Regenerate Contour Lines

[mikeg]

Hi, I’ve been using Pix4D Mapper and Survey and getting pretty good results so far but one issue I have had is contour lines.

I’d like to generate the contour lines after I’ve cleaned up the models and added break lines etc in Pix4D survey but I can’t see a way of doing that within the software. Is it possible to do this or possible to redo the contour lines in mapper after doing so?

I’d like to do this so the breaklines show distinctly in the final drawings without having the contour lines generated initially crossing them etc. I could just clean them up in CAD but it would be extremely time consuming. Or is there any other way of doing it without sticking it through yet another piece of software?

[Nate_Moore]

Hi @mikeg!

You are right, you can’t create contour lines in Pix4Dsurvey yet, though it is on our list of things to do. Nor can you import the breaklines from Pix4Dsurvey back to Pix4Dmapper.

However, if you are using a CAD (like Civil3D) you can import a DXF and the LandXML from Pix4Dsurvey. At least in Civil3D, importing the LandXML will generate a surface, where contour lines are a display option, and you’ll find that the DXF has the breaklines, and the two should align perfectly, so no contours crossing breaklines, and no editing in CAD.

But you have a good point, and contour lines are something we need to bring soon.

thanks for the feedback! Any other questions or comments are appreciated.

Nate

[mikeg]

Thanks for this Nate. I hope it does get implemented soon as I like the software but without that feature it’s a little redundant for my uses vs alternatives.

I did have another question though regarding computer hardware as I’m looking to build another system for one of our guys for processing in Pix4D. The system I’m running is pretty high end but I want to optimise the new one so these are my main points.

With CPU is there much difference regarding core clock vs core count? I.e. would a high clocked intel system be better than an amd system with more cores? I was looking at using threadripper for the new one if cores are king.

Regarding RAM, does RAM speed make much difference in processing time or is it more about the capacity? Also is error correcting ram useful for this task?

Regarding GPU it’d likely be a RTX 3000 series but does GPU ram make much difference and would it be better to go for quadro vs rtx?! Or simply go 3090 and have the high memory and high performance core?

Also is there anything else within a system that significantly affects processing time? It would be running on NVME SSD so not likely much to gain there but just want to make sure I’m not missing anything

[Blaz]

Hi @mikeg,

The hardware resources depend on the software and the process you plan to run. For example, Pix4Dsurvey does not calibrate the photogrammetry projects or generate dense point clouds. This is done by photogrammetry software Pix4Dmapper and Pix4Dmatic. So the usage of hardware resources is much higher there.

I would recommend that you have a look at our knowledge base. You will be able to find a lot of information regarding the usage of resources and recommended hardware:

• Pix4Dsurvey recommended hardware.
• Pix4Dmatic recommended hardware.
• Pix4Dmapper recommended hardware.

Geforce cards are known to perform well and provide good cost/performance balance. We don’t generally make recommendations as everyone has specific requirements and resources at their disposal. I would recommend reviewing the information below to help make a decision on what is right for you.

Check Puget System’s comparison: Pix4D GPU Comparison: GeForce, Titan, and Quadro.

Additional resources are available here:

Hardware and Pix4D

Best,

[Andrew_Milanes]

Here is another article from Puget regarding recommended hardware for Pix4D

AMD Ryzen 5000 series or Threadripper is the CPU of choice. Any nVidia RTX video card will do. Memory will depend on the size of your projects. I would say 32 as a bare miniumum. 64 or more if you have large projects. NVME storage drives also.

[Heidi]

Hello everyone,

I wanted to add to this request. Without a DEM and contour export, my employer decided not to continue with Survey at this time, (and holds this disappoinment against Matic as well…)

Because of smoother handling and processing time that Pix4DMatic and Survey offer, this is pretty disappointing to me; I’m having to resort to older alternatives that sometimes handle large data sets poorly.

Good luck getting these features quickly! I’d love to be able to present the idea of using these apps again, soon.

Please be soon.

[aer]

Hello @Heidi @Nate_Moore … Preview 1.19 (available yesterday) add countour lines from TIN, and looks fine. Note: Point cloud from Zenmuse L1 processing in DJI Terra.

Now I´m just playing to see how’s works and export (dxf) and import to Civil 3D

[Blaz]

That looks great @aer, let us know if you have any additional feedback regarding the new contour lines.

Do you happen to have the same site captured both by L1 and images?

Best,

[aer]

Yes, @Blaz… but processed with DJI Terra. I will do a process with Pix4D Mapper and I will share the quality report with you.

[Nate_Moore]

Hi everyone, just wanted to follow up a bit and let you know that we’ve added major and minor contours lines, the option to suppress creation of short contour lines, and there’s more coming in the December release!

Nate

[aer]

ty @Nate_Moore, already testing v1.21. Many useful tools have been added since v1.18. Joyful waiting for what December will bring