Photo Matching

[Glenn.Coppard]

We've got a project through some sensitive areas and have a variety of site photos we want to align views of the model to.

Is there a way in IW360, to change the view location to these preset locations, align the view and F.o.V. (focal length) with known points between the model and the photograph?

Then we'd save as bookmark for quick reference.

This is something we often do with MircoStation (setup shown below) and save the views for quick recall.

[John_DeLeeuw]

@Glenn.Coppard, at the moment your best shot is using 3DS Max for this and its nice Perspective Matching tools.

InfraWorks 360 needs more robust options to change Bookmarks and options for matching with photos. Actually, I would like to see an option to import photos and using the attached GPS EXIF data and automatically create a Bookmark from that. Hopefully that will be added some day.

Here are some resources for you to check out on (automated & manual) ways to change:

- The Bookmark Elevation using JavaScript

- The Bookmark CameraPosition & CameraTarget

- Manually changing the Geocentric Coordinates of Bookmarks

[Glenn.Coppard]

@John_DeLeeuw We use 3DS for the final photo montages etc... but not when we have numerous options / view locations that we only need to get a decent 'view' of.

What we want to able to use IW360 for is to communicate the design options with our variety of specialists, for this we don't need or want to go through the detailed process using 3DS when we have IW360 Bookmarks that are suitable if we had more control over setting the eye & target location and camera settings, using even a basic 'photomatch' technique of simple 'eye & target' to set this would be great.

Thanks for the links also, very interesting, particularly the bookmark JSON files, pity about the geocentric coords...

If it weren't for those a simple XSLT would allow us to convert our view (eye & target) locations which are recorded in XML files (using the Local Projection) to suitable JSON files.

[John_DeLeeuw]

@Glenn.Coppard, I understand were you challenges are, especcially concerning the early stages of projects. Thats why I just created this Idea for you and others to vote on and gather support.

[JasonArtley]

I like this idea (and voted for it!). I recently had a project where I used a "Before" photo, then needed to create an "After" photo showing a completely new road section. I used Infraworks to create the section, and "eyeballed" the view to match the photo. I spliced them together with Photoshop, and I was happy with the finished product. However it took several tries to get the view to match. Being able to use data from a photo to generate a bookmark would have saved me a lot of time and frustration!

[Glenn.Coppard]

@John_DeLeeuw Thanks for posting the Idea Thread John, I have added my thoughts to this.

I do share your frustration @JasonArtley. What you've described is the sort of thing we do all the time and is really a basic requirement we need to address while developing / assessing 'options'.

[JasonArtley]

Sketchup allows Photo matching, and it's quite easy to use. Even if there's a manual interaction required, as in Sketchup, it would be incredibly helpful. 

[John_DeLeeuw]

@Glenn.Coppard, really outstanding ideas from you on the Editing of Bookmarks!

Please all vote on that idea to get it implemented!