# Cropping/Exporting Certain Areas of an Orthomosaic **URL:** \ **Category:** PIX4Dmapper Questions/Troubleshooting\ **Created:** [July 12, 2018, 8:19pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884 "2018-07-12T20:19:20Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Caleb\_Garbus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Caleb\_Garbus](https://community.pix4d.com/u/Caleb_Garbus)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2018, 8:19pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/1 "2018-07-12T20:19:20Z")
Does anyone know if there’s a way to temporarily crop/trim a specific area of a very large orthomosaic (5Gb) and then export the cropped area as a smaller map?  I took a survey of a golf course and the whole file is 5Gb, but I’d like to be able to export, say, holes #1-3 from this map to it’s own full-resolution map so that the resulting file is much smaller. I don’t want to process only the images for the holes I want to make a smaller map from as to avoid more processing time since the full map is already generated. I hope I’m explaining this well enough - thanks in advance. ---
**Author:** ![Jaakko\_Laihola](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f6c823/32.png) [@Jaakko\_Laihola](https://community.pix4d.com/u/Jaakko_Laihola)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 4:04am UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/2 "2018-07-13T04:04:43Z")
Hi there Caleb Draw processing area around the holes 1-3 and process step 3 again. Backup your original orthomosaic because the step 3 will override the previous outputs [https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en-us/articles/202560179-How-to-select-draw-the-Processing-Area](https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en-us/articles/202560179-How-to-select-draw-the-Processing-Area) ---
**Author:** ![Caleb\_Garbus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Caleb\_Garbus](https://community.pix4d.com/u/Caleb_Garbus)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2018, 5:31pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/3 "2018-07-13T17:31:09Z")
Thanks for the response. I realize that is a possibility but I would like to avoid reprocessing the data if possible. Such a time sink with a large mapping area. ---
**Author:** ![Christina](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/user_avatar/community.pix4d.com/christina/32/303_2.png) [@Christina](https://community.pix4d.com/u/Christina)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2018, 6:56am UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/4 "2018-07-16T06:56:37Z")
I agree with Jaakko: The _processing area_ would be the solution. Also, please note that Pix4D generates otrhomosaic tiles (smaller parts of the orthomosaic), that you can find here: …\project\_name\3\_dsm\_ortho\2\_mosaic\tiles if you have already processed your big project. They are small files, easier to manage in 3rd party software. I hope it helps 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Chad\_Pruitt](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/user_avatar/community.pix4d.com/chad_pruitt/32/294_2.png) [@Chad\_Pruitt](https://community.pix4d.com/u/Chad_Pruitt)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 12:01am UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/5 "2018-08-22T00:01:03Z")
Did you figure out any other way Caleb?   And if not, Christina, will I be able to use the cloud to process this custom processing area rather than use my PC?    Why is there not an easier way to just simply crop out areas using polygon selections? Seems like a no-brainer ---
**Author:** ![Cristina\_Timofte](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/user_avatar/community.pix4d.com/cristina_timofte/32/221_2.png) [@Cristina\_Timofte](https://community.pix4d.com/u/Cristina_Timofte)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 2:59pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/6 "2018-08-22T14:59:34Z")
Hi Chad,   If a processing area is set on the desktop solution and then upload it to cloud it will be further considered. There is no other way to trim the project at the moment then using a processing area.    Best, Ina   ---
**Author:** ![Caleb\_Garbus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/eada6e/32.png) [@Caleb\_Garbus](https://community.pix4d.com/u/Caleb_Garbus)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 3:14pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/7 "2018-08-22T15:14:52Z")
Chad, No, unfortunately, it appears that rerunning processing is the only solution. I completely agree with you. There should ABSOLUTELY be a simple polygon tool to export map areas within a processed project. The orthomosaic tiles do absolutely no good unless you really want to bother attempting to manually stitch multiple tiles in a raster image processor… That seems completely ridiculous. Caleb ---
**Author:** ![Cristina\_Timofte](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/user_avatar/community.pix4d.com/cristina_timofte/32/221_2.png) [@Cristina\_Timofte](https://community.pix4d.com/u/Cristina_Timofte)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2018, 3:33pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/8 "2018-08-22T15:33:00Z")
Hi Caleb,   Thank you for your feedback. We will transfer your comment as a suggestion to our development so it can be evaluated.   Best, Ina ---
**Author:** ![Barry\_Bishop](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/a9adbd/32.png) [@Barry\_Bishop](https://community.pix4d.com/u/Barry_Bishop)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2018, 1:32pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/9 "2018-11-02T13:32:32Z")
You can clip it in CAD using imagetrim. ---
**Author:** ![Andrew\_Giles1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/user_avatar/community.pix4d.com/andrew_giles1/32/242_2.png) [@Andrew\_Giles1](https://community.pix4d.com/u/Andrew_Giles1)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2020, 4:55pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/10 "2020-05-24T16:55:04Z")
Wanted to bump this because I really wish 2 years later this feature would have been added. My work around is using Global Mapper to crop the .tif and export from there. One thing that sucks about this though is the export from Global Mapper won’t upload to the Pix4D cloud for easy sharing with coworkers or clients. I work around water in all my projects in the coastal setting so I set my processing area out wide as to hopefully include as much water as possible in the ortho. The downside is all the rough edges around the perimeter of the ortho. It really helps presentation to crop that out. Bottom line, Pix4D needs a cropping tool. ---
**Author:** ![Beata](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/user_avatar/community.pix4d.com/beata/32/187_2.png) [@Beata](https://community.pix4d.com/u/Beata)\ **Post date:** [May 27, 2020, 8:32am UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/11 "2020-05-27T08:32:29Z")
Hi @Andrew_Giles1, Wouldn’t the [Processing Area](https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en-us/articles/202560179-How-to-select-draw-the-Processing-Area) be a good solution for you? Or, am I missing your point? Please let me know! ---
**Author:** ![Andrew\_Giles1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/user_avatar/community.pix4d.com/andrew_giles1/32/242_2.png) [@Andrew\_Giles1](https://community.pix4d.com/u/Andrew_Giles1)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 12:58pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/12 "2020-05-28T12:58:53Z")
I will use my most recent project for an example. Below is the orthmosaic preview created in step 1 that does not take into account the processing area. ![orthomosaic_preview](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/original/2X/1/1fbb56cfb69e8fea77333835227b1c25c6e03da2.png) Pay attention to the north side you will see where it cut off part of the land and water when compared to the mosaic processed with a wide processing area to make sure all of the beach and as much of the water is displayed as possible. ![Processing Area Wide](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/original/2X/8/81b799236c6c1719590bb3e603b58bb24cd013dc.jpeg) I understand the processing area limits or essentially crops to the area you want BUT in this instance and the way the software creates the tiles, it does not work for me. I want the software to give me as much coverage of the water as possible because it just makes for a better product in this setting. SO I end up bringing the ortho into Global Mapper and crop it to remove the jagged edges of where the photos overlap. I myself don’t mind those edges, I think it looks cool BUT others, particularly clients, prefer a smooth, straight edge. Note the cropped photo in GM was actually from another processing where we added more coverage. ![Cropped](https://global.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/original/2X/2/276ed4c440b79c23bfef79c5e937ae90a587cc86.jpeg) So again, it would be really great to be able to crop the ortho inside Pix4D. I don’t see it being very different from cropping/editing the point cloud and then exporting it again with edits. And to address the issue of the export from GM creating an error on the Pix4D cloud, I believe it is because the embedded headers in the .tif differ between the two programs even though they are still the same parameters. Maybe you can shed some light on this as well. ---
**Author:** ![teodora.enache](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/user_avatar/community.pix4d.com/teodora.enache/32/5811_2.png) [@teodora.enache](https://community.pix4d.com/u/teodora.enache)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 1:38pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/13 "2020-05-28T13:38:38Z")
Hi Andrew, Thank you for your honest feedback. Adding this feature is currently not on our roadmap. We understand how important this functionality is and rest assured that we will consider your suggestion for future improvements. In the meantime, you might want to export the ortho in the free software QGIS for additional streamlining and cropping. Best, Teodora ---
**Author:** ![Andrew\_Giles1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/user_avatar/community.pix4d.com/andrew_giles1/32/242_2.png) [@Andrew\_Giles1](https://community.pix4d.com/u/Andrew_Giles1)\ **Post date:** [May 28, 2020, 1:58pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/14 "2020-05-28T13:58:59Z")
Glad to help in any way I can and thank you for the quick reply. Can someone address the issue with uploading the ortho to the cloud? ---
**Author:** ![teodora.enache](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/user_avatar/community.pix4d.com/teodora.enache/32/5811_2.png) [@teodora.enache](https://community.pix4d.com/u/teodora.enache)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 8:27am UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/15 "2020-05-29T08:27:14Z")
Hi Andrew, Could you please elaborate on this? What Cloud problem are you encountering? Some screenshots would also be useful. Best, Teodora ---
**Author:** ![Andrew\_Giles1](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/user_avatar/community.pix4d.com/andrew_giles1/32/242_2.png) [@Andrew\_Giles1](https://community.pix4d.com/u/Andrew_Giles1)\ **Post date:** [May 29, 2020, 1:28pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/16 "2020-05-29T13:28:15Z")
Well the problem I am encountering is uploading that ortho export from Global Mapper to the Pix4D cloud. Once I have it cropped the way I want for final presentation, I would like to be able to upload it to the cloud for easy sharing with coworkers and clients. It uploads just fine but then it will always give me an error in the processing and thus never display. I’m assuming its one of two things, Pix4D has something embedded in the .tif that it doesn’t recognize it coming directly from the Pix4D software then it won’t display it or its simply a matter of the difference between the embedded header information from Pix4D and Global Mapper. Maybe a combination of the two. So I was hopeful that you could shed some light on this and perhaps the rules of uploading to the cloud. ---
**Author:** ![momtanu.chakraborty](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/user_avatar/community.pix4d.com/momtanu.chakraborty/32/269_2.png) [@momtanu.chakraborty](https://community.pix4d.com/u/momtanu.chakraborty)\ **Post date:** [June 1, 2020, 7:48pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/17 "2020-06-01T19:48:03Z")
Hi Andrew, We recommend not doing any edits before uploading to cloud. This is because some EXIF tags might be changed while you are editing. Can you upload the Pix4D ortho and the edited ortho in google drive and share the link with me? Also, Andrew, the processing area is not taken into account in step 1 even if you add it before step 1. For removing the jagged edges, it will work the best if you add the processing area before step 3 and then process only step 3. Can you try that? ---
**Author:** ![ankitpatil264](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6bbea6/32.png) [@ankitpatil264](https://community.pix4d.com/u/ankitpatil264)\ **Post date:** [August 4, 2020, 5:42pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/18 "2020-08-04T17:42:42Z")
Hie @momtanu.chakraborty, I tried your suggestion to cleaning of edges in orthomosaic, I select a processing area and runs a processing step 3 for exporting a DSM and Orthomosaic. I check after completion of step, the DSM is taken effect according to changes making in a point group But the orthomosaic is not affected. Orthomosaic is generating completely, and not with respect to point groups(I moved some points from point cloud to disabled group). I need same changes as the DSM in the orthomosaic too. Looking for your suggestions. Best Regards, Ankit ---
**Author:** ![Kapil\_Khanal](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/user_avatar/community.pix4d.com/kapil_khanal/32/304_2.png) [@Kapil\_Khanal](https://community.pix4d.com/u/Kapil_Khanal)\ **Post date:** [August 6, 2020, 10:39pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/19 "2020-08-06T22:39:18Z")
Hello Ankit, If there is a processing area after processing step _2. Point Cloud and Mesh_ : - Results of step _1. Initial processing_ and step _2. Point Cloud and Mesh_ will not be affected. - The display of the automatic tie points and the dense point cloud will be affected. - The dense point cloud exported through the list of layers will be affected. For more information about how to export the point cloud: [How to export the point cloud](https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en-us/articles/203890769-How-to-export-the-point-cloud#gsc.tab=0). - The 3D textured mesh generated after step _2. Point Cloud and Mesh_ will be affected. - Results of step _3. DSM, Orthomosaic and Index_ will be affected. For more infromation, I would recommend you to go through our support article on [How to use a processing area in Pix4Dmapper Desktop](https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en-us/articles/202560179-How-to-use-a-processing-area-in-Pix4Dmapper-Desktop#label1). Regards, ---
**Author:** ![momtanu.chakraborty](https://sea2.discourse-cdn.com/pix4d/user_avatar/community.pix4d.com/momtanu.chakraborty/32/269_2.png) [@momtanu.chakraborty](https://community.pix4d.com/u/momtanu.chakraborty)\ **Post date:** [August 18, 2020, 8:37pm UTC](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884/20 "2020-08-18T20:37:35Z")
Ankit, As Kapil mentioned, Processing area is taken into account for orthomosaic if added before step 2 or 3. If you edit point cloud, The DSM should not take into consideration the deleted points. Just edit the point cloud, save the project and regenerate step 3. The orthomosaic, will be generated based on this new DSM but takes the color from the input images. The software does not know how to color the orthomosaic when information is deleted. For example: Imagine you delete the roof of a house. The point cloud will have a hole. However, the orthomosaic will have the roof visible. Otherwise, we should have a hole in the orthomosaic. The only thing that you could remove/delete from an orthomosaic is moving objects like cars. If there are images that do not “see” the car, you can select such an image as a planar projection and the car gets “disappeared”. For more information: how to use [planar projections](https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en-us/articles/202559939-How-to-improve-the-Visual-Aspect-of-Buildings-in-the-Orthomosaic-with-the-Mosaic-Editor#gsc.tab=0). Also, you can remove edges with processing area. [Next page](https://community.pix4d.com/t/cropping-exporting-certain-areas-of-an-orthomosaic/6884.md?page=2)