I am using a Samsung S23+. It has three photo sensors. A normal, zoom and wide. It appears the Pix4Dcatch is using the normal sensor. Its been my experience with Pix4Dmapper that a wider lens will yield better results. Is there a way to select the wide angle sensor?
I used Pix4Dmapper for forensic work. Our laser scanner that we are using for scanning our scenes is reaching end of life. I am experimenting with Pix4Dcatch as an alternative. We often are documenting small room. I have found that the normal lens just doesn’t give pix4Dmapper enough coverage, or we need significantly more images. I have found that using the wide lens gives me better results with fewer pictures.
Hi @anthony.boverhuis
I don’t have an answer for your specific question on wide angle sensor selection.
However, I was wondering whether you have tried the iPhone workflow that has RGB + LiDAR sensors and process this in PIX4Dmatic for indoor reconstructions of small rooms?
A plus: using the “Auto Tags” detection in PIX4Dcatch to have some good reference points (you can use those as MTPs too) (https://support.pix4d.com/hc/en-us/articles/14020313091229-How-to-use-Automatic-Tag-Detection-and-Manual-GCP-Marking-PIX4Dcatch-RTK)
Using an iPhone with the LIDAR is something we’re exploring. However, I don’t have an iPhone to try this with. Does it make that much different on indoor scenes to use the tags and/or LIDAR?
Even with an iPhone they have a wide-angle sensor. It seems a shame to not use the wide-angle sensor. Maybe there is a reason for not allowing the option (sensor quality or something) that I am not aware of. Is there a way to submit a feature request to explore getting this added?
The LiDAR does help for homogeneous surfaces, e.g. white walls. The latter are often present indoors and can be tricky for photogrammetry, so in my experience it can help quite a lot. As for the tags, they’re useful to “close the loop” to reduce the drift that can happen indoor when there is no RTK signal.
I’ll share your post with colleagues from the PIX4Dcatch team, let’s see what they say.
Hi @anthony.boverhuis
Thanks for reaching us out,
Indeed, in PIX4Dcatch either with iOS or Android, we do not use the wide angle sensor. It is manly due to limitations with ARkit / ARcore we use to build up the 3Dmodel. We will need to investigate deeper on this topic.
And yes, you are correct, using wider cameras could end up in a better 3D reconstruction model.
I will keep you updated if any progress on this topic on our side happens,
Thanks again