How to Take Photographs

Creating 3D models using photographs is fun and easy, but if you want to make a high quality output, you should follow some rules. It is not a rocket science and following these rules will help you reduce or completely eliminate further manual effort.

General Rules

Few tips you should always keep in mind in order to get the best and fastest results from your RealityCapture software:

Do not limit image count, RealityCapture can handle any.
Use the highest resolution possible.
Each point in the scene surface should be clearly visible in at least two high quality images. The more - the better rule applies here.
Always move when taking photos. Standing at one point produces just a panorama and it does not contribute to a 3D model creation. But move around the object in a circular way.
Do not change a view point more than 30 degrees.
Coarse-to-fine rule: Start with taking pictures of the whole object, move around it and then focus on details. Beware of jumping too close at once, make it gradual.
Complete loops. For objects like statues, buildings and others you should always move around and end up in the place where you started.

Level of Detail and Precision

With RealityCapture you can get very accurate 3D models, even sub-millimeter resolution. What resolution will be my 3D model? This depends on quality and resolution of images, and distance from the object.

You can use this calculator to calculate the distance from the object in order to get the precision that you need. Please use this tool with caution. Whenever you need to work with a guaranteed precision, you should contact a photogrammetry professional.

Sensor size:
Camera focal length:	[mm]
Image width:	[px]
Image height:	[px]
Desired pixel size:	[mm/px]
Desired pixel resolution:	[px/mm]