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Graphical user interface

This is the description of the drop-down menu items accessible from the top of the software window. Some of them overlap with features that can also be found on Layers panel, in these cases you may find only links to the according section of Layers panel's description.

File - a drop-down menu, consisting of the following items:

  • New Project - opens new project, directs to the Photo Set Manager for further photo selection. The menu item is disabled after creating new project.

  • Open Project - opens an existing project. The menu item is disabled after opening an existing project.

  • Save Project - saves the existing project and all the calculated/generated data within. The project can also be saved upon exiting the application by clicking OK to save.

  • Save as Project Archive - saves and the entire project in a single zip file for easy project sharing or archiving.

  • Clear Temp Files - clears all files created by Pixpro in the temporary file folder.

  • Clean Cache Files - cleans cached project files needed for visualisation. All layers will close and will have to be loaded again after cleaning the cache.

  • Project history - recent projects and their directories appear in this section. Amount of project can be customized in options.

  • Exit - closes the application. If there is unsaved data in an open project, you will be offered to save it before quitting.

Edit - a drop-down menu, consisting of the following items:

  • Undo - allows to go one step/action back. (Important note: Undo/Redo actions are cleared after generating any new layers)

  • Redo - allows to repeat the undone step/action. (Important note: Undo/Redo actions are cleared after generating any new layers)

  • Add Point - add a point object in the 3D view.

  • Add Line - add a line object in the 3D view.

  • Add polygon - add a polygon object in the 3D view.

  • Create Profile - allows creating a profile by marking the joint points on the DEM. The profile allows measurements and calculations on the cross-section of the 3D object.

  • Level by...

    • Averaging - allows levelling of the selected area within the 3D object by averaging the elevation level of all polygon points.

    • Level by Maximum - allows levelling of the selected area within the 3D object by elevating the surface to the maximum height of the polygon point.

    • Level by Minimum - allows levelling of the selected area within the 3D object by lowering down the surface to the minimum of the polygon point.

    • Level by Offset - levels the selected area by a defined offset amount.

    • Level by Point - levels the selected area by the height of designated point.

  • Fill Holes - allows filling the holes by manually selecting a particular area with insufficient reconstruction data. Such holes may occur as a result of a variety of reasons.

  • Cut Hole - allows cutting the hole on the Digital Elevation Map surface.

  • Crop - allows cropping the Digital Elevation Map.

View - a drop-down menu, consisting of the following items:

  • Photos View - switches to the Photos view tab and displays the selected photo in the layers panel.

  • Map View - switches to the Map view tab. Photo locations, DEM, Orthophoto, objects and GCP's are also visible on the map if they are available.

  • 3D View - displays the reconstructed 3D model layers, i.e. point clouds, DEMs, etc.

  • Isometric Projection - visual representation of the 3D objects in 2D mode. The coordinate axes are equally foreshortened and the angle between any two of them equals to 120 degrees.

  • Perspective Projection - the mapping of the 3D points on the 2D plane to produce spatial effect as the object is normally seen by the human eye.

  • Predefined Views - selection of view angles:

    • Top View - the object is displayed from the top.

    • Bottom View - the object is displayed from the bottom.

    • Left View - the object is displayed from the left side.

    • Right View - the object is displayed from the right side.

    • Front View - the object is displayed from the front position.

    • Back View - the object is displayed from the back position.

    • Front Isometric - the object is displayed from the front position in the isometric mode.

    • Back Isometric - the object is displayed from the back position in the isometric mode.

  • Viewports:

    • Store Viewport - saves the current 3D view position and zoom level. Multiple viewports can be saved.

    • Restore viewport - loads any saved viewport.

  • Windows:

    • Layers - opens the layers panel.

    • Console - opens the console panel.

    • Properties - opens the properties panel.

    • Tools - opens the tools panel.

    • Restore default view - restores default panels in their default locations.

    • Profile - shows the profile panel.

Workflow - a drop-down menu, consisting of the following items:

  • 3D Structure - starts the generation of the sparse point cloud that will represent the 3D structure of the project.

  • Reoptimize - optional step to increase sparse point cloud and camera position quality after initial reconstruction.

  • Dense Point Cloud - next step of photogrammetric workflow - dense point cloud generation.

  • Digital Elevation Map (DEM) - DEM surface generation dialog with relevant parameters.

  • Orthophoto - Orthophoto imagery generation dialog with relevant parameters.

  • Mesh - 3D mesh generation dialog with relevant parameters.

  • Contour Lines - contour lines map generation dialog with relevant parameters.

  • Full Workflow - opens a menu where all the workflow steps are executed sequentially with a press of a one button.

Referencing

  • Georeference to Ground Control Points - bounds the coordinate referencing to the manually set GCPs on the 3D model. The option is used for high accuracy geotagging.

  • Georeference to Photos Location - bounds the coordinate referencing to the photos coordinates from the EXIF tags.

  • Clear georeferecing - gets rid of any georeferencing in the current project. Data in GCPs and photos is not deleted, just not used.

  • Adjustment to Ground Control Points - adjusts X Y Z coordinates to 2 or 1 GCP's.

  • Set Scaling - manually set the values of distance for the project which is georeferenced to photos location.

  • Coordinate systems - enables creation of custom coordinate systems for later use.

Tools - a drop-down menu, consisting of the following items:

  • Photo Set Manager - module used to manage photos that are in the project and the calibration database.

  • Ground Control Points Manager - module for managing the GCPs and their projections.

  • Import calibration DB - opens an import window for camera calibration data from a saved native .pxpb file.

  • Project Summary - opens a pdf file with a detailed overview of the project. Detailed reconstruction and densification results such as feature generation ant matching statistics can be found in the summary. Camera calibration results and georeferencing error estimations are also in the summary alongside layer creation duration data. The summary files are also accessible in the project directory, summary folder.

  • Options - opens the dialogue window to adjust the parameters and settings. Allows modification of general settings, reconstruction, and DEM parameters, and displays the overview of system requirements.

Help - a drop-down menu consisting of the following items:

  • Help - opens product help file.
  • Visit Web Site - link to www.pix-pro.com
  • About Pixpro - opens a window with current software version information, user name, company and system hardware ID:

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  • Check for updates button - checks if there is a new version of the software.

  • Copy button - copies the hardware ID for easy sharing.

  • Share Photos button - sends the project photos to the Pixpro team for investigation.

  • Share Project button - sends the entire project to the Pixpro team.

  • Share Log button - sends the project log to the Pixpro team for potential troubleshooting.

  • OK button - closes the window.

Toolbar

Toolbar is divided into two parts. Horizontal toolbar is always available whereas the vertical is seen in the 3D view only.

If there is a need to reposition certain horizontal toolbar segments, this can be done by dragging vertical dotted line "drawing"

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Horizontal toolbar items from left to right

  • New Project - opens new project, directs to the Photo Set Manager for further photo selection. The menu item is disabled after creating new project.

  • Open Project - opens an existing project. The menu item is disabled after opening an existing project.

  • Save Project - saves the existing project and all the calculated/generated data within. The project can also be saved upon exiting the application by clicking OK to save.

  • Undo - allows to go one step/action back.

  • Redo - allows to repeat the undone step/action.

  • Ground Control Points Manager - opens the GCP manager tool. It allows addition and editing the GCPs on the photos.

  • Photo Set Manager - opens the Photo set manager tool. It displays all the information about the input photos, detailed camera properties and allows to view each photo individually.

  • Full workflow - opens a window where all the layers can be created.

  • Print snapshot - takes a 3D view snapshot and saves it as an image or .pdf file. TIP: If a polygon is selected when pressing the snapshot button the software will ask if measurements should be included in the generated image. If chosen yes, the snapshot will look similar to this:

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  • Perspective Projection - the object is displayed from in the perspective mode, i.e. as it is seen by the human eye, in the perspective with a visual foreshortening.

  • Isometric Projection - the object is displayed in the isometric mode, i.e. all the parts of the object are presented in the proportions as they actually are, without visual foreshortening.

  • Zoom In - visually enlarges the 3D model.

  • Zoom Out - visually reduces the size of the 3D model.

  • Scope - enables the zooming of the definite part of the object in the most optimal way. TIP: One can always press right mouse button on any layer in the layers panel and choose Scope to layer object.

  • Timeline - opens timeline window for selected object.

  • Create Profile Cross-section - creates temporary profile cross-section on the model.

  • Add Point - adds a point to the selection.

  • Insert Point - insert a point into the selected polygon or polyline.

  • Remove Point - remove a point from the selected polygon or polyline.

  • Move Point - move a single point on the selected polygon or polyline.

  • Snap - toggle on/off of snapping to objects when adding new objects.

  • Bounding Box - toggle on/off the bounding box of the point clouds.

Vertical toolbar items top to bottom

  • Add Point - draw a point object on the DEM.

  • Add Line - draw a line object on the DEM.

  • Add Polygon - draw a polygon object on the DEM.

  • Leveling tools:

    • Level by Averaging - levels the selected area on the model by average value.

    • Level by Maximum - levels the selected area on the model by maximum point value.

    • Level by Minimum - levels the selected area on the model by minimum point value.

    • Level by Offset - levels the selected area by a defined offset amount.

    • Level by Point - levels the selected area by a height of a selected spot on the DEM.

  • Cut Hole - cuts the hole on the model surface.

  • Fill Holes - fills holes on the model surface.

  • Crop - crops the model according to the selection.

Graphic Window

The graphic window consists of 4 tabs which allow the visualisation of different layers:

  • Photos - displays the selected picture from the Layers panel.

  • Map - displays the digital map. Photo locations, DEM, Orthophoto, objects and GCP's are also visible on the map if they are available.

  • 3D View - displays the reconstructed 3D model layers, i.e. point clouds, DEMs, etc.

  • Reports - displays the created reports and allows to select the options for the report generation, i.e. selecting the object of the report, adding logos, time, date, compass directions.

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Panels

There are 4 main panels which give specific information depending on the type of layer viewed:

  • Layers Panel - the panel where the steps of reconstruction are displayed in a list, i.e. photos, point clouds, DEMs, etc.

  • Console Panel - displays the sequence of the Pixpro performed actions in detail.

  • Properties Panel - displays the related information of the step. The type of information depends on the selected option, i.e. if the DEM is selected, the panel gives detailed information on the DEM parameters and definite values, etc.

  • Tools Panel - allows viewing and adjusting Scale and Profile settings. For scaling, it allows setting the scale manually and displays the scaling parameters. For Profile, it displays calculations on surface, slope angle, elevation and distance as well as allows exporting the profile data. It is placed behind the Properties panel and is active only when the Set scaling or Profile options are enabled.

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Additionally two more panels can be enabled for different functionality - timeline and profile.

  • Timeline Panel - panel used for timeline calculations to compare volumes in time. Below software interface with the timeline panel enabled.

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  • Profile Panel - panel used for displaying the profile. Below software interface with the profile panel enabled.

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