New Features and Enahancements

We are committed to the on-going support and improvement of our products. We regularly release upgrades containing fixes and new features/enhancements. The Support Upgrades page describes how to get the latest versions.

Listed below are significant changes since the 2010 release. In addition:

 

PhotoModeler Latest Changes

  • 2019.0.0 (Nov. 19, 2018)
    • New Premium Product. The PhotoModeler Premium product has replaced Scanner and UAS.
    • New Ribbon User Interface. The main interface has changed from menu and toolbar to Ribbon style for ease of use. Overview article.
    • Coded Target Labels.  Coded Targets can now be printed on Avery labels with correct spacing. Paired offsets too.
    • Rhino 3D Cameras. The Rhino .3dm export can include the solved camera positions and images as wallpaper.
    • In total there were 22 improvements, and 31 fixes.
  • 2018.1.2 (Jul. 17, 2018)
    • Fixes. This release is mostly a bug fix and small improvement release. If you use control points or have a very high resolution screen this would be a good update for you.
    • Pixel Distances. Measure Pane now also displays distances in pixels – which can be useful for precision determination.
    • In total there were 8 improvements, and 17 fixes.
  • 2018.1.1 (Jun. 27, 2018)
    • Image Sequences. Supports multiple images from one stationary era (such as with security cameras). Great forensics tool.
    • Speed Improvements. Some general speed improvements in UI and processing. Some Xeon machines will see processing speed improvements.
    • Offset Point Symbol. The 3D view of offset points is now a 3d cross shape making it easier to find in the 3D View and on projections.
    • Control UI Improvement. A power feature for those that mark control points – a short cut to not use the EGE.
    • Dense Surfaces Denser. In some cases DSM point clouds have less tendency to having holes in areas with low photo count.
    • No Limit Support Uploads. File uploads to support no longer have the total 1GB limit.
    • In total there were 33 improvements, and 39 fixes.
  • 2018.1.0 (Apr. 11, 2018)
    • UAV Control Marking Improvement. UAV and drone projects with GCP (ground control points) are now easier to set up when there is a change in vertical datum (very common).
    • Multi-point Transform Improvement. Multi-point transforms can now be formed with just one point (translate), or two points (translate and scale). Three and more point transforms remain as is.
    • Evaluation System Improvement. Evaluation codes are now 30 days long and are easier to get.
    • In total there were 20 improvements, and 16 fixes.
  • 2018.0.1 (Jan. 23, 2018)
    • Offset Pairs Scale. If using paired offset Coded Targets, one can now automatically set up multiple scales based on the pairs. Great for scale redundancy, and removing the need for another scale bar in the project.
    • WKT and Proj4 Geo. Geographic Coordinate Systems can now also be defined by WKT and Proj4 methods (on top of current built-in and EPSG codes). (pmu only)
    • Import of Faro IDs. Faro targets, or markers, that are recognized and exported by Faro Scene in DXF, can be loaded by PhotoModeler as Coded Targets. Making the matching of laser scan and photogrammetric projects easier.
    • New GetStats External Command. The external API and command language has a new command GetProjectStats.
    • See backward compatibility page.
    • In total there were 24 improvements, and 26 fixes.
  • 2018.0.0 (Dec. 14, 2017)
    • Gridded DEM. New gridded Digital Elevation Model export as XYZ text or GeoTIFF files in PM UAS.
    • Coded-Target Smart-Processing. Smart Processing improved to handle Coded Target projects as well (in all versions).
    • Smart-Processing Speed. Smart Processing can be 2 to 4 times faster for bigger projects (in Scanner and UAS).
    • Orthophoto Improvements. A number of small improvements to the orthophoto dialog and the orthophoto export (in all versions).
    • In total there were 19 improvements, and 34 fixes.
  • 2017.1.1 (Sep. 25, 2017)
    • Speed Improvements. Some user interface speed improvements for a) projects in a geo-system defined by an EPSG code, and b) when displaying 3d color by height.
    • Color-by-height range. The color-by-height render style in the 3d viewer now allows user to pick the range (defaults are still computed automatically).
    • Contour Improvements. Contour intervals are whole numbers in geo systems now, and contours can now be optionally added to an existing PointMesh.
    • Camera Review. Your camera calibration data can now be easily uploaded to PhotoModeler support for an expert review (if you wish). Can also be used for community sharing of calibration data.
    • New Check Values. The Check Points table has new columns to show the delta errors for points computed by projection. Helps with projects that use fixed control.
    • See backward compatibility page.
    • In total there were 12 improvements, and 16 fixes.
  • 2017.1.0 (Aug. 22, 2017)
    • SmartMatch Improvements. Improved capability, speed, and stability of SmartMatch projects. More photos orient, and faster.
    • Support Upload. Added a project upload tool for easy communication with the PhotoModeler Support team.
    • PDF Help. Provided the help file in an alternate PDF format.
    • Cylinder Improvement. Cylinder objects now have end points as first-class objects (can be connected to, exported, etc.).
    • Scale/Rotate/Translate Improvements. a) A project can now have more than one coordinate system rotation object defined. b) SRT tags can optionally appear on photos always. c) Projects can optionally start with an empty SRT defined (saving a few steps on setting up a new one).
    • Curve Improvements. Curve and surface draw curve enhancements for more easily creating sharp corners, and for correcting the last mark.
    • DDE Improvements. A text file, containing a series of DDE commands, can be placed on the command line so these commands can be run on launch and from shell scripts. A new backup DDE command added.
    • See backward compatibility page.
    • In addition there were 11 improvements, and 19 fixes.
  • 2017.0.2 (May 26, 2017)
    • New UAS Tutorials. With the introduction of an easier workflow to get a textured surface model in a SmartMatch project, the UAS Tutorial has been re-recorded. There are 3 new UAS tutorials: Introduction, Orthophotos, and Ground Control Points.
    • Planar textures in 3d Views. The 3D viewer has an optional texturing method based on the new ortho-mosaic method released in 2017.0. This method is great for 2.5D objects. It is faster, and produces higher quality results.
    • Direct meshing tool. A new tool has been added to the DSM toolbar and menu to triangulate points (SmartPoints and/or regular points, selected or all), using default settings suited to lower density clouds, to generate a PointMesh Surface. Avoids having to work with the more complex Meshing dialog when not needed.
    • See backward compatibility page.
    • There were 7 improvements, and 18 fixes.
  • 2017.0.1 (May 4, 2017)
    • New Ortho-photo blending on 3D model export. The new ortho-photo capability released in 2017.0.0 is now available when exporting a 3D model using the planar texture option. It is faster, higher quality, and the texture map file is contiguous
    • Improved Ortho-photo World file. The world file exported optionally with ortho-photos (you use when importing the ortho-photo or ortho-mosaic into geo-aware software), has improved accuracy for more geographic coordinate systems.
    • There were 9 improvements, and 20 fixes.
  • 2017.0.0 (Apr. 10, 2017)
    • Subscription Licensing. PhotoModeler products can now be licensed on a montly or yearly basis. Permanent licenses are still available for purchase.
    • Revamped Ortho-mosaics. The ortho-photo/mosaic tool has better color balancing, better sharpness, and can output larger images.
    • Automated low density surface..A low density surface can be created easily from SmartPoints during processing providing a quicker avenue to texture or ortho-photo display. (pms+pmu)
    • Single photo calibration. Improved ability to solve for lens distortion in single photo projects – great for forensics.
    • There were 4 significant changes, 9 improvements, and 27 fixes.
  • 2016.2.1 (Dec. 9, 2016)
    • Volumes Table. The new Volume Table in PMU shows for each Volume Object its: volume above and below plane, plane type, plane level, PointMesh ID, Material and Layer.
    • There was 1 significant change, 1 improvement, and 11 fixes.
  • 2016.2 (Nov 28, 2016)
    • PPK. PhotoModeler UAS has a new capability for doing UAV PPK GPS corrections for highly accuracy UAV surveys with no or minimal ground control points. See blog post.
    • PMU Tutorial. A dedicated tutorial on how to run a typical UAV project in PMU has been added.
    • Processing Speed. PhotoModeler Scanner and UAS have a significant speed increase in the orientation phase of project setup – esp. for projects with larger numbers of photos.
    • There were 2 significant changes, 13 improvements, and 20 fixes.
  • 2016.1.2 (Oct 19, 2016)
    • Bug fixes. We inadvertently released 2016.1.1 with a serious bug in the EGE. Apologies! This release is just for bug fixes. Fixes for two crashes, plus fixes for 3 other non-crash bugs.
    • There were 5 fixes.
  • 2016.1.1 (Oct 11, 2016)
    • Mesh Creation from SmartPoints. Triangulated Meshes can now easily be created from SmartPoints – alleviating the need to create a dense MVS mesh in some cases. (PMS + PMU)
    • More Geo-Coordinate System Support. In addition to the existing geo lat/long, UTM, and State Plane geo-systems supported, any geo-coordinate system with an EPSG definition can be now be setup. (PMU)
    • Find a Geo-Point in Google Maps. Select any solved location (from table, photo, or 3d view) and with this tool open up Google Maps and show it. (PMU)
    • Misc. Improvments to contours, and the pdf report.
    • There were 3 significant changes, 8 improvements, and 15 fixes
  • 2016.1 (Sept 26, 2016)
    • PMU Release. New PhotoModeler UAS product replaces PhotoModeler Motion (motion tracking moves to PhotoModeler Scanner).
    • Volume Objects (pmu). Create permanent and accurate models and measurements of stock piles and similar objects.
    • Geographic Coordinates (pmu). Support for geographic coordinate systems for point and camera station control and multipoint transforms.
    • Processing Improvements (pmu). New capabilities in processing that make UAV projects more accurate.
    • Multispectral Image Support (pmu). Load, process and export multispectral data and produce NDVI and similar ortho-mosaics and draped 3D models from cameras with one lens and aligned multi-spectral channels.
    • PDF Report Generator (pmu). Generate a good looking pdf report of project details for internal or client use.
    • Minor Contours (pmu). Display minor contours in 3d, and exports with different characterisitcs than major contours.
    • Locate EGE function. Function to help you efficiently find control points on photos in an oriented project.
    • Background update checks. Checks for new versions done in background with a reminder so you can stay up to date (optional control).
    • There were 9 significant changes, 20 improvements, and 48 fixes (read from Beta 2016.0.9 and upward).
  • 2016.0.8 (May 9, 2016)
    • Fixes and Improvements. This release is mostly fixes to crashes and serious bugs. We thank you for your patience as we make this major drive to improve stability of the program.
    • There were 29 fixes and improvements.
  • 2016.0.7 (Apr. 15, 2016)
    • Fixes and Improvements. This release, like 0.6, is also mostly about fixes to crashes and serious bugs reported by users of 2016. Thanks for your patience!
    • New 3D View Navigation. A new mode in the 3D Viewers provides feedback on what is being rotated or zoomed, and can more easily do off-center rotations.
    • There were 18 fixes and improvements.
  • 2016.0.6 (Mar. 24, 2016)
    • Fixes and Improvements. This release, like 0.5, is also mostly about fixes to crashes and serious bugs reported by users of 2016.
    • There were 21 fixes and improvements.
  • 2016.0.5 (Feb. 11, 2016)
    • Fixes and Improvements. This release is mostly about fixes to crashes and serious bugs reported by early users of 2016. This version should be more stable. Thanks for your patience!
    • There were 18 fixes and improvements.
  • 2016.0.4 (Jan. 25, 2016)
    • New Smart Project Robust Orient. The 3D photo orientation algorithm used in Smart Projects has undergone a complete rewrite. The major objective was speed improvements – esp. with projects with large numbers of photos (such as drone/UAS projects). It has a new algorithm that uses more cpu cores and is more stable. It also has improved camera auto-calibration, and has greater flexibility with control point minimums.
    • Demo / Eval Changes. The Demo/Evaluation system has been revamped to allow for an initial full-capability evaluation period on download, after which PhotoModeler goes into a restricted Demo state. A Trial/Evaluation code can still also be requested.
    • GPS Camera Stations. Photos that contain GPS data (common with drone/UAS photos) can be automatically setup with a geo-coordinate system and display GPS positions in the 3d Viewer.
    • Scripting. Script commands can be run from within PhotoModeler and/or by loading a text file. External scripting with DDE remains.
    • False-color surfaces. Triangulated PointMeshes have two new display styles “Color from height” and “Color from photo overlap”. These false-color textures provide useful visual feedback.
    • Auto-assign control/EGE. A new tool automatically assigns control, pinned and multi-point transform points to associated points in the project. Points can be assigned by matching user name or point IDs.
    • Large Project UI Speed Improvements. Improvements in the speed of various user interface operations – noticable with large Smart Point projects.
    • User Interface Updates. New tool icons in the modern ‘flat’ style and new realistic Camera symbol in the 3d Viewer.
    • … and 126 other fixes and improvements.
  • 2015.1.1 (May 4, 2015)
    • Mesh Cropping Tools. New tools to slice and crop triangulated meshes leaving them with clean, sharp edges. Slice a mesh in two with a line or plane. Crop a mesh to a clean rectangular edge.
    • Seal Mesh Tool. Create a closed, water-tight triangulated mesh – great for 3D printing. Combine with the Slice tool to give your 3D printed object a nice bottom surface.
    • External Point Auto-detect. Single Click Mark and Reference was added last release – in this release it extends to auto-detection and marking of control points and multi-point transforms.
    • Improved 3D Viewer Navigation. Added new key-less navigation modes to the 3D Viewer to make it more consistent with other 3D apps.
    • … and 52 other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2015.1.0 (Mar. 3, 2015)
    • Single Click Mark and Reference. Mark a point on a single photograph, and have it automatically mark and reference on other photographs.
    • Point Review Mode. Quickly and easily review and modify mark positions in all the photos relating to the selected point.
    • Photo Chip Size Adjustable. Increase or decrease the size of the photo chips in the Photo Control pane.
    • … and 21 other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2015.0.0 (Dec. 3, 2014)
    • Processing Speed Increases. Significant processing speed increases in Scanner and Motion for SmartMatch projects and MVS. E.g. creating a dense surface model from the start on a 250 photo project decreased from many hours (16hrs+) to a few hours (3hrs).
    • UI Speed Increases. Many other operations on big projects are snappier too (loading projects, opening photos/tables/3D views, and assigning cameras, etc.) – improving your efficiency.
    • Mask Improvements. Added an ‘Invert Mask’ tool to the Mask mode right click menu. Added a ‘Cancel Mask’ command which allows one to restart the mask – same as hitting Esc on keyboard. RGB colors assigned to point cloud points now account for masks.
    • Orthophoto scale. The orthophoto export dialog now supports print scales less than 1:1. If you are outputting an orthophoto of a small object, the print size can be set to a ratio such as 1:0.5 so the output size would be twice the object’s size.
    • Sum Length. Selecting any combination of lines, curves, edges, cylinders, and shape edges will now display a sum of their lengths on the Measure pane.
    • … and 53 other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2014.1.1 (Sep. 15, 2014)
    • Draw Mask Mode. A new Draw Mask tool has been added for drawing Masks directly onto photos. These masks can be used to remove parts of photo from being included in the output textures.
    • Texture Planar Projection for 3D Export. An optional texture projection format has been added. In addition to the full-wrap ‘flats’ based texture file, now a planar projection map can be exported. Good for flat and 2.5D objects.
    • SmartMatch for non-SmartMatch projects. You can now start a project as a non-SmartMatch project (manual or coded target marking for example), and then run SmartMatch processing on the result. Good for adding density and/or for control point marking before SmartMatch processing.
    • … and 34 other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2014.1 (Jul. 8, 2014)
    • Orthophoto Capability and Performance improvements. Orthophoto generation has been improved. It is faster, it is pixel based, and it supports blending, mask and occlusion checking.
    • Quality Texture Speed Improvement. The generation of quality textures (3D Viewer and 3D Export) in projects with large PointMeshes is now considerably faster (an order of magnitude or better in cases).
    • US Survey Foot and Improve Unit Conversions. The US Survey foot has been added as a new unit for display of coordinates and measurements and for import. In addition the non-SI units (in, ft, mi, etc.) now have more precise conversions to other units and to internal meter units.
    • New Convert Import Tool. A new tool provides capability to change the handedness (right to left handed) of an input coordinate systems, and as well can convert control imports to multi-point transforms and vice versa.
    • … and 40 other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2014.0.2 (Mar. 18, 2014)
    • Bug fixes. This release is mostly about fixing a couple of serious bugs. A crash that could occur at the end of pair-based DSM creation, or when changing a mesh’s photo-based material has been fixed. Photos added to the end of an existing SmartMatch project and re-processed are now handled correctly.
    • A total of 8 fixes and small improvements.
  • 2014.0.1 (Mar. 4, 2014)
    • SmartMatch and MVS Speed Improvements. A few areas in SmartMatch and MVS have been improved to use more multi-core processing power thereby improving speed. A few algorithm changes also have the effect of speed increases esp. with larger projects. (Scanner & Motion only)
    • Zoom and Center All. The new “Zoom and Center All” tool allows you to zoom all open photos to the level of the ‘active’ photo and center about the selected item, with a single click of the mouse.
    • … and 17 other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2014.0 (Feb. 4, 2014)
    • MVS. Multi-View Stereo is a new system for extracting Dense Surface Models. It is more automated and with superior results. (Scanner & Motion only)
    • SmartMatch Improvements. SmartMatch has been revamped. It is faster and more capable with large photo sets. (Scanner & Motion only)
    • Auto-Calibration. Improve your camera calibration during SmartMatch. (Scanner & Motion only)
    • Meshing Improvements. Higher levels of detail and greater control over amount of edge extension. (Scanner & Motion only)
    • … and 44 other fixes and small improvements for all products.
  • 2013.0.3 (Jul. 16, 2013)
    • PhotoModeler Motion. A new product as a re-packaging of PhotoModeler Scanner and the PMV module.
    • Tutorial Startup Dialog. A new dialog opens automatically when the program starts (can be hidden) to give easy access to the tutorial projects and videos. This provides a better experience when first learning PhotoModeler.
    • … and 18 other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2013.0.2 (Jun. 19, 2013)
    • PTS Export. The .pts file format (popular with point cloud software) is now exported.
    • DSM Automation. A small improvement to the automation and setup of Dense Surface Model projects – the sampling interval and depth range can be computed automatically on a pairwise basis.
    • Camera Plane Projection. When a Camera Station and a Plane are selected, the Measurement pane now displays the x,y,z location of the camera projected onto the plane. Useful for finding the height of a camera above the ground for example.
    • Wide Angle & GoPro Support. There have been improvements to how Orientation and SmartMatch projects handle cameras with wide angle lenses and high lens distortion (such as the GoPro Hero 3). These projects tend to solve better now.
    • … and 54 other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2013.0.1 (Apr. 22, 2013)
    • Improved Meshing. A new PointCloud meshing system has been implemented. The improvements: A) The meshing steps have been simplified for minimal user input. B) An appropriately solved DSM will output a sharper/more-detailed triangulated mesh in less time than previous versions. C) The speed increase for meshing large point clouds is significant. D) The triangulated output is largely hole-free. E) For the advanced user, more filtering options have been added that may help in different applications, including the ability to trade off quality for speed in large meshes.
    • Orthophoto layer control. You can now control which layers of data to include in an orthophoto.
    • … and 24 other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2013.0.0 (Feb. 13, 2013)
    • Charts and Graphs. You can graph specific quality metrics – plotted in various ways. Let us know if there are other items you’d like to graph.
    • Plane Modelling Object. The new Plane object is a delimited infinite plane. It can be created relative to the coordinate system or from a set of fit points. It updates if the defining objects change. You can perform measurements against a Plane (such as distance and volume).
    • Line and Cylinder Extensions. Lines and Cylinder center lines can be extended in the 3D View by a user defined amount. This is useful for visualizing where two or more lines or cylinders intersect in 3D space.
    • New DDE Commands: Four new DDE commands: RemovePhotoFromProject, AddPhotoMask, GetPhotoOrientationStatus, and GetPhotoID.
    • … and 64 other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2012.2.1 (Oct. 3, 2012)
    • SmartMatch Masking. A DSM mask image can now be used to define the region of detection for SmartPoints during the SmartMatch stage.
    • Processing Check Measurement Report. The Processing Report has a new section to show a summary of the Check Measurements. It shows the max, min and average deltas of check points and check distances.
    • Contour Length: The Measure Pane now shows the length (or summed length) of selected Contours.
    • … and 40 other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2012.2 (Aug. 30, 2012)
    • The point cloud / laser scanner integration release!
    • Point Cloud Import. Point clouds and meshes can now be imported by the External Geometry Explorer and used to generate control points, multi-point transform points, or be pinned / static objects. In addition, the imported cloud/meshes are treated like regular PointMeshes, that is, they can be textured, re-exported, etc. This is very powerful when combining your PhotoModeler project with external laser scan data or any other type of external point cloud. Many of our PhotoModeler users have been very keen to have this feature added!
    • Sphere Target Marking. There is a new sub-pixel marking mode for sphere targets. This can be used for aligning laser scan data (since spheres are common laser scanner alignment tools), or to provide a target type that works well at camera angles which are too shallow for flat 2D targets.
    • Cross Section Profiles. A new mode that creates cross-section profile curves of PointMeshes from user specified cross-section planes.
    • Flexible Text and CSV Import. Text and CSV file import has been improved considerably in both ease of use and flexibility. You can specify which rows or columns to import, and optionally choose column order. If you are familiar with MS Excel’s Text-to-Columns control, you’ll feel right at home with PhotoModeler’s new import routine.
    • 3D Viewer Visibility Control. 3D Viewer windows now have a fly-out window for fast and immediate control over item visibility, reducing the need to use the modal 3D Viewer Options dialog.
    • Revamped External Geometry Import. The External Geometry Explorer (EGE) ‘Add Geometry Dialog’ has been completely redesigned. Our goal was to make the various options easier to understand, while at same time adding the new point cloud import capabilities.
    • … and 36 other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2012.1.1 (May. 7, 2012)
    • Camera frustum display. Display the ‘view volume’ of each camera station in the 3D Viewer. Great for figuring out photo overlap and how each photo overlaps the surface.
    • Edges and cylinder define rotation. The definition of a coordinate system rotation can now include an edge or cylinder vector as one of the axes. Great for things like plumb-bob verticals.
    • PMV volume report. PhotoModeler Video can now show volume changes of a PointMesh over time in a new report.
    • Import XYZRGB clouds. Point Cloud import of text based xyz files now supports color per point in the form of red, green, blue values (scanner only).
    • Fixed a few serious crashes.
    • … and 14 other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2012.1 (Apr. 18, 2012)
    • Video Import. Import video with manual and automated image-frame extraction. Extracted frames can be used in all PhotoModeler operations. Formats supported (depends on installed codecs): mov, mp4, avi, wmv, 3gp, and mpg. The H.264 codec (popular for mp4 and mov) is included. (scanner only)
    • 3D View Sync. The view (zoom, pan, rotate) can now be synced and controlled simultaneously in multiple open 3D Viewer windows. Each viewer can be showing different layers, object types or surface qualities, while being rotated, zoomed and translated – all in sync by the mouse.
    • Volume above XY offset plane. The ‘volume above the XY plane’ measurement for surfaces can now measure above an arbitrary z value plane.
    • PMV Improvements. The PhotoModeler Video module (which allows you to do 3D measurements over time (not to be confused with new video import capability)) has had a number of improvement: ability to create dense surfaces across multiple epochs, ability to run SmartMatch across multiple epochs, and other object type propagations.
    • DSM Roll Camera Fix. An fix has been added that increases the accuracy and reduces the noise of DSM PointMeshes – esp. when the roll angle between the camera pair increases. Very important if you have cameras with 180 degree rolls (such as flight lines from a UAS / UAV).
    • … and 46 other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2012.0 (Jan. 18, 2012)
    • DSM Masks. Dense Surface Model’s area-of-study can now be controlled more precisely with a bit-mask (as an alternative to polygon trims). (scanner only)
    • Alpha Masks. For those working in animation production pipelines, where your images have the alpha channel set up as a mask, PhotoModeler can now read these and use to mask texture and DSM creation.
    • Chroma-keying. PhotoModeler can now create masks (for use in DSM and texture creation) from a blue or green screen background.
    • Measure. Two new measurement capabilities: cylinder and line angles with the coordinate planes, and closest distance between a point and a mesh.
    • … and 45 other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2011.1 (Nov. 15, 2011)
    • 64 bit versions of PhotoModeler and Scanner are available in official release form.
    • SmartMatch has had a significant rewrite in a number of areas. The feature detection and matching have been sped up and are both threaded, (now taking advantage of multiple CPU cores). The orientation stage has been revamped to handle larger projects and return better results with larger numbers of photos. In addition the user interface and reporting has been improved considerably. (Scanner only)
    • Animation. The animation export has been improved with new abilities: a) the ability to automatically add key frames from each camera position in the project, and b) the ability to upload a newly created PhotoModeler animation directly to YouTube.
    • Imports and Exports. There are new file imports and exports. a) The new LAS format export is used to move point clouds to a number of external 3rd party tools that accept the increasingly popular format. LAS files can also be imported as Point Meshes. (Scanner only)
    • b) For those that work with Total Station survey equipment and/or surveying software, PhotoModeler now imports and exports CSV data files that match common survey data file formats.
    • … and 100+ other fixes and small improvements.
  • 2011.0.3 (May 25, 2011)
    • 64 bit versions of PhotoModeler and Scanner are available in beta.
    • The 3D Viewer options dialog now has an Apply button (no need to leave the dialog to try out settings).
    • 3D Viewer has a gradient background and new buttons (nice looking!).
    • Text size for dimensions can be set in a preference.
    • SmartMatch can now be called externally via DDE (Scanner only)
    • … and 59 fixes and small improvements.
  • 2011.0.2 (Mar. 10, 2011)
    • 17 fixes and small improvements.
  • 2011.0.1 (Feb. 24, 2011)
    • Height colorize of point meshes. Point Mesh display in the 3D Viewer has a new option to false-color the points in the cloud based on z-value. (Scanner only)
    • Idealize, no longer a required step in DSM. When creating Dense Surface Models the Idealize step (which removes lens distortion etc. from photos) is no longer required. Existing idealized projects still work but new projects no longer require the time consuming step. Not having to work with images with black borders is also a benefit. (Scanner only)
    • .. and 33 other small improvements and fixes.
  • 2011.0.0 (Jan. 17, 2011)
    • Camera station GPS and Geo Coords. Multi-point and multi-point-geo affines can now assign a camera station’s position to a known x,y,z location to define the coordinate system. If an assigned camera station’s image contains geographic information in it’s image header (e.g. from a gps) this information can optionally be extracted and assigned.
    • Open-photo feedback. The photo thumbnail IDs, in the Photo Control, now turn green when the photo is open, and remains black if the photo is closed – providing a way to quickly identify photos that are already open.
    • Further speed improvements. Several optimizations have been done to improve speed (focused on SmartMatch autoprojects). SmartMatch projects run from 5% to 50% faster.
    • Cursor key table navigation. You can now navigate tables using the Up Arrow (move up one), Down Arrow (move down one), Home (move to top row), and End (move to bottom row) keys, in addition to the Page Down and Page Up keys that previously were enabled.
    • .. and 60 other small improvements and fixes.
  • 2010.0.9 (Nov. 26, 2010)
    • In-table Editting. Double clicking on the User Name cell of a table view allows you to edit the name directly in the table (avoiding need to have Property pane open).
    • Security. All components (the executable, DLLs and installer) are now digitally signed showing PhotoModeler Technologies as developer.
    • Annotations. An ‘Annotation’ column has been added to the “Dimensions/Annotations” table. The annotation string is shown if the object is an annotation, ‘n/a’ is shown if a measurement.
    • .. and 37 other small improvements and fixes.
  • 2010.0.8 (first full public release of new version – Oct. 28th, 2010)
    • SmartMatch. Automatically mark and reference natural feature points – automation for non-targeted projects. (Scanner)
    • Performance and Speed Improvements. Many of the core algorithms are rewritten (and some multi-threaded) for increased speed.
    • Geographic coordinates support. Geographic coordinate systems and datums are now understood by the external data support.
    • Dimensions on photos. Dimension lines and annotations can be placed directly on photos.
    • Multi-sheet calibration. Calibrate cameras using multiple smaller sheets of targets. Can cover a larger area and add depth to the field more easily.
    • Project Review. The Project Review tool provides feedback and quality assessment of the current project.
    • External Geometry Explorer. This new view pane consolidates the scale/rotate/translate coordinate system setup with control points, and multi-point affine. Brand new capabilities are multiple scales, check distances, check points and multi-point affine.
    • Robust orientation. Automated projects use a new robust orientation system that can handle a larger percentage of mis-references or mis-codes while still producing the correct result (and automatically cleaning up the bad references).
    • DDE DSM. New programming DDE commands to run Dense Surface Modeling and PointMesh modification. (Scanner)
    • Coded Targets. Coded Target marking is now included in all products (no longer an extra-cost item).
    • … and more than 100 other small improvements and fixes.

 

PhotoModeler Technologies recommends you download and install the most recent patch in order to have the most powerful and stable version of PhotoModeler.