Save or export custom index formulas for use across projects

Agriculture General Ag Questions/Troubleshooting
1

Hello,

I have used the index generator to create many custom indices for use across all projects. Indices that are not available directly within Pix4Dfields as installed.

After spending significant time researching and creating custom indices for use, I discovered that those custom indices are not available throughout the computer based Pix4Dfields application. Instead they are only available within the project where they were created.

I searched throughout the local storage and the Windows installation directory folders for those custom formulas. I also opened a few DLL files in hopes that they may be stored within, but of course the DLLs are mostly in some type of UNICODE or similar and not in plain text.

Once used for calculations, are the custom formulas simply discarded?
I noticed that they do not appear within the Index Generator once they have been applied, as do the predefined indices provided by Pix4D.

If they are available somewhere, anywhere, could you please direct me to that location? I am very familiar with file structures so if I need to “dig” something out of a DLL or another file, I will do so.

Additionally, I could not find a way to simply export the Index so that I could import it into another project.
The optimal process would be to create the index once and it be available across the entire platform.

Thank you.

1 Like
2

Hi @michaelctaylor1

Thanks for the feedback. Once you create a custom index, this index is available for every project.

I am uploading a short video here with the workflow

Just in case I describe the workflow here as well:

  1. Click on Index
  2. Click on Create custom index
  3. Add the name of the index (below Index) and enter the formula

Picture2
Picture2256Ă—640 19.4 KB

  1. Click Preview
  2. Click Apply
  3. Go to your next project
  4. Click on Index
  5. Click on Create custom index
  6. Click on Index and you will see the list of all your custom indices

indices
indices240Ă—579 32.5 KB

  1. Click on the index you need, and the formula will automatically appear
  2. Click Preview
  3. Click Apply

About exporting the index, please check this article: https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en-us/articles/360000899506

Once you export the layer you can import it in another project see the image below ( Use the .data.tif file version as it contains the true image data from the multispectral bands available)

import geotiff
import geotiff219Ă—761 22.8 KB

Could you please let me know if you already tried the workflow above?

Let me know if you have any question

1 Like
3

Thank you Fernanda,

That was not what I expected as the behavior - to click on the blank “Index” box to repopulate the previously created indices. That was easy.

I expected to see the created indices on the “Index Generator” page under “Available Indices”, ready to be checked and applied.

Thanks again,
Michael.

1 Like
4

Hi Michael,

My pleasure to help!

I also passed your feedback to the team on what you expected from the tool. I am glad you are participating in the community

Have a great day!