Remote Desktop

PIX4Dmapper PIX4Dmapper Feature Request
1

Hello,

Please consider adding functionality for those of us who wish to leverage a remote desktop to perform pix4d processing under the terms of the purchased license structure.  We have a high speed computer in another local office used for various civil engineering modeling tasks, which I thought would be perfect to leverage for pix4D processing.  To my surprise, I found that the after processing Step 1 via the remote desktop connection, errors were given to ensure that I am not using a remote desktop.  Ray Cloud editor was locked down as well.  I’m frustrated by this lack of capability because we typically have drone projects with >1000 images, which makes processing in the cloud not possible.  Therefore, we need to have a solution like the remote desktop situation to be able to babysit the pix4D processing remote, while at the same time staying productive on my main workstation.  Please consider this for future releases.

 

Thanks.

2

Hi Michael,

Any feedback about your experience or information about features you would like to see in a future release is greatly appreciated, thank you.

Availability of this option is fully understandable. I’ve already passed your suggestion to our team. However, I can’t provide you with any time frame of the implementation.

An alternative is to use the software TeamViewer that permits the visualization of a remote desktop using a different technology. It must be installed both on the remote and the local desktop using the same version. Note that the free license gives errors when used with Windows server 2008 or 2010.

Best wishes

3

Hello support,

I was just wondering if there was any update on this? Adding functionality to be able to use remote desktop would be extremely useful to us also. Being able to remote in to our high speed computers at hq would make us much more productive. Downloading and installing TeamViewer would not really an option as the free licence is only for personal use.

Kind regards

Paul

2 Likes
4

Yes I totally agree.  Most large engineering / surveying firms in the US have remote servers where they process large / complex hydrologic or other engineering modeling tasks. This then frees up the engineer’s own computer to be productive while the heavy-lift processing is conducted.  This is the only way to be efficient / cost effective. 

Pix4D is one of those heavy-processing tasks, but the program still doesn’t allow remote connections for some odd reason.  We’re then left with processing on our workstations, which locks it down literally to the point where you can’t use the computer for other tasks.  They say you can dial back the computer resources devoted to the Pix4D engine, but who wants to wait 2-3x longer for it to process ?!? 

The other option is to use their cloud based processing solution, which does a great job quickly processing the data.  However, this is limited.  For some odd reason, you can’t add GCPs / Check Points or do any other edits on the cloud.  You have to export back down to the desktop, which is a clunky inefficient workflow.     

Please, please Pix4D developers figure out a way to extend the usefulness of your platform to allow for remote connections.  We pay for this software and are complying with the licensing terms.  I personally don’t see why you lock us out of this kind of remote-connection functionality.  

Thanks,

1 Like
5

Hi,

Thank you, Michale and Paul, for an explanation. Your feedback helps us in the decision-making process.
I already notified our developers and POs. However, I’ll ensure that they are updated by each follow up to this post. 

Best regards

6

Hi Beata,

Thanks for the response, it really would make a huge difference to productivity having full access remotely, I currently have to drive 60 miles to mark GCPs in the office! We should all be doing our upmost to limit our environmental impact, therefore having remote access would also bring down our carbon footprint.

Thanks again

Paul

 

 

1 Like
7

Hi All,

 

Are there any developments with this? I have recently upgraded our offsite machine for the specific purpose of processing drone data. I was not aware that this was not possible by remote connection. I have tried using team viewer as suggested but this did not work either. Has anyone got a work around? I’m really disappointed to have spent so much money on software, hardware and not be able to use this in the most efficient way. For me remote processing is a no brainer, I was completely shocked to find out it is not possible. Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

 

Regards,

 

Dean Andrews

8

Hi Dean,

Thank you very much for your feedback.

To document it and pass on to our teams, could you also tell me what happened that the TeamViewer didn’t work for you?

Unfortunately, as for now, we don’t have any other solutions to offer. 

Thank you in advance

Regards

9

As an update, our IT people figured out how to get a Remote Desktop to work. You need to make sure the remote desktop has Open GL capabilities and a good graphics card. I retested after they reconfigured/updated it, and Pix4D worked!

10

Hi Michael,

I’m glad to hear that!

Indeed, the OpenGL version of the graphics card can’t be previous to 3.2.

Note for other users: Error e0094: It was not possible to initialize OpenGL.

Best!

11

Totally agree with the comments on this thread, being able to work through a VPN (not Team Viewer as this needs to be the purchased licence not the free one) should be a high priority… we are in the 21st century where people are often in one place and working in another. I need to be able to go home and keep access to my office computer to monitor, begin different processes etc within PIX 4d without going back into the office. Having small children I can’t just leave them on their own while i pop into work… I have checked my Open GL capabilities as above and i am well in advance of 3.2…

1 Like
12

Just wanted to see where this is at. I have not been able to remote desktop into Pix4d no mapper what OpenGL version I have. This makes working on Pix4d from home impossible with out having to buy a separate piece of software.

13

Hi @Mark_Prost
Thank you for your comment.

Did you follow our instruction on how to make the Pix4Dmapper with the rayCloud work via Remote Desktop Connection? If not, please have a look at our article that describes it all here.

Regards

14

I can confirm Pix4D products will work via remote desktop, as outlined in the article referenced by Beata. It also works in a virtual machine configuration, with GPU, via remote desktop.

1 Like
15

Progress update on this? As we convert to WVD and Azure CADD machines as an engineering/survey industry, Pix4D will need to keep pace to remain relevant. COVID really accelerated this transition as we enabled our staff to work from anywhere.

16

I use a virtual machine exclusively for P4DMapper and Pix4DMatic. There are no issues.

17

how on the mapper side? do you use ray cloud?

18

Yes I use Ray Cloud. As long as the remote machine has a GPU and is running Windows 10, you should get full 3D experience via Windows 10 Remote Desktop client.

I also use Pix4DMatic and ArcGIS Pro on this workstation via Remote Desktop.

If the remote computer is a virtual machine instead of physical machine, then the configuration is more complicated. You have to “assign” the physical GPU to the virtual machine. That process depends on the VM platform (Hyper-V, VMWare, etc). And you will need a GPU that supports virtualization (Quadros and Tesla’s). Plus a separate license from NVidia for a virtual workstation.

Here is my configuration. It was a pain to get it setup initially because I didn’t know what I was doing. But now that is setup, it works flawlessly.

  • Server hardware: Dual AMD Epyc 16-core, 3.0ghz, 512gb memory, Tesla T4 GPU
  • Windows Server 2019 Hyper-V
  • Virtual workstation machine config: Windows 10 for Workstations, 60 cpu cores, 384gb memory, Tesla GPU, NVidia Virtual Quadro Workstation license

I can connect to this workstation with any Remote Desktop client. Even from my iPhone.