Photogrammetry

Photogrammetry

Photogrammetry is the art, science and technology of obtaining reliable information about physical objects and the environment through the process of recording, measuring and interpreting photographic images and patterns of electromagnetic radiant imagery and other phenomena.

There are many variants of photogrammetry. One example is the extraction of three-dimensional measurements from two-dimensional data (i.e. images); for example, the distance between two points that lie on a plane parallel to the photographic image plane can be determined by measuring their distance on the image, if the scale of the image is known. Another is the extraction of accurate color ranges and values representing such quantities as albedo, specular reflection, metallicity, or ambient occlusion from photographs of materials for the purposes of physically based rendering.

Close-range photogrammetry refers to the collection of photography from a lesser distance than traditional aerial (or orbital) photogrammetry. Photogrammetric analysis may be applied to one photograph, or may use high-speed photography and remote sensing to detect, measure and record complex 2D and 3D motion fields by feeding measurements and imagery analysis into computational models in an attempt to successively estimate, with increasing accuracy, the actual, 3D relative motions.

Would you like to try photogrammetry?

There are multiple free or inexpensive software options. Please note, Autodesk ReCap is the only available option to use in the computer lab

Name

Type

Output File Formats

OS

Price

Name

Type

Output File Formats

OS

Price

COLMAP

Aerial, Close-Range

ply, vrml

Windows, macOS, Linux

Free

Meshroom

Aerial, Close-Range

abc, obj

Windows, Linux

Free

MicMac

Aerial, Close-Range

geotiff, ply, xml

Windows, macOS, Linux

Free

Multi-View Environment

Aerial, Close-Range

MVE

Windows, macOS

Free

OpenMVG

Aerial, Close-Range

ply

Linux, Windows, MacOS

Free

Regard3D

Aerial, Close-Range

obj, ply

Windows, macOS, Linux

Free

VisualSFM

Aerial, Close-Range

ply

Windows, macOS, Linux

Free

3DF Zephyr

Aerial, Close-Range

ply, obj, fbx, pdf 3D, u3d, dae, pts, ptx, xyz, txt, las, e57

Windows

Limited free version and paid version from €149+tax

Autodesk ReCap

Aerial, Close-Range

asc, cl3, clr, e57, fls, fws, isproj, las, pcg, ptg, pts, ptx, rds, txt, xyb, xyz, zfs, zfprj

Windows

From $40/month

Agisoft Metashape

Aerial, Close-Range

fbx

Windows, macOS, Linux

From $179

Bentley ContextCapture

Aerial, Close-Range

3ms, 3sm, kml, dae, fbx, obj, dae, stl

Windows

On request

Correlator3D

Aerial

.asc, geotiff, .las

Windows

From $250/month

DatuSurvey

Aerial, Close-Range

ENH, NEH, DXF, PLY, PDF, LAS, PNG, GTIFF

Windows

From $350/month

DroneDeploy

Aerial

dxf, GeoTIFF, las, obj, xyz

Windows, macOS, Android, iOS

$149/month or $99/month when billed annually

Elcovision 10

Aerial, Close-Range

All currently known image formats

Windows

On request

iWitnessPRO

Aerial, Close-Range

TXT, CSV, PTS, LAS, PLY, DXF, KML

Windows

$2,495

IMAGINE Photogrammetry

Aerial

img, igg, ovr. l, noaa, rpf, ddf, dem, til, dt2, ecrg, hdr, xml, ecw, url, ant, dig, alg, ers, gis, lan …

Windows

On request

LiMapper

Aerial, Close-Range

PLY, OBJ, LAS

 

On request

Photomodeler

Aerial, Close-Range

3ds, 3dm, dxf, igs, kml, kmz, las, ma, ms, obj, pts, byu, facet, iv, ply, stl, txt, wrl

Windows

One time fee of $995 or from $49/month

Pix4D

Aerial

obj, fix, dxf, las, las, kml, tif, osgb, slpk, shp

Windows, macOS, Android, iOS

One-time fee of €3,990 or €260/month or €217/month when paid annually

RealityCapture

Aerial, Close-Range

jpg, png, XYZ, XYZRGB, tiff, bmp, dib, rle, jpeg, jpe, jfif, exif, exr, tif, wdp, jxr, dds, KML, KMZ, obj, ply, partlist, fbx, dxf, dae, bvh, htr, trc, asf, amc, c3d, aoa, mcd, wmv, mp4

Windows

From $99/for three months

SOCET GXP

Aerial

 

Windows

On request

Trimble Inpho

Aerial, Close-Range

 

Windows

On request

WebODM

Aerial

GeoTIFF, png, las, obj

Windows, macOS

From $57