Taking Measurements + Visualisation
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There are two options available for taking measurements and producing a model set, you can go through Agisoft Metashape itself or a 3D-CAD software, this guide will cover Rhinoceros 3D.
NOTE: Ensure that you have measured some element of your subject in real-life to use as a reference.
NOTE: Agisoft Metashape Professional v.1.6.2 was used in this article.
Find in your chunk where you took the measurements in real-life.
Create two markers relating to the start and end of that measurement. Markers can be created by right-clicking on a point in the model.
Select both markers and [Right-Click > Create Scale Bar]
Enter in your measurement as a scale reference. The unit size is in Meters.
You should see a indicator of the dimension in the model as a line.
Open up the reference setting menu and click apply, this will apply the scale bar to the rest of the chunk.
The ruler tool should now be available, insert from point to point to take a measurement.
Command
Action
Right Mouse Button
Insert a point, the dimension should appear. Inserting more points will count towards the distance measured.
Left Mouse Button
Exit this instance of the ruler.
Perspectives can be captured through the Model view.
Firstly, turn off all unnecessary information such as markers and region boxes etc.
Right-Click in the Model view and select [View Capture]. You'll be able to specify the location and the image resolution.
Elevations are the same as the Orthomosaic in Agisoft Metashape
Create a series of 'axes' using two markers, one start and one end. These 'axes' should form the plane that you want to take views from. Markers can be created by right-clicking on a point in the model and choosing Create Marker.
[Workflow > Build Orthomosaic] will begin the process.
Under projection, set the type to [Planar] .
Set to Projection Plane to use [Markers] .
Set the Horizontal and Vertical Axes to the points you made previously.
In the example shown below, a front view would use the markers creating axes that forms a plane parallel to that surface.
Click on the Orthomosaic in the chunk to view it. This is restricted to the Ortho window view as if it were a 2D object, this cannot be manipulated in 3D.
Duplicate an Orthomosaic by right-clicking on it. You can generate a new Orthomosaic over the selected one by going through the same steps.
[File > Export > Export Orthomosaic] will allow you to export high-resolution images of the generated Orthomosaics.
You can set the output quality by specifying the Pixel Size, or more simply, the Max. Dimension setting.
Use [Orient3Pt] to orient the subject, this will translate and rotate an object from a selected plane to a target plane. It is recommended to use a wall or ground to orient to one of the cardinal planes.
You may want to draw an arbitrary reference surface first to use as the orientation plane. First pick three points on the subject and three corresponding points on the plane to orient to.
Measurements can be taken using the [Distance] command by picking a first point, and then a second point. The command line will return the distance between these two points.
Use the corresponding viewports and [ViewCaptureToFile] to capture high resolution images.
NOTE: SketchFab has a 50MB filesize limit for free accounts, Meshes are usually lighter in file size and can be used instead.
P3D is web-browser based 3D model publisher. It is a free alternative to SketchFab with a higher initial upload limit of 200MB.
Follow the guide up to the exporting of a mesh, and ensure you enable Export Texture so that it can be re-applied in P3D. P3D only accepts Meshes.
You will have to create an account, once you have done so, you can upload a 3D model.
Textures and basic materiality can be controlled via the P3D editor. Any texture that comes out with your Mesh though, should be dropped into the Base Color texture, by selecting the [T]
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Agisoft provides a free viewer that you can use to interact with your models.
This can be downloaded through the Agisoft Metashape Installer.
Navigate to the following website link and download the appropriate installer for your system:
Open the installer and only install the Agisoft Viewer component through the custom install.
Follow the guide up to the exporting of a point cloud or mesh.
Agisoft Viewer supports a range of datatypes, all of which can be generated by Agisoft Metashape. We recommended the following file types for their simplicity, so export either the mesh or point cloud as the following file type:
Type
File Format
Mesh
.obj
Point Cloud
.oc3
[File > Open Dataset] will allow you to import a file to view.
View > Panes allows you to toggle on and off various panels in the software.
View also hosts some display options regarding Fill, Wireframe, Points and Lighting, the effect will differ based on if you are viewing a mesh or point cloud file.
Command
Function
Right Mouse Button + Drag
Scrollwheel
Zoom In or Out
Left Mouse Button + Drag
Rotate Model
Scrollwheel Hold + Drag
Pan Model
NOTE: If using a .obj format for a mesh that has a texture with it, ensure you also send the texture image file along with any model files.
Follow the guide up to the exporting of a mesh, you can use any common mesh filetype; .obj or .ply.
Microsoft 3D Builder is an already available piece of software on all Windows Machines.
Simply Right-Click the exported file and Open With > 3D Builder
NOTE: If using a .obj format for a mesh that has a texture with it, ensure you also send the texture image file along with any model files.
[Rotate] or using the can be used to further adjust the alignment.
