AUTODESK® REMAKE
GETTING STARTED GUIDE
v.01 May 2016
Welcome to Autodesk® ReMake!
Autodesk® ReMake connects the world of sensors that can capture and digitize the real world with the
brave new world of digital design, digital fabrication and virtual experiences.
If you are interested to digitize the real world and create assets for any of the following: archiving,
teaching, design, engineering, virtual experiences such as AR/VR, games, film, sharing on the web or for
digital fabrication (CNC, 3D printing), then ReMake is for you.
With Remake you can do the following:
• CREATE 3D mesh models from photos, and soon from any sensors such as structured light or
laser scans.
• IMPORT any already-generated 3D meshes from other reality solutions, from scanner software
or from CAD/modeling applications.
• PREPARE/OPTIMIfZE 3D models for further downstream use (clean, fix, sculpt, edit, retopo,
optimize, compare, export or publish)
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•
•
PUBLISH models for 3D interactive viewing online, with possibility to send to others via hyperlinks
or embed them on a web site with an HTML code.
EXPORT in FBX, OBJ, OBJ (QUADS) and PLY mesh file formats for further design and engineering
workflows in Autodesk Fusion360 or other design/engineering products, in AR/VR solutions or further
used in modeling applications such as Autodesk 3ds Max®, Maya® or Mudbox®, Zbrush, Blender etc.
What makes Autodesk® ReMake unique?
ReMake aims to solve two big challenges:
•
SCALE to large audience of users:
o By SIMPLIFYING a complex, multi-software workflow into one single app that is
unprecedented ease to learn and use
o By ELIMINATING the need for very high end computers, thanks to its use of the cloud
processing for the computationally intense part of the process
•
SCALE to Large mesh models: Offer scalable solution to handle high definition huge meshes that
are a usual result when creating meshes from different sensor input. (Meshes can be as big as
multibillion polygons). ReMake can do that with state-of-the-art powerful mesh streaming engine
that is built from ground up specifically for Reality workflows
So, let’s dive in!
This guide should give you the basics and some tips.
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Note that there are many videos to support some of the features and workflows described in the guide. Some
are linked to from here, but make sure you subscribe to the Autodesk ReMake youtube channel to get a
notification when new videos are available.
Table of contents:
Contents
SOFTWARE SET UP: Desktop and Cloud? .................................................................................................................. 4
INSTALL and START .................................................................................................................................................... 4
THE DASHBOARD ....................................................................................................................................................... 5
CREATE 3D FROM PHOTOS ........................................................................................................................................ 7
LOAD/OPEN (IMPORT)............................................................................................................................................. 13
THE EDITOR.............................................................................................................................................................. 17
NAVIGATION ............................................................................................................................................................ 19
DISPLAY CONTROLS ................................................................................................................................................. 22
SELECTION METHODS .............................................................................................................................................. 23
MODEL SETTINGS TOOLS ......................................................................................................................................... 26
EDITIING TOOLS ....................................................................................................................................................... 28
RETOPOLOGIZE TOOLS ............................................................................................................................................ 33
ANALYZE TOOLS ....................................................................................................................................................... 35
3D PRINTING ............................................................................................................................................................ 37
EXPORT .................................................................................................................................................................... 38
PUBLISH ONLINE ...................................................................................................................................................... 42
REMAKE SHORTCUTS TABLE ................................................................................................................................... 44
SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ......................................................................................................................................... 45
FREE vs PAY.............................................................................................................................................................. 47
HOW TO TAKE GOOD PHOTOS FOR 3D RECONSTRUCTIONS? ................................................................................ 48
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SOFTWARE SET UP: Desktop and Cloud?
Software setup: Desktop + Cloud
ReMake is what we call a ‘cloud enabled desktop application’. This means there are tools in ReMake that
require no connection to the Internet, and some that require Internet as they use the power of the cloud
to perform heavy calculations, eliminating the need to own a really strong computer.
What happens in the Desktop app?
Everything starts in the desktop app. You first install ReMake as a desktop app. From here you can:
• Create 3D from photos by either sending the photos to the cloud (the Online processing option
which is recommended) or make 3D from photos using the local computer ( this is the offline
option that requires a really strong computer)
• import 3d models
You can then further clean up, fix, edit or optimize so that you can than export or publish them.
All operations to clean, fix, edit, scale, make diff analysis, prep for 3d printing, make videos, high
res imagery and export to various file formats for different downstream workflows, and happens
offline, without a need for the cloud.
What operations happen on the cloud?
There are two main workflows in which you would need to be connected to the internet:
• Creating 3D from photos.
• Publishing 3D models to an online Gallery for interactive viewing, to share online or embed on a
website. See examples here: https://remake.autodesk.com/gallery .
Both require an Autodesk login that you can get for Free here https://accounts.autodesk.com/register.
With that free Autodesk account, you will also get free 5Gb storage on 360.autodesk.com that Remake
uses in the background to upload the photos, so that our online algorithms can convert to 3D and then
to temporarily place that mesh for download and use in ReMake.
INSTALL and START
To download ReMake, you go to http://ReMake.autodesk.com. After the installation, when you start ReMake
double clicking on the Application icon, you will first see the Start-up Screen
Startup screen
The Startup screen welcomes you to the product and offers some useful links to get new users started.
From here you can start your Trial period (click on Activate and select Trial), link directly to the ReMake web site,
access training and learning materials, get instruction on the basic mouse controls, etc.
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You can turn off the automatic loading of the Start-up screen by not checking the ‘Show this at start up’. If you
did turn it off, you can always find the same screen in the Help menu marked with a question mark sign ‘?’ at the
top left of the application screen.
Start to use ReMake
ReMake has two main tabs: Dashboard and Editor
You can switch between them in the header bar of the application.
THE DASHBOARD
Understanding the Dashboard – UI and workflow overview
The Dashboard is where you will usually start your work in ReMake, be it to create 3D from photos OR to work
on an imported or already generated mesh from ReMake or other sources.
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The Dashboard has 3 sections:
Create 3D
This is where you start to create 3D from photos. After having taken photos you click on
Create 3D where you will be prompted to select the photos that will then be converted
into 3D models online or locally on your computer ( your choice, see Create 3D section)
My Computer
Here you can import any mesh type or open a mesh that you already worked on. If you
want to open/import a mesh, you use the ‘Load a model’ from where you navigate on
your computer and find a 3D model file that you wish to work on further. The files can be
previously generated .RCM (ReMake models) or mesh model generated elsewhere, as
long as they are in one of the following file formats .FBX, .OBJ, .STL or .PLY
All models that have been once opened in ReMake will be displayed as thumbnails in this
section. Should you want to clean up and not see some model previews anymore, click on
the X icon, top right in the thumbnail preview
This is a space that links to your 360.autodesk.com storage and displays what’s in it. This
section enables you to:
• Visualize which projects are on the cloud.
• Browse your A360 drive to view and manage your projects (original photos and 3d
models generated from them) that are automatically saved on the A360 cloud drive.
• Empty your trash bin – this actually is quite important. The storage has a limit in
space and if you don’t manage the space (delete old projects) and happen to not have
enough free space, you might get errors during mesh creation as our online
algorithms will not be able to place the generated 3D model on the account. So,
remember to check and clean up from time to time. There is currently no way to pay
for additional storage space on A360.
My Cloud drive
Some of the options of the dashboard can be accessed also from the File menu, top left in the application.
After opening a model, the Dashboard UI will automatically switch to the Editor. To come back to Dashboard you
can:
a) Click on Dashboard button of the header bar
b) Click on the ReMake logo located on the top left corner of the header bar and then on CLOSE button;
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CREATE 3D FROM PHOTOS
ReMake lets you make 3D mesh models from photos.
Create 3D from photos
The process of making 3D models from photos is called Photogrammetry or Image based modeling.
To successfully make 3D from photos, you need to shoot a bunch of photos of the object you want to digitize.
The photos need to cover every single aspect of that object, must be sharp throughout the entire photo, have
good overlap between them, and be under diffuse light (no strong contrast or shadows, thus absolutely no use
of flash). If you do not get good 3D models (reconstructions) from photos, 99% percent it will be because the
photos are not good. Either you don’t have enough of them, there is insufficient overlap between the photos,
the lighting is off, etc. On the other hand, it can be due to some basic limitation of the photogrammetry
technique that it simply does not work on objects that are shiny, transparent, glossy or moving, for example if
you shoot people or people’s faces, they must be perfectly still. For best practices, please refer to our online
videos and to the tips at the end of this guide.
Here is an example with the positions and number of photos it took to make the digital replica of this truck
ReMake currently accepts .JPEG file format only. But as you will read in the guide, if you aim really high quality
results, you should shoot in .RAW and then export the images in .JPEG format. This is important for two reasons:
• You always want to capture in best possible quality and RAW would be that option
• You can slightly adjust some settings in the RAW files before exporting them as JPEGs – this WILL affect
the quality of the reconstruction/3d model that will be generated. (see the end of the guide for that)
Once you have shot enough and good photos, (see here an example)
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When you select Create 3D from photos you will be offered two ways to make the 3D model:
• Online: Doing the 3D reconstruction on the cloud
• Offline: Doing the 3D reconstruction locally, on your computer
Offline processing (done locally, on your computer)
The offline method is only demanded by users or organization who place big value on data privacy, for example,
the high-end world of media and entertainment.
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Advantage:
• Safety/privacy. The photos are not uploaded to the cloud and the photo-to-3D process happens locally.
To be clear: the cloud is safe (your bank accounts, health records and many public services are using the
same cloud.
• Control of some reconstruction parameters: In this release we expose certain reconstruction parameters
that you can set that will affect the quality/specifics of the reconstruction (currently not available in the
online method). See more details below.
• With a strong computer, reconstructions can be done faster than on the cloud and will not depend on a
queue and internet speed.
Disadvantages:
• You can’t even try using this method unless you have super high system specs of a desktop machine. For
necessary system specs for a computer that can run local reconstructions, see here:
http://remake.autodesk.com/try-remake
We recommend this method only to those who have super high end machines and insist on using the
method.
Reconstruction controls:
When processing the mesh locally, you will be able to make some decisions about the look and feel of
the upcoming 3D mesh reconstruction:
Geometry:
• Smoothness define how smooth a surface would be. More smooth means less pores.
• Resolution means how many pixels we use to subdivide to generate geometry. High means
more details.
Generating texture:
Check this option if you are only interested in making 3d model of the geometry, you pick this option.
Online processing (in the cloud)
The future of computing is the cloud. Meaning, heavy computations can be processed there without requiring
the user to have a strong machine
In this case, once you select the photos in ReMake, they will be sent and stored on the cloud (in your free A360
storage drive). There they will be converted into 3D models by algorithms placed also on cloud servers and once
your 3D model is generated, your will be notified that you model is ready to download. The length of the
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reconstruction depends on number of photos, (currently limited to 250) , their resolution as well as the current
queue on the cloud.
Advantages:
•
•
You will not need to have a really strong desktop machine to run this but you can perform this from
pretty much any laptop
After the process of uploading the photos is finished, you can turn of or close your computer without
affecting or pausing the processing because it happens on a server in the cloud.
Disadvantage:
We use servers on the cloud and sometimes there is a queue on the servers, which might make the wait a bit
longer. The good news is that we are working on ‘distributing the processing’ which means that unlike today,
where we use one single machine on the cloud to process a 3d reconstruction, in the near future, when you
upload the photos we would be distributing them across multiple servers so the process is done in parallel and
much, much faster than the current cloud compute
This is the method we strongly recommend all of you to use.
Important note:
To be able to use the photo to mesh service on the cloud you will need to be signed in with your Autodesk login
account. (See the section SOFTWARE SETUP: Deskop+Cloud in this guide for more details)
Once signed in, clicking on the Create 3D button will prompt you to select the photos.
Your photos will most probably be on your computer, so in most cases you will need to select the Local Drive
option and browse to where your photos are.
However, if your photos are already on your A360 storage drive (360.autodesk.com), you don’t need to upload
them again: in that case, select to use your A360 drive and select the folder where your photos are stored.
Regardless if you selected photos from your computer or A360 drive, after selecting them, their previews will be
displayed on the screen. This is your last chance to decide if you want to exclude some photos that maybe didn’t
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belong to the set or that you can see that are blurry, or too strong a contrast as they will affect the quality of the
reconstruction. You can do that using the red ‘X” sign on the top right of the photos.
Side note:
There are options on the left toolbar that let you ADD more photos to those you already loaded
. This option is useful if you are loading photos from various folders, so you upload a set
and then click on the Add more photos button to add few more.
The other option in the bar on the left is the local Photo validation.
This means that you can quickly check if you took enough photos and if they would stitch before
sending them to the cloud and waiting for the results. If you see that your validation shows that
the reconstruction will fail or that too many photos are not stitched, this means your photos are
not good and you should consider redoing them or shooting additional photos.
To come back to our workflow…
Once you have all photos loaded, you click the ‘Create model‘ button.
This will prompt a menu that will ask you to give the project a name and select the quality of the 3D
reconstruction
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You can choose between Standard or Ultra quality:
•
•
Ultra mode generates the highest possible mesh quality of the geometry and texture. Ultra
is the quality level that you always want as you probably want to have best possible
reconstruction.
The Standard option is lower quality as its limited to 125 images reconstruction. It will
process faster, due to smaller number of images but it will be of inferior quality. (This
limitation to 125 images will be removed during the promotional period of Autodesk
ReMake. After the promo period is over, if you want to be able to process more than 125
images, you will need to purchase subscription)
Now, what happens next is slightly different depending on which reconstruction method you picked at
the beginning, Online (cloud) or Offline (Local)
Online: the photos will be sent to the cloud
Offline: the photos will be processed locally on your computer
Understanding the various stages of processing:
Important: understanding what happens when in the Online processing of photo-to-3D
1. You start with Create 3D, select your photos, give a name, quality, Create
2. ReMake sends the photos to the cloud. This usually doesn’t take a long time and you the computer at
this time (or close ReMake) If you do so, the upload will be paused
In your A360 section on the Dashboard this is what you will see:
3. The second part of the process is reconstructing 3D from the photos. This starts to happen from the
moment the photos are uploaded and after the progress shows 1% again – from now on, you are safe to
close the computer. (Do not close when the process is still 0%, if you do so, the reconstruction will be
cancelled)
Once your model is ready, you will receive an email letting you that your reconstruction is ready. You might get
an email saying that the reconstruction failed and that will always be due to not correctly taken photos or a type
of object that can simply not be reconstructed using photogrammetry (shiny, transparent or glossy object).
If your model was successfully made, after you receive the email, you should open ReMake and a thumbnail
preview of the ready to download model will show up in the A360 section. Click on it to download it. Once fully
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downloaded, it will show in the My Models section, meaning its full downloaded on your computer and you can
click to open it.
LOAD/OPEN (IMPORT)
Aside from creating 3D from photos, ReMake can also import/read mesh models generated anywhere – be it
meshes made from laser scanners, or meshes coming from structured light scanners (Artec, Mantis), meshes
generated in other capture software or simply 3D models coming from CAD or modeling applications. As long as
those meshes are in one of the following file formats: .FBX, .OBJ,.PLY (mesh only), .STL, you can import them
and clean up, fix, edit, prepare for further workflows or publish.
You can Load/Open a new model by clicking “Load a model” in the ‘My Computer’ section of the Dashboard. It’s
under the section My Computer as it can only import models from your computer. And….this actually Imports
the model, so don’t look elsewhere for an Import function.
Currently supported file formats are the following file formats: .FBX, .OBJ, .STL, .PLY (mesh)
.FBX
High-end exchange format, mainly used in media&entertainment and visualization workflows. You can import a
large .FBX that you have trouble editing in other software, for preparation for 3D printing or decimation and
optimization for other workflows or to publish in the ReMake online Explorer/ Viewer.
.OBJ
.OBJ is probably the most popular exchange mesh file format that can be generated by almost any 3D modeling
application. Additionally, and very relevant to ReMake, .OBJ files can be generated by ReCap Photo, 123D Catch,
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any other photo to 3D software (image based modeling solution) or any scan to 3D software. These reality
capture solutions usually generate huge .OBJ files that are quite a challenge to further fix, edit in or optimize for
downstream applications, mainly struggling with the inability to read that size of files. This is one of the
challenges ReMake is offering a solution for.
Workflow example: a mesh generated from laser scans, processed with ReCap and brought into ReMake for
further clean up, fix, edit, prep or publish.
Mesh model made from mid-range laser scanner and imported in ReMake:
The example below was made using Autodesk ReCap – a laser scan/ point cloud solution that recently added a
cloud service to convert point clouds of laser scan captures into 3D mesh models. These models can be saved as
.RCM ( ReMake) or .OBJ and can be opened in ReMake for offline visualization, cleanup, edit, fix, prepare for
further use ( 3d printing) or prepare for use in software, mobile devices and AR/VR solutions or to publish on the
cloud for interactive viewing.
The example below was actually a laser scan of a bigger environment– the pump was needed as a mesh asset
and was brought into ReMake for further prep.
Laser scan point cloud file in ReCap converted to mesh and visualized and prepped in ReMake
Here something very different:
A laser scan of a huge sculpture (the Famous Mount Rushmore) converted to mesh and imported in remake for
prep for 3D printing
Thanks to CYARK http://archive.cyark.org/ and the National park services for allowing us to show this
beautiful capture.
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.OBJ generated from a laser scan and imported in ReMake
Few important tips about .OBJ:
•
•
•
Tip: . OBJ models will come in ReMake textured, but you will need to have .mtl file located in the same
folder as the .OBJ that you are trying to import
When importing an .OBJ ReMake instantly and silently generates a .RCM file. That is the native format in
which ReMake will also save the work. This is the main reason why it might take a bit of time during
importing an .OBJ file, as the conversion happens at opening. After that, ReMake excels with unseen
performance even with huge meshes.
It’s very important to understand is that, if you have already opened an .OBJ in ReMake, worked on
fixing it, and saved it, that work is saved in the .RCM file - not in the original .OBJ file. The next time you
want to work the file, you should proceed opening the generated RCM file, not the original .OBJ. If you
mistakenly open the OBJ file again and you have the RCM file with the same name in the same folder
and you try to open an .OBJ again, for which RCM is already generated, you will see a dialog that will
give options to save-as or overwrite.
.PLY
Many structured light scanners register their raw scans in a point cloud .PLY file and save their meshes in mesh
format .PLY. ReMake can read the mesh .PLY files and continue working with dense files that the software of
those scanners often struggles with editing or don’t have the functionality needed to prepare them for further
workflows.
NOTE: you have to make sure that it’s a Mesh .PLY (not point cloud). That, while very soon possible to be
imported in remake is not yet possible.
.STL
There are bunch of models on the internet that are in .STL form that one wants to resurrect into a design
process and bring in design apps such as Fusion. ReMake can import an /STL and prepare it for further use
(Export as .OBJ (quads) for Fusion360, or anything else for other workflows)
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Note that STL file format does not contain color information, so any STL model will be pure geometry when
visualized in ReMake.
.STL generated from a structured light scanner (Artec Spider https://www.artec3d.com/) and imported in ReMake
.STL generated from a structured light scanner (Mantis-Vision http://www.mantis-vision.com) and imported in ReMake
.RCM
.RCM is the native ReMake file format (Reality Capture Mesh). Currently, aside from ReMake, only Fly in ReCap 360 Pro
(formerly ReCap Photo) can export in this file format. (ReCap Fly is also an Autodesk Solution for generating 3D from
photos, focusing on drone captures for sites and landscapes. It generates 3d models with the very same core algorithms
that ReMake does when processing on the cloud (the local photo-to-3D is currently of a higher quality), but it doesn’t have
any of ReMake’s clean up, scale, measure, fixing, editing and export/publishing tools. So, if you already use ReCap Fly, you
can continue doing so and then import the RCM in ReMake for further fixing, clean up edit, and prep.
.RCM generated from photos in ReMake
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Regardless if you created the 3D mesh in ReMake, or imported from another place, you will need to view, clean
up, edit, fix, prepare and optimize the models for further use, and all of that is happening in the Editor. So, let’s
understand the Editor!
THE EDITOR
The EDITOR is where all the action happens once a mesh has been created or imported.
The Editor User interface (we will refer to this further as ‘UI’) is minimal, clean and we intend to keep it that
way. Don’t get fooled by its simplicity, behind those tools there is real power in ReMake. The main area by
default displays the 3D model in perspective view. The tools are grouped as follows:
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Here a short description of the main UI components:
DESCRIPTION
1
File Menu:
a) Open new model without leaving EDITOR
b) Save, Save as and Close scenes
c) Export and Send to 3D Print button
Help Menu:
Here you will find helpful links to the Forum, to lot of
Learning resources, Sample datasets to start learning
from and contact connection.
The About section allows you to know which version
of the software are you currently using, usually
helpful for support cases and when you have an issue
2
Finally, here you can switch from EDITOR to
DASHBOARD (and vice versa) without closing the
model
Action panel – it hosts all available mesh setting,
preparation and export/publish tools:
• General model settings
• Mesh Editing tools
• Re-topologize tools
• Analyze: Mesh diagnostic, report, compare
• 3D printing toolset
• Export tools
• Publish
3
Navigation bar holding controls for navigation,
selection, visual modes and other in canvas controls.
4
Radial bar
(Right click menu in the main UI window) that gives
‘in-context’ quick access to some of the tools and
settings
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5
Workspace – the space where all the action happens
– where you view and navigate the 3D mesh
6
User Profile – Showing your name once you log in
with your free Autodesk account. Needed for
creating mesh from photos and for managing your
license, subscription and accessing the projects
online, on your A360 account.
In product Feedback to contact the team directly
regarding a particular model issue or generic inquiry
or suggestions for improvements or further
development. ***
7
***Note: Even though we have in-product feedback option, we strongly encourage everyone to use the ReMake
forum for feedback and questions so that others can learn from it and add their opinions or learn from the
answers. (You can find a link to the ReMake forum link on the http://remake.autodesk.com web site)
NAVIGATION
When you import or open a 3D model in ReMake you would probably first want to move it around it, inspect it,
look it from all sides and later do various actions on it. For that you first need to master how to navigate the
model.
It is true that many software packages use different mouse buttons and shortcut combinations to do the same
actions. As ReMake can be a useful companion to many different software, it was hard to decide which
navigation scheme to use. We settled on the following one, but will be adding additional schemes so that you
can work with mouse controls you are used to from other software solutions. Here a quick diagram how to use
the mouse. ReMake also supports a space-mouse, in case you are used to use one.
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You can navigate the 3D mesh models in ReMake in various ways and you can switch between those modes
using the Navigation tool menu
From bottom up:
•
•
•
•
•
First Person mode
Orbit mode
Pan
Zoom
Zoom Extents
ORBIT
Orbiting means you move around the 3D mesh model in space for exploration and looking various details of it.
To orbit a 3D model in canvas, hold the right mouse button + drag
Hold right mouse + drag
Additional orbiting controls that can be very useful:
ALT + Mouse Right-Button
Pressing the ALT key during default mode navigation will switch to first person mode
Ctrl + Mouse Right-Button
Pressing Ctrl during orbiting ‘tilt’ the scene
Default behavior is that the center of rotation is there where the mouse click is.
There are two scenarios in orbiting:
• When the entire model is fully within the current view: Constraint Orbit happens around entire model’s
Center of Gravity. In this mode CTRL + Orbit will freely rotate the model
• When user zooms in and only a part of the model is in view in the main UI: Free Orbit happens
wherever user right clicks. In mode CTRL + Orbit has no effect
PAN
To pan the 3D model (move left-right on the screen) hold the mouse wheel (middle mouse button) + drag
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Hold
middle mouse + drag
ZOOM
To zoom in/out, rotate the mouse wheel up or down
Zoom area shortcut
Move wheel up and
down
CTRL + Hold left
mouse + drag
FIT TO VIEW (HOME)
If you ‘lost ‘ your model in the space, you can always press the ‘Fit to view’ button or the Home key.
Shortcut
Home Key
The default viewing mode of the 3D
model is in perspective mode, but you
can switch to orthographic views, easier
for some operations that require more
precise input, such a measure or set
scale.
Short cut : the letter ‘O’
ORTHOGRAPHIC VIEWS
Perspective view
Orthographic view
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DISPLAY CONTROLS
You can view the 3D mesh models in ReMake in the
following visual styles:
• Solid
• Solid with wireframe
• Textured
• Textured with wireframe
• X-Ray mode
You can switch between modes either using the
navigation menu or with the radial menu (right click in
the main UI)
Solid
Displays monochromatic
render of model without
texture
Solid with Wireframe
Displays monochromatic
render of model and
wireframe without
texture
Textured
Displays fully rendered
model with texture
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Textured with
Wireframe
Display full texture and
wireframe
X-Ray
Display model in X-ray
fashion. Useful to check
surface foldings and
intersections
SELECTION METHODS
Many of the editing operation depend on successful selection, so let’s make sure you understand well how they
work and what the differences are.
There are three ways to select the entire or parts of a mesh:
• Window
• Lasso / Fence
• Brush
Window selection
(rectangular selection)
Click left mouse button
and drag to define
selection area.
Note that this selection
will select everything
within that frame:
what you see and what
you don’t see , which is
behind
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Lasso/Fence selection
Hold left mouse button
and drag to draw a
boundary surrounding
the area you want to
select.
Note that this selection
will select everything
within that frame:
what you see and what
you don’t see, which is
behind
In Fence mode, Ctrl-Z
will undo the last
selected point
Brush selection
This one behaves as a
paint brush. It only
selects what you
‘painted’ as selection
on the surface and
nothing else.
Note that this selection
will select ONLY the
surface that you ‘paint’
with the brush. It will
NOT select anything
behind it.
Shortcut: Use Tab key to switch selection mode
To change the SIZE of the brush:
• use the little slider that will appear on the nav.
menu
• use the ‘[‘ and ‘]’ keys
• Shift + Mouse Wheel
Very import note regarding the different types of selection tools:
Windows and Lasso selection select everything on the mesh, visible or invisible. Whatever selection you define
with one of these two methods, if for example you click delete afterwards, it will delete what you see and every
part of the mesh behind the visible selection. It goes ‘through’ the model, like a tunnel
Brush selector only selects the surface that you have ‘painted’ with the brush.
Adding or Removing from existing selection
Sometimes it takes a while to make the right selection and just when you have done it, you realize that you
stopped selecting but you didn’t select everything (or you over-selected). Not to worry - you can always ADD or
REMOVE parts of the mesh to an existing selection while keeping your current selection active:
To ADD to existing selection, use the
Shift key
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Or use the ‘Add to selection’ button in
the navigation menu that shows upon
after any selection
To REMOVE from existing selection, use
the Alt key
Or use the ‘Remove from selection’
button in the navigation menu that
shows upon after any selection
ADD
REMOVE
Sometimes, depending on the type of model, it’s easier to select the ‘rest’ and using Invert selection, to arrive to
the cleanup model. (See the section Cleanup for more details)
Invert Selection:
Left click on Invert Selection
icon in the navigation bar.
(Shortcut: I)
And very often, hiding or isolating part of the model will make your life easier when dealing with detailed fixes
or clean up.
Hide/Isolate Selection:
Everything outside the
selected mesh will be
hidden/isolated temporarily
Now that you have a good grasp of how to navigate and how to select, let’s take a closer look into the TOOLBAR
that holds various model settings, editing, preparation and publishing tools in ReMake.
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While the process of creating assets from reality is not linear, we tried to organize the tools in what could be the
order of action.
TOOLBAR OVERVIEW
MODEL SETTINGS TOOLS
1. Set scene upright
2. Scale and Units
3. Set coordinate system
1. SET SCENE (MODEL) UPRIGHT
The very first step we recommend you do when loading a model in ReMake is to set the scene orientation, to
assure easier navigation and more predictable working with it. Select the Set model upright tool – if your model
is correctly oriented (up is up and down is down), you don’t need to do anything. If however, you see that the
model is tilted and that navigation feels uncontrollable, for best experience, orient it correctly, using the gizmo
wheels and adjusting it in a way that it is oriented as the original model in the real world.
If you don’t do this and the default view of your model is as shown on the first image, you will have an
unpleasant navigation experience and the results during exporting video or models will be unexpected.
Set model upright
Lets you orient the model
correctly in space (up is up
and down is down) to assure a
natural way of
orbiting/navigation and
working more naturally with
the model.
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2. SCALE AND UNITS
Set Scale & Units:
Scale and units lets you define
units and set a scale of an object.
Often used for model
comparison. This feature is used
‘internally’ by ReMake and it’s
features.
3. SET COORDINATE SYSTEM
Being able to define coordinate system and points is super important for a couple of different workflows:
a) When you know exact coordinates of a captured object and need to export it to another model when it
should land in the correct location – in which case you click to set new coordinates on a model and input
known coordinate values
b) When you want to compare two models that have geometries that are not easy for the automated Align
in the compare tool to work – in that case you input 4-5 points on the one model and corresponding
points on the other model, using the same location and name , regardless the value of the coordinates.
c) When you have multiple parts belonging to the same model that need to be put together follow the
same approach a case b above.
Set Coordinate System/
Points
Allows you to define
coordinate system by defining
coordinate points and their X,
Y, Z value.
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Note: Note that when exporting models from ReMake into other formats you should consider that not all other formats
support units. Units are set when file formats support it like FBX. File format. For ‘unit-less’ formats like OBJ, it is users task
to set the desired geometrical scale based on the target application/workflow. This can be done using the scale dialog.
EDITIING TOOLS
ReMake is designed specifically for a workflow from capture to clean, optimized mesh and has lot of purposely
built tools to make repetitive tasks and usual challenges connected with this process smart, fast and easy.
The editing toolset helps you do various mesh operations from cleaning up, to fixing issues, sculpting or
smoothing surface and optimizing the meshes to arrive to a final good usable mesh.
Here is an overview of the various editing tools that help you clean up, fix or edit the mesh mode.
SLICE & FILL
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Slice & Fill
A plane cuts the model with
clean edge, leaving the sliced
surface open (no fill) or filled
(Fill). Useful prior to extrusion
for 3D printing or simple
cleaning up a model.
The Slice tool has two circles.
• The inner circle allows you to TILT the slice plane
• The outer circle moves the slice plane up and down
Not sliced
Sliced straight
Sliced under an angle
SURFACE EDITING TOOLS
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Surface Tools
Sculpt/ Smooth brushes allow
for 3d modeling over the
surface for fixing error or
making something look closer
to nature. Sculpt is stronger,
smooth is finer smoothing.
The brushes can be Push or
Pull mode, can have various
width, shape and strength
Sculpt
Smooth
DELETE SELECTION
Select and Delete selection
To delete a mesh or a portion
of it, select and either :
• Select Delete from the
edit menu
• Click Delete key on
your keyboard
Select and Delete all that is
NOT selected
Remove everything except
the current selection (invert
and delete)
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FILL HOLES
Fill holes
This tool fills a hole in a
mesh.
To select a hole to be filled,
hoover close to the boundary
of the hole and once
highlighted, click to select
Pick filling method (smooth
or flat PRIOR to closing the
hole)
BRIDGE GAPS
A smart tool that helps close openings and holes in a mesh that might have more challenging geometries or
require more attention.
Bridge Gaps:
Allows you to make a bridge
by selecting mesh triangles
on the opposite sides of a
hole. Use Shift when you
select the opposite triangle.
You use this method when
automatic fill method fails or
you want more control over
fixing a hole. You can choose
either Flat or Smooth bridge
creation mode.
For best results, try to select
triangles that have the
longest side facing the
opposite triangle.
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EXTRUDE SELECTION
Usually useful for finishing up for 3D printing or model presentation.
Particularly useful for landscape captures that need to be given a thickness for the above purposes.
Extrude Selection:
Allows you to extrude an
open edge boundary (please
remember, it can only
extrude an OPEN boundary).
You will first have to click on
Select boundary and select
the open boundary ( go close
to it with th emouse and it
will highlight the entire edge
of the boundary, click on it to
select it)
Extrude to plane
You can extrude to the plane
that you define position and
angle to (using the plane
gizmo) – this will extrude
perpendicular to the plane or
extrude with an offset which
will extrude the same value
you define as offset from
every point of the open
boundary.
Extrude to non-paralel plane
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Extrude with offset
RETOPOLOGIZE TOOLS
This set of tools allows you to either change and amend the surface topology of a mesh or part of a mesh for
visual purposes, or reduce the polycount of the models generated from reality capture that are usually very
dense and have very high polycount. These meshes generated from photos or scans often need to be brought in
other software or devices that cannot handle a number of polygons and mesh density that ReMake can, so you
will need to reduce the number of polygons (decimate) to make the meshes usable elsewhere.
Re-triangulate Selected
Mesh:
Allows you to re-compute the
geometry of a selection of a
mesh surface
This is a pro tool needed to
get a cleaner triangular
surface definition
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Subdivide Selected Mesh
Allows you to subdivide the
actual geometry of a model or
part of it.
You usually need these tools
when you have done some
fixing to the mesh and lost a
bit of detail that you wish to
recover, or simply, when the
capture itself lost some
details, as it gives you higher
count of triangles that allow
more specific mesh editing.
Decimate Model
Reduces the poligon count
without affecting the overall
geometry shape.
You need this to reduce the
polycount of the model so you
can use it in downstream
applications that are unable ot
handle the number of
polygons that ReMake can
generate and handle ( and
meshes generated from reality
input can have 1000x more
polycount than 3d models that
have been modeled)
You can decimate the entire
model or just on
portion/selection of it that
you maybe don’t care too
much about ( back of mesh
etc)
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IMPORTANT:
If you decimate in canvas and save, you have permanently decimated that model. If you want to decimate for
export only but want to keep the original mesh polycount, do not use the in-canvas decimation or do not save
it.
ANALYZE TOOLS
In the analyze section, you will be able to find various tools that help you make a mesh diagnostic and find out
current issues with a mesh and fix them, as well as tools that report on the mesh (Measuring distance, surface
volume, make comparisons/ differentiation analysis etc.)
Detect and Fix Mesh
When meshes are generated automatically from reality sensors, they might have various issues that
affect its visual look or might, if not fixed, create problems in downstream use.
Mesh issues can vary from missing parts of the mesh (holes), mesh intersections, tunnels and particles
(free floating mesh bits). Many of these will prevent you from being able to 3D-print a mesh or will
have impact on using the models in further digital workflows. It is thus very important to find where
the problems are, visualize them easily and being offered a toolset to fix them. And that is exactly what
the Detect and Fix mesh issues tool does.
Detect and Fix Mesh Issues
Analyzes the entire mesh,
looking for holes, intersections
and particles.
• reports how many and
what kind of issues
• lets you Visualize
them one by one by
using the Next button
• Allows you to fix all
the issues
automatically
(Fix,Remove)
Issues found:
Click on Detect issues and
using the Next button preview
all errors and fix them one by
one (Fix) or all at once (Fix all
holes, Fix all Particles..)
You always have the option to use this tool just to visualize and than manually fix the issues if you want to have
full control of how some of them are fixed.
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Workflow/Process suggestion: We recommend always to clean up the environment around your object first
(using selection tools and delete functions, helping yourself with invert model or isolate tool).
Only after that, run the Mesh diagnostic tool to find all invisible mesh errors which you can fix automatically,
with the help of the mesh diagnostic tool or decide to fix manually using the Hole, Bridge tool etc.
Next, depending on the challenge of the model, you might apply slice or extrude.
Finally, depending on what the next use of your model is, you use the decimation/retopo tools and then publish
or export.
Measure distance
Measure Distance:
This tool allows you to
measure a linear distance
between two points in any
units of your choice.
By default, Its 3D measure in
space.
If however you switch to
orthographic view, using the
lettre ‘O’ shortcut, you can
actually measure in 2D.
Mesh report
Mesh Report:
Returns information regarding
the mesh or a selection/part
of the mesh.
It reports the count of
verteces and polygon faces, as
well as volume and surface
size.
Analyze Difference Beetween Two Models
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Analyze Difference Beetween
Two Models
Analyzes the volumetric
differences among two
models in a given range of
confidence and returns the
result in form of a termal map
Useful for tracking changes of
captured object over time or
comparision between as
designed (CAD) and as made
and than scanned objects.
You can define the range that
is of your interest as well as
the tolerance value.
3D PRINTING
3D print preparation
Seeing a good 3D model doesn’t necessarily mean that you can print it. 3D printers are quite dodgy and don’t
tolerate double meshes, zero thickness meshes, inverted normals, holes, spikes, etc.. Too much tech to know
about!
To eliminate ‘all that tech’ and let you easily prepare your 3D model for printing, ReMake has two sets of tools:
• Mesh diagnostics and repair.
• Drivers for various 3D printers for which you can see the print envelope, arrange the scale and position
for your model and save the model, well prepared for 3D printing.
If you want to prepare your model for 3D printing, open your model and go to 3D printing. You will be asked if
you want to check the model or not and we strongly recommend you do. If your model has no issues, it will be
open within the 3D print utility where you can select your printer, define scale and orientation of the model and
sva an STL to send it to a printer or to a 3D printing service.
But if your model has issues and can’t be printed, ReMake will alert you and offer a Fix button that will lead you
to the mesh diagnostic tool that will display all errors found in the model and let you quickly navigate from one
to the next and fix the issues automatically (asking the system to do it by clicking Fix) or manually by using any of
the tools from the editing section of ReMake.
ReMake supports over 20 3D printers from various manufacturers.
But don’t worry if you don’t find your printer in that list. You can always save your model as STL ( or OBJ) and go
to any printer you like.
See workflow video:
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Different 3D printers have different controls in ReMake.
EXPORT
Export Tools
ReMake allows you to prepare and export high resolution 3D MODELS, 2D IMAGES and VIDEOS
1. Quick Export templates
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In the same spirit of ‘eliminating all that tech’ for users, these templates are one click templates for
optimal workflows with other software downstream.
Each software has unique optimal import file format, orientation of model in space and number of
polygons of mesh that it can deal with.
These quick templates do all of that with one click, optimizing the model for specific workflow with
software such as : Fusion360, Stingray, Unity, Unreal, Meshmixer, ReCap, AutoCAD, 123D Make,
ArtCAM, Blender and many other non Autodesk sowftare
If you don’t want to mess with decimation, thinking of which file format is best, which orientation etc,
this is the way to go!
2. Export Image
ReMake supports export to alpha channel .PNG images for presentation purposes. These can be exported in any
of the visual modes and can go up to 8K resolution.
3. Export Video
You can create animations in ReMake and export them as videos in AVI or MKV file format.
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There are two types of animations that you can make:
•
•
An automated Turntable (here you can control the position of the camera in distance and angle,
background color, visual mode for the model)
Keyframe animation – that lets you make a bit more sophisticated videos – here you define main
keyframes (positions of the model) and the software interpolates between them and make one smooth
animation of it. You can switch between various visual modes in different frames and the transition will
result in a sexy looking video (transition from texture to wireframe etc.)
In both animation types, you can set the color of the background, quality and file format of the generated videos
and the length of the video or the individual frames/
4. Export Model
ReMake can export high definition meshes in the following mesh file formats (.FBX, .OBJ, .OBJ (quads), .PLY)
The Export model dialog offers variety of additional controls and tools that are specific to the export formats
and allows for optimizing the exports:
•
File Format: Select file format FBX, .OBJ, .OBJ (quads), .PLY , .STL
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•
•
•
•
Control the orientation of the model in space (Scene or World coordinates)
Decimation: define the level of decimation (reduction of polycount) using the slider or input a value
Rebake texture: A choice to rebake the texture use the original texture or ignore the texture during the
decimation process. (this tool has no function if you don’t decimate the model)
Texture Size – you can pick to export the texture in a single tile (goes up to 8k) or if you want really high
resolution, you can select the last option (8192/8192 (Multiple) that exports the texture in 8k tile per
every million triangles
Some more information on exports:
FBX / OBJ
With the export that include options to bake in normals, displacement, ambient occlusion and diffuse map,
ReMake is capable of delivering high quality visual models that are very light in polygon count (as demanded by
many VR/AR solutions, for Web apps or games) but which do not loose on their ‘good looks’.
Given that originally generated meshes from reality capture are huge and are a real headache to deal with in
majority of modeling applications (and impossible to read on AR/VR devices or online), these new options make
the work with digitized reality content for further workflows much more convenient, by generating lighter
models in polygon count that still look like models with high details.
FBX is the most powerful file format as it carries on the units AND the camera positions which might be quite
handy in Maya/3dsMax for reprojecting textures etc.
.OBJ with quads
Also, with the option to export to .OBJ with Quads in ReMake, we are starting a journey to make a tight
integration with Fusion360 and make reality really useful in design, engineering and industrial workflows
Fusion360 workflow:
Import the exported .OBJ quad in the sculpt environment in Fusion360 by clicking on the Insert tool and select
Insert Mesh. You can work directly with the quad mesh or by converting the quad mesh to T-splines (select
Modify, Convert in Fusion), and you can start editing and changing the digitized real object much easier, with
more control, edit ,change and add details only where needed, create non rectangular topology and stay
compatible with NURBS surfaces.
Mixing physical and digital prototyping, Alex Lobos designs a better grip for a Flashlight
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PUBLISH ONLINE
Make your work more visible by sharing your models on ReMake Gallery. Not only can you share the model for
interactive exploration on the ReMake Gallery but broader as well:
• With the hyperlink you can send it to others in an email and they can view it on their phones or
computers
• With the HMTL embed code, you can put the 3d views of your models on your web site
To publish a model, click on Publish to Gallery
After accepting, you will be brought into our ‘Play’ environement that will let you prepare the 3D model for
publishing online. What is Play? Building on the prototype we developed for the Smithsonian X 3D, (see
example: http://3d.si.edu/explorer?modelid=27) Play is a platorm for developing multimedia interactive
experiences in browser. No download, no compiling, work and publish in browser, Play enables you to create
interactive experiences.
In this version of ReMake, Play serves as a simple interactive viewer, but much more exciting stuff is coming
your way!
When the model is ready (it might take 5 min or so) you will get the message that you can open it in Play
Clicking on Launch will bring you in the Play environement:
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The Play environement has two templates, a simple (the one with the white background) and a more advanced
template ( the one with the blue background)
The model will openin the Basic template but if you want more parameters to control, you will need to switch to
the advanced template by simply dragging the template over the main windo that displays your model.
On the left side of both templates, you will find various parameters where you can give your input: name to your
model, define a tag, industry, set the background color, define the color of a wireframe of the mesh, set
automated turntbale for viewing and tweak some more advanced parameters such as occlusion maps,
roughness, metalness etc.
Basic Template parameters
Advanced Template parameters
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Once done, you click on the Publish to Autodesk Gallery and voila, your model is all pretty online and ready to be
viewed, or shared with others via email ( use the Hyperlink option in the share icon in the 3D model view) or
embed on a Website (use the embed tab that gives you a HTML code) You can also use the other share mthods (
Facebook, Twitter etc)
Share via email using HYPERLINK
Embed in a website using EMBED HTML
Go and Play!
REMAKE SHORTCUTS TABLE
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SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS
It is very important to make sure you have th eminimum system requirements for comfortable working with
ReMake. You can always find the latest system requirements from the website
First and foremost, PLEASE don’t try to use Remake without a mouse! You will get really frustrated. For optimal
use, use a three button mouse.
To understand which minimum system requirements your machine needs to have, itsimportant to understand
this:
ReMake can do two things:
A) Create 3D model from photos
B) Edit/Fix/Optimize/Export/Publish those models
A) The Creation of 3D from photos can happen on the cloud or locally.
If you choose the cloud processing (ONLINE) than you will only need to have the following systems specs:
For datasets less than 40 images or 2million polygon or smaller models
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•
64 bit Microsoft® Windows® 7 or later
•
4GB or more system RAM
•
Multi core processor
•
Integrated or discrete graphics card
For scale, performance and high resolution print/publish workflows
•
64 bit Microsoft® Windows® 7 or later
•
12GB or more system RAM
•
Multi core processor
•
Discrete graphics card with 3GB or more VRAM
•
SSD storage
If however, you prefer to process the models Locally, (offline, on your computer) you will need a much higher
system spec:
Minimum Requirements
•
64 bit Microsoft® Windows® 7 or later
•
64GB system RAM
•
50GB free storage space
•
Nvidia GFX card with 4GB VRAM
Recommended Requirements
•
64 bit Microsoft® Windows® 7 or later
•
128GB system RAM
•
NVMe PCIe SSD with 100GB free storage space
•
Nvidia GFX card:
•
o
- One or more Quadro M6000 cards OR
o
- One GeForce Titan X with 12GB VRAM
Multiple Xeon processors
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FREE vs PAY
ReMake follows a ‘freemium’ business model.
FREE – The free version of ReMake allows for the full workflow, from generating 3D from photos to final artifact.
It is however limited on few places, please see the table below
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HOW TO TAKE GOOD PHOTOS FOR 3D RECONSTRUCTIONS?
What makes photos good for photogrammetry?
The photogrammetry process looks at series of photos and reconstructs the camera location, orientation, lens type
and lens distortion. It does that by comparing and matching pixels/points across photos in the Entire Scene and
match/ triangulate on visual features. This means that you should follow the following guidelines:
ENVIRONMENT (Lighting conditions)
You should avoid any environment in which the light creates strong contrast shadows over the object you shoot.
Shadows are enemy to the reconstruction process.
•
•
If you shoot in interior
o The object must be placed in a room with diffuse light that does not produce contrast light or shadow.
(avoid shooting in a room where a window doesn’t have curtains and light flashes in the room)
o Do not use the flash.
If you shoot outside
o Avoid shooting at midday under strong sun. Best times are early in the morning or later in the afternoon
EQUIPEMENT
•
•
•
You can get good results with any camera. However, plastic lenses only go so far in terms of sharpness. If you
are serious about this process a good lens makes a difference.
Try to shoot the photos with a fixed lens. Fixed lens have no focal change which is good for the photogrammetry
process. A 50mm lens is good.
Whenever possible, shoot with a tripod and if possible a clicker. You need this because in order to make the
entire photo sharp, you will have to set a wide depth of field. This means that a very small amount of light will
be coming in the camera so you will need to set your shutter speed long. This makes even a tiniest of shake of
the camera result blurry photos. The tripod and a clicker will assure sharp photos.
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SHOOTING STRATEGIES – SCENE SET UP
There are two ways of positioning the object and the camera:
A CAMERA (you) move around the object
B CAMERA (you) static, object is turned around
Mono chromatic object without many features,
Object rich with features or color is possible to
best to shoot with busy surrounding and background
shoot on featureless background and repositioned
during shooting
A
When an object is mono-colored or not rich with features, best is to put it on a busy, colored base and busy
background with bunch of other objects that don’t obstruct it, as that will help getting more points of reference.
The object in this case is static, shouldn’t be moved around during the shoot – it is the person with the camera
and ideally tripod that move. In general, if you shoot a single object not very rich in color/feature, avoid placing
them on a monochromatic surface. If the surface is monochromatic, add many other smaller objects around the
target object. The algorithms need as many different references in the space to do better calculation.
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The object was static and we took photos all around it
B
When an object is rich with features, colors etc., you have two choices. To still keep it in fixed position and you
move around it or you can put it on white paper and white background (ideally a roll of paper roll down so it
creates no edges nor crises), have the camera in one position (you can move it slightly to get best shots) and
you rotate the object slowly to get good coverage from all sides. This method is ONLY appropriate if the object
doesn’t have moving/hanging parts and if the light is arranged in a way that it doesn’t create any shadows. This
method is in particularly useful if you have object that you want to capture from all 360 degree sides. But will
ONLY work if the object is rich with features like the coral example shown AND if you have perfectly
monochromatic, white ideally background throughout ALL parts of the photos
Object is turned around, background is white, no line or edges!
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•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Whatever the method, make sure that he object you shoot is positioned in the middle of the photo and fills most
of the frame (at least 70% of the photo should be the object you are interested in)
Avoid green photographers screens (ChromaKey). Photogrammetry doesn’t do well with them. We NEED busy
environments for the method A (just not busy with moving people as moving objects are not good)
Don’t move the surrounding objects around during the shoot and don’t have people walk around. Movements
in the photos create uncertainty in the reconstruction.
Shoot all around the object to cover each aspect of it with multiple overlapping photos. Shooting each 5-15
degrees on the same height of the object is a good practice. If you want to have a good level of detail, you should
shoot at 2-3 different heights of the object, ending up with 70-100 photos for a small to medium object and 180200 photos for a building.
Take enough photos. As many as you can. For a good facial reconstruction, I never go below 200 images. For
high level detail object captures can have 1000 of images
It is not enough to have many photos, but they must also have a good overlap between them. If the overlap is
too small or non-existent, the software might not take an entire cluster of photos in account for the
reconstruction, and the reconstruction will be inferior to its potential.
When shooting Interiors, follow the directions on the diagram below. Instead of standing in the middle of the
room and rotating around your own axis to shoot the photos, move along the walls to shoot in the other
direction. NOTE however that we only recommend photogrammetry for interiors that are really busy and the
walls are covered with features, books etc. Interiors with white or monochromatic walls will fail as they don’t
have enough features to reconstruct geometry.
•
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When shooting Exteriors, again, avoid standing in one spot and shooting ‘panorama like’ spherical photos but
move along the façade with the camera.
•
Don’t have people walking cross the scene while the photos are taken. Anything that makes a movement in the
scene makes it hard for the algorithm to compare pixels between the photos
PHOTO QUALITY
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
RULE NUMBER 1: The photos must be in focus SHARP and CRISP throughout the entire scene (not just the object
of desire) as we compare pixels from the entire photo. If you happen to have few blurry photos among the entire
set, remove them before making the reconstruction.
NEVER edit photos prior to reconstruction. Don’t crop, don’t mask, nothing. (only exception is adjusting few
parameters on RAW images and that only if you do it on all images at once)
Avoid blurriness in any part of the photos (ah, that beloved Depth of field effect). That will NOT work very well
for photogrammetry and reconstructions will fail or be blobby. Do not assume that all is well if the object you
try to shoot is sharp. We calculate the entire scene, not just the target object and any blurriness will confuse the
algorithm. If you use professional camera, Set the F-stop to as low as possible and use a tripod as any movement
will affect the sharpness of the photos
Ideally shoot with fixed lens, 50 mm. Do not change the zoom if you don’t have a fixed lens. Rather move towards
and away from the object.
Do not change exposure during the same acquisition.
Set ISO to 100, it works on pretty much any reconstruction. Or simply keep the ISO low. High iso brings noise
which should be avoided.
We currently accept JPEG format only. However, if you shoot in RAW, you will have the ability to do some
changes in the RAW images that WILL affect the quality of the 3D model. You can always re-export JPEG’s from
the Raw images using photo editing software such as Adobe Photoshop or Bridge.
Here just few hints on changes you can do ion RAW files:
o In Camera RAW or a RAW reader click ‘Select all’ images (you must change them all)
o Go to Detail, put all sliders in the first section to zero
o Tone curve _ distribute the curve
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How to shoot very small objects
For shooting very small objects, ideally you need to use a Macro lens and Image-stacking. If you need tips about it,
don’t hesitate to send an email to remake@autodesk.com
KNOWN TECHNOLOGICAL LIMITATIONS OF PHOTOGRAMMETRY
Creating 3D from photos will fail and won’t work on:
•
•
Shiny, transparent or highly glossy objects.
Moving targets
This is due to the fact that these reflect the surrounding which make the same point on one photo to be in a
different color on another photo, making it impossible for the algorithms to calculate the scene
So, that’s it for now:
For any questions or suggestions for improvement of the tutorial, please contact
tatjana.dzambazova@autodesk.com. For general comments, please send an email to ReMake@autodesk.com.
We hope that you will enjoy ReMake!
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