What's New

A Brand New Web Site

The PhotoModeler web site has a brand new look! In addition to the new layout, the web site has a new streamlined navigation, a new online store and a new knowledge base to make it easier for you to find the information you want. The goal of the new site is the same goal we had with our recently released PhotoModeler 6 software, which is simply to get more results, more quickly.

A new PhotoModeler home page greets you, quickly directing you to the application area for specialized information about your field of interest. For returning customers a new horizontal navigation system provides quick access to support, downloads, and the FAQ / knowledgebase.

The new knowledgebase pulls together all the articles, tips, and faqs from across the previous site, to provide a centralized and searchable repository.

Further information can be found in the press release.

PhotoModeler 6.1 and New Offset Points

As most of you know the amazing new PhotoModeler 6 was released in February after more than two years of development. See the PhotoModeler 6 What’s New page for information.

On March 23rd we released an additional update called ‘6.1’. There have been a few upgrades to the program since the first 6.0 release to improve stability and to fix a few problems. In the 6.1 release there was also an interesting new feature called 'Offset Points'.

Offset Points provide a method for creating 3d points that are ‘offset’ from modeled points. This feature is useful in two scenarios:
- creating a point offset from a modeled point on a jig or evidence marker (as shown to the left), and
- creating a point offset from two targets in a location where a target cannot be placed (as shown below).

In the first case, points can be offset from the ‘anchor’ point along any of the three coordinate axes. An example would be a fixed offset along the Z axis for a road scene using evidence markers (EM). The target dot in the EM is first marked and solved. The EM target dot is a known fixed distance off the ground and to get a point on the ground (red point shown here) you can use the Offset Point (found in Properties when the target mark is selected). The ground points may be needed for surfacing, surface draw, and ortho-photos and so the offset feature is useful if Evidence Marker targets have been modeled.

In the second case, offset points are computed using pairs of marked and solved points. The two points can be of any type but coded targets are especially useful. The two solved points define an arbitrary vector in space along which the offset is computed. This can be useful when finding a position in a location that cannot be easily targeted (such a corner as shown in the image here). If one has the Coded Target module, the computation of offset points from pre-determined sets of coded targets can be fully automated.

If you have PhotoModeler installed (full or demo), download the 6.1 upgrade and view the help file for more detail. An interesting application of offset points is the forensics case of determining heights of people from a single photo. See the Using Offset Points for Forensic Height Measurement knowledgebase article for more information.

Application Stories

Maritime Heritage

We like to bring attention to the ever fascinating work of the PhotoModeler community. In this newsletter we highlight a project from Dr. Nathan Richards’ group at the Maritime Studies department of the East Carolina University.

Nathan Richards, Sami Seeb, Brian Diveley, and Michelle Liss wrote a research paper on the use of 3d measurement, modeling and photogrammetry in maritime heritage titled Virtual Modeling and 3D Photogrammetry for Maritime Heritage.

One site recorded by Brian Diveley had a collection of historic watercraft from the Outer Banks, North Carolina. One representative vessel was the NCHH0025 (shown modeled above). Some interesting history from the report,

Vessel NCHH0025 is currently catalogued with the North Carolina historic vessel registry database at the Maritime Museum in Beaufort, North Carolina (NC HABS/HAER Database). Built by Burbel Beasley in 1958, vessel NCHH0025 is one of few surviving personal and recreational watercraft specific to regions of North Carolina and southern Virginia.

280 digital photos of the craft were taken in August and October of 2005 using an Olympus 7070W at 27 mm.  A sub-set of those was used in PhotoModeler to do the modeling and a sub-set of those is shown here as a screen shot from PhotoModeler.

From the report, “A total of 1052 three-dimensional points were used to solve general model dimensions. From these reference points, line-work and dimensions were derived from given photographs in the project.”

There are other interesting maritime heritage studies in this report, including 3D digital models and studies of two hand-built physical models: the stern of the HMS Alert (a naval cutter from the late 1700’s), and the Montana (a luxury steamer from the late 1800’s) - as described further in the report as linked above.