RealityCapture is a professional photogrammetry software solution available for Windows, Linux, and MacOS. It provides high quality results and fast reconstruction of 3D models that can be used to create Model Targets.
RealityCapture by CapturingReality is used for recreating textured 3D meshes, creating virtual reality scenes, and geo-referenced maps from images and laser scans. 3D reconstructions of objects created with RealityCapture are also suitable to create Model Targets. Its high-detail reconstruction of objects and textures does require additional post-processing to simplify and correct the final 3D model output.
Software Requirements:
Consult the software’s hardware requirements on RealityCapture’s Requirements page.
Installation
A guide and introduction are available upon purchase and download of the software. We recommend going through it if this is your first photogrammetry software, see RealityCapture’s introduction.
Image Capturing Guide
RealityCapture can handle any number of images, so take plenty of them with the highest possible resolution. It also handles images taken from afar and from up close as long as you take photos in loops or arcs around the object, while maintaining a viewpoint change of 30 degrees or less. For more best practices, please see their guidelines here.
Image Processing
Processing the images can be set to four general phases.
- Importing images and organizing them.
- Align images. Optionally, set the ground plane and scale.
- Reconstruct the 3D model.
- Simplify the 3D model.
Follow the RealityCapture’s 4-part video tutorials to get started. RealityCapture has additional helpful tools such as the masking that frees the 3D model from undesired surroundings
Model Simplification
The reconstructed 3D model is most likely too complex to be imported into the Model Target Generator. You should simplify it and reduce the file size and texture size before exporting it. Use the Simplify tool in RealityCapture or a mesh editor to prepare the model for the Model Target Generator(MTG). Alternatively, you can also use the Simplification capabilities of the Model Target Generator.
During this, ensure that the scale, complexity, and file format is supported by the MTG.
See the Create a Model Target from a Reconstruction for the final steps.