used in DSM projects should be in a parallel or close to parallel orientation. The cameras should be approximately one quarter the distance apart, compared to the distance that they are from the surface. This would be called a 0.25 base to height ratio. Base to height ratios of 0.1 to 0.5 are suitable. Highly convergent photographs usually do not work well with DSM since the surface looks too different. A typical PhotoModeler project requires convergent photographs to solve well and a PhotoModeler Scanner / DSM project will have a mixture of convergent and parallel photos. Lastly the photographs need to overlap on the surface being modeled.

DSM Surface Requirements
The surfaces to be modeled by DSM need to have a visible random texture/pattern.  Examples of random textures are rock, dirt, skin, wood grain, bricks, trees, etc.  Examples of surfaces that are not textured are plaster-board walls, metal surfaces or glass windows. A surface with no texture (a body panel of a car for example) can still be DSM modeled if a random texture pattern is applied or projected onto it.

Applications:

PhotoModeler Scanner has many applications. The Dense Surface Modeling capability of Scanner adds to PhotoModeler's extensive and powerful tool set for obtaining the 3D and measurement data that you need in your application. PhotoModeler Scanner is capable of scanning a finger tip or a whole mountain range.

• low purchase and operating costs
• field equipment is easy to transport, move around the site, and is small (a camera)
• less time in the field, comparable operator time back in the office
• can work from an unstable instrument platform
• can scan moving and unstable objects or scenes (if using synchronized cameras)
• can scan very small objects accurately (if they can be photographed and have texture)
• can scan objects at large distances (as long as there is a visible texture in the photographs)
• is eye-safe
• produces a superior photo-textured 3D mod