Free Photogrammetry Software For Mac

Agisoft Metashape is a stand-alone software product that performs photogrammetric processing of digital images and generates 3D spatial data to be used in GIS applications, cultural heritage documentation, and visual effects production as well as for indirect measurements of objects of. 3DF Zephyr lets photogrammetry catch on in multiple scenarios fostering different targets and needs by taking advantage of an all-in-one software suite. Our in-house technology is as versatile and user-friendly as possible and it can easily be adapted to the users’ skills. Choose your camera setup.

Introduction: Free Photogrammetry on Mac OS: From Photos to 3D Models

Photogrammetry is the use of images/photography to measure distances between objects (thanks Webster). But for modern purposes, it is often used to make a 3D model of somethings from the real world without needing a 3D Scanner.

There is plenty of software out there that you can use for photogrammetry, including some great free options, but I noticed that many (such as Meshroom) didn't have Mac builds available. Or they would require a graphics card with CUDA support (not typical with things like a Macbook). So that meant some digging around.

I finally stumbled on this excellent article: https://peterfalkingham.com/2017/12/17/free-photog..

This lead to a follow-up build script: https://peterfalkingham.com/2018/04/01/colmap-open..

It took me a while to get it working, but once I got it going, I was pretty pleased with the results I started getting. So, I'm going to break down the steps a little more, especially for you Mac users out there.

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Step 1: Get COLMAP

COLMAP (https://colmap.github.io/install.html) is a nice, little free tool for getting started with photogrammetry. I tried it on its own at first, but some of the later steps required CUDA. So I had to start looking again. That is why we will use other software for the later steps.

Downloading COLMAP is easy. You can follow the instructions here: https://colmap.github.io/install.html

Or you can look at the latest release on their github page: https://github.com/colmap/colmap/releases and download the latest COLMAP-dev-mac-no-cuda.zip

Once you dowload the zip, unzip it and stick the COLMAP app into your Applications folder.

Step 2: Get and Build OpenMVS

The next program that I use to help finish building the 3d models is OpenMVS (http://cdcseacave.github.io/openMVS/). You are going to have to build this on your machine, so I will attempt to make this as painless as possible.

The link to the instructions for getting and building OpenMVS on a Mac is here: https://github.com/cdcseacave/openMVS/wiki/Buildin..

Both of which are Win2K.One is the old na done is the new one I installed. Intel easton d815eea drivers for mac 10. I believe that i should have formated first? Now when my PC boots up I get the choice between two operation systems. Not the computer,lol, just the plan I had to reinstall Windows 2000 Pro.I was gonna do a clean install proceeded to do so and this is what i ended up with.

Intel wireless n 7260 driver. but I did have to modify slightly. Here is what I did:

  • Download Xcode from the App store
    • Open Xcode and agree to the license
  • Install Homebrew if you don't already have it: https://treehouse.github.io/installation-guides/m..
  • Install GIT: https://git-scm.com/download/mac
  • Install CMake: https://cmake.org/install/
  • Open up a terminal and execute the following script. Make sure you do it from somewhere where you want openMVS to live (I have a 'Projects' folder under my main user):

Step 3: Create a Photogrammetry Script

I then created a script based on the one from here: https://peterfalkingham.com/2018/04/01/colmap-open..

Here is what I ended up with (pay attention to the notes in the script, since it requires you to set some locations):

Photogrammetry.sh

Step 4: Run the Script

Now that you have the script, you can take photos of an object that you want to make a 3d model of. There are other articles and videos out there that can give you some great advice on how to best take photos for the purpose of photogrammetry (such as this one: https://www.tested.com/art/makers/460142-art-photo..).

Mac

But those photos into a folder, the copy the script you made into the folder.

From you terminal, go to the folder where the photos and script are and run:

The script will then do the rest of the work for you. Please note that this can take quite a bit of time to process (especially if you are using a lot of high-res photos). I would suggest trying some smaller photo sets first. Some simple, sample photo sets can be found here: (http://www.regard3d.org/index.php/demo-models)

Step 5: Check Out You Model

Once the script finishes running, you should have an OBJ file exported into a model file where you had the photos. If you go to your workspace folder, you can find intermediate PLY models that you can check out in programs such as MeshLab.

Hope you enjoy and let me know if it worked for you. I'm also open to suggestions for improvements in the process.

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