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The Inspector tool displays the photos used to generate a 3D PhotoMesh model so you can view, inspect, and mark up any section of your model (tower, bridge, construction site, etc.) without distortions or filters. Photo Inspector makes it easy to navigate within the model and between the model and its associated photos, providing real world coordinates for each photo pixel, so you can find the best photos for each area of the model. The Photo Inspector provides a set of drawing and measurement tools to mark areas and locations on the model with inspection points, polylines, or polygons.
To perform photo inspections, the Photo Inspector tool requires access to the PhotoMesh 3D model output (3DML) and the photos layer generated by PhotoMesh's aerotriangulation process. The tool also needs access to the folder or server containing the original photos (AT Calculated Photos) used by PhotoMesh. More about: Starting the Photo Inspector tool >
Inspecting Your Model
To inspect your model:
- On the side toolbar >
> Tools tab > Inspector.
- The Photos Layer field is automatically populated with the AT Calculated Photos layers in the project. If there are multiple Calculated Photos layers, select the required layer from the dropdown list.
- Click Start. The Photo Inspector Quick Guide is displayed.
- To set an inspection point, click Zoom in
to view the inspection area.
- Click Set inspection point
(Shortcut key: "m") and then click on the model in the point of interest. The photos looking at the point are listed in the Photo Inspector lists under the main and secondary viewers. In the 3D Window, photo icons are displayed for each of the photos looking at the point.
- If the photo viewers are displayed, you can select a new point of interest by clicking Set inspection point
, and then clicking on one of the photos.
- Use the Reset
button on the toolbar to clear the inspection point, close the photo viewers and reset the visibility filter on the photo’s layer in the 3D Window to view all photo icons.
- Click
to toggle between a single viewer (main) and two viewers (main and secondary).
Using the photo viewers (main and secondary)
After selecting a point of interest, the Photo Inspector selects the most relevant photo and zooms in to the selected point on the photo in the photo viewer. The selected point is marked by a blue crosshairs on the photo and on the 3D model. All the photos looking at the point that meet the following criteria, are listed in the Photo Inspector under the main and secondary viewers:
- Its location is within the Settings-Search distance value of the point of interest.
- It was calculated by PhotoMesh's aerotriangulation process.
- The point of interest was projected within the photo frame but not too close (> 50 pixels) to the edge of the photo.
The number of photos listed in the viewers is determined by the Max Results per Viewer setting. The photos are listed in order from most relevant to the point of interest to least relevant according to the following criteria:
- Distance between the photo and the selected point
- Angle of the camera to the selected point in comparison to the viewer angle
If the selected point is on a horizontal surface (road, roof), more weight is given to the distance factor. If the selected point is on a vertical surface, more weight is given to the angle.
Selecting the viewers for display
The Photo Inspector includes two viewers. In Settings, you can choose to display either a single viewer (main) or both a main and a secondary viewer, and specify the photos to be shown in the secondary viewer. More about: Using the photo viewers >
Viewing an inspection point in photos
After selecting a point of interest, the Photo Viewer’s Photo Inspector lists show the most relevant photos according to the Max Results per Viewer setting.
To view the inspection point in the photos, do any of the following:
- Select a photo in the viewers' dropdown photo lists.
- Use the Next/Previous buttons
or the keyboard shortcuts "<", ">" to browse through the photos.
- In the 3D Window, click any camera icon to display the photo associated with it in the relevant viewer (main or secondary).
Marking Up Your Model
To mark and measure areas in your 3D model or on photos in the Photo Inspector:
- On the side toolbar >
> Tools tab > Inspector.
- The Inspection Layer field is automatically populated with all polyline or polygon feature layers in the project in the project. The inspection layer is where all markup of the model with inspection points, polylines, or polygons is saved. Select the required layer from the dropdown list. Only choose a layer for which you have Edit access. You can first load an inspection feature layer from SkylineGlobe Server into the project, if required. More about: Creating a new inspection layer in TerraExplorer Desktop >
- Click Start. The Photo Inspector Quick Guide is displayed. Do any of the following on the Photo Inspector toolbar:
- To add an inspection line or polygon, click Draw inspection line on model or photo
. The inspection line is drawn according to the Draw Mode style selected in the Photo Inspector settings. In all modes you can draw the lines on the 3D model or on the photos:
- Polyline - Place the polyline points by clicking in the desired locations. Finish the polyline creation by right-clicking.
- Freehand Line – Click and hold the left mouse button and draw the freehand line on the 3D model or on a Photo. Release the left mouse button to complete the drawing.
- Polygon - Place the polygon points by clicking in the desired locations. Finish the polygon creation by right-clicking.
- To add an inspection point, click Draw inspection point
on model or photo. Then click anywhere on the model or on a photo.
- To measure distance, click Start distance measurement
. Click any point on the model or on a photo to define the start point of the measurement. A yellow line extends from the start point. Click again to add additional measurement points. Right-click to finish the measurement.
- To add an inspection line or polygon, click Draw inspection line on model or photo
- To view a list of markings and measurements to an inspection layer, on the Photo Inspector toolbar, click Show list of inspection drawings
. The Inspections List is displayed, showing a table of all the inspections markings and measurements in the layer.
- Do any of the following:
- Click View
to zoom in the model in the 3D Window to the selected inspection marking or measurement.
- Click Show Photos
to open the Photo Viewer and show photos looking at the area marked by your inspection feature.
- Click Edit
to open the Inspection Properties dialog for the selected inspection marking or measurement. Then enter the inspection attributes: title, severity level, and author. Perform any of the following operations in the Inspection Properties dialog:
- Click Delete
to delete the inspection drawing.
- Click Redraw
to redraw the inspection drawing.
- Click Zoom in
to zoom in to the inspection drawing.
- Click Show Photos
to open the Photo Viewer and show photos looking at the area marked by your inspection feature.
- Click Delete
- Click View
Settings
Settings for your current inspection project can be viewed and edited from the Photo Inspector Settings dialog. These settings include general project information, viewer properties, photo filter settings, and inspection layer properties. The settings are saved separately for each photo layer and applied when closing the Settings dialog (either by clicking X or Close).
More about: Photo Inspector settings >