Photogrammetry Examples and Resources

Mark Jeffcock presented a workshop in AltspaceVR on photogrammetry recently, inspiring others to step into photogrammetry.

Among the many tips and tricks Mark offered during the workshop, he emphasized taking as many photographs as possible from multiple positions and heights. It’s not about photographing around the diameter. The 3D images need to capture over, under, and inside. The software then stitches the images together to created the final 3D image.

He’s encouraging people to create their own photogrammetry project and share it on our Educators in VR Discord group in the Weekly Discussion channel. You may share a link to the Sketchfab asset or, if you import it into AltspaceVR or another social VR platform, a link to your publicly accessible virtual world. We’d love some show and tell of your great creative works.

The video of his presentation in AltspaceVR for Educators in VR is on our Educators in VR YouTube channel.

Examples of Photogrammetry in AltspaceVR

Below are examples of his worlds with photogrammetry. Please click on the link and favorite the world to add to your Favorites list in AltspaceVR. If you are new to AltspaceVR, when you arrive, go to the blue circle menu with an A in it then Settings > General > Enable Worlds Beta to activate the Worlds menu item. There you will find Favorites.

Photogrammetry Sources and Resources

If you are an educators or student and wish to use some of the models he mentioned already on Sketchfab, he recommended the generosity of the Global Digital Heritage for creating and sharing Sketchfab.

Examples of 3D models from Global Digital Heritage.

Mark mentioned that most of the photogrammetry software is designed for the real estate industry, agents and homeowners with little or no technical ability, which makes it ideal for student and class work.

Other services mentioned to help you create your own 3D models with photogrammetry included:

3Dflow/3DF Zephyr: 3D Flow is a commercial company offering solutions and software for photogrammetry, 3D modeling, processing, and visual effects. Their product, 3DF Zephyr is available for free and paid versions to process images for photogrammetery. The free version is limited to 50 images per project, enough to learn about how the process works and create small objects good for use in AltspaceVR and other low poly social VR platforms with world building.
MicMac: A free, open-source photogrammetry suite used to create 3D reconstruction scenes, models, and othro-imagery.
COLMAP: A general-purpose Structure-From-Motion (SfM) and Multi-View Stereo (MVS) pipeline with a graphical and command-line interface to reconstruct ordered and unordered image collections for 3D renderings. Instructables has a simple guide for installing and using COLMAP.
RealityCapture.com: Credit and monthly fee photogrammetry software for scanning, creating, and sharing 3D scenes and assets including full-body scans, 2D and 3D maps, and 3D printing.
Agisoft Metashape: A commercial program to process digital images and generate 3D spatial data with a high degree of accuracy. Designed more for commercial and scientific uses, it’s ideal for advanced photogrammetry work.
ReCap Pro by Autodesk: Another powerful commercial photogrammetry tool, it is used to scan and create 3D models from imported photographs and laser scans and works with the cloud for collaborative team projects.

Wikipedia offers a comparison list of photogrammetry software that might help you explore the potential out there.

Here are some articles with more information and suggestions for photogrammetry software and tools for educators and students include:

Mark Jeffcock teaches with Try Universe as part of the Computer Science in VR workshops and classes in AltspaceVR and elsewhere. Check their course schedule for upcoming courses, and the other excellent Unity and VR-based workshops and classes. We are working on bringing him back for more, so let us know if there are specific topics you would be interested in.