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PixPro Options explanation

PixPro option can be found under the Tools tab in the top menu.

Option form contains 4 tabs:

  1. General
  2. Reconstruction
  3. Measurements
  4. System settings.

Restore default settings button will restore default settings if something may be wrong with configuration.

"drawing"

General

  • Show layers, Show console, Show properties checkmarks will determine which panels are open in the software by default.

  • Map provider - shows what background map data is visible in the Map view.

  • Provider key - used to get data from the selected map provider.

  • Automatic check for updates checkmark - if checked, the software will notify the user when a new version is available.

  • Updates URL - link to the updates server.

  • Region - in this section user can choose units for the measurements.

  • Temp path - the location of the temporary files that the software creates during processing.

  • Play Sound when Operation Finished checkmark - audible notification toggle when the processing is finished.

  • Load Last Workspace - when the software is closed and opened the same open panels and windows will appear each time.

  • Most recent menu size - option of how much recent projects will be shown in the file tab in the software.

  • Max allowed GCP projection error - selection of the maximum error in pixels.

Reconstruction

  • Required min number of photos for auto calibration - a number that determines the minimum amount of images in the project when autocalibration data is saved after the reconstruction.

  • Flip reconstruction if not Georeferenced checkmark - if enabled flips non georeferenced reconstructions.

Measurements

  • Measurements presentation precision - numerical precision of displayed measurements in Pixpro.

  • Dynamic input - if enabled corresponding data will be shown near the mouse cursor when adding graphical objects in the software.

System settings

  • Used CPU Cores - slider that lets you choose how many cores the software will utilize. The less cores - the slower the processing will be.

  • Preferred Dense Point Cloud Calculation Resource - allows choosing the hardware which will perform Dense Cloud layer creation.

Log File Contents

The log file is an automatically formed file which consists of main project workflow information. It gives a detailed overview and provides internal documentation of the activity within the application.

The activity is registered as the new entry in the log file. Each entry consists of:

  • date and time of the activity - exact time of the performed action;
  • thread number - the number of a thread which the performed action was taken in;
  • the type of information:
    • INFO  - Information interesting for support staff, used to figure out the context of a given error.
    • ERROR - Statements that describe non-fatal errors in the application. The software continues performing with minor problems.
    • WARN - The warning is the information that has to be taken into consideration.
    • CRITICAL ERROR - The fatal error in the application resulted in the application crashing.
  • the number of the activity type - the number of activity type or error, consisting of letters PxP and 6 digits (e.g. PxP000344);
  • explanatory phrase/sentence - a short explanation of the action/error (e.g. Device DriverType has been set to Hardware.).

In case of error or malfunction of the software, the log file provides the list of issues in detail. The last few entries (i.e. performed actions) may be provided to the support team as this information may be important to get a faster and more exact support answer.

Supported file formats

Photo file formats: .JPEG Point Cloud file formats: .DXF, .LAS, .LAZ, .PLY, .STL, .XYZ, .PXG Graphical Objects file Formats:

  • Points: .LAS, .LAZ, .PLY, .PXG, .SHP, .DXF - supported for export only.
  • Lines: .PXG, .SHP, .DXF - supported for export only.
  • Polygons: .PXG, .SHP, .DXF - supported for export only.

DEM file formats: .TIFF, .OBJ (for export) Mesh file formats: .STL, .DXF (export only) Orthophoto file formats: .TIFF Contour Lines file format: .DXF Flight Track file formats: .TXT, .CSV, .PXG - all formats for import only. Classes file formats: .DXF Object file formats:

  • Points: .LAS, .LAZ, .PLY, .PXG, .SHP, .DXF
  • Lines and surfaces: .PXG, .SHP, .DXF

GCP file formats: .TXT, .CSV, .PXG

Terminology

  • Project - a 3D model reconstruction output. It consists of a photo set, all the reconstructed and generated layers, and the measurements and calculations acquired during the project work.
  • Photo - a digital image, a bitmap file in jpeg or png formats, i.e. visual information represented in the photo (in terms of traditional photography) or a thermal image of the object.
  • Feature/Keypoint - a distinctive feature in the image detected by the software and thus used to match with the features on the rest of the imagery.
  • Matching - the process of detection of the distinctive features on the imagery based on the appearance of the object.
  • 3D reconstruction - a process of feature detection and extraction, features matching and sparse reconstruction.
  • Camera Model - a definite model of a camera, often marked as a sequence of letters and numbers.
  • Camera Parameters - the values of sensor dimensions and principal point.
  • Camera Lenses - the values for focal length and distortions.
  • Optical Distortions - radially symmetric deviations of the visual representation of the object in the image, i.e. the lines and edges are visually slightly bent.
  • Bundle Adjustment - correction of the camera positions and points position in the 3D space.
  • Point Cloud - a 3D point list where every point is described in X, Y, Z coordinates and the colour code.
  • Dense Point Cloud - a densified point cloud.
  • Digital Elevation Map - a vector based irregular network representing the Digital Surface Model/Map (DSM) including the buildings and other on-ground objects.
  • Digital Surface Map - a 3D representation of the terrain including all objects on the ground.
  • Digital Terrain Map - a 3D representation of the plain surface of the terrain.
  • Orthophoto - the output result of the ortho-rectified aerial photographs, i.e. the photographs with the uniformed scaling, which are used for the reconstruction of a digital flat view of the terrain.
  • Camera - a physical object, having definite parameters of lens and zoom features. In terms of reconstruction process, the term camera defines the position of the physical camera at the moment of capturing the image.
  • Ground Control Point (GCP) - a control point on the surface which is described in geodetic coordinates (longitude, latitude, altitude) and is used for bounding the point cloud to the geographic coordinates.
  • Georeferencing - precise bounding to the geographic coordinates.

Hardware and software requirements

For Pixpro to function properly and most efficiently the latest drivers must be installed on your system. Special care should be taken regarding the Graphics Processing Unit or GPU drivers. Always make sure you have the latest drivers installed for your GPU devices.

For Intel GPU drivers visit downloadcenter.intel.com/ , go to Graphics Drivers section and download the latest available drivers.

For Nvidia GPU drivers visit www.nvidia.com/download/index.aspx , select your graphics card model and then download the latest available drivers. If you are not sure which GPU you have in your system you can use the automatic driver detection.

For Radeon GPU drivers visit www.amd.com/en/support , select your graphics card model and then download the latest available drivers. If you are not sure which GPU you have in your system you can use the automatic driver detection.

If there are multiple brands of GPUs in a single system, install drivers for every device present in it. Please note that diver installation sequence may be important. Always install your Main GPU drivers first. Main is the card installed in the first PCI slot on the motherboard, and usually the one used to connect the monitor too. NOTE: if you cannot see a graphics device that is present in your PC you might need to enable it in the motherboard bios.

If you have multiple graphics cards from the same manufacturer, only one driver installation is required for identical GPUs. If there are different types of GPUs from the same brand installed in one system, i.e Quadro - a professional GPU used for computing and GeForce - a gpu used for regular tasks and gaming, it is safer to choose the driver for the non - pro GPU.

Minimum hardware and software requirements:

Windows 7, 8, 10, Server 2008, Server 2012, 64 bits. Any CPU. Integrated graphics card Intel HD 4000 and above with 2GB of VRAM. Small and medium projects - under 500 photos: 16 GB RAM, 20 GB HDD Free space. Large projects - over 500 photos: 32 GB RAM, 40 GB HDD Free space.

Recommended hardware and software requirements:

Windows 10, Server 2012, 64 bits. Any CPU (8 threads or more recommended). Dedicated graphics card with CUDA or OpenCL 1.2 compatibility and 4GB of VRAM. Hard disk: SSD. Small and medium projects - under 500 photos: 16 GB RAM, 40 GB SSD Free space. Large projects - over 500 photos: 32 GB RAM, 60 GB SSD Free space.