What's new in Pix4Dbim Cloud - July 2019

[Julien_Von_Oetinger]

We’re excited to share the latest updates to Pix4Dbim Cloud: a brand new viewer is now available and it comes with new features and improvements.

 

Improved project management dashboard

You’ll see your projects are arranged in a different way, with your own sites, demo datasets and uncategorized data arranged in sections on the left-side menu. The demo projects are now separated from your sites to make it easier for you to navigate through your projects. 

 

You can also create folders to arrange your dashboard your way. You can create multiple levels of folders and easily move existing projects in the folders.

 

Open up a project and you’ll see that the left menu is organized into three sections: layers, overlays and annotations.

You can now add more information to annotations and arrange them in groups to keep them together. You can easily move annotations from one group to another.

The format of exported CSV files has been changed to reflect this change.

 

Annotations synchronized between 2D and 3D

2D and 3D annotations are now synchronized. Annotations and measurements added in the 2D view will be shown in the 3D view - and vice versa. 

For accurate measurements, the Z elevation will be determined using the digital surface model (DSM), if available.

And to easily switch between the two views, the 2D/3D toggle has moved - you’ll find it at the bottom left of the viewer

 

More coordinates information

When you add a marker, it’s info is displayed. You can see the coordinates and colors on the left sidebar. Plus the marker coordinates are now displayed in the project’s output projected coordinate system as well as WGS84.

Cursor’s coordinates and elevation are now displayed at the bottom right corner of the viewer. These values change dynamically when the cursor moves.

 

More point cloud settings 

We improved the point cloud visualization. 

You can now change the size of the points. Choose the standard adaptive points, or select a fixed point cloud size - this may help areas with low point density display better. You can also color the points according to their elevation (Z values).

 

Mesh and point cloud are independent layers

Mesh and Point cloud are now available as independent layers in the hierarchy. This means you can visualize them at the same time and change their settings independently in the Inspector (right panel).

 

Screenshot tool 

Navigate through your 2D or 3D view, find the view you want to capture and click click the button at the bottom-right of the viewer to take a screenshot of what you’re seeing. The screenshot will be saved on your computer.

 

GeoJSON and shapefiles import

GeoJSON files can now be imported into your projects. You can export annotations and measurements from one project as GeoJSON and import them into your new project. Or import files from third-party applications - just be sure they use the WGS84 (EPSG:4326) coordinate system.

Annotations and their labels will be included in the exported image to keep all the information together. That makes it easier to report changes.

 

2D Comparison tool 

As an enhancement to the timeline, you can now visually compare two dates of your choice using the 2D Comparison slider.  

You can compare all 2D outputs: orthomosaics, DSM, and the imported CAD files, design plans or maps, either separately or together.

Click on the Share button on the top right of the screen to share the comparison.

 

Improved Overlay tool

We improved the Overlay tool to make it easier for you to import and overlay multiple design plans and maps on the orthomosaic. 

The Overlay has a new marker system that improves accuracy when positioning your design plans or maps on the orthomosaic. 

You can now georeference your overlays with manual editing of the marker coordinates using your site coordinates system. And you can also upload georeferenced PDFs.

Once your overlay is imported, its position is applied across all datasets in the entire project. 

You can add multiple files to the same map and choose to show or hide the different layers as needed.

 

 

More improvements are in the works for Pix4Dbim Cloud, for instance we’ll release a Volume comparison tool very soon, so stay tuned!

[pixmap_operations]

Well done, we were eagerly waiting for all these improvements
Thank you!

[Julian_Norton]

Thanks Pixmap! We would value any detailed feedback you have. Maybe we fix a time to speak?

[pixmap_operations]

Sure, anytime. For example next week? Which days work well for you, I would prefer late afternoon. You have my e-mail, address, I guess.

[Tylor_Foster]

What happened to being able to change the color of the overlays? I sat through the demo with you a month or two ago, Julian. There was an option to change the color of the overlay.

 

Also, when I upload an overlay it looks really nice and clean in the editing side, but once processed it is super pixelated on the platform when viewing over the Ortho. 

 

Lastly, it would be nice when dragging the X’s to the points you want to use for orientation and scale that the cursor wasn’t directly over the point. You could show a zoom in bubble like the iPhone when trying to select text. That way we can actually see what we are placing the X on.

[Manuel_Carpintero]

Hi Julien, 

I know you are doing a great job with Pix4D on the cloud, but in my opinion, Cad files (DXF, DWG, XML, or another vectors files) should be able to import into the cloud in the next update . Righ now Pix4dBIM on the cloud is a powerful tool for the stakholders an users that are not knowledges . They only want to consult and extract greats results. With the orthomosaic and the posibility to get some kind of data (distances, areas , volume, profiles ) is amanzing, but I think , Pix4DBIM should get a step more. It should have the posibility to get mass handling comparing flights, or even the design proyect. (as 3DR Site done for example). Also, it should exist the posibility to import cad files to get profiles, comparing the flights done with the cad project (as Infrakit, for example that you can import as XML ).  I think there are lot of posibilities to improve, with a little adjustements. But for me , as my collegues says , it is paramount to have the posibilty to import cad files and not PDF. You don’t forget, in civil jobs, the jobs is lineal (highway, railway,… etc). Frecuently, those jobs have several Km, having lot of PDF drawings.

I understand, to develop those sugestion it takestime, but, they are already developed.