Autodesk Project Photofly Getting Started with the Photo Scene Editor

Last Update: Oct 2010

Introduction
Capturing the as-built reality for purposes, e.g. renovation, energy analysis, add-on design, is now possible using your standard digital camera, thanks to advanced computer vision technologies developed by Autodesk, called Camera Factory, and now made available through Project Photofly. Project Photofly is a technology preview that automatically converts photographs shot around an object or of a scene into "Photo Scenes" utilizing the power of cloud computing. To use the power of Photofly, a standalone application for Windows called Photo Scene Editor has been developed. This application lets you submit your photographs to the Project Photofly web service and view the returned Photo Scenes. You can save your Photo Scenes, and export the computed 3D points, cameras and geometry in various CAD formats. This document is the Photo Scene Editor User Guide, which will guide you through the process of creating Photo Scenes and working with them.

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Contents
Terms & Definitions Overview of Project Photofly System Requirements Installation Instructions Global Workflow Step 1 Shooting the right Images Step 2 Creating, Getting & Opening a Photo Scene
2.1 Introduction 2.2 Creating a Photo Scene 2.3 Getting a Photo Scene 2.4 Opening a Photo Scene

Step 3 Editing the Photo Scene

3.1 Selecting the interface layout 3.2 Viewing the stitching results 3.3 Navigating in the Photo Scene 3.4 - Free 3D Navigation in the Photo Scene 3.5 Lock on Camera Mode 3.6 Cleaning the Automatic Point Cloud 3.7 Creating Reference Points 3.8 Setting a World Coordinate System 3.9 Setting a Reference Distance 3.10 - Making Measurements 3.11 Creating Lines and Polylines 3.12 Manual Stitch 3.13 Adding Images

Step 4 - Exporting a Photo Scene Annex 1 Preferences Annex 2 Error Messages

1 - Error Messages from the Photo Scene Editor 2 - Error Messages from the Automatic Stitching Engine

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Terms & Definitions

Term Image Definition The Images are the pictures that you shoot around an object or a scene, using your digital camera. They can be in .jpeg or .tif format. A feature is a group of pixels in the Image that contains some remarkable information such as some variation in contrast. There will be many features automatically extracted by computer vision algorithms in each single Image. Matching corresponding features in several Images is the basis of the Stitching process. Also called camera calibration or camera registration, the Stitching process is the process of automatically computing the Photo Scene from Images. It utilizes a series of computer vision algorithms called the Camera Factory Engine, that runs in the cloud. The result of the Stitching process is called a Photo Scene. The Photo Scene includes Calibrated Cameras, associated with their undistorted Background Pictures, and a 3D point cloud called the Automatic Point Cloud. A global scale and coordinate system can be set for the Photo Scene. The Camera Factory computes the camera parameters associated with each Image: location & orientation in space, focal length and non-linear distortion (barrel/pincushion). Each computed camera is then called a Camera. It is associated with its corresponding Image, which is displayed as a Background Picture corresponding to the undistorted Image as seen through the viewing cone. Example below: on the left, the Image, on the right, the corresponding calibrated Camera + its Background Picture Cameras

Feature

Stitching

Photo Scene

Automatic Point Cloud

The Automatic Point Cloud is computed automatically by the Camera Factory. This series of 3D points is randomly located over the entire scene, as the result of the automatic feature extraction during the Stitching process. The user has no control over the location and density of this point cloud.

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Photo Scene Editor

The Photo Scene Editor is a Windows-based application that lets you submit your Images to the Project Photofly server, to automatically run the Stitching process, and to view the Photo Scenes returned by the server. Using the Photo Scene Editor, you can edit the scene, assign a scale and a coordinate system, add Reference Points and Lines (see below), and export the Photo Scenes to various file formats such as DWG. The Automatic Point Cloud may not provide 3D points exactly where necessary for further snapping or measurement operations. Additional 3D points can then be manually placed by the user, using the Photo Scene Editor. They are collectively called the Reference Points. A semi-automatic process lets you perform this task easily. The Photo Scene Editor lets you create lines and polylines, that can then be used as references geometry when drawing and designing in 3D using other Autodesk applications, e.g. AutoCAD Some Images may not be stitched automatically, or may be stitched improperly by the automatic engine. In this case, the user can manually select matching Features between any non-stitched photo and some other stitched ones, before re-launching the Photo Scene computation process. This process is called Manual Stitch. The splats are the local texture maps associated with each 3D point of the Automatic Point Cloud. They provide a better, more photo-realistic, visualization of the object or the scene. They cannot be exported in a file for use in another application. You may independently activate the display of splats and/or 3D points using the toggle tools provided in the Photo Scene Editor.

Reference Points

Reference Lines

Manual Stitch

Splats

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Overview of Project Photofly

Project Photofly includes: - Camera Factory engines that run in the cloud. - The Photo Scene Editor, which is a Windows-based client application.

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System Requirements
Operating Systems: - Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 3 or higher - Microsoft Windows 7 - 32-bit and 64-bit systems Recommended CPU: - IntelCore2Duo. Memory: - 1 GB RAM Hard Disk: - 1 GB free hard drive Graphic card: - OpenGL compatible Video Card (Recommended OpenGL version 1.3) - Video Size : 256MB or more Video Memory

Installation Instructions
First installation: 1. Click the Download Now button on following page: http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/photo_scene_editor/. 2. Download the installer PhotoSceneEditorInstaller.msi. Click on this file and follow the instruction to install the Photo Scene Editor. Updates: The latest version of the Photo Scene Editor is required for the compatibility with the Web Service, which is continuously updated with new features. The Photo Scene Editor will automatically check for updates if you create a Photo Scene. If an update is required: 1. Click the Download button on the following page: http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/photo_scene_editor/ . 2. Download the installer PhotoSceneEditorInstaller.msi. Click on this file and follow the instruction to update your Photo Scene Editor.

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Complete Workflow
Computing a Photo Scene using Project Photofly is done in several steps: - Step 1: Shooting the right Images. There are some rules to follow when shooting your object or your scene to make sure that the automatic process of computing your Photo Scene is successful. - Step 2: Creating, Getting and Opening a Photo Scene. This step ranges from the selection of the Images to the automatic retrieval of the Photo Scene file from the cloud. It uses the Photo Scene Editor wizard. - Step 3: Editing the Photo Scene. Using the Photo Scene Editor, you will be able to view your3D cameras and Automatic Point Cloud in a 3D space or through each camera. At this stage, you can set a scale and a coordinate system. You can also add some other Reference Points and some Reference Lines that may be necessary to snap geometric primitives during the image-based modeling process. You can also perform 3D measurements on your Photo Scene once a scale has been set. - Step 4: Exporting the Photo Scene in various file formats. - Step 5: Image-based modeling. You can then use your Photo Scene in various Autodesk software to create 3D models or to take measurements, using your calibrated photos and the 3D point cloud as references. This step is not described in this document as itll be documented in the appropriate modeling applications that implement image-based modeling.

Step 1 Shooting the right Images

Check the shooting guidelines on: http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/photofly/getting_started/ Your photos must be located on your disk for further use in the Photo Scene Editor or in an Autodesk application. During the Stitching, they will be uploaded temporarily to the cloud for the computation of the Photo Scene. Important Note: - Your Source Photos on your disk will never be affected or destroyed during any of the Photo Scene creation or edition process. - Possible formats are JPEG or TIFF only. - The folder where you saved your Source Photos must NOT be in read only mode. As a matter of fact, the photo scene computed by the server will be automatically saved in the same folder, so you MUST be given all the access rights for this folder.

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Step 2 Creating, Getting & Opening a Photo Scene

2.1 Introduction
Photo Scenes are computed in the cloud, which means your Images will be uploaded to a server for processing, and you will get a Photo Scene file back once the computation is over. This Photo Scene file has a .rzi extension. Its name is automatically created to include the date and the time when it was computed, as follows: Scene_yyyy_mm_dd_hr_mn_sc.rzi Once your Images are uploaded, processing starts in the cloud. You then have the choice to: - Either wait for the result and stay connected: o Once the computation is over, the Photo Scene will appear in a 3D viewer automatically with no intervention. o The Scene_yyyy_mm_dd_hr_mn_sc.rzi file will automatically be saved in the same folder as your Images. - Or quit the application and get the result later, since the processing may take a while depending on the number of Images, the number of projects being processed, and the number of CPUs allocated in the cloud at that time. In this case, you are asked to provide your e-mail address, where a message will be sent once the computation is done. You can get the result by clicking on the link given in this message. In this case: o The Photo Scene will appear in a 3D viewer automatically. o Your Scene_yyyy_mm_dd_hr_mn_sc.rzi file will be saved in the same folder as your Images. - At any time, you can open a Photo Scene file and view or edit its content as explained in Step 3 chapter below.

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2.2 Creating a Photo Scene

Run PhotoSceneEditor.exe to start the Photo Scene Editor wizard. If you are connected to the Internet, the following window will pop-up:

If you are not connected to the Internet, or if you are behind a proxy server, when starting your Photo Scene Editor, the following error message will appear before the pop-up window above appears:

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o If you click on Work Offline, the following message will appear:

Click on OK to continue using your Photo Scene Editor to open, view and edit Photo Scenes in this case. The creation of Photo Scenes will not be possible in this case. See paragraph 2.4 below Opening a Photo Scene. o Clicking on Edit Proxy Settings will pop-up the Connection setting tab of the Photo Scene Editor Preferences window. Check the instructions in the Annex 1 Preferences Connection. Click on Create Photo Scene From Your Images to start the process. This will open the following selection window.

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Browse and select your photos. Click on Open when finished. This will open the following window:

You can click on Organize Images vertical tab to see your selected Images again.

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Images are automatically grouped by same focal length, as read from their Exif files. Clicking on the information icon on the upper left corner, will open the property box for each group of photos.

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Click on Compute Photo Scene to start the stitching process. The following window appears:

The Photo Scene Name will allow you to enter a name for your project, so that you can easily identify it in the e-mail giving the link to download the result once the computation is completed. This can be useful if you have launched several projects on the cloud. Select one of the options and click on OK. The Images will then start getting uploaded to the server for computation.

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The following window will appear. If you stay connected, wait until the three steps are completed. You can then move to Step 3 below.

Note that the Photo Scene creation process may start on the first uploaded pictures. So you may see the second progress bar (step 2) start before the upload is completed. At any time during the process, you can click on Send Me an Email When Complete if you select not to wait until the upload (step 1) and/or the computation (step 2) is over. If an error occurs during the automatic stitching process, you may receive one the error messages listed in Annex 2. You will then need to proceed according to the instructions given in such messages.

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2.3 Receiving a Photo Scene

Once the computation is over, you will receive the following e-mail from Autodesk Labs: Thanks for using the Project Photofly by Autodesk Labs. Here is the link to download your Photo Scene: Photo_Scene-Name The Autodesk Labs Team. When clicking on Photo_Scene-Name, you will be prompted the following message:

o Click Open to start downloading your .rzi file.

The Photo Scene Editor will start automatically and your project will appear in the 3D viewer.

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2.4 Opening a Photo Scene

Run PhotoSceneEditor.exe, and click on Open an Existing Photo Scene to open a .rzi file. You can also directly access your Recent Files by clicking on one of the thumbnails on the right of the window.

The Photo Scene will automatically appear in the 3D viewer. Note that if you have moved your Images from the folder where they were initially stored when creating the corresponding Photo Scene, an image selection window will appear, asking to locate the Image folder by selecting the first image only. If you cannot find your images anymore, the following error message will appear and the 3D viewer will open without any Photo Scene loaded.

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Step 3 Editing the Photo Scene

3.1 Selecting the interface layout
The Photo Scene Editor main components are: The menu bar The ribbon : composed of tool buttons and commands The 3d workspace : the 3d view where all objects are drawn o 3D Navigation manipulators o Photo Navigation Manipulators (Thumbnail View, Photo Space Navigator)

Menu Bar

Ribbon

3D Workspace

Photo Navigator

Thumbnail View The Photo Scene Editor has 2 main possible layouts: - Default layout : menu bar + ribbon + 3D workspace + thumbnail view (see the above screenshot) - Full screen layout : menu bar + 3D workspace Selecting the full screen layout, or coming back to the default layout, can be set from the menu bar by: View > Toggle Full Screen, or by pressing Alt + Enter.

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3.2 Viewing the stitching results

The stitching results are: - the number of stitched photos, - the number of 3D points in the Automatic Point Cloud, - the number of 3D Reference Points that you added manually, - the number of 3D Reference Lines that you added manually, - the number of 3D Distance Measures that you added manually. This information is available from the menu bar: Help > Project Information, or by pressing the I key. A pop-up window will then appear showing the stitching results:

3.3 Navigating in the Photo Scene

The Photo Scene Editor provides 2 different navigation modes: Free 3D navigation mode = Navigating and exploring the 3D space. Photo Lock mode = Looking through a Calibrated Camera in a constrained navigation locked to an image, and navigating from Calibrated Camera to Calibrated Camera. Switching from the 3D navigation mode to the photo lock mode This is performed either by: - Clicking on a thumbnail. - Pressing the space bar on the keyboard. - Right clicking in the 3D workspace and selecting Photo Lock.

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Clicking on one of the white arrows in the lower right corner of the 3D workspace:

The directions to the available adjacent photos are drawn filled, and can be selected. The disabled directions (no available adjacent photo) are drawn in wireframe. Switching from the photo lock mode to the 3D navigation mode This is performed either by: - Clicking on a thumbnail. - Pressing the space bar on the keyboard. - Pressing Alt + Double clicking on a thumbnail. Switching from one photo to the next in the photo lock mode This is performed either by: - Clicking on a thumbnail. - Pressing Alt + Left or Right keyboard arrow. - Orbiting by pressing Alt + Right click in the 3D workspace: this mode will temporarily use a 3D camera motion to move through the various photos. The lock on the nearest camera will happen when releasing the right click. To get this behavior, make sure that Lock during Photo Orbit is set in the Preferences -> General Settings (see Annex 1). - Clicking on one of the white arrows in the lower right corner of the 3D workspace:

The directions to the available adjacent photos are drawn filled, and can be selected. The disabled directions (no available adjacent photo) are drawn in wireframe.

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3.4 - Free 3D Navigation in the Photo Scene

Navigation Tools The free 3D navigation tools are the following:
Tool 3D PAN Ribbon Shortcut : Middle click

ORBIT

: Alt + Left click

+ ZOOM ROLL (= camera rotation around its viewing axis)

: Ctrl + Alt + Left click Or : Wheel

: Alt + Right click

Free 3D navigation tools are also available from the menu bar: View > Navigation. Birds Eye View mode The Birds Eye View is an automatically created viewing camera position that shows the entire Photo Scene, i.e. the Automatic Point Cloud and the Calibrated Cameras displayed with their 3D icons. When switching from a Photo Lock mode to the Birds Eye View, the viewing camera axis keeps the same direction than the Calibrated Camera on which it was locked just before. The Birds Eye View can be toggled through the main contextual menu (right click in the 3D window):

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It can also be toggled through the menu bar: View > Photo Lock or through the <Space> key. Grid Display A grid is displayed on the computed default XOY plane as in the example below. - The size of the grid will be relative to the scene (bounding box). You can add/remove the grid by clicking on in the Ribbon. You can always remove the grid in the Preferences (see Annex 1).

Splats versus 3D points display The computed Automatic Point Cloud can be displayed as color points or as splats (see Terms & Definitions for an explanation about splats). Selecting the display of the color points and / or the splats can be made from the Ribbon:

Display 3D points -

Display Splats

3D points display: the color of each point corresponds to the color of the nearest pixel associated to this 3D point when re-projected on the Images. Splats display: the size of the splats can be controlled by the slider. Moving the slider to the right will increase the size and will automatically start the re-computation of the local textures. Example

Splats & 3D points

3D points only

Splats only

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Displaying Background Pictures in the 3D space The Background Pictures associated with each Calibrated Camera can be displayed in the 3D space. To activate the display of the Background Pictures while in 3D navigation mode, you must first toggle the display of such Background Pictures by clicking on in the Ribbon. Then you can display the Background Picture by: - Either simply move the mouse over the thumbnails; - Or press Alt and move the mouse over the camera icons in the 3D workspace. Example

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3.5 Photo Lock Mode

Navigation Tools in the photo lock mode The navigation tools available in the lock on camera mode allow moving in the 2D photo space. They are the following:
Tool 2D PAN ORBIT (this tool is used to move to another photo in the lock on camera mode See above) + ZOOM Ribbon Shortcut + : Shift + Ctrl + Left click or pressing down the wheel

: Alt + Left click

: Ctrl + Alt + Left click Or : Wheel

3.6 Cleaning the Automatic Point Cloud

The stitching process generates a sparse point cloud, called the Automatic Point Cloud. This point cloud typically includes several outliers generated by the Camera Factory engines from wrong matching assumptions. It might be useful to clean this point cloud for a better viewing experience, or to get a more useful data when exporting this point cloud to the design software. Cleaning the 3D point cloud is performed by: - First selecting the desired points, using the rectangular selection or the lasso selection tools available in the Photo Scene Editor. The display should be set to 3D Navigation mode with 3D Points only (i.e. without the splats) to allow for an easier selection.

Rectangular Selection -

Lasso Selection

Using one of the above tools, you can then select the desired 3D points, as in the example below. Once selected, they will appear in red.

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You can then click on the Delete button of the tool bar to delete these 3D points. The delete action can also be performed from the menu bar: Edit > Delete, or by right clicking in the 3D workspace and selecting Delete.

3.7 Creating Reference Points

Why Reference points? The automatic Stitching process generates a sparse point cloud (the Automatic Point Cloud), which will not get 3D points exactly where necessary. You may need to create additional points at locations of interest, for various purposes: - Setting the World Coordinate System (WCS): the WCS requires a well-located 3D point that will become the origin, and at least 2 pairs of 3D points (the origin may be one of these points) that will define the X, the Y or the Z axis. - Setting the scale of the Photo Scene: the scale will be set by assigning a known distance between two 3D points where the distance indicates realworld measurements. - Creating measurements: measurements will be defined between two 3D points, or between one 3D point and along one of the WCS axis. - Creating lines and polylines representing edges of the scene. - Image-based modeling: Once in a 3D modeling package such as AutoCAD, you can use the defined points and lines as a basis to create more complex shapes. For instance, by snapping 3D primitives on well-located 3D points such as corners of a building you can create the building envelope.

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Image-based modeling step 1 Snapping the basic shape to 3D points at the corner of a building

Image-based modeling step 2 Adding modeling details by attaching more primitives to the basic shape and aligning them with the Background Pictures Creating a Reference Point To create a Reference Point, follow the steps below: - Select your viewpoint: The preferred viewpoint is the one right in front of the 3D point that you want to create. - Set your visualization mode. The preferred visualization mode for creating Reference Points is: o Lock on camera (mandatory) o Automatic Point Cloud: off o Splats visualization: on Click on in the tool bar, or Edit > Create Reference Point from the menu

bar. Your cursor then appears as in the 3D window. Click on the desired feature in the selected image. Features to look for should be highly contrasted and should correspond to an easily identifiable element of your scene (corners for example). When clicking on the feature, a magnifier will pop-up, to allow for an accurate placement.

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Clicking on a feature will automatically run an automatic matching process, and a 3D position will automatically be computed for this feature once the same feature has been found in at least one other Calibrated Image, allowing the triangulation process to occur. Once the 3D point has been created, it will appear with a red pin on the image. It has now become a 3D Reference Point.

The thumbnails will also show: o The image in which the feature was initially identified, this thumbnail being highlighted by a green pin. o Green dots in the other images that give the visual indication that your 3D point is properly located.

At this stage, you are done with this 3D Reference Point, and you can create additional ones once the Create Reference Point tool is active (cursor = ).

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Adjusting a Reference Point In some cases, you may find that the 3D Reference Point created from one image is not properly located in other images. You can then fine tune the manual placement of the 3D point, using another image, at least, as a reference. - First select another camera from which the initially selected feature can be seen as well, but from a substantially different angle: the closer to 90 angle between 2 viewpoints, the better for the triangulation process. As an example, selecting the closest neighbor to the first image is typically not appropriate. - In this second image, the 3D point will be displayed as a red dot together with a guiding line. This guiding line displays the optical axis on which the 3D point should be located, given its location in the first image. Make sure that the Display Guiding Line is toggled in the Tool Bar.

Example of 3D point & Guiding Line in a second image

The cursor must appear as , which indicates that you are in the adjustment mode. Clicking on the picture will then pop-up the magnifier again. You can then easily adjust the placement of the point along this guiding line, or close to it. Once you release the click, the triangulation process is run again to create the 3D Reference Point. You may repeat this process for a 3rd and a 4th image to increase the accuracy of your Reference Point. Every picture that was used to manually fine tune the placement of your Reference Point will be tagged with a green pin in the Thumbnail View as in the example below:

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Labeling a Reference Point Labeling a Reference Point may be useful in a design process. To create a label, follow the steps below: - Set your visualization mode as Lock on Camera. Make sure that the Display Point Labels is toggled in the Tool Bar. Select one Reference Point by clicking on it in the 3D workspace. Right click to get the contextual menu and select Rename Point. You can also select Edit > Rename from the Menu Bar. A small pop-up window appears, where you can type the name of this Reference Point, as in the example below:

Deleting a Reference Point To delete a Reference Point, follow the steps below: - Select one Reference Point by clicking on it in the 3D workspace. - Right click to get the contextual menu and select Delete Point. You can also select Edit > Delete from the Menu Bar, or click on in the Tool Bar.

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3.8 Setting a World Coordinate System

A default World Coordinate System (WCS) is set by the Stitching engine, with Z up. You may find it useful to re-locate this WCS so that it better meets your design criteria. As explained in the Project Photoflys Photo Guide, it can be very useful to locate the WCS at the corner of a building as in the example below:

To create your own WCS, follow the steps below: - Select your viewpoint: The preferred viewpoint is the one that allows seeing the entire set of Reference Points used for the placement of your WCS. - Set your visualization mode. The preferred visualization mode for setting the WCS is: o Lock on camera o Automatic Point Cloud: off o Splats visualization: on Click on in the Tool Bar to enter the WCS creation mode. You can also click on: Edit > Define World Space in the Menu Bar. The following WCS icon appears somewhere in your 3D workspace:

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Place the origin first, by clicking on the corresponding dot in the WCS icon, and attaching it to one Reference Point. Place a first axis then, by clicking on one or both dots defining each axis in the WCS icon. The selected dot appears in yellow. o When clicking on the dot opposite to the origin, your selected axis will move around the origin. You then virtually attach this dot to another Reference Point that is located along this axis from the origin. In the example below, the Z axis was attached to a Reference Point exactly vertical located vertical from the selected origin:

o When clicking on the dot close to the origin, you may locate your selected axis in a completely different area from the one used previously. The second dot for the same axis must be moved as well accordingly, as in the sequence below: Step 1 Select 1st dot of X axis Step 2 Move it to its right place

Step 3 Attach it to its Reference Point

Step 4 Attach 2nd dot to 2nd Reference Point

o You can use either one of these two techniques for setting two axes. The 3rd axis will be deduced automatically. Getting Started with Photo Scene Editor Copyright Autodesk Oct 2010 - Page 30

3.9 - Setting a Reference Distance

You can define a Reference Distance to scale your Photo Scene, by setting a known measurement between 2 Reference Points. Instructions to measure a good Reference Distance when shooting your Photo Scene on a real site are given in the Project Photoflys Photo Guide. Setting the scale will allow to make measurements relative to this scale. Note that the default unit for this Reference Distance is in meters (m). You may set a Reference Distance in other units and then measure in this same unit, but, at the export (see Step 4), this data will be understood as meters. To define the reference distance, follow the steps below: - Select a viewpoint that allows seeing the 2 Reference Points used for the setting of your Reference Distance. - Set your visualization mode. The preferred visualization mode for setting the Reference Distance is: o Lock on camera o Automatic Point Cloud: off o Splats visualization: on Click on in the Tool Bar to enter the reference distance creation mode. You can also click on: Edit > Define Reference Distance in the Menu Bar. You are then given the opportunity to attach the reference distance (displayed as a blue arrow) to 2 Reference Points as in the example below:

Once you place the second end of the arrow to the second Reference Point, a pop-up windows appears, in which you can enter the value of the real measurement:

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Clicking on OK will scale the entire Photo Scene. You can reset this reference distance by right clicking in the 3D workspace and selecting Reset Reference Distance in the contextual menu. You can also click again on in the Tool Bar to set a new value. In which case, you will be prompted the following message:

Click on OK to delete the former value, and you can then create your Reference Distance again.

3.10 Making Measurements

You can measure distances between 2 Reference Points, or between one Reference Point and along one axis of the WCS. Distances are relative to the Reference Distance that you previously set up. To create a measurement, follow the steps below: - Select a viewpoint that allows seeing the 2 Reference Points used for the measurement. - Set your visualization mode to: o Lock on camera (mandatory) o Automatic Point Cloud: off o Splats visualization: on Click on in the Tool Bar to enter the measurement creation mode.

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To measure the distance between 2 Reference Points, click the first end of the ruler on the first point, and the second end on the second point. The distance will then appear as shown below:

To measure the distance between one Reference Point and along one axis of the WCS, click the first end of the ruler on the first point, and extend the ruler as much as needed along the selected axis that will automatically appear in red/white for the X axis, the second end on the second point. The distance will then appear as shown below:

Note that the measurements are NOT exported in your DWG file (see Step 4).

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3.11 Creating Lines and Polylines

You can create lines and polylines using the Photo Scene Editor, in a way that is very similar to the creation of Reference Points (see paragraph 3.7). Creating a line or polyline in auto-match mode To create a Reference Line or Polyline in auto-match mode, follow the steps below: - Select your viewpoint: The preferred viewpoint is the one right in front of the 3D point that you want to create. - Set your visualization mode. The preferred visualization mode for creating Reference Lines is: o Lock on camera (mandatory) o Automatic Point Cloud: off o Splats visualization: on Click on in the tool bar, or Edit > Create Reference Line from the menu

bar. Your cursor then appears as in the 3D window. Click on the desired feature in the selected image to start your line or polyline.

The polyline will be completed by pressing Enter, Escape or by a double click. The vertices of the lines or polylines are automatically computed in 3D using the same auto-matching process than the one described for the creation of 3D Reference Point (paragraph 3.7). This process may take some time, depending on the number of vertices and the number or photos in your project. During this process, the polyline is adjusted automatically:

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o More points will be computed between two vertices by the automatch engine if the corresponding line follows a high contrast edge, to make it more accurate. o Starting from the 3rd line segment, the auto-match engine will check if this line segment should not be in the same planar surface than the one defined by the 2 first lines. If it is close to it, it will automatically adjust this 3rd one to be co-planar with the first 2 ones. You may adjust these vertices the same way that you can adjust Reference Points (see Adjusting a Reference Point in paragraph 3.7). The Reference Lines and polylines created with the Photo Scene Editor will be exported in the DWG file (see Step 4).

Creating a line or polyline in constrained mode It may be useful to create lines or polylines by following the axis or planes defined by your WCS: - It will ensure the planarity of your set of lines, should they be planar. - You can define planar sections. - You can create 3D points which are not visible in the images, by locating them at the crossing of 2 axes. Example of defining a 3D point not visible in the image, but located at the crossing of the X (red) and Z (blue) axis

You can get a robust 3D point despite a weak confidence in the matching process. Weak confidence may come from: o The fact that the point is visible in 2 or 3 images only. o The fact that the point is visible in images that offer very little parallax.

The mandatory steps before using constraints when drawing your lines are: - To set a reliable World Coordinate System, - To well define your starting 3D point. To create a Reference Line or Polyline in constrained mode, follow the steps below: - Select your viewpoint: The preferred viewpoint is the one right in front of the 3D point that you want to create.

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Set your visualization mode. The preferred visualization mode for creating Reference Lines is: o Lock on camera (mandatory) o Automatic Point Cloud: off o Splats visualization: on Click on in the tool bar, or Edit > Create Reference Line from the menu

bar. Your cursor then appears as in the 3D window. Click on the desired feature in the selected image to start your line or polyline. The following shortcuts are available to work in this mode: o A: Toggle auto-snapping to axes o Shift: Lock/unlock to axis constraint o Tab: Cycle constraints o Ctrl : To avoid any new snapping o ESC: Exit the tool and validate the line created o Backspace: Delete the previous segment of the line

You can select which constraint to use by either right clicking in the 3D view or pressing Tab several times. o Right clicking will pop-up the following window:

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o Pressing Tab will allow you to loop between the constraints. Example of constraint activated on X axis

Example of constraint activated on XOZ axis

It then becomes easy to draw lines and polylines along the edges of a building for example, if your WCS has been properly set of course. In the following example, drawing the contour of the windows on this faade was made possible using this technique.

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3.12 Manual Stitch

A Manual Stitch may be required in two cases: Case 1: The automatic engine did not provide 100% stitching success on all your Images, and one (or more) of the photos that did not stitch is really mandatory for your design process. Case 2: Some of the stitched photos were not stitched properly, i.e. at a wrong location. In which case, you will need to unstitch this (these) photo(s) and manually stitch it (them) again.

Case 1 Manual Stitch of an Image Photos that were not stitched automatically are viewed in the thumbnail as darker pictures and with a yellow warning as shown below:

Double click in the thumbnail picture of the photo that you want to manually stitch, or right click in it and select Manual Stitch.

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This will pop-up the following window:

The process is the following: o The picture to be stitched manually is displayed on the left hand side. o On the right hand-side, you can select and view 2 pictures among all the stitched pictures. o You must create at least 4 correspondences between the non-stitched picture and at least 2 stitched ones. o Start by selecting a feature in the non-stitched picture by right clicking on top of the image. Make sure to select an area that is visible in at least 2 stitched images.

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Step 1 Select a feature (well defined, highly contrasted point) in the left view (non-stitched picture). A left click in the image will pop-up a magnifier window to allow for a sub-pixel positioning of the point.

Step 2 Select the same feature in the right views (stitched pictures).

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Step 3 If the Suggest Points button is set at bottom left of the window, the software will automatically propose a matching feature in the third view as below. Proposed features are marked with a yellow square.

Step 4 In all cases (proposed feature or not), you must click at the right location to complete the manual matching process on the third view as well.

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Step 5 - A first connection is now in place.

Step 6 Repeat steps 1 to 4 above for 3 more points at least.

Once 4 connections have been made, you can press Submit. The information is then sent to the server for a new computation of the Photo Scene.

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As explained in paragraph 2.2, you may wait for the result, or Quit and Receive the Photo Scene Later.

Case 2 Manual Stitch of an Image that was not properly stitched In some cases, the automatic engine will give wrong camera information. This may occur when your pictures contain so many repetitive patterns that even human eyes can hardly make a difference. For example, the many sides of a building may all look alike, and the engine may well place some of your photos on the wrong side of the building. One way to check if this case happened is to look at the computed camera path, that you can compare to your real sequence of shooting (if you took the pictures of course). In the example below, the 4 cameras in red have been stitched improperly, which is visible by the camera path, which should have been continuous in this case.

The first step is then to unstitch these photos: o Identify them in the thumbnail view.

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o Select Unstitch Photo when right-clicking in the selected thumbnail image for each one of them.

o The unstitched photo then becomes dark in the thumbnail view, and it disappears from the 3D window. o You must unstitch all the bad ones before going for a manual stitch. o You may want to remove the photo if it does not bring any value to your project as well. Once all these improperly stitched photos have been unstitched, you can then manually stitch them again by following the steps listed in Case 1 above.

3.13 Adding Images

You can add one or more Images at any time in your Photo Scene. To do this, simply select Edit > Add Images and Stitch from the menu bar.

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This will open the Image selection window.

Once the photos have been selected, click on Open. This opens the following pop-up window:

Clicking on Process Scene will start the automatic stitching process, including the upload of the selected photo(s) to the server. Clicking on Return to Scene will add the selected images in the thumbnail view as unstitched. You will then need to manually stitch them as explained in section 3.12 Case 1 here above.

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Step 4 - Exporting the Photo Scene

You can export the entire Photo Scene or a selection of its components, in DWG, LAS, FBX or RZI format. DWG is the abbreviation for DraWinG, the native drawing file format for Autodesk applications. DWG files created by the Photo Scene Editor can be read in any Autodesk software starting from 2010 version. They contain 2 layers: o Reference Points and Lines o Reference Points Labels Should you want to export the Automatic Point Cloud as well, you will need to export it separately in LAS format. See below. The LAS file format is a public file format for the interchange of LIDAR data between vendors and customers. This binary file format is an alternative to proprietary systems or a generic ASCII file interchange system used by many companies. More about ASPRS and LAS format on: http://www.asprs.org The LAS file created by the Photo Scene Editor contains the Automatic Point Cloud. Autodesk FBX asset exchange technology facilitates higher-fidelity data exchange between several Autodesk content creation packages, including but not limited to Autodesk Maya, Autodesk MotionBuilder, Autodesk Mudbox, and Autodesk 3ds Max products. FBX files created by the Photo Scene Editor include: o Cameras o Reference Points o Automatic Point Cloud RZI is the Autodesk ImageModeler 2009 native file format to save and load Photo Scenes. RZI files will contain the whole or part of your Photo Scene, depending on your selection. By default, the entire Photo Scene will be exported, which means: o Cameras o Reference Points o Automatic Point Cloud o Reference lines o Distance measures

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Exporting a Photo Scene - To export a Photo Scene, click on File -> Export Scene As in the menu bar. This will pop-up the export window, in which you can select your file name and export format. Available export formats are: o Drawing (*.dwg) o LAS (*.las) o FBX (*.fbx) o RZI (*.rzi) - When selecting FBX or RZI, you can then select to export Cameras and/or Geometry. Geometry means Reference Points and Lines. Exporting a Selection of the Photo Scene - First select the part of the Photo Scene that you want to export. o In a LAS file, you may want to export only a portion of the Automatic Point Cloud, to allow for an easier visualization and edition in your Autodesk design software. o In a RZI file or a FBX file, you may want to export only a selection of the Cameras, and/or a portion of the points, to allow for an easier visualization and edition in your Autodesk design software. - Select either the rectangular selection or the lasso selection tools in the ribbon. - You may select points, lines, distance measures, cameras or all, by either clicking on Edit -> Selection Mode -> Select in the menu bar, or right clicking in the 3D workspace:

Select your desired points, shots or all directly in the 3D workspace. To export this selection, click on File -> Export Selection As in the menu bar. This will pop-up the same window than for the Photo Scene export (see above). Select your file name and export format and click OK.

Importing the Automatic Point Cloud in AutoCAD using the LAS format Please, follow the steps below to import your Automatic Point Cloud in AutoCAD: - Load the corresponding drawing first (*.dwg) Getting Started with Photo Scene Editor Copyright Autodesk Oct 2010 - Page 47

Index the .las file to create a .pcg file:

Wait for the indexation to be completed, i.e. once you see the following tooltip appear:

Attach the .pcg file by either: o Clicking the tooltip link o Importing the .pcg file or o Selection Attach from ribbon button. Important: Let the insertion point to (0,0,0) and scale to default.

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Annex 1 Preferences
The preferences can be accessed from the menu bar by: File > Preferences, or by pressing P on your keyboard. General Settings:

Working directory Up Axis Quick Zoom Factor Snapping Tolerance Lock during Photo Orbit Invert Zoom Wheel

: The path to the working directory where temp files are stored : The up axis of the scene (Z by default). : Zoom factor of the Quick Zoom function : The hit/intersection sensitivity in pixels : When set, the viewer will lock to the nearest camera while orbiting : Will invert the wheel behavior for your mouse

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Display Settings:

Image Plane Resolution Point Size Line Size Antialiasing Draw Axis Draw grid Draw Splats Static Draw Splats Dynamic Draw Points Draw Cameras Texture Compression Texture Cache Size

: The texture proxy size for the Background Pictures : Size of the 3D points in pixels : Size of the 3D lines in pixels : Antialiasing (for all types of lines) : Display the WCS in the 3D workspace. : Display the grid in the 3D workspace : Local texture maps will be computed once for all, independently from the viewing angle. : Local texture maps are computed depending upon the viewing angle. : The display of the 3D points is always active when set. : The display of the cameras is always active when set. : Compress textures in Video Memory. Not supported by every graphic board. : Texture cache size for the Background Pictures.

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Colors:

You can define the color for all the objects and components that are displayed in the 3D workspace. Clicking on one of the color icon will pop-up the following window:

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Memory:

Image Cache Size Magnifier:

: Global memory cache management that the application is allowed to use.

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The magnifier is the pop-up window used for an accurate placement of the cursor when creating a Reference Point. Use Magnifier Size Zoom factor : Defines the use or not of the magnifier when creating Reference Points (set to on by default) : The window size in pixel of the magnifier : The zoom factor of the magnifier

Shortcuts:

You can create your own settings for the shortcuts, or make them like your most favorite design software (choice of the following Autodesk software: Autodesk AutoCAD 2010, Autodesk 3ds Max or Autodesk Maya 2011 at this stage). This applies to every command of the Photo Scene Editor for the display, the global project management, the navigation, the selection or the editing tool set.

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To create a new shortcut, select the corresponding command in one of the 5 categories, type the new shortcut on your keyboard, and click on Assign to make it active. Connection:

Automatically detect settings is your default configuration. The software will try to automatically detect settings, or use the parameters set by default in your Internet Explorer, should they be set. Use configuration script: Ask your IT Administrator to provide you with your .pac file, if any, and enter the corresponding address in the given field. Use a proxy server: Ask your IT administrator to provide you with your IP address and port. Authentication: Enter the Login and Password if required.

Please note that you must disable the automatic configuration if you manually enter proxy server settings.

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Annex 2 Error Messages

1 - Error Messages from the Photo Scene Editor
Error Messages You may not be connected to the Internet, or you may be connected behind a proxy server. Check the procedure to edit and set your proxy settings in paragraph 2.2 and in Annex 1 Preferences - Connection The Photo Scene Editor includes a time bomb. Check on:

Connection Error

Your Photo Scene Editor has expired. http://labs.autodesk.com/utilities/photo_scene_editior/ for information about updates or evolutions of the product. Your project has not been computed correctly on the server. You should try again, including the An error occurred with the Web upload of your Images. Check the Error Service. Messages linked to the Automatic Stitching Engine for more details. A Photo Scene must contain at least 3 Images. Cannot save the intermediate project file. Check your access rights or disk space. Select points and/or shots to be exported. The selected Images could not be stitched. Please select other Images and try again. The Camera Factory engine on the Web Service requires 3 images at least to run. This problem may occur when you do not have the access rights for the folder where temporary files are stored, or if you are running out of disk space. This message will appear if you have selected to export a selection of your Photo Scene without having selected parts of it (see Step 4 for options). This message will appear if the automatic engine could not stitch your photos. In most cases, this is because these photos have not been shot properly. Please, read carefully the shooting guidelines on:
http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/photofly/gettin g_started/

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2 - Error Messages from the Automatic Stitching Engine

Your Photo Scene has been created successfully, however some of the images are corrupt or failed to upload. o Action: Check your files and try resubmitting the scene. Your Photo Scene has been created successfully, however your images appear to be taken from the same physical location. Images in a photo scene cannot be taken from a single spot. o Action: Try capturing images of your subject from different positions, and then resubmit the scene. See the Shooting Guidelines for more information. http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/photofly/getting_started/ Your Photo Scene has been successfully created, but some of the images could not be stitched. o Action: Check the Shooting Guidelines for more information, and try to resubmit a new set of photos. http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/photofly/getting_started/ The application was unable to create your Photo Scene. o Action: Check the Shooting Guidelines for more information, and try to resubmit a new set of photos. http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/photofly/getting_started/ The application was unable to create your Photo Scene because there are not enough images to compute the scene. You must provide at least three images. o Action: Check the Shooting Guidelines for more information, and try to resubmit a new set of photos. http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/photofly/getting_started/ The application was unable to create your Photo Scene because some of the images are corrupt or failed to upload. o Action: Check your files and try resubmitting the scene. The application was unable to create your Photo Scene because no 3D information could be extracted from your images, as they appear to be taken from the same physical location. Images in a photo scene cannot be taken from a single spot. o Action: Try capturing images of your subject from different positions, and then resubmit the scene. See the Shooting Guidelines for more information. http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/photofly/getting_started/

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The application was unable to create your Photo Scene because no 3D information could be extracted from your images, as they do not appear to overlap. Images in a photo scene must overlap. o Action: Try capturing overlapping images of your subject, and then resubmit the scene. See the Shooting Guidelines for more information. http://labs.autodesk.com/technologies/photofly/getting_started/

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