Overview
Drones have become the definitive tool for inspection and mapping over the last several years. The introduction of high-quality data collection via drone also opened the door for high-quality photogrammetry production from the data collected.
Photogrammetry or 3D modeling is a very useful tool for inspection purposes, giving you, your client, or your stakeholder the ability to not only visualize your asset in 3D space but to inspect that asset for defects or issues.
Here at Hammer Missions, we have developed our own in-house 3D modeling that runs alongside our end-to-end solution.
In this post, we will look at how to create 3D models and then add inspection images at a later date.
Capturing Data For 3D Models
The general rule for capturing data for 3D models is to collect data from both the nadir position (from above) and the oblique position (the sides)
Capturing two sets of data, that overlap each other, covers the entire asset and will inevitably give you a better final 3D model.
Both your nadir capture and oblique capture should have at least an 80% overlap to ensure the asset is covered from all angles. This will allow the software to correctly match the key points and extract them.
For further information please see our post:
Capturing Data for Inspections
When capturing data for an inspection you are concentrating more on the asset and the anomalies, or defects, rather than whole asset coverage for 3D modeling.
Inspections often involve a closer inspection of the asset to find issues, this can be done in a few ways by utilizing an inspection-capable zoom camera, a high-megapixel camera, or moving the drone closer to the asset.
For further information please see our post:
How to combine 3D Mapping with Inspection
Now we have established the difference between 3D Modelling and Inspection we can look at how we would combine 3D modeling with inspection images.
This process would be as follows:
Capture your dataset for 3D modeling
Capture your dataset for inspection
Upload the images collected for your 3D model to the Hammer Hub
Process the images
Add inspection images after you have processed the 3D model
Inspect, annotate and report on the findings
You will see in bullet points the above that you can add the inspection images once you have processed your 3D model.
Below we will discuss how to add images to your existing project, in this example, we will be adding a facade inspection to the project:
1: As you will see from the example below we have captured the mill as a 3D model using nadir and oblique capture.
2: Select the + icon on the right menu as highlighted below in red.
4: This will open a dialog box where you can upload your additional images for your inspection
5: Select your images by either dragging them into the box or by uploading them from a folder and you will see them uploading
6: Once they have all uploaded the box should look like below
7: Now press continue (at the bottom of the page) to upload your images to the project
8: Once the images have been uploaded you will see that the facade has now been added and you can select which camera (yellow dot) you wish to look at to inspect the asset further.
Example
The video below shows you an example of both the 3D Model and the facade images that have been added.
This example also shows annotation, reporting, and sharing
For more information please see the following post:
Summary
As you can see from the above post, this option gives you the best of both worlds, 3D Mapping, and Inspection in one project.
We hope this blog post helps you understand how to add further images to your 3D Modelling project in Hammer Missions
If you'd like to learn more about how to high-quality data and get the most out of your drone missions, please feel free to visit our learning resources.
If you haven't got a Hammer account as yet and would like to try Hammer Missions you can get started on our free trial.
To learn more about our enterprise solutions, including mission collaboration, data processing, and AI solutions, please contact us at team@hammermissions.com.
We look forward to hearing from you.
— Team at Hammer Missions