Mapping Missions and stitching images after
I fly mapping missions all the time with the mavic mini and mavic air 2. When I process the images in Microsoft ICE, Lightroom or adobe photoshop to stitch them into one big image... I have never been able to stitch the images together correctly. I believe this to be a particular dronelink setting that I need to try. I have changed speed, height, overlap angle etc
Been trying this a year and no success......any ideas?
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None of the programs you are using are fit for purpose, IMHO. Can they do it? Yes, if conditions are perfect.
Try it in Maps Made Easy or WebODM - both of which will let you try out stuff for free. I would bet it works in those without issue.
Have you tried photogrammetry software for stitching? You can download 3DF Zephyr Free version and try that. Also, if you have a small dataset you wish to upload to google drive (or where ever) that did not work for you, upload it and I will try it. What parameters are you using for your mapping mission?
Thanks for the reminder FlyinLo - I keep meaning to try 3DF Zephyr
I’ll try that …. I appreciate it
I am using the default parameters most of the time. Sometimes higher altitude, slower speed and 75/75 overlap at a mimimim Never works
I use WebODM, you can download it and use it for free without limitations, it's tricky to install and get running for the first time but once it's installed and working it's gold.
This link will show you how to install it, I used the free version for a while and liked it so much that I bought the Windows Installer version, no difference in functionality I just figure it's worth paying developers from time to time, keeps them working :)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LT0dYCh8pXw
https://www.opendronemap.org/webodm/
Hi Ben Catchlove
I am running WebODM in Docker on my PC - I also have a larger server set up in AWS, which I only use when I need it and turn it off otherwise.
My PC version is limited, but I think it would be better if it could use the GPU as my PC has a pretty powerful one. I was told the windows installer version handles that automatically - would you be able to confirm that?
Thanks!
Trying WEB ODM now. Tryed it before.....seemed to warp the edges of building roofs. But, it does line up
Projection is off a little
Im thinking I need to mess with Drone link some more. Possibly change the overlap to 80/80 and even change the interval the drone takes pics??????? It defaults to one pic every 2 secs.
I can confirm that WebODM windows native does all the resource management including the GPU, the caveat is that you'll want an Nvidia card, no shared graphics memory etc. I use my mid range work laptop to process most small jobs, it's a basic laptop with shared graphics memory and a Rizen CPU and 12gb of Ram, so not powerful at all.
When I use my old gaming laptop (an old Toshiba Qosmio x505) it runs much faster, it does use the GPU (it has a big Nvidia card in it).
I run Win 10 enterprise on the work lappy and Win 7 enterprise on my gaming lappy, enterprise versions offer much more control over your computer, better memory management etc.
Some processes within WebODM are single thread tasks so that can't be avoided, however if you want real distributed processing you run the Docker version, and then set up more processing nodes on other machines and you can then run clustered rendering, the native Windows version doesn't cluster because it's a Docker thing.
To give you an idea of the speed of a regular slowish business lappy with processing (the 14 image maps are just a subset of the 241 images from the 6 acres) : dsm: true, dtm: true (6 Acre map)
50:45 minutes 241 images
5 images per minute in 'resize images Yes' mode = 12 seconds per image (images of a medium density forest)
15:06 minutes 14 images
1 images per minute in 'resize images No' mode = 65 seconds per image (images of a medium density forest)
21:37 minutes 14 images
.75 images per min in 'resize images Yes+high res' mode = 92 seconds per image (images of a medium density forest)
Barry Myers, I have found that my maps get a little mashed up along some edges of the map, so I just do a larger map and crop off the mashed up bits on the edges. I run a minimum of 83 x 75 overlap, if you want better 3D images then go with 90 x 83 overlap or there abouts.
It takes a while to get your settings right, the worst part is the waiting during processing, so I experiment with small batch jobs and tweak from there. Create a small map, and run it multiple times with different settings (document your settings for each run) I use a separate SD card for each map, they are numbered so it's easy for me to assign the map to the settings.
For mapping you can use cheap SD cards as the write time for images is faster than taking 4k videos, for 4K vids you'll wants fast cards, but that hasn't anything to do with mapping.
Things like clouds interfering with the available lumens during a map run can cause small stitching issues, as always with UAV stuff try and test during 'ideal' conditions so you have at least a credible and repeatable test environment.
I only use manual mode for my camera setup not auto, for me that's been a steep learning curve because I was never any good at setting up a normal DSLR camera, but I think I've got it kind of nailed down :)
Thanks, Ben Catchlove.
I've been running it in Docker, but this might be a better bet as the RAM allocated to Docker is limited.
Barry Houldsworth , not sure how you message someone on this forum, but if you send me your email address I can send you a link to my file repository that contains some software you may like to assess on Windows
Ben Catchlove That would be great - can you send it to barry@aviosaerialmedia.com
Thanks
email sent, it's a Sync.com link :)
Thank you! I'll check it out later.
Ben,
Ill try the 83 x 75 overlap. I did better recently by taking images every 4 seconds and flying at 300 feet. I still have some stitching issues, but works best in Adobe Photoshop for stitching.
What camera settings are you referring to? You take the pictures manually?
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