Import panoramic photos

AVEVA Point Cloud Manager Gateway Mode supports the import of high-definition panoramic photos in .jpg, .png or iSTAR (.nctri) formats.

To import panoramic photos:

1. In the Registration panel, right-click the project and select Import to this project. This opens a browser.

2. Select the panoramic photos to be added and then select Open.

3. Alternatively, select the panoramic photos to be added in a Windows Explorer window and drag and drop them on to the project node. The window shown below appears:

   

4. Click Browse and select the location for the output files, then click Select Folder. A preview of the panoramic photo will be shown in the lower part of the dialog.

5. Select Convert to begin the import process.

When importing high-definition panoramic images, the images are converted to .lfj/.lfp files and are located in the converted scans folder. You can then view these HD panoramic images in the Server mode after successful dataset generation. The images get clearer upon zooming.

After the import process has completed the panoramic photo will be available in the Registration panel. It is also represented in the 3D view by a 3D shape. The .jpg and .png files are represented by a sphere, .nctri files are represented by an iSTAR camera shaped object.

To view the panoramic photo follow the steps below:

6. Right-click the name and select Show Panoramic Image.

7. Alternatively, you can drag and drop the panoramic photo node from the Registration panel into the 3D view to load the panoramic photo OR You can right-click the panoramic photo representation in the 3D view and select Show Panoramic Image. The panoramic photo is displayed as shown below:

8. Click and drag to move the view around and use the mouse wheel to zoom in and out, just like a BubbleView. As there is no 3D scan data linked to a panoramic photo, functionality is limited to viewing only.

To close the panoramic image, hover over the top-right corner of the 3D window and select the Panoramic Image icon. Then select Close Panoramic Image.

Panoramic photos are positioned at 0,0,0 by default. However, they can be repositioned by either importing a .csv/.txt file to transform the panoramic scan positions based on the coordinates in the .csv/.txt file or by visually positioning them in the 3D window.

Positioning multiple panoramic images

You can set the positions of existing panoramic images by importing a .csv/.txt file. Point Cloud Manager uses coordinates from the csv file to position the panoramic images. This .csv/.txt file could be of a pre-defined format or a user-defined format.

A pre-defined .csv/.txt file will have the following format:

<Filename.FileExtension>, <x coordinate>, <y coordinate>, <z coordinate>, <x rotation>, <y rotation>, <z rotation>.

• The filenames of the panoramic images and that of the .csv/.txt file should match.

• You must have the panoramic images imported before you import the .csv/.txt file.

To import positional information for multiple panoramic images:

9. Right-click the Register Group node for the panoramic images and select Import positional information.

10. In the window that displays, select the .csv/.txt file data and then select Open.

11. In the Import Positional Information from window, select one of the following options:

    • Use default field allocation and delimiter. Use this option to select a .csv/.txt file of a pre-defined format.

    • Use custom field allocation and delimiter. Use this option if you wish to import a .csv/.txt file with a format of your choice.

      • If you select this option, click the Delimiter drop-down to select a comma-separated value. The Imported Information Preview window is displayed with empty column titles.

      • Right-click each column to select a title from the available list.

12. In the Import Positional Information from window, select a unit of your choice. The imported information is displayed with positions as per the units set.

13. Select Next to view the imported information window, and then select Finish. The Completion Report window is then displayed with the number of successful transformations applied.

You can view the transformed positions of all the imported panoramic images in the Orthographic View. You can also view the x, y, z coordinate values in the Attributes window.

Entering coordinates

To change the position of a panoramic photo by entering coordinates, follow the steps below:

14. In the Registration panel, select the panoramic photo to be positioned.

    At the bottom of the Registration panel, you will see the Attributes window which displays information about the panoramic photo, including the position.

To edit the position, follow the steps below:

15. Click to select the relevant x/y/z field, and then double-click to make the field editable.

16. Enter the desired coordinate and press Enter.

17. Repeat this for the other positional fields.

Visually positioning

To change the position of a panoramic photo by visually positioning it, follow the steps below:

18. In the Registration panel, right-click the panoramic photo and select Manipulate.

19. In the 3D window the panoramic photo 3D representation is shown with a red/green/blue coordinate frame around it.

    

20. Click and drag the relevant arrows to move the panoramic photo to the appropriate position.

21. Right-click one of the arrows to accept the new position or press Esc to cancel the manipulation and return the item to its original position.

Any panoramic photos present in the project at the point of dataset (.lfd) generation is carried through to the Point Cloud Manager dataset for viewing by engineering users.