Image Editing Capability

[can_glasgow]

It would be great to be able to edit/enhance the individual associated colour images attached to the scanworld at the post-registration/Project stage.

Eg.; removing unwanted image artefacts on a surface due to passing cars or people, editing the edge of a surface such as a slightly moving tree (usually has the colour of the sky is mapped onto the leaf edges), balance multi-tonal surfaces due to lens flares, or touch-up irregular colours when there is a considerable difference between dark and light surfaces. Although this could be done in the original scan (unregistered) dataset, it would save time to focus on the most obvious problem images.

A link to a secondary application like Photoshop may work but it may be better to have the capability within ReCap. Specific tools like an alpha channel wand, colour eye-dropper or clone stamp.

Thanks

[ryan.frenz]

Hi @can_glasgow, two questions:

• Can these cleanups be done on the colored point cloud, or only on the source photos?  At the moment ReCap has no access to the source photos for most scan types.
• How do you do these cleanups now?  Which software/tools/etc?

Thanks,

Ryan

[can_glasgow]

Hi Ryan,

From my perspective, it doesn't matter if the image cleanup was be done directly on the point cloud or on the source photo. I had assumed that with the Mirror Ball feature, ReCap had separate access to the associated imagery. 

The post-registration tools in ReCap are fantastic, the visual representation of point data is excellent, navigation is intuitive, and the removal of unnecessary points is (now) quick. Using ReCap for point data cleanup and/or as a presentation tool, it would make sense to have a complete point and image editing package.

In terms of our work flow, the initial colourisation is done in Z+F LaserControl to convert the ZFI to jpg/png (all of our scans incorporate HDR imagery). At this early stage the generated images are reviewed and can be edited in Photoshop. The data is then registered in Leica Cyclone and exported/imported into ReCap. I could see a scenario whereby the whole production process has to start over because of a bad image-mapped scan.

The images can certainly be edited at the LC stage, but as with most projects, not every image needs to be edited and artefacts may not be evident until everything is brought together in ReCap. Ideally the editing would be addressed at the final stage - targeting the obvious, problematic images to save production time. 

Cheers,

DP

[Light_Guy]

Would love to see this. We do a lot of scanning for DoD and having the ability to cut and delete items from the photos would be a huge bonus for us. Our scans have to be approved for national security purposes and if they find something in one of the scans, we have to delete the whole scan and go reshoot it. Being able to delete the points of the offending object is good but the picture still remains which is actually worse so we have no choice at this point than to scrap it and start over.