Agisoft Metashape User Manual
Professional Edition, Version 1.8

Agisoft Metashape User Manual: Professional Edition, Version 1.8
Publication date 2022
Copyright © 2022 Agisoft LLC

Table of Contents
Overview .......................................................................................................................... v
How it works ............................................................................................................. v
About the manual ...................................................................................................... vi
1. Installation and Activation ................................................................................................ 1
System requirements ................................................................................................... 1
GPU recommendations ................................................................................................ 1
Installation procedure .................................................................................................. 2
30-day trial and demo mode ......................................................................................... 3
Activation procedure ................................................................................................... 3
Floating licenses ......................................................................................................... 5
2. Capturing scenarios ......................................................................................................... 8
Equipment ................................................................................................................. 8
Object/scene requirements ............................................................................................ 8
Capturing scenarios ..................................................................................................... 9Image preprocessing .................................................................................................. 10
Restrictions .............................................................................................................. 11
Lens calibration ........................................................................................................ 11
Automated mission planning ....................................................................................... 13
Excessive image elimination ....................................................................................... 17
3. General workflow ......................................................................................................... 18
Preferences settings ................................................................................................... 18
Loading images to the project ..................................................................................... 21
Aligning photos ........................................................................................................ 30
Building dense point cloud ......................................................................................... 36
Building mesh .......................................................................................................... 38
Building model texture .............................................................................................. 42
Building tiled model .................................................................................................. 47
Building digital elevation model .................................................................................. 49
Building orthomosaic ................................................................................................. 52
Building panorama .................................................................................................... 57
Saving intermediate results ......................................................................................... 58
Exporting results ....................................................................................................... 59
Camera track creation and fly through video rendering .................................................... 75
Stereoscopic mode .................................................................................................... 77
4. Referencing .................................................................................................................. 79
Camera calibration .................................................................................................... 79
Georeferencing ......................................................................................................... 84
Coordinate system ..................................................................................................... 93
Optimization ............................................................................................................ 95
What do the errors in the Reference pane mean? ............................................................ 99
5. Measurements ............................................................................................................. 101
Performing measurements on 3D model ...................................................................... 101
Performing measurements on DEM ............................................................................ 103
Vegetation indices calculation ................................................................................... 106
Powerlines detection ................................................................................................ 112
Stereoscopic measurements and vectorization ............................................................... 113
6. Editing ....................................................................................................................... 114
Using masks ........................................................................................................... 114
Editing point cloud .................................................................................................. 121
Classifying dense point cloud .................................................................................... 126
Editing model geometry ........................................................................................... 129

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Agisoft Metashape User Manual

Shapes ................................................................................................................... 134
Orthomosaic and panorama seamlines editing ............................................................... 136
Editing textures ....................................................................................................... 137
7. Automation ................................................................................................................. 139
Using chunks .......................................................................................................... 139
4D processing ......................................................................................................... 146
Python scripting ...................................................................................................... 148
Java API ................................................................................................................ 149
8. Distributed processing .................................................................................................. 150
Local network processing ......................................................................................... 150
Cloud processing ..................................................................................................... 155
A. Graphical user interface ............................................................................................... 159
Application window ................................................................................................. 159
Menu commands ..................................................................................................... 165
Toolbar buttons ....................................................................................................... 175
Hot keys ................................................................................................................ 180
B. Supported formats ....................................................................................................... 182
Images .................................................................................................................. 182
Camera calibration .................................................................................................. 182
Camera flight log .................................................................................................... 182
GCP locations ........................................................................................................ 183
Interior and exterior camera orientation parameters ........................................................ 183
Tie points .............................................................................................................. 183
Tie point / dense point cloud ..................................................................................... 184
Mesh model ........................................................................................................... 184
Texture maps .......................................................................................................... 185
Orthomosaic ........................................................................................................... 185
Digital elevation model (DSM/DTM) .......................................................................... 186
Tiled models .......................................................................................................... 186
Laser Scans ............................................................................................................ 186
Shapes and contours ................................................................................................ 186
Video .................................................................................................................... 187
C. Metashape Preferences ................................................................................................. 188
General tab ............................................................................................................ 188
GPU tab ................................................................................................................ 190
Network tab ........................................................................................................... 191
Appearance tab (Model View) ................................................................................... 193
Appearance tab (Ortho View) .................................................................................... 195
Appearance tab (Photo View) .................................................................................... 197
Navigation tab ........................................................................................................ 199
Advanced tab ......................................................................................................... 201
D. Camera models ........................................................................................................... 203
Frame cameras ........................................................................................................ 204
Fisheye cameras ...................................................................................................... 204
Spherical cameras (equirectangular projection) ............................................................. 204
Spherical cameras (cylindrical projection) .................................................................... 205
E. What do some error messages in Metashape mean? ........................................................... 206

iv

Overview
Agisoft Metashape is a stand-alone software product that performs photogrammetric processing of digital
images (aerial and close-range photography, satellite imagery) and generates 3D spatial data to be usedin GIS applications, cultural heritage documentation, and visual effects production as well as for indirect
measurements of objects of various scales.
The software allows to process images from RGB, thermal or multispectral cameras, including multicamera systems, into the spatial information in the form of dense point clouds, textured polygonal models,georeferenced true orthomosaics and DSMs/DTMs. Further post-processing enables to eliminate shadowsand texture artifacts from the models, calculate vegetation indices and extract information for farming
equipment action maps, automatically classify dense point clouds, etc. Metashape is capable of processingof 50 000+ photos across a local cluster, thanks to distributed processing functionality. Alternatively, theproject can be sent to the cloud to minimize hardware investment, with all the processing options being stillavailable. Wisely implemented digital photogrammetry technique enforced with computer vision methods
results in smart automated processing system that, on the one hand, can be managed by a new-comerin the field of photogrammetry, yet, on the other hand, has a lot to offer to a specialist who can benefit
from advanced features like stereoscopic mode and have complete control over the results accuracy, withdetailed report being generated at the end of processing.

How it works
Typical tasks for a photogrammetry processing project in Metashape are to build a 3D surface and an
orthomosaic. Imagery data processing procedure with Agisoft Metashape consists of three main steps.
1. The first step is called alignment. It includes aerial triangulation (AT) and bundle block adjustment(BBA). At this stage Metashape searches for feature points on the images and matches them acrossimages into tie points. The program also finds the position of the camera for each image andrefines camera calibration parameters (estimates internal (IO) and external (EO) camera orientation
parameters).
The results of these procedures are visualized in the form of a tie point cloud and a set of camera
positions. The tie point cloud represents the results of image alignment and will not be directly usedin further processing (except for the tie point cloud based surface reconstruction method, which issuitable only for quick estimates, e.g., of completeness of a data set). But the tie point cloud is necessary
for the determination of depth maps (based on the common tie points camera pairs for the depth
maps calculation are selected). However it can be exported for further usage in external programs. For
instance, a tie point cloud model can be used in a 3D editor as a reference. On the contrary, the set ofcamera positions is required for further 3D surface reconstruction by Metashape.
2. The second step is generation of a surface in 3D (mesh) and/or 2.5D (DEM). Polygonal model (mesh)
can be textured for photorealistic digital representation of the object/scene and exported in numerous
formats compatible with post-processing software, both for CAD and 3D-modeling workflows.
For city-scale projects to provide for fast model visualization response and allow for smooth navigation
across the whole scene, Metashape enables to generate tiled models. Such hierarchical representation
preserves original resolution of the images applied to the model as a texture and is compatible withstand-alone and web-based viewers.
Dense point cloud can be built by Metashape based on the estimated camera positions and images
themselves (dense stereo matching). Generated photogrammetric point cloud can be merged with
LIDAR data or automatically divided into several semantic classes following the project tasks.
v

Overview

If the digital elevation model (DEM) is generated based on the dense point cloud data, it can include
either both terrain and all the objects above the ground, like trees, buildings and other man-madestructures (digital surface model, DSM), or only show the landscape of the territory (digital terrain
model, DTM).
3. The third step is creating of Orthomosaic, which can be georeferenced and used as a base layer forvarious types of maps and further post processing analysis and vectorization. Orthomosaic is generated
by projecting the images according to their EO/IO data on a surface of the user's choice: DEM or mesh.
For multispectral imagery projects, orthomosaic can represent NDVI and other vegetation indicesinformation. Reflectance calibration feature of Metashape allows to correctly interpret radiometricimagery data, providing that radiometric panel has been used in the project and/or sun sensor
information is available in the images meta data.

About the manual
Basically, the sequence of actions described above covers most of the data processing needs. All these
operations are carried out automatically according to the parameters set by user. Instructions on how to
get through these operations and descriptions of the parameters controlling each step are given in thecorresponding sections of the Chapter 3, General workflow chapter of the manual.
In some cases, however, additional actions may be required to get the desired results. In some capturing
scenarios masking of certain regions of the photos may be required to exclude them from the calculations.
Application of masks in Metashape processing workflow as well as editing options available are describedin Chapter 6, Editing. Camera calibration issues are discussed in Chapter 4, Referencing, that also
describes functionality to optimize camera alignment results and provides guidance on model referencing.
A referenced model, be it a mesh or a DEM serves as a ground for measurements. Area, volume, profile
measurement procedures are tackled in Chapter 5, Measurements, which also includes information onvegetation indices calculations. While Chapter 7, Automation describes opportunities to save up on manualintervention to the processing workflow, Local network processing presents guidelines on how to organize
distributed processing of the imagery data on several nodes.
It can take up quite a long time to reconstruct a 3D model. Metashape allows to export obtained results
and save intermediate data in a form of project files at any stage of the process. If you are not familiar withthe concept of projects, its brief description is given at the end of the Chapter 3, General workflow.
In the manual you can also find instructions on the Metashape installation and activation procedures andbasic rules for taking "good" photographs, i.e. pictures that provide most necessary information for 3D
reconstruction. For the information refer to Chapter 1, Installation and Activation and Chapter 2, Capturing
scenarios.

viChapter 1. Installation and Activation
System requirements
Minimal configuration• Windows 7 SP 1 or later (64 bit), Windows Server 2008 R2 or later (64 bit), macOS High Sierra orlater, Debian/Ubuntu with GLIBC 2.19+ (64 bit)
• Intel Core 2 Duo processor or equivalent• 8 GB of RAM

Recommended configuration• Windows 7 SP 1 or later (64 bit), Windows Server 2008 R2 or later (64 bit), macOS Mojave or later,
Debian/Ubuntu with GLIBC 2.19+ (64 bit)
• Intel Core i7 or AMD Ryzen 7 processor• Discrete NVIDIA or AMD GPU (4+ GB VRAM)• 32 GB of RAM
The number of photos that can be processed by Metashape depends on the available RAM andreconstruction parameters used. Assuming that a single photo resolution is of the order of 10 MPix, 4 GB
RAM is sufficient to make a model based on 30 to 50 photos. 16 GB RAM will allow to process up to
300-500 photographs.

GPU recommendations
Metashape supports accelerated image matching; depth maps reconstruction; depth maps based mesh,
DEM and tiled model generation; texture blending; photoconsistent mesh refinement operation due to thegraphics hardware (GPU) exploiting.
NVIDIA
GeForce GTX 7xx series and later, Quadro M4000 and later with CUDA support.
AMD
Radeon R9 series and later, Radeon Pro WX 7100 and later with OpenCL 1.2 support.
Metashape is likely to be able to utilize processing power of any CUDA enabled device with computecapability 3.0 and higher or OpenCL 1.2 and higher enabled device with SPIR support for stages specified
above, provided that CUDA/OpenCL drivers for the device are properly installed. However, because of
the large number of various combinations of video chips, driver versions and operating systems, Agisoft
is unable to test and guarantee Metashape's compatibility with every device and on every platform.
The processing performance of the GPU device is mainly related to the number of CUDA cores for
NVIDIA video chips and the number of shader processor units for AMD and Intel video chips. Additionallydepth maps based mesh, DEM and tiled model reconstruction as well as photoconsistent mesh refinement
operations and texture blending would benefit from larger amount of VRAM available.

1Installation and Activation

The table below lists currently supported devices (on Windows platform only). Agisoft will pay particularattention to possible problems with Metashape running on these devices.

Table 1.1. Supported Desktop GPUs on Windows platform
NVIDIAAMD

GeForce RTX 3080

Radeon RX 6800

GeForce RTX 2080 Ti

Radeon VII

Tesla V100

Radeon RX 5700 XT

Tesla M60

Radeon RX Vega 64

Quadro P6000

Radeon RX Vega 56

Quadro M6000

Radeon Pro WX 7100

GeForce TITAN X

Radeon RX 580

GeForce GTX 1080 Ti

FirePro W9100

GeForce GTX TITAN X

Radeon R9 390x

GeForce GTX 980 Ti

Radeon R9 290x

GeForce GTX TITAN
GeForce GTX 780 Ti
Metashape supports texture blending on GPU using Vulkan technology on Linux and Windows OS. GPU
accelerated texture blending is currently supported for frame and fisheye type cameras on NVIDIA cards
since GeForce GTX 8XX / Quadro M4000 and driver versions from 435.xx and on AMD cards sinceRadeon R9 29x series / FirePro W9100 and 17.1.x drivers. Some older GPUs and older driver versions
could also support texture blending using Vulkan, however, it is not guaranteed.
Although Metashape is supposed to be able to utilize other compatible GPU models and being run under
all supported operating systems, Agisoft does not guarantee that it will work correctly. However, all GPUbased processing issues should be reported to Agisoft support team for more detailed investigation.

Note• Use CPU enable flag to allow calculations both on CPU and GPU for GPU-supported tasks.
However if at least one powerful discrete GPU is used it is recommended to disable CPU flagfor stable and rapid processing.
• Using GPU acceleration with mobile or integrated graphics video chips is not recommended
because of the low performance of such GPUs.
• CUDA supported devices for some older macOS versions may require to install CUDA drivers
from official web-site first: http://www.nvidia.com/object/mac-driver-archive.html.
Due to lack of CUDA support on certain macOS versions Metashape will automatically switch
to OpenCL implementation for GPU-based processing on NVIDIA graphic devices.

Installation procedure
Installing Metashape on Microsoft Windows
To install Metashape on Microsoft Windows simply run the downloaded msi file and follow the
instructions.

2Installation and Activation

Installing Metashape on macOS
Open the downloaded dmg image and drag Metashape application bundle to the desired location on yourhard drive (for example, to Applications folder. Do not run Metashape directly from the dmg image to
avoid issues on license activation step.

Installing Metashape on Debian/Ubuntu
Unpack the downloaded archive with a program distribution kit to the desired location on your hard drive.
Also, install the package: sudo apt install libxcb-xinerama0. Start Metashape by running metashape.sh
script from the program folder.

30-day trial and demo mode
Once Metashape is downloaded and installed on your computer you can run it either in the Demo mode orin the full function mode. On every start until a license key sequence is entered it will show on activation
dialog offering three options: (1) activate Metashape using a valid license code, (2) start a free 30-day
trial, (3) continue using Metashape in Demo mode. Starting a 30-day trial period allows to evaluate thefunctionality of the program and explore the software in full-function mode, including save and export
features. Trial license is intended to be used for evaluation purposes only and any commercial use of atrial license is prohibited.
If you are not ready yet to start the trial period, you can opt for the Demo mode. The employment ofMetashape in the Demo mode is not time limited. Several functions, however, are not available in the
Demo mode. These functions are the following:• save the project;• build tiled model;• build orthomosaic;• build digital elevation model (DEM);• DEM and orthomosaic related features (such as vegetation index calculation, DEM-based
measurements);• some Python API commands;• all export features, including exporting reconstruction results (you can only view a 3D model on thescreen);• using network and cloud processing features.
To use Metashape in the full function mode for various projects you have to purchase a license. On
purchasing you will get a license code to be entered into the activation dialog of Metashape. Once thelicense code is entered you will get full access to all functions of the program and the activation dialog
will no longer appear upon program start, unless the license is deactivated.

Activation procedure
Metashape node-locked license activation
The Node-locked license for Metashape allows to activate the software on one machine at a time. Nodelocked license files are unique for each computer, and are tied to the system hardware. If you are to replace3Installation and Activation

major system components or re-install operational system, the license should be deactivated first and thenthe same key could be used to activate the license on the renewed system.

Note• The node-locked license activation on Windows OS and macOS may require administrator
privileges. During the activation process additional confirmation dialog will appear to apply theelevated privileges.
• To deactivate the license select Activate Product command from Help menu and use Deactivate
button or argument --deactivate in the command line (terminal) to Metashape executable.
• When Metashape software is being uninstalled on Windows OS the license deactivation attempt
will be automatically performed, however, it is recommended to deactivate the license manually
before uninstalling the application.
Metashape software requires a license key (a digital code) to be activated. First of all, make sure that you
have a valid license key at hand. The number of activation/deactivation operations is not effectively limited
for manual license transfer scenarios. But we recommend technical possibility to transfer a node-locked
license to a new computer not to be exploited in automated scenarios involving activation/deactivation of
the node-locked license on regular basis.

Note• Excessive usage of activation/deactivation mechanism may result in the situation when user gets
blocked in the activation system.
• For scenarios which involve virtual machines and frequent license activation/deactivation
operations it is recommended to consider floating license option, in which case the license is
automatically returned to the license server when the Metashape is stopped or the related process
is killed unexpectedly.
Standard activation procedure, which allows to activate the product in the means of seconds, requires themachine to be connected to the Internet. If it is your case, please follow the online activation procedure as
described below. In case the system cannot be connected to the Internet, please opt for the offline activation
procedure, which is also described in this section of the manual.

Online Activation Procedure - To activate Metashape on a machine with Internet
connection
1.

Launch Metashape software, previously installed on your machine, and go to Help menu for Activate
product... command.

2.

In Activation dialog insert license key according to the suggested 5 digit blocks structure. Please notethat license codes never include zero digit - only letter "O".

3.

If the license code has been input correctly, then the OK button will become active. Click on it tocomplete the activation procedure. If the button is still grayed out, please make sure that the key you
are using is meant for the product you are trying to activate: a license key for the Standard Edition,for example, will not activate the Professional Edition.

Offline Activation Procedure - To activate Metashape on a machine with NO
Internet connection
1.

Launch Metashape software, previously installed on your machine, and go to Help menu for Activate
product... command.

4

Installation and Activation

2.

In Activation dialog insert license key according to the suggested 5 digit blocks structure. Please notethat license codes never include zero digit - only letter "O". Click OK button.

3.

Click Save Activation Request button. Browse to the destination folder for the activation_request.act
file in the Save as dialog, type in the file name and click Save button.

4.

Send the file saved at previous step to support@agisoft.com. Agisoft support team will process youractivation request and send the special license file to your e-mail with the instructions to complete
the activation process.

If you would like to activate/deactivate Metashape software in headless mode, please see the list of relevant
commands below:• metashape --activate license_key• metashape --deactivate• metashape --activate-offline license_key file_name.act• metashape --deactivate-offline file_name.act
Run "metashape --help" to see the complete list of the commands available.

Floating licenses
Metashape software can be used under floating license conditions. A floating license allows to install thesoftware on an unlimited number of machines, which are connected to a server network. However, at any
one time, Metashape can only run on the maximum number of computers for which licenses have beenpurchased. Since Metashape can be installed on more systems than the number of licenses purchased, thisenables the licensee to efficiently share the product across the organization.
A software utility called Floating License Server (FLS) deployed on the server machine issues licenses
to client machines, up to the number of floating licenses purchased. If all floating licenses are in use, nomore computers can run Metashape until a license is returned to the FLS, i.e. until Metashape process isfinished on one of the machines.
Metashape floating licenses are borrowable. A borrowed license can be used on a machine disconnectedfrom the server network for a certain period (up to 30 days).
Floating license activation procedure is performed on the server machine and includes two steps:• FLS installation and activation• Floating license activation
Thus, to activate a floating license you will need 3 components:• FLS archive (to be downloaded from the link provided upon license purchase)• FLS activation key (to be provided on purchasing a floating license)• Floating license activation key (to be provided on purchasing a floating license), and the number offloating licenses associated with the key.

Note
• By default, FLS cannot be installed on a virtual machine. In case the the virtual environment is
the only option to deploy the license server, please contact support@agisoft.com for additional
instructions on the matter.

5

Installation and Activation

To activate Floating License Server
1.

Unpack the FLS archive and run FLS utility (rlm/rlm.exe) on the server machine.

2.

Go to http://server_address:5054 to use web-interface of the license management system. Enter
Status section of the left hand side menu. Find "agisoft" line in the ISV Servers table. Click agisoft
button in ACTIVATE column of the table.

3.

Set the following values for the parameters on the Activate/Deactivate Alternate Server Hostid page.
ISV: agisoft, Activation Key: enter FLS activation key. Leave Deactivate? box unchecked. Click
Activate/Deactivate Alternate Server Hostid button.

4.

The FLS is successfully activated now.

5.

To complete the procedure, go to the folder where the FLS utility has been unpacked to and deletemock license file - agisoft.lic.

6.

Return to web-interface of the license management system and go to Reread/Restart Servers sectionof the left hand side menu. Select "-all-" from the dropdown list of the ISV field. Click REREAD/RESTART button.

7.

Now the FLS activation procedure is completed.

The next step is activation of the floating license itself.

To activate a floating license
1.

Go to http://server_address:5054 to use web-interface of the license management system. Enter
Activate License section of the left hand side menu. Click BEGIN License Activation button on License
Activation page.

2.

Do not change the suggested value of the ISV activation website parameter. Click Next.

3.

On step 2 of License activation procedure set ISV parameter to "agisoft" value and enter Floating
license activation key into the License activation key textbox. Click Next.

4.

Go to the folder where the FLS utility has been unpacked to, open rlm_agisoft_FLS-activation-key.lic
file. Copy string "license=server-serial-number" from the first line of the file and enter the data into
the License Server or Node-lock hostid: textbox on the 3d step of the License activation procedure.

5.

Indicate the number of floating licenses to be activated in the License count (for floating licenses)
field. The number should not excess the total amount of floating licenses associated with the floating
license activation key. Click Next.

6.

On step 4 indicate the name of the license file to be created. Click Next.

7.

On step 5 check Activation Request Data and if everything is correct, click REQUEST LICENSE
button.

8.

Click (Re)Start License Server. Select "agisoft" from the dropdown list of the ISV field. Click
REREAD/RESTART button.

9.

Floating license activation procedure is completed. You can run Metashape on the client machinesconnected to the server.

To run Metashape on a client machine, where the software has been installed, the client machine shouldhave network connection to the server, where FLS has been deployed. In case the connection is not via

6Installation and Activation

a local network, then a specially prepared *.lic file should be properly placed to the Metashape folder on
the client machine. The data in the file should be the following string: "HOST FLS_address". In case theserver uses a port different from the standard 5053 one, then the string should be: "HOST FLS_address
any the_port_number".

To transfer the Floating License Server
1.

Deactivate FLS in web-interface of the license management system: http://server_address:5054.
Enter Status section of the left hand side menu. Find "agisoft" line in the ISV Servers table. Clickagisoft button in ACTIVATE column of the table. Set the following values for the parameters on
the Activate/Deactivate Alternate Server Hostid page. ISV: agisoft, check Deactivate? box. Click
Activate/Deactivate Alternate Server Hostid button.

2.

Activate FLS on a new server following steps 1-3 from the Floating License Server activation
procedure described above.

3.

Copy all floating license files (i.e. all *.lic files but for the rlm_agisoft_license server activation
key.lic) from the original server machine to the new server to the folder where floating license server
has been unpacked to.

4.

Modify the server host name in the first line of the copied floating license files to the name of the
new server machine.

5.

Follow steps 5-6 from the Floating License Server activation procedure described above.

There is no need to perform Floating license activation procedure since the floating license is alreadyactivated. Metashape can be run on the client machines connected to the new server.

To borrow a floating license
1.

Connect the machine you would like to borrow the license for to the server machine and make surethat there is a spare floating license in the server pool.

2.

Run Metashape software on the machine. Select Activate Product... command from Help menu.

3.

Click Borrow License button in the MetashapeActivation dialog. Set the number of days you would
like to borrow the license for and click OK button. The number of days should not exceed 30.

4.

Now the machine can be disconnected from the server network, with Metashape being kept activatedon it.

5.

To return the borrowed license connect the computer to the license server network, start Metashape,
select Activate Product... command from the Help menu and click Return License button in Activate
dialog window. Otherwise the license will be automatically returned to the server pool after the
borrowing period is over.

7

Chapter 2. Capturing scenarios
Photographs suitable for 3D model reconstruction in Metashape can be taken by any digital camera (bothmetric and non-metric), as long as specific capturing guidelines are followed. This section explains generalprinciples of taking and selecting pictures that provide the most appropriate data for 3D model generation.
IMPORTANT! Make sure to study the following rules and read the list of restrictions before getting out
for shooting photographs.

Equipment• Use a digital camera with reasonably high resolution (5 MPix or more). It is also recommended to takephoto in the max possible allowed resolution.
• The best choice is 50 mm focal length (35 mm film equivalent) lenses. It is recommended to use focal
length from 20 to 80 mm interval in 35mm equivalent.
• Avoid ultra-wide angle and fisheye lenses. The distortion of the lenses used to capture the photos should
be well simulated with the camera model used in the software. Generally, Brown's distortion model
implemented in Metashape works well for frame cameras. However, since fisheye and ultra-wide angle
lenses are poorly simulated by the mentioned distortion model, it is crucial to choose the proper camera
type in the Camera Calibration dialog prior to processing such data - the software will switch to theappropriate distortion model.
• Fixed lenses are preferred. If zoom lenses are used - focal length should be set either to maximal or tominimal value during the entire shooting session for more stable results, for intermediate focal lengths
separate camera calibration groups should be used.
• ISO should be set to the lowest value, otherwise high ISO values will induce additional noise to images.
• Aperture value should be high enough to result in sufficient focal depth: it is important to capture sharp,
not blurred photos.
• Shutter speed should not be too slow, otherwise blur can occur due to slight movements.
• Using RAW data losslessly converted to the TIFF files is preferred, since JPG compression may induce
unwanted noise to the images.

Object/scene requirements• Avoid untextured, shiny, highly reflective or transparent objects. If shiny objects cannot be avoided
wait for a cloudy day to capture them. Direct sunlight leads to patches on most of the surfaces; the lightpatches which have moved across the target object during the shooting process will create difficulties
for reconstruction algorithms.
• Consider using lighting when shooting underwater or a constant source of light that will increase thevisible distance and quality of the obtained images.
• It is recommended to plan the shooting session in such a way that unwanted foregrounds, backgrounds,
as well as moving objects are avoided on the images.
• Avoid absolutely flat objects or scenes. The object of interest should take up the maximum proportionof the image possible. In some cases, the portrait camera orientation option should be considered.

8Capturing scenarios

Capturing scenarios
The shooting scenario depends on the object of the survey (this is a forest area, a detached building, amonument, etc.).

Aerial photography• In case of aerial photography the overlap requirement can be put in the following figures: 60% of side
overlap + 80% of forward overlap. When making a survey over a forest, it is recommended to increase
the overlap value to 80% and 90% respectively. To achieve better overlap, we can recommend crossto-cross routes.
• It is important plan a flight with a proper elevation model considered.
• Do not perform an aerial survey of forest areas lower than 300 meters above the ground. Tree crowns
are moved by the wind hence the results of capturing at low altitude may be problematic for processingin Metashape, as the software may fail to find common points on the images.
• Do not perform an aerial survey of mountain areas lower than 100 meters above the ground.
• It is not recommended to perform an aerial survey of the same area for the whole day. Lighting conditions
change during the day. Having the photos of the same territory with different lighting (for example
long shadows from the same structures pointing in completely different directions and having different
shapes) may result in Metashape failing to find common points on the overlapping photos.
• In case of aerial photography and demand to fulfill georeferencing task, even spread of ground control
points (GCPs) (at least 10 across the area to be reconstructed) is required to achieve results of highest
quality, both in terms of the geometrical precision and georeferencing accuracy. Yet, AgisoftMetashape
is able to complete the reconstruction and georeferencing tasks without GCPs, too.

Underwater survey
Underwater surveying projects are considerably harder compared to the regular indoor/outdoor image
acquisition procedure due to the very hard environment conditions (viewing distance is limited, controlled
light environment is almost not applicable, difficult to place and fix even a few control points in scene, may
be hard to repeat the operation). Therefore it is a good idea to plan the survey carefully before performing
actual shooting session. Taking more images than needed is always better than having insufficient image
overlap or incomplete dataset.
The optimal camera routes are "snake" and "spiral" routes. If possible wait for the calm weather and bright
light - it will allow to increase the visible distance.

Close-range objects scanning• Number of photos: more than required is better than not enough.
• Number of "blind-zones" should be minimized since Metashape is able to reconstruct only geometry
visible from at least two cameras.
• Each photo should effectively use the frame size: object of interest should take up the maximum area.
In some cases portrait camera orientation should be used.
• Do not try to place full object in the image frame, if some parts are missing it is not a problem providingthat these parts appear on other images.

9Capturing scenarios• If any measurements are planned on the reconstructed model, do not forget to locate at least two markers
with a known distance between them on the object. Alternatively, a ruler can be placed within theshooting area.
The following figures represent advice on appropriate capturing scenarios:
Facade (Incorrect)

Facade (Correct)

Interior (Incorrect)

Interior (Correct)

Isolated Object (Incorrect)

Isolated Object (Correct)

Image preprocessing• Metashape operates with the original images. So do not crop or geometrically transform, i.e. resize
or rotate, the images. Processing the photos which were manually cropped or geometrically warped is10Capturing scenarios

likely to fail or to produce highly inaccurate results. Photometric modifications (such as brightness orcontrast adjustment) do not affect reconstruction results, providing that no hard filters are applied that
could remove minor details on the images (e.g. Gaussian blur filter).

Restrictions
In some cases it might be very difficult or even impossible to build a correct 3D model from a set of
pictures. A short list of typical reasons for photographs unsuitability is given below.

Modifications of photographs
Metashape can process only unmodified photos as they were taken by a digital photo camera. Processing
the photos which were manually cropped or geometrically warped is likely to fail or to produce highly
inaccurate results. Photometric modifications do not affect reconstruction results.

Lack of EXIF data
Metashape calculates initial values of sensor pixel size and focal length parameters based on the EXIF
data. The better initial approximation of the parameter values is, the more accurate autocalibration of thecamera can be performed. Therefore, reliable EXIF data is important for accurate reconstruction results.
However 3D scene can also be reconstructed in the absence of the EXIF data. In this case Metashapeassumes that focal length in 35 mm equivalent equals to 50 mm and tries to align the photos in accordancewith this assumption. If the correct focal length value differs significantly from 50 mm, the alignment cangive incorrect results or even fail. In such cases it is required to specify initial camera calibration manually.
The details of necessary EXIF tags and instructions for manual setting of the calibration parameters are
given in the Camera calibration section.

Lens distortion
The distortion of the lenses used to capture the photos should be well simulated with the camera model
used in the software. Generally, Brown's distortion model implemented in Metashape works well for frame
cameras. However, since fisheye/ultra-wide angle lenses are poorly simulated by the mentioned distortion
model, it is crucial to choose proper camera type in Camera Calibration dialog prior to processing of suchdata - the software will switch to the appropriate distortion model.

Lens calibration
It is possible to use Metashape for automatic lens calibration. Metashape uses LCD screen as a calibration
target (optionally it is possible to use a printed chessboard pattern, providing that it is flat and all its cells are
squares). Lens calibration procedure supports estimation of the full camera calibration matrix, including
non-linear distortion coefficients. The details of camera models are given in the Appendix D, Camera
models section.

Note• Lens calibration procedure can usually be skipped in common workflow, as Metashape calculates
the calibration parameters automatically during Align Photos process. However, if the alignment
results are unstable, for example, due to the lack of the tie points between the images, the lenscalibration may be useful.

11Capturing scenarios

The following camera calibration parameters can be estimated:f
Focal length measured in pixels.
cx, cyPrincipal point coordinates, i.e. coordinates of lens optical axis interception with sensor plane in pixels.
b1, b2Affinity and Skew (non-orthogonality) transformation coefficients.
k1, k2, k3, k4
Radial distortion coefficients.
p1, p2
Tangential distortion coefficients.
Before using lens calibration tool a set of photos of calibration pattern should be loaded in Metashape.

To capture photos of the calibration pattern:
1.

Select Show Chessboard... command from the Lens submenu in the Tools menu to display thecalibration pattern.

2.

Use mouse scroll wheel to zoom in/out the calibration pattern. Scale the calibration pattern so thatthe number of squares on each side of the screen would exceed 10.

3.

Capture a series of photos of the displayed calibration pattern with the camera from slightly different
angles, according to the guidelines, outlined below. Minimum number of photos for a given focal
length is 3.

4.

When calibrating zoom lens, change the focal length of the lens and repeat the previous step for otherfocal length settings.

5.

Click anywhere on the calibration pattern or press Escape button to return to the program.

6.

Upload the captured photos to the computer.

When capturing photos of the calibration pattern, try to fulfill the following guidelines:• Make sure that the focal length keeps constant throughout the session (in case of zoom lens).
• Avoid glare on the photos. Move the light sources away if required.
• Preferably, the whole area of the photos should be covered by calibration pattern. Move the camera
closer to the LCD screen if required.

To load photos of the calibration pattern:
1.

2.

Create new chunk using
Add Chunk toolbar button on the Workspace pane or selecting Add Chunkcommand from the Workspace context menu (available by right-clicking on the root element on theWorkspace pane). See information on using chunks in Using chunks section.
Select Add Photos... command from the Workflow menu.

12Capturing scenarios

3.

In the Open dialog box, browse to the folder, containing the photos, and select files to be processed.
Then click Open button.

4.

Loaded photos will appear in the Photos pane.

Note• Open any photo by double clicking on its thumbnail in the Photos pane. To obtain goodcalibration, the photos should be reasonably sharp, with crisp boundaries between cells.
• Unwanted photos, can easily be removed at any time.
• Before calibrating fisheye lens set the corresponding Camera Type in the Camera Calibration...
dialog available from the Tools menu. See information on other camera calibration settings in
Camera calibration section.

To calibrate camera lens1.

Select Calibrate Lens... command from the Lens submenu in the Tools menu.

2.

In the Calibrate Lens dialog box, select the desired calibration parameters. Click OK button when
done.

3.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click the Cancel button.

4.

The calibration results will appear on the Adjusted tab of the Camera Calibration... dialog available
from the Tools menu. The adjusted values can be saved to file by using Save button on the Adjusted
tab. The saved lens calibration data can later be used in another chunk or project, providing that thesame camera and lens is used.

Note• After the calibration parameters for the lens are saved, the actual image set captured by the same
camera and lens can be processed in a separate chunk. To protect the calibration data from beingrefined during Align Photos process one should check Fix calibration box on the Initial tab forthe chunk with the data to be processed. In this case initial calibration values will not be changed
during Align Photos process.
After calibration is finished the following information will be presented:
Detected chessboard corners are displayed on each photo (the photo can be opened by double clicking on
its name in the Photos pane). It is preferable when the majority of the corners were detected correctly. For
each detected corner the reprojection error between the detected corner position and estimated position
according to the calculated calibration is also displayed. The errors are scaled x20 times for display.

Automated mission planning
Metashape introduces functionality for obtaining optimal sets of camera positions based on rough modeland creating mission plans using these optimal sets.
To generate a detailed mission plan perform a simple overhead flight and create a rough polygonal model.
Then, a set of the viewpoints which are enough to cover the surface of the object with sufficient overlap
13Capturing scenarios

is automatically generated. Finally, a round-trip passing through all the generated viewpoints is computedand can be exported in KML file format to be used for drone controlling application. This tool is suitablefor DJI drones. We recommend using aircraft/drones with RTK GPS to significantly enhance flight safety
and precision.
Mission planning feature works as follows:1.

Make an overhead flight over the region of interest to capture a basic imagery set. To capture verticaland concave surfaces better, use an oblique survey preset in the drone app instead of taking only
nadir photos.

2.

Import photos to Metashape and align them, then build a model of the object. As only rough geometry
is needed for mission planning step, it is possible build mesh from tie point cloud or using low quality
settings to speedup computations. Check Bounding Box to include entire geometry of interest.

3.

Specify Home point for the drone at the expected take-off point. This can be done by placing a Point
shape on the rough model. For precise placement use an option to build texture for the model or to
set the point on an overhead photo that observes Home point.

4.

Select Plan Mission submenu from the Tools menu. Specify parameters and run processing.

5.

Import files to drone app that supports KML flight plans with gimbal orientation.

Note• Each flight must be watched by a pilot ready to take manual control over the drone in case of
GPS issues or unreconstructed obstacles such as wires or trees.
• Specify safe and restricted flight zones to enhance flight safety.
• If drone battery gets low during the flight, replace it and restart the drone at the same altitude asthat of specified home point. The pilot will need to manually navigate drone to the position fromwhich the last visited waypoint is in line of sight to resume automatic flight safely.
• The pilot may need to disable built-in drone obstacle avoidance feature in order to perform range
flights. Be even more careful after disabling obstacle avoidance as drone will longer stop or slow
down in case of any obstacle on the way. It's not recommended to disable obstacle avoidance
feature when flying using GNSS signal without RTK.

14

Capturing scenarios

Plan Mission parameters"Plan Mission" dialog
The following parameters control the photo alignment procedure and can be modified in the Plan Mission
dialog box:

15

Capturing scenarios

Focus on model selection
To consider only selected triangles of the model as target for reconstruction. In any case allreconstructed triangles will be used for obstacle avoidance.
Focus on interesting zone
Polygons from the selected shape layer are used for the area selection. All mesh faces are selected thatfall into the polygonal shapes from the chosen layer when viewed from above. If any mesh faces areused for Focus on model selection along with the zone, then both sources will be considered: manually
selected mesh faces and mesh faces corresponding to the selected shape layer.
Camera model
Choose a camera from the list, with a certain focal length in mm.
Resolution
Target image resolution. Can either be specified as GSD or distance in meters from the surface ofthe rough model.
Image overlap (%)
Choose the desired overlap percentage.
Improve hard-to-reach regions coverage
Optimize coverage of hard-to-reach regions of interest by generating additional viewpoints fromallowed space.
Enable multi-photo waypoints (DJI Pilot and Litchi CSV)
Convert close waypoints to rotate-and-shoot actions without changing drone position.
Safety distance (m)Distance from the object which is restricted for putting waypoints within or planning path through.
Focus on selection parameter is ignored here - all parts of the object available in the rough model
are considered.
Min altitude (m)Relative altitude to home point (in meters) which is restricted for putting waypoints within or planning
path through.
Safety zone
Shape layer with allowed regions.
Restricted zone
Shape layer with restricted regions.
Powerlines layer
Shape layer with the detected powerlines.
Home point
The desired take-off point can be defined as 3D point shape placed in scene. The Home point should
be located within Safety zone (in case it had been specified).
Min waypoints spacing (m)Minimal distance between consecutive waypoints. The default value is set to 0.5 meters according
to DJI drones firmware.
Max waypoints per flight
Maximal possible number of waypoints per KML file. If flight plan has more waypoints than specified
value, it will be split into chunks. The default value is set to 99 according to DJI drones firmware.

16Capturing scenarios

Min pitch
Minimal pitch angle allowed by the drone gimbal.
Max pitch
Maximal pitch angle allowed by the drone gimbal.
Prefer horizontal movement
Traverse flat surfaces in horizontal zig-zag fashion instead of a vertical one. Vertical movement is
simpler to keep direct eye contact with the drone, while the horizontal movement may be more battery
efficient.

Excessive image elimination
Reduce overlap feature is made for analyzing excessive image sets to understand which images are useful
and which are redundant and may be disabled of removed.
1.

Align photos using entire dataset and build rough mesh model from the tie point cloud.

2.

Select Reduce Overlap dialog available from the Tools menu.

3.

Choose parameters in Reduce Overlap dialog box.

4.

Click OK button.

5.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click the Cancel button.

6.

After the operation is finished all the cameras which are not included into optimal subset will get
disabled.

Reduce overlap parameters"Reduce overlap" dialog
Reduce overlap dialog parameters:
Focus on selection
To consider only selected triangles of the polygonal model as target for reconstruction. Cameras that
do not have any of the selected polygons in the field of view would be automatically disabled.
Surface coverage
Number of cameras observing each point from different angles.

17

Chapter 3. General workflow
Processing of images with Metashape includes the following main steps:• loading images into Metashape;• inspecting loaded images, removing unnecessary images;• aligning cameras;• building dense point cloud;• building mesh (3D polygonal model);• generating texture;• building tiled model;• building digital elevation model (DEM);• building orthomosaic;• exporting results.
If Metashape is used in the full function (not Demo) mode, intermediate results of the image processing
can be saved at any stage in the form of project files and can be used later. The concept of projects andproject files is explained in the Saving intermediate results section.

Preferences settings
Metashape settings are available in the Metashape Preferences dialog window. To change the default
program settings for your projects select Preferences... command from the Tools menu (on macOS selectPreferences... command from the MetashapePro menu).

18

General workflow"Metashape Preferences" dialog (General tab)
The following settings are available in the Metashape Preferences dialog window:
General tab
The GUI language can be selected from the available list: English, Chinese, French, German, Italian,Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish.
The GUI appearance can be set in the Theme, the available options are Dark, Light and Classic. The
theme set by default in Metashape Professional edition is Light.
The representation of the project can be selected from the Default view list. This parameter indicates
how the project is first represented when opened in Metashape. The available options are: Point cloud,Dense cloud , Tiled model or Model.

19

General workflow

The preferable Units, that will be used in the project for all measurements can be set in the
Measurements section.
To enable stereo mode in Metashape, select the appropriate Stereoscopic Display mode. For more
information about stereo mode in Metashape see Stereoscopic mode.
Shortcuts for the menu and GUI commands can be adjusted via Customize... button.
It is possible to indicate the path to the Metashape log file, that can be shared with Agisoft support
team in case any problem arises during the data processing in Metashape.
GPU tabMetashape exploits GPU processing power that speeds up the process significantly. The list of all
detected GPU devices is presented on the GPU tab. To use GPU during Metashape processing enableavailable GPU(s). The option to use CPU can also be selected on this tab. More information about
supported GPU(s) is available in the GPU recommendations section.
In order to optimize the processing performance it is recommended to disable Use CPU when
performing GPU accelerated processing option when at least one discrete GPU is enabled.
Network tab
This tab includes settings related to network and cloud processing. To enable Network processing
the corresponding option should be selected. For additional information about Network processingin Metashape see Local network processing chapter. To enable cloud processing the corresponding
option should be selected. Configuring the cloud processing via Agisoft Cloud is described in the
Cloud processing chapter.
Appearance tab
Customization of the interface elements is available on the Appearance tab. For example, it is possible
to change the background color and parameters for the bounding box in the Model view, set color andthickness for seamlines in Ortho view, change the settings for displaying masks in Photo view and etc.
Navigation tab
On this tab the parameters of the 3D controller can be adjusted. See the Stereoscopic mode chapter
for additional information.
Advanced tab
Advanced tab allows to switch on such advanced features as for example rich Python console. To load
additional camera data from XMP (camera calibration, camera orientation angles, camera location
accuracy, GPS/INS offset) enable the corresponding options on this tab.
Keep depth maps option helps save processing time in cases when the dense point cloud needs to be
re-built (for a part of the project) after its initial generation or when both mesh and dense cloud are
based on the same quality depth maps.
Turning on Enable VBO support speeds up the navigation in the Model view for dense point clouds
and high polygonal meshes.
Fine-level task subdivision option allows for internal splitting of some tasks to sub-jobs, thus reducing
the memory consumption during processing of large datasets. The tasks that support fine-level
distribution are: Match Photos, Align Cameras, Build Depth Maps, Build Dense Cloud, Build Tiled
Model, Build DEM, Build Orthomosaic and Classify Points.
Metashape allows for incremental image alignment, that can be useful in case of some data missing in
the initially aligned project. If this may be the case switch on Keep key points option before the initialprocessing of the data is started (see Aligning photos section).

20General workflow

Loading images to the projectThis section provides information on how to add images to a Metashape project and inspect them in order toensure good quality of the processing results as well as on how to work with camera groups to conveniently
operate with the images in a huge dataset. Further subsections describe details on loading various specifictypes of data for processing in Metashape software.

Adding images
Before starting any operation it is necessary to point out which images will be used as a source forphotogrammetric processing. In fact, images themselves are not loaded into Metashape until they areneeded. So, when Add photos command is used, only the links to the image files are added to the projectcontents to indicate the images that will be used for further processing.
Add Folder command is also available in Metashape for importing images into the project. It is used toconvenient load of imagery data from multiple sub-folders of a single folder or when the data should beorganized in a specific way to be correctly interpreted by Metashape (for example, when adding images
captured with rigid camera rigs).
Metashape uses full color range for image matching operation and does not downsample the color
information to 8 bit. The point cloud points, orthomosaic and texture would also have the bit depth
corresponding to the original images, providing that they are exported in the formats that support non 8bit colors.

To load a set of images
1.

SelectAdd Photos... command from the Workflow menu or clickon the Workspace pane.

Add Photos toolbar button

2.

In Add Photos dialog box browse to the folder containing the images and select files to be processed.
Then click Open button.

3.

Selected images will appear on the Workspace pane.

Note• Metashape accepts the following image formats: JPEG, JPEG 2000, JPEG XL, TIFF, DNG,
PNG, OpenEXR, BMP, TARGA, PPM, PGM, SEQ, ARA (thermal images) and JPEG MultiPicture Format (MPO). Image files in any other format will not be displayed in the Add Photos
dialog box. To work with such images it is necessary to convert them to one of the supported
formats.
If some unwanted images have been added to the project, they can be easily removed at any moment.

To remove unwanted images
1.

On the Workspace pane select the cameras to be removed.

2.

Right-click on the selected cameras and choose Remove Items command from the opened context
menu, or click
Remove Items toolbar button on the Workspace pane. Selected images will be
removed from the working set.

21

General workflow

Working with camera groups
To manipulate the data in a chunk easily, e.g. to apply disable/enable functions to several cameras at once,
images in a chunk can be organized in camera groups.

To move cameras to a camera group1.

On the Workspace pane (or Photos pane) select the cameras to be moved.

2.

Right-click on the selected cameras and choose Move Cameras - New Camera Group command fromthe opened context menu.

3.

A new group will be added to the active chunk structure and selected photos will be moved to thatgroup.

4.

Alternatively selected cameras can be moved to a camera group created earlier using Move Cameras- Camera Group - Group_name command from the context menu.

Inspecting loaded images
Loaded images are displayed on the Workspace pane along with flags reflecting their status.
The following flags can appear next to the camera label:
NC (Not calibrated)
Notifies that the EXIF data available for the image is not sufficient to estimate the camera focal length.
In this case Metashape assumes that the corresponding photo was taken using 50mm lens (35mmfilm equivalent). If the actual focal length differs significantly from this value, manual calibration isrecommended. More details on manual camera calibration can be found in the Camera calibration
section.
NA (Not aligned)
Notifies that exterior camera orientation parameters have not been estimated for the image yet.
Exterior camera orientation parameters are estimated at Align Photos stage or can be loaded via Import
Cameras option.

Notifies that Camera Station type was assigned to the group.

Image quality
Poor input, e. g. vague photos, can influence the alignment results and the texture quality badly. To help to
exclude poorly focused images from processing Metashape suggests automatic image quality estimation
feature. Images with quality value of less than 0.5 units are recommended to be disabled and thus excluded
from aligment process nad texture generation procedure. To disable a photo use
the Photos pane toolbar.

Disable button from

Metashape estimates image quality for each input image. The value of the parameter is calculated basedon the sharpness level of the most focused part of the picture.

To estimate image quality
1.

Switch to the detailed view in the Photos pane using
on the Photos pane toolbar.

22

Details command from the Change menu

General workflow

2.

Select all photos to be analyzed on the Photos pane.

3.

Right button click on the selected photo(s) and choose Estimate Image Quality command from thecontext menu.

4.

Once the analysis procedure is over, a figure indicating estimated image quality value will be
displayed in the Quality column on the Photos pane.

Multispectral imagery
Metashape supports processing of multispectral images to create multispectral orthomosaics and calculate
various vegetation indices which are important source of information in agricultural and environmental
projects. Multispectral data can be loaded to a Metashape project in different formats: as a multichannel
TIFF file, as a multilayer TIFF file, as single channel TIFF file groups captured with Micasense, Parrot
and DJI cameras.

Multichannel TIFF files
Metashape supports processing of multispectral images saved as multichannel (single page) TIFF files.
The main processing steps (Align photos, Build Dense Cloud, Build DEM, Build Orthomosaic) for
multispectral images are performed based on the primary channel, which can be selected by the user. All
spectral bands are processed together to form a multispectral orthomosaic with the same channels as in
the source images during orthomosaic export.
Workflow for multispectral imagery processing does not differ from the common workflow for RGB
photos, except the additional primary channel selection step performed after adding images to the project.
It is recommended to select the channel which is sharp and as much detailed as possible as a primarychannel for processing.

To select primary channel
1.

Add multispectral images to the project using

Add Folder... command from the Workflow menu.

2.

Select folder containing the images in the Add Folder... dialog window. Click Select Folder button.
Add Photos dialog window will appear.

3.

Select Multi-camera system command in the Add Photos dialog.

4.

Select Set Primary Channel... command from the chunk context menu in the Workspace pane.

5.

In the Set Primary Channel dialog select the channel to be used as primary and click OK button.
Display of images in MetashapePhotos pane window will be updated according to the primary channel
selection.

Note• Set Primary Channel... command is available for RGB images as well. Only one channel to be
used as the basis for photogrammetric processing, whereas, the Default option allows for all threechannels to be used in the processing.
Multispectral orthomosaic export is supported in GeoTIFF format only. When exporting to other formats,
only primary channel will be saved.

23

General workflow

Multilayer TIFF files
Metashape supports processing of multispectral datasets captured with multiple synchronized sensors
operating in the same or different spectral ranges. In this case multiple images are available for eachposition and Metashape will estimate calibration parameters for each sensor separately as well as theirrelative orientation within multi-sensor system.
All images for each camera position (number equals to the number of sensors) are contained in a separate
multilayer TIFF file. The number of multilayer images is equal to the number of camera positions.

To load data from multilayer images
1.

SelectAdd Folder... command from the Workflow menu.

2.

In the Add Folder dialog browse to the folder containing multilayer images and select files to beprocessed. Then click Open button.

3.

In the Add Photos dialog select Multi-camera system option.

4.

Created chunk with multispectral cameras will appear on the Workspace pane.

After loading data from multilayer TIFF files, it is necessary to set unique Layer index value for eachsensor.

To set unique Layer index for a sensor
1.

Select Camera Calibration command from the Tools menu.

2.

Select sensor in the left hand side menu.

3.

On the Bands tab set unique value for Layer index parameter.

4.

Repeat procedure for each sensor of multi-sensor system.

MicaSense, Parrot and DJI multispectral cameras
Metashape supports processing of multispectral datasets captured with MicaSense (RedEdge, Altum),
Parrot Sequoia and DJI Phantom 4 Multispectral cameras. Although these cameras save data from eachsensor as a single-channel TIFF file, Metashape automatically organizes imagery data to multi-camera
system layout based on available meta data. Image file corresponding to all the bands should be selected
at once when loading data to the project.

To load data from MicaSense (RedEdge, Altum), Parrot Sequoia, DJI Phantom 4
Multispectral cameras
1.

SelectAdd Folder... command from the Workflow menu.

2.

In the Add Photos dialog box browse to the folder containing multispectral images and select files
to be processed. Then click Open button.

3.

In the Add Photos dialog select Multi-camera system option.

4.

Created chunk with multispectral cameras will appear on the Workspace pane. The labels of themultispectral cameras would be taken from the first band image filenames.

24General workflow

For multispectral cameras by MicaSense, Parrot and DJI the default sensor order is defined by theCentralWavelength value from the image meta data (sensor with the lowest value is added first). By
default master sensor will be selected as a sensor with the lowest CentralWavelength value. Master sensor
and the order can be re-assigned in Camera Calibration dialog available from Tools menu. The default
order of the output orthomosaic channels corresponds to the order of the sensors.
Reflectance calibration for multispectral images acquired using MicaSense (RedEdge, Altum, etc.), Parrot
Sequoia, DJI Phantom 4 Multispectral cameras can be performed based on the radiometric panel images
and/or sun sensor meta information. Read more in Vegetation indices calculation section.
Vignetting correction information is saved in meta data in these types of cameras. This information will
be loaded automatically into Metashape and can be used to improve orthomosaic generation results. Read
more in Vegetation indices calculation section.

Thermal imagery
Thermal images contain information about object temperature. Metashape supports processing of thermal
data from AscTec (ARA format), WIRIS (TIFF format) cameras and cameras saving data in R-JPEG(FLIR data) format.

To load thermal images
1.

Add thermal images to the project using

Add Photos... command from the Workflow menu.

2.

Choose images in the Add Photos dialog.

3.

Then click Open button.

For AscTec and WIRIS camera data it will be suggested to configure Palette settings to visualize
temperature values with pseudocolors.

To configure palette for temperature values visualization1.

Select one of the available presets or customize Palette in Raster Calculator dialog.

2.

Click OK button to apply the palette settings and close the dialog.

Note• For R-JPEG data it is required to load the images to Metashape using multi-camera system layout
option. See Rigid camera rig data section.

Rigid camera rig data
Metashape supports processing of datasets captured with multiple synchronized cameras rigidly fixed
relatively to each other (camera rigs). In this case multiple images are available for each position of such
system and Metashape will estimate calibration parameters for each camera separately as well as theirrelative orientation within camera rig.
Before adding images from rigid camera rigs it is necessary to organize files on the disk appropriately.
Images corresponding to each camera in the rig should be placed to a separate subfolder of the parent
directory. The number of subfolders is equal to the number of cameras in the rig, whereas the order of theimages in each subfolder correspond to the shooting order (it means that the number of images in eachsubfolder is expected to be the same).

25General workflow

To load images from rigid camera rig
1.

SelectAdd Folder... command from the Workflow menu.

2.

In the Add Folder dialog box browse to the parent folder containing subfolders with images, acquiredby different cameras in the rig. Then click Select Folder button.

3.

In the Add Photos dialog select Multi-camera system layout and choose Create sensor from eachsubfolder option.

4.

Selected images will be added as multi-camera system layout (see left side part of the Camera
Calibration dialog).

The labels of the cameras in the Workspace pane would be taken from the image filenames of thefirst subfolder (sorted in alphabetic order) of selected parent folder. The first subfolder camera will be
automatically set as master camera in Camera Calibration dialog, the rest of the cameras will be tackled
as slave cameras to the master. To change master camera, you can use the corresponding command fromthe context menu of the camera group displayed in the left side part of the Camera Calibration dialog.
The default assumption is that synchronized cameras have the same position in space. In case distance
between the cameras cannot be neglected, it is possible for Metashape to calculate relative camera offset.
If offset parameters are known they can be input manually.

To set relative camera offset for synchronized cameras manually1.

Select Camera Calibration command from the Tools menu.

2.

In the left-hand part of the Camera Calibration dialog box select slave camera to set up offset

3.

Switch to Slave offset tab.

4.

Check on Enable reference option for coordinates and/or angles. Adjust location/rotation options
should be enabled.

5.

Input the relative camera offset values to the Reference column manually.

6.

Adjust the values in the Accuracy column, according to the offsets measurement accuracy.

7.

Repeat procedure for each slave camera.

Metashape uses the following coordinate system for slave camera offsets:• X axis points to the right side of the image,• Y axis points to the bottom of the image,• Z axis points along the viewing direction of the master camera.
Slave Camera Offset is calculated by the following formula:
Pmaster = Rx(omega) * Ry(phi) * Rz(kappa) * Pslave + T
Where:
Pslave – point coordinates in slave camera coordinate system,
Pmaster – point coordinates in master camera coordinate system,

26

General workflow

Rx(omega), Ry(phi, Rz(kappa) – rotation matrices around corresponding axes in clockwise direction,
T – slave camera offset.

To allow for automatic calculation of relative camera offsets in camera rig
1.

Select Camera Calibration command from the Tools menu.

2.

In the left side part of the Camera Calibration dialog box select slave camera to calculate relative
offset for. Slave cameras are displayed as dropdown list for the corresponding master camera.

3.

Switch to Slave offset tab.

4.

Check Adjust location option.

5.

The offset for the selected slave camera will be estimated in relation to master camera during cameraalignment or optimization procedures.

6.

Repeat procedure for each slave camera.

In case of rigid camera rigs variance of relative offset can be inspected in the GPS/INS Offset tab of Camera
Calibration dialog, see Variance column. Values in the Variance column are equal to squared standard
deviation of relative offset. Read more in Covariance matrix section.

Camera station data
If all the images or a subset of images were captured from one camera position - camera station, for
Metashape to process them correctly it is obligatory to move the cameras, corresponding to those images,
to a camera group and mark the group as Station. It is important that for all the images in a Station group
distances between camera centers were negligibly small compared to the minimal distance to the object
from the cameras in the group.
To mark group as camera station, right click on the camera group name and select Set Group Typecommand from the context menu.
Photogrammetric processing will require at least two camera stations with overlapping images to be present
in a chunk. A panoramic picture, however, can be exported for the data captured from only one camera
station. Refer to Exporting results section for guidance on panorama export.

Laser scans data
Integration of terrestrial laser scanning data into photogrammetry processing workflow is supported in
Metashape based on spherical panoramas acquired by a laser scanner. The panoramas are used at the image
matching step. Intensity map in utilized instead, if the scanner used is not capable of saving spherical
panoramas. During the dense cloud or depth maps based mesh generation operations, photogrammetric
depth maps are merged with the depth information coming from the laser scanner.

To import laser scans data
1.

Select Import Laser Scans... command from the Import submenu of the File menu.

2.

Select files with structured point cloud data in ASTM E57 or PTX formats in the Open dialog.

3.

Specify the folder where the pre-processed laser scans will be saved to (can be re-used from thatlocation later without a need of completing the pre-processing procedure again).

27

General workflow

4.

Click OK button to add the data to the active chunk.

If the project has both laser scans data and digital imagery for the same scenes, all the data should be
loaded to the same chunk and to be processed together.

Satellite imagery
Metashape can process panchromatic and multispectral satellite images, provided that sufficiently accurate
Rational Polynomial Coefficients (RPC) data is available for each image. Examples of supported satellites:
Beijing-3A, Ikonos, Planet Labs, Pleiades, SuperView, Jilin, WorldView.
RPC coefficients are loaded automatically if they are present in RPC coefficient image tag. Alternatively,
they can be loaded from supplementary rpc.txt or .rpb files.

To load satellite images
1.

2.
3.

If RPC coefficients are provided in supplementary rpc.txt or .rpb files make sure that Load satellite
RPC data from auxiliary TXT files option is enabled in the Advanced tab of the Preferences dialog
before adding images to the project.
Add satellite images to the project using

Add Photos command from the Workflow menu.

Make sure that RPC coefficients are loaded correctly: check that Camera type is set to RPC for all
calibration groups which contain satellite images in Camera Calibration dialog.

Satellite images often have very large resolution and navigation in the Photo view may be slow. Metashape
can take advantage of multi resolution TIFF files with overviews, which greatly improve user experience.
If the available satellite images do not contain overviews, it is highly recommended to create them first.
This can be done using Convert Images command from the Export submenu from the File menu.

To generate optimized TIFF images for faster navigation in Photo view mode1.

Add original images to an empty project as described in the previous procedure.

2.

Select Convert Images... command from the File > Export menu.

3.

In the Convert Images dialog make sure that Write tiled TIFF and Generate TIFF overviews options
are enabled. Need to enable Write BigTIFF file option if images are larger than 4GB.

4.

Make sure that Filename template is set to some reasonable value. The default {filename}.{fileext}
value should work in most cases.

5.

In the Apply to section select All cameras and click OK button.

6.

In the Select Folder dialog select a folder to save optimized images. It is recommended to select a
new empty folder for the images to make sure that original files are not overwritten.

7.

Click Select Folder button to start conversion.

8.

When conversion is complete generated images can be loaded into a new project for processing.

Note• Convert Images command automatically embeds RPC coefficients in the generated files, so it is
not necessary to copy auxiliary TXT files to the new images folder.

28

General workflow

Working with tiled satellite imagery
High resolution satellite images are often provided in a tiled form, where each image is split in to multiple
TIFF files. Before loading into Metashape such data needs to be converted to combined TIFF files first.
This can be done using gdal_translate utility from GDAL package.
Below are example commands that can be used to perform conversion for different formats. These
commands will generate multi-resolution TIFF files with overviews and with embedded RPC coefficients.

Converting DIMAP datasets
DIMAP images contain an XML index file for each image, which can be used for conversion using thefollowing commands:
gdal_translate DIM_<datasetname>.XML combined.tif -co TILED=YES
gdaladdo -r average combined.tif 2 4 8 16 32

Converting DigitalGlobe datasets
Tiled DigitalGlobe images contain a TIL tile index file for each image, which needs to be used forconversion:
gdal_translate <datasetname>.TIL combined.tif -co TILED=YES
gdaladdo -r average combined.tif 2 4 8 16 32

Scanned images with fiducial marks
Metashape supports processing of analog aerial images (with fiducial marks) scanned to digital files.
Fiducial marks are needed in order to set the interior orientation parameters for scanned imagery. Read
more about camera calibration scanned imagery processing in Camera calibration for the scanned images
with fiducial marks section.

To load scanned images
1.

Add scanned images to the project using

Add Photos... command from the Workflow menu.

2.

In Add Photos dialog box browse to the folder containing the images and select files to be added tothe project.

3.

Click OK button to close the dialog. Loaded images will appear in the Workspace pane.

Video data
Metashape allows for video data processing as well, which can be beneficial for quick inspection scenarios,
for example. The video is to be divided into frames which will be further used as source images for 3D
reconstruction.

To import a video file1.

Select Import Video... command from the File menu.

2.

In the Import Video dialog available inspect the video and set the output folder for the frames.

29General workflow

3.

Set the filename pattern for the frames and indicate the frame extraction rate.

4.

To import part of the video, specify the parameters: Start from and End at.

5.

Click OK button for the frames to be automatically extracted and saved to the designated folder. The
images extracted from the video will be automatically added to the active chunk.

Note• In Metashape you can choose the automatic frame step (Small, Medium, Large) or set theparameter manually via Custom option. Once the parameter value is set, the program calculates
the shift for the frames to be extracted. For Small value, the shift of about 3% of the image width
will be taken into account. For Medium, it corresponds to 7% and for Large - 14% of the image
width.
After the frames have been extracted you can follow standard processing workflow for the images.

Aligning photos
The camera position at the time of image capture is defined by the interior and exterior orientation
parameters.
Interior orientation parameters include camera focal length, coordinates of the image principal point andlens distortion coefficients. Before starting processing in Metashape the following configuration steps
should be performed:• Separate calibration groups should be created for each physical camera used in the project. It is also
recommended to create a separate calibration group for each flight or survey. For details see Cameragroups subsection of Loading images to the project.
• For each calibration group initial approximation of interior orientation parameters should be specified.
In most cases this is done automatically based on EXIF meta data. When EXIF meta data is not available,
initial interior orientation parameters needs to be configured according to the camera certificate.
• When using images captured with analog camera, it is necessary to set the camera calibration parameters
manually and also indicate fiducial marks on each image (for additional information see Camera
calibration for the scanned images with fiducial marks section).
Exterior orientation parameters define the position and orientation of the camera. They are estimated during
image alignment and consist of 3 translation components and 3 Euler rotation angles.

Camera orientation angles conventions
Metashape allows to define camera orientation with either [yaw, pitch, roll], [omega, phi, kappa], [phi,omega, kappa] or [alpha, nu, kappa] angles. The more common scenario is to load [yaw, pitch, roll]measurements directly from the airborne IMU system and, hence, default setting in Metashape is to tackle
the input values as [yaw, pitch, roll] data.
To provide compatibility with different processing workflows Metashape also supports [omega, phi,kappa] data input. Angles are used to transform coordinate system and align it with the image coordinate
system.
• Omega is the rotation around the X axis.
• Phi is the rotation around the Y axis.

30

General workflow• Kappa is the rotation around the Z axis.
Yaw, Pitch, Roll definition:• Yaw is the rotation around the Z axis.
• Pitch is the rotation around the X axis.
• Roll is the rotation around the Y axis.
Alpha, Nu, Kappa definition:• Alpha is the rotation around the Z axis.
• Nu is the rotation around the X axis.
• Kappa is the rotation around the Y axis.
For images system of angular elements of exterior orientation ([yaw,pitch,roll], [omega, phi, kappa] or[alpha, nu, kappa]) can be switched in the Reference Settings dialog. Do not forget to click OK button in
the Reference Settings dialog to apply the changes.
In many cases survey systems are equipped with GPS/GNSS systems for measuring exterior orientation
parameters during capture. This data can be used as additional measurements during bundle adjustment. To
import a file with exterior images orientation parameters see Assigning reference coordinates in Coordinate
system section.
Exterior and interior image orientation parameters are calculated using aerotriangulation with bundle block
adjustment based on collinearity equations. Aerotriangulation allows to jointly adjust photogrammetricmeasurements of tie points together with onboard measurements. As a result, more accurate and reliable
exterior orientation parameters of images are obtained.
The result of this processing step consists of estimated exterior (translation and rotation) and interior
camera orientation parameters together with a tie point cloud containing triangulated positions of key
points matched across the images.

To align a set of photos
1.

Select Align Photos... command from the Workflow menu.

2.

In the Align Photos dialog box select the desired alignment parameters. Click OK button when done.

3.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

After alignment is completed, computed camera positions and a tie point cloud will be displayed in Modelview. You can inspect alignment results and remove incorrectly positioned cameras, if any. To see thematches between any two images use View Matches... command from the image context menu in the
Photos pane.
Incorrectly positioned cameras can be realigned.

To realign a subset of photos
1.

Reset alignment for incorrectly positioned cameras using Reset Camera Alignment command fromthe photo context menu.

31General workflow

2.

Set markers (at least 4 per images) on these imagess and indicate their projections on at least two
images from the already aligned subset. Metashape will consider these points to be true matches. (Forinformation on markers placement refer to the Coordinate system section).

3.

Select images to be realigned and use Align Selected Cameras command from the context menu.

4.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

When the alignment step is completed, the tie point cloud and estimated camera positions can be exported
for processing with another software if needed.
To improve alignment results it may be reasonable to exclude poorly focused images from processing(read more in Image quality section).

Alignment parameters"Align Photos" dialog
The following parameters control the image matching and alignment procedure and can be changed in the
Align Photos dialog box:
Accuracy
Higher accuracy settings help to obtain more accurate camera position estimates. Lower accuracy
settings can be used to get the rough estimation of camera positions in a shorter period of time.
While at High accuracy setting the software works with the photos of the original size, Medium setting
causes image downscaling by factor of 4 (2 times by each side), at Low accuracy source files aredownscaled by factor of 16, and Lowest value means further downscaling by 4 times more. Highest
accuracy setting upscales the image by factor of 4. Since tie point positions are estimated on the32General workflow

basis of feature spots found on the source images, it may be meaningful to upscale a source phototo accurately localize a tie point. However, Highest accuracy setting is recommended only for very
sharp image data and mostly for research purposes due to the corresponding processing being quite
time consuming.
Generic preselection
The alignment process of large photo sets can take a long time. A significant portion of this time
period is spent on matching of detected features across the photos. Image pair preselection option may
speed up this process due to selection of a subset of image pairs to be matched.
In the Generic preselection mode the overlapping pairs of photos are selected by matching photos
using lower accuracy setting first.

Note
Using only Reference preselection mode without Generic preselection fits best the case when
only a few tie points are detected during the image matching stage, it may happen, for example,
for aerial surveys of forested areas or crop fields.
Reference preselection
In the Source preselection mode the overlapping pairs of photos are selected based on the measured
camera locations (if present). For oblique imagery it is necessary to set Capture distance value(average ground height in the same coordinate system which is set for camera coordinates data) in the
Settings dialog of the Reference pane to make the preselection procedure work efficiently. Capture
distance information must be accompanied with yaw, pitch, roll/omega, phi, kappa data for cameras.
Rotation parameters should be input in the Reference pane. Then the preselection based on the new 3D
points calculated as original 3D point and vector in the direction of the camera view with the length
equal to the input Capture Distance value.
The Estimated preselection mode takes into account the calculated exterior orientation parameters
for the aligned cameras. That is, if the alignment operation has been already completed for the project,
the estimated camera locations will be considered when the Align Photos procedure is run again with
the Estimated preselection selected.
When using Sequential preselection mode the correspondence between the images is determinedaccording to the sequence of photos (the sequence number of the image) it is worth noting that withthis adjustment, the first with the last images in the sequence will also be compared.
Reset current alignment
If this option is checked, all the tie, and key, and matching points will be discarded and the alignment
procedure will be started from the very beginning.
Additionally the following advanced parameters can be adjusted.
Key point limit
The number indicates upper limit of feature points on every image to be taken into account during
current processing stage. Using zero value allows Metashape to find as many key points as possible,
but it may result in a big number of less reliable points.
Tie point limit
The number indicates upper limit of matching points for every image. Using zero value doesn't apply
any tie point filtering.
Apply mask to
If apply mask to key points option is selected, areas previously masked on the photos are excluded
from feature detection procedure. Apply mask to tie points option means that certain tie points are
excluded from alignment procedure. Effectively this implies that if some area is masked at least on a33

General workflow

single photo, relevant key points on the rest of the photos picturing the same area will be also ignored
during alignment procedure (a tie point is a set of key points which have been matched as projectionsof the same 3D point on different images). This can be useful to be able to suppress background in
turntable shooting scenario with only one mask. For additional information on the usage of masks
please refer to the Using masks section.
Exclude stationary tie points
Excludes tie points that remain stationary across multiple different images. This option enablesalignment without masks for datasets with a static background, e.g. in a case of a turntable with afixed camera scenario. Also enabling this option will help to eliminate false tie points related to thecamera sensor or lens artefacts.
Guided image matchingThis option allows to effectively boost the number of keypoints per image as if the value of Key
point limit was straightforwardly increased, but without significant growth of processing time. Using
this parameter can improve results for images with vegetation (wooded terrain, grass, cornfields
and so on), spherical cameras and high resolution images (captured by professional grade cameras,
satellites or acquired by high-resolution scanning of the archival aerial images). To enable Guided
image matching, check corresponding option in Align Photos dialog and adjust Key point limit per
Mpx if needed. The number of detected points per image is calculated as (Keypoint limit per Mpx) *(image size in Mpx). Small fraction will be extensively matched and used as guidance for matchingof remaining points.
Adaptive camera model fittingThis option enables automatic selection of camera parameters to be included into adjustment based on
their reliability estimates. For data sets with strong camera geometry, like images of a building takenfrom all the sides around, including different levels, it helps to adjust more parameters during initialcamera alignment. For data sets with weak camera geometry , like a typical aerial data set, it helps
to prevent divergence of some parameters. For example, estimation of radial distortion parameters
for data sets with only small central parts covered by the object is very unreliable. When the option
is unchecked, Metashape will refine only the fixed set of parameters: focal length, principal point
position, three radial distortion coefficients (K1, K2, K3) and two tangential distortion coefficients(P1, P2).

Note• Tie point limit parameter allows to optimize performance for the task and does not generally
effect the quality of the further model. Recommended value is 10 000. Too high or too low tie
point limit value may cause some parts of the dense point cloud model to be missed. The reason
is that Metashape generates depth maps only for pairs of photos for which number of matching
points is above certain limit. This limit equals to 100 matching points, unless moved up by the
figure "10% of the maximum number of matching points between the photo in question andother photos, only matching points corresponding to the area within the bounding box being
considered."• The number of tie points can be reduced after the alignment process with Tie Points - Thin Point
Cloud command available from Tools menu. As a results tie point cloud will be thinned, yet thealignment will be kept unchanged.

Components
Some image subsets may be not aligned as the result of the Align Photos operation, if the sufficient amountof tie points was not detected between such subsets. Such subsets which are not aligned with the main
subset will be grouped into individually aligned parts - Components.

34

General workflow

The components into which the camera alignment have been split after the Align Photos operation will be
displayed in the chunk's contents of the Workspace pane inside the Components folder.

To align components with each other1.

Manually create markers which would connect the components with each other. It is required to use
at least 3 markers between each pair of components that do not lay on the same line. See information
about placing markers in Coordinate system section.

2.

In order to switch between the components double-click with the left mouse button on the component's
label in the Workspace pane.

3.

After all the components have been aligned with the help of markers, select them in the Workspacepane and then use the Merge Components command from the context menu.

Incremental image alignment
In case some extra images should be subaligned to the set of already aligned images, you can benefit
from incremental image alignment option. To make it possible, two rules must be followed: 1) the scene
environment should not have changed significantly (lighting conditions, etc); 2) do not forget to switch on
Keep key points option in the Preferences dialog, Advanced tab BEFORE the whole processing is started.

To subalign some extra images added to the chunk with already aligned set ofimages1.

Add extra photos to the active chunk using Add photos command from the Workflow menu.

2.

Open Align photos dialog from the Workflow menu.

3.

Set alignment parameters for the newly added photos. IMPORTANT! Uncheck Reset alignment
option.

4.

Click OK. Metashape will consider existing key points and try to match them with key points detectedon the newly added images.

Point cloud generation based on imported camera data
Metashape supports import of external and internal camera orientation parameters. Thus, if precise camera
data is available for the project, it is possible to load them into Metashape along with the photos, to be
used as initial information for 3D reconstruction job.

To import external and internal camera parameters
1.

Select Import Cameras command from the File menu.

2.

Select the format of the file to be imported.

3.

Browse to the file and click Open button.

4.

The data will be loaded into the software. Camera calibration data can be inspected in the Camera
Calibration dialog, Adjusted tab, available from Tools menu. If the input file contains some reference
data (camera position data in some coordinate system), the data will be shown on the Reference pane,
View Estimated tab.

35

General workflow

Camera data can be loaded in one of the following formats: Agisoft (*.xml), PATB Camera Orientation(*.ori), BINGO (*.dat), Inpho Project File (*.prj), Blocks Exchange (*.xml), Bundler (*.out), Realviz
RZML (*.rzml), N-View Match (*.nvm), Alembic (*.abc), Autodesk FBX (*.fbx), VisionMap Detailed
Report (*.txt).
Once the data is loaded, Metashape will offer to build point cloud. This step involves feature points
detection and matching procedures. As a result, a Tie Points cloud - 3D representation of the tie-points
data, will be generated. Build Point Cloud command is available from Tools - Tie Points menu. Parameters
controlling Build Point Cloud procedure are the same as the ones used at Align Photos step (see above).

Building dense point cloudMetashape allows to create a dense point cloud based on the calculated exterior and interior image
orientation parameters.
Dense point cloud generation is based on depth maps calculated using dense stereo matching. Depth maps
are calculated for the overlapping image pairs considering their relative exterior and interior orientation
parameters estimated with bundle adjustment. Multiple pairwise depth maps generated for each camera
are merged together into combined depth map, using excessive information in the overlapping regions tofilter wrong depth measurements.
Combined depth maps generated for each camera are transformed into the partial dense point clouds,
which are then merged into a final dense point cloud with additional noise filtering step applied in theoverlapping regions. The normals in the partial dense point clouds are calculated using plane fitting to the
pixel neighborhood in the combined depth maps, and the colors are sampled from the images.
For every point in the final dense point cloud the number of contributing combined depth maps is recorded
and stored as a confidence value. This confidence value can be used later to perform additional filtering of
low confidence points using the Filter by Confidence... command from the Tools > Dense Cloud menu.
Metashape tends to produce extra dense point clouds, which are of almost the same density, if not denser, as
LIDAR point clouds. A dense point cloud can be edited and classified within Metashape environment andused as a basis for such processing stages as Build Mesh, Build DEM, Build Tiled Model. Alternatively,
the point cloud can be exported to an external tool for further analysis.

To build a dense point cloud1.

Check the reconstruction volume bounding box. To adjust the bounding box use the

ResizeRegion,Move Region andRotate Region toolbar buttons. To resize the bounding box, dragcorners of the box to the desired positions; to move - hold the box with the left mouse button anddrag it to the new location.
2.

Select the Build Dense Cloud... command from the Workflow menu.

3.

In the Build Dense Cloud dialog box select the desired reconstruction parameters. Click OK button
when done.

4.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

Note• More than one instance of Dense cloud can be stored in one chunk. In case you want to savecurrent Dense cloud instance and build new one in current chunk, right-click on Dense cloud and36

General workflow

uncheck Set as default option. In case you want to save current Dense cloud instance and edit its
copy, right-click on Dense cloud and choose Duplicate option.

Build Dense Cloud parameters"Build Dense Cloud" dialog
Quality
Specifies the desired quality of the depth maps genration. Higher quality settings can be used to obtain
more detailed and accurate geometry, but they require longer time for processing. Interpretation of thequality parameters here is similar to that of accuracy settings given in Photo Alignment section. The
only difference is that in this case Ultra High quality setting means processing of original photos, while
each following step implies preliminary image size downscaling by factor of 4 (2 times by each side).
Additionally the following advanced parameters can be adjusted.
Depth filtering modes
At the stage of dense point cloud generation reconstruction Metashape calculates depth maps for every
image. Due to some factors, like noisy or badly focused images, there can be some outliers among
the points. To sort out the outliers Metashape has several built-in filtering algorithms that answer thechallenges of different projects.
If there are important small details which are spatially distinguished in the scene to bereconstructed, then it is recommended to set Mild depth filtering mode, for important features
not to be sorted out as outliers. This value of the parameter may also be useful for aerial projects
in case the area contains poorly textured roofs, for example. Mild depth filtering mode is also
required for the depth maps based mesh reconstruction.
If the area to be reconstructed does not contain meaningful small details, then it is reasonable
to choose Aggressive depth filtering mode to sort out most of the outliers. This value of theparameter normally recommended for aerial data processing, however, mild filtering may be
useful in some projects as well (see poorly textured roofs comment in the mild parameter value
description above).
Moderate depth filtering mode brings results that are in between the Mild and Aggressive
approaches. You can experiment with the setting in case you have doubts which mode to choose.
Additionally depth filtering can be Disabled. But this option is not recommended as the resulting
dense cloud could be extremely noisy.

37

General workflow

The filtering modes control noise filtering in the raw depth maps. This is done using a connectedcomponent filter which operates on segmented depth maps based on the pixel depth values. The
filtering preset control a maximum size of connected components that are discarded by the filter.

Note• Stronger filter presets remove more noise, but also may remove useful information in case there
are small and thin structures in the scene.
Reuse depth maps
Depth maps available in the chunk can be reused for the dense cloud generation operation. Selectrespective Quality and Depth filtering parameters values (see info next to Depth maps label on theWorkspace pane) in Build Dense Cloud dialog and then check Reuse depth maps option.
Calculate point colors
This option can be unchecked in case the points color is not of interest. This will allow to save up
processing time.
Calculate point confidence
If the option is enabled, the Metashape will count how many depth maps have been used to generateeach dense cloud point. This parameter can used for dense cloud filtering (see Editing point cloud).

Import point cloudMetashape allows to import a point cloud to be interpreted at further processing stages as a dense
point cloud. If you want to upload a dense point cloud got from some external source (photogrammetry
technology, laser scanning, etc), you can use Import points command from the File menu. In the Import
points dialog browse to a file in one of the supported formats and click Open button.
Dense point cloud can be imported in one of the following formats: Wavefront OBJ (*.obj), Stanford PLY(*.ply), ASPRS LAS (*.las), LAZ (*.laz), ASTM E57 (*.e57), ASCII PTS (*.pts, *.pts.gz), PTX (*.ptx),
Point Cloud Data (*.pcd).
In Import Points dialog window specify Direction (Generic, Origin, Trajectory file) and a value for Local
surface neighbors for the following formats: ASTM E57 (*.e57), ASCII PTS (*.pts, *.pts.gz ), PTX (*.ptx).
If the point cloud was recorded in a structured form, then the Direction - Origin parameter should be used.
If the point cloud was obtained in an unstructured form, then use Direction - Generic. In order to determine
the normal of a point in a point cloud, Metashape approximate the local surface of the model with a plane.
The direction of the plane is determined by the nearby neighbors of a given point. The number of nearby
points to consider is determined by Local surface neighbors parameter. If the cloud is very noisy, 28
default neighbors may not be enough to confidently determine the normals. For such point clouds, it isworth increasing the number of neighbors under consideration to 100. Increasing the number of neighbors
will slow down the calculation, smooth out the normals at the corners, but will help avoid noise. In somecases, increasing the number of neighbors can help avoid large inverted plots.

Building mesh
Mesh based on point cloud or depth maps data
Metashape can reconstruct polygonal mesh model based on the point cloud information (Dense Cloud, Tie
Points imported from external source) or based on the depth maps data.

38

General workflow

To build a mesh
1.

Check the reconstruction volume bounding box. If the model has already been referenced, thebounding box will be properly positioned automatically. Otherwise, it is important to control its
position manually.
To adjust the bounding box manually, use the
Resize Region,
Move Region andRotateRegion toolbar buttons. Rotate the bounding box and then drag corners of the box to the desired
positions - only part of the scene inside the bounding box will be reconstructed. If the Height fieldreconstruction method is to be applied, it is important to control the position of the red side of thebounding box: it defines reconstruction plane. In this case make sure that the bounding box is correctly
oriented.

2.

Select the Build Mesh... command from the Workflow menu.

3.

In the Build Mesh dialog box select the desired reconstruction parameters. Click OK button when
done.

4.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

Note• More than one instance of Mesh can be stored in one chunk. In case you want to save current
Mesh instance and build new one in current chunk, right-click on Mesh and uncheck Set as
default option. In case you want to save current Mesh instance and edit its copy, right-click on
Mesh and choose Duplicate option.

39

General workflow

Build Mesh parameters"Build Mesh" dialog
Metashape supports several reconstruction methods and settings, which help to produce optimalreconstructions for a given data set.
Source data
Specifies the source for the mesh generation procedure.
• Tie points can be used for fast 3D model generation based solely on the tie point cloud.
• Dense cloud setting will result in longer processing time but will generate high quality output basedon the previously reconstructed or imported dense point cloud.
• Depth maps setting allows to use all the information from the input images more effectively
and is less resource demanding compared to the dense cloud based reconstruction. The option
is recommended to be used for Arbitrary surface type reconstruction, unless the workflow usedassumes dense cloud editing prior to the mesh reconstruction.
Surface type
• Arbitrary surface type can be used for modeling of any kind of object. It should be selected for
closed objects, such as statues, buildings, etc. It doesn't make any assumptions on the type of theobject being modeled, which comes at a cost of higher memory consumption.
• Height field surface type is optimized for modeling of planar surfaces, such as terrains orbasereliefs. It should be selected for aerial photography processing as it requires lower amount ofmemory and allows for larger data sets processing.

40General workflow

Quality
Specifies the desired reconstruction quality of the depth maps, providing that they are selected as asource option. Higher quality settings can be used to obtain more detailed and accurate geometry, butthey require longer time for the processing.
Interpretation of the quality parameters here is similar to that of accuracy settings given in Photo
Alignment section. The only difference is that in this case Ultra High quality setting means processingof original photos, while each following step implies preliminary image size downscaling by factorof 4 (2 times by each side). For depth maps based mesh generation Mild filtering option is used bydefault, unless Reuse depth maps option is enabled. Aggressive filtering can be used if the excessivegeometry (such as isolated mesh components around the reconstructed object) is observed, however,some fine level thin elements may be lost due to this depth filtering mode selection.
Face countSpecifies the maximum number of polygons in the final mesh. Suggested values (High, Medium, Low)
present optimal number of polygons for a mesh of a corresponding level of detail. For the dense cloud
based reconstruction they are calculated based on the number of points in the source dense point cloud:the ratio is 1/5, 1/15, and 1/45 respectively. It is still possible for a user to indicate the target numberof polygons in the final mesh through the Custom value of the Face count parameter. Please note thatwhile too small number of polygons is likely to result in too rough mesh, too huge custom number(over 10 million polygons) is likely to cause model visualization problems in external software.
Additionally the following advanced parameters can be adjusted.
Interpolation
If interpolation mode is Disabled it leads to accurate reconstruction results since only areas
corresponding to dense point cloud points are reconstructed. Manual hole filling is usually requiredat the post processing step.With Enabled (default) interpolation mode Metashape will interpolate
some surface areas within a circle of a certain radius around every dense cloud point. As a result someholes can be automatically covered. Yet some holes can still be present on the model and are to be
filled at the post processing step. In Extrapolated mode the program generates holeless model withextrapolated geometry. Large areas of extra geometry might be generated with this method, but they
could be easily removed later using selection and cropping tools.
Point classes
Specifies the classes of the dense point cloud to be used for mesh generation. For example, select only
Ground Points class to produce a DTM as opposed to a DSM. Preliminary Classifying dense point
cloud procedure should be performed for this option of mesh generation to be active. Option is only
applicable to dense cloud based reconstruction.
Calculate vertex colors
If source data has color information (point cloud colors or images are present for the depth maps based
calculation) enabling this option would allow to calculate the colors for the mesh vertices and display
the interpolated colors for the mesh polygons in Shaded view mode.
Use strict volumetric masking
When this option is enabled, space volume covered with mask from at least one photo will be
suppressed. Each mask is strict - so you should use them as little as possible to prevent accidental
suppressing some surface parts. Each mask also makes mesh reconstruction slower. For example strict
volumetric masks are useful to suppress noise between fingers by masking space between them fromsingle camera. Also this is useful to suppress textureless background stuck to object contours - bymasking out background from single camera. For additional information on the usage of masks pleaserefer to the Using masks section. The option is only applicable for the Depth Maps source option
selected.

41

General workflow

Reuse depth maps
If available depth maps should be reused for mesh generation, select respective Quality (see info next
to Depth maps label on the Workspace pane in the chunk's contents) and then check Reuse depth maps
option. The option is applicable to the depth maps based reconstruction method only.

Note• Metashape tends to produce 3D models with excessive geometry resolution, so it may bereasonable to perform mesh decimation after geometry computation. More information on meshdecimation and other 3D model geometry editing tools is given in the Editing model geometry
section.

Import mesh
Mesh can be imported using Import model command from the File menu. The following import formats aresupported: Wavefront OBJ (*.obj), 3DS models (*.3ds), OpenCTM models (*.ctm), COLLADA (*.dae),Stanford PLY (*.ply), STL models (*.stl), Alembic (*.abc), Autodesk FBX (*.fbx), Aturodesk DXF(*.dxf), U3D models (*.u3d).

Building model texture
Color calibration
If the lighting conditions have been changing significantly during capturing scenario, it is recommended
to use Calibrate colors option from the Tools menu before Build texture procedure. The option can helpto even brightness and white balance of the images over the data set. Please note that for large data sets
Calibrate colors procedure can turn out to be quite time consuming.

To calibrate colors
1.

Select Calibrate colors... command from the Tools menu.

2.

Select the desired colors calibration parameters in the Calibrate colors dialog box. Click OK button
when done.

3.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

Color calibration parameters"Calibrate Colors" dialog
Source data
Defines what data should be taken as the basis for overlapping areas estimation.

42

General workflow

Tie points - the quickest yet the roughest estimation available.
Model - gives more precise results, but only on condition that the surface is detailed enough. Thisparameter value is the recommended one if the aim is to calibrate colors to improve the quality ofthe model texture.
DEM - is a reasonable alternative to Model value for large data sets when it is not feasible toreconstruct solid polygonal model (mesh).
Calibrate white balance
Additional option to be switched on if white balance should be evened as well.
In Metashape it is possible to manually set color level adjustments for one or more images using the Adjustcolor levels tool. The Adjust Color Levels tool is available from the selected images context menu in the
Photos pane. If the image is very dark or overexposed, you can manually set adjust the levels for eachchannel of the image in the Color levels dialog of the tool or set the Average value for all channels.

Build Texture
The texture feature allows to build different types of textures for a model.

To generate 3D model texture
1.

Select Build Texture... command from the Workflow menu.

2.

Select the desired texture generation parameters in the Build Texture dialog box. Click OK button
when done.

3.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

Texture generation parameters

43General workflow"Build Texture" dialog
The following parameters control various aspects of texture atlas generation:
Texture type
Diffuse map - the basic texture that stores the colors of the model surface.
Normal map - texture map that allows to calculate the illumination of the model parts from different
light sources in the post-processing workflow.
Occlusion map - a texture that contains pre-calculated shading information from background lighting.
Source data
Images - allow to build a color texture map (diffuse map) based on the aligned images of the modelor transferred from another model with already generated color texture map.
3D model - the normal and occlusion texture maps can be built based on another model and the reliefof the model specified in the Source data field will be transferred to the current model. Usually it
is recommended to use the more detailed model as a source data for the Normal and Occlusion map
generation for the 3D model with the lower polygon count. Normal map option will not be available
in the Source data field, if less than two 3D model instances are present in the active chunk.
Mapping mode
The texture mapping mode determines how the object texture will be packed in the texture atlas.
Proper texture mapping mode selection helps to obtain optimal texture packing and, consequently,
better visual quality of the final model.
The default mode is the Generic mapping mode; it allows to parametrize texture atlas for arbitrarygeometry. No assumptions regarding the type of the scene to be processed are made; program tries
to create as uniform texture as possible.
In the Orthophoto mapping mode the whole object surface is textured in the orthographic projection.
The Orthophoto mapping mode produces even more compact texture representation than the
Adaptive orthophoto mode at the expense of texture quality in vertical regions.
In the Adaptive orthophoto mapping mode the object surface is split into the flat part and verticalregions. The flat part of the surface is textured using the orthographic projection, while verticalregions are textured separately to maintain accurate texture representation in such regions. When in the
Adaptive orthophoto mapping mode, program tends to produce more compact texture representation
for nearly planar scenes, while maintaining good texture quality for vertical surfaces, such as wallsof the buildings.
Spherical mapping mode is appropriate only to a certain class of objects that have a ball-like form.
It allows for continuous texture atlas being exported for this type of objects, so that it is much easier
to edit it later. When generating texture in Spherical mapping mode it is crucial to set the boundingbox properly. The whole model should be within the bounding box. The red side of the bounding box
should be under the model; it defines the axis of the spherical projection. The marks on the front side
determine the 0 meridian.
The Single camera mapping mode allows to generate texture from a single image. The image to be
used for texturing can be selected from Texture from: list.
The Keep uv mapping mode generates texture atlas using current texture parametrization. It canbe used to rebuild texture atlas using different resolution or to generate the atlas for the model
parametrized in the external software. Keep uv option preserves the original number of texture atlas
pages, i.e. Texture count parameter can't be changed.

44General workflow

Blending mode (not used in Single camera mapping mode)
Selects the way how color values of pixels from different cameras will be combined in the final texture.
Mosaic - implies two-step approach: it does blending of low frequency component for overlapping
images to avoid seamline problem (weighted average, weight being dependent on a number ofparameters including proximity of the pixel in question to the center of the image), while highfrequency component, that is in charge of picture details, is taken from a single image - the one that
presents good resolution for the area of interest while the camera view is almost along the normal to
the reconstructed surface in that point.
Average - uses the weighted average value of all pixels from individual photos, the weight being
dependent on the same parameters that are considered for high frequency component in mosaic mode.
Max Intensity - the image which has maximum intensity of the corresponding pixel is selected.
Min Intensity - the image which has minimum intensity of the corresponding pixel is selected.
Disabled - the image to take the color value for the pixel from is chosen like the one for the highfrequency component in mosaic mode.
Texture size / countSpecifies the size (width & height) of the texture atlas in pixels and determines the number of files
for texture to be exported to. Exporting texture to several files allows to archive greater resolution of
the final model texture, while export of high resolution texture to a single file can fail due to RAM
limitations.
Multi-page texture atlas generation is supported for Generic mapping mode only and Keep UV option,
if the imported model contains proper texture layout.
Additionally the following advanced parameters can be adjusted.
Enable hole fillingThis option is enabled on default since it helps to avoid salt-and-pepper effect in case of complicatedsurface with numerous tiny parts shading other parts of the model. Only in case of very specific tasks
might it be recommended to switch the function off.
Enable ghosting filter
In case the scene includes some thin structures or moving objects which failed to be reconstructed
as part of polygonal model, it can be useful to switch on this option to avoid ghosting effect on the
resulting texture.

Note• HDR texture generation requires HDR photos on input.
To improve resulting texture quality it may be reasonable to exclude poorly focused images fromprocessing (read more in Image quality section).
It is also recommended to use the Remove Lighting tool for texture improvement. Refer to Editing texturessection of the manual for the details.

View Mesh UVs
In Metashape it is possible to analyze Mesh UV statistic. You can evaluate the quality of the resulting
texture using data in this dialog window.

45

General workflow

To open UV Mapping dialog window
1.

Select View Mesh UVs... command on Mesh submenu from the Tools menu.

2.

Check parameters for the built texture in UV Mapping dialog box. You can save data from this pageusing Save Page button.

"UV Mapping" dialog
The texture layout is displayed on the right side of the dialog window and depends on which parameteris selected in View section. Statistics section presents numerical parameters. The parameters from View
section and corresponding Statistics section values are described below:
View
Color - displays the colors of the mesh vertices.
Diffuse map - display the basic texture that stores the colors of the model surface.
Scaling - displays the ratio of the area of the texture triangle to its area on the mesh surface. The min
and max scaling values in the Statistics section correspond. The colors display the following: blue min scaling, red - max scaling.
Overlap - displays how many pixels in the atlas correspond to more than one triangle in the mesh.
Resolution - displays the detail as a percentage. It is calculated as the ratio of the number of pixels
for the triangle from the most detailed photo to the area of the triangle in the atlas. In the Statistics
section the percentage (min and max values) is displayed. The colors display the following: blue -46

General workflow

minimal resolution of the texture, red - maximal resolution of the texture, the good enough values
are colored in green.
Statistics
Fill ratio: - displays the percentage of occupied pixels on the atlas page.
Overlap ratio: - value of the overlap as a percentage corresponds to Overlap parameter in View
section. This value will be 0 in an ideal case.
Min scaling: - minimum scaling value as a percentage.
Max scaling: - maximum scaling value as a percentage.
Min Resolution: - minimum resolution value as a percentage.
Max Resolution: - maximum resolution value as a percentage.
To save information from each map (Color, Diffuse map, Scaling, Overlap, Resolution) use Save page
button on the lower left corner of the dialog window.
To switch between the pages of the texture atlas use Next page and Previous page buttons at the bottom of
the dialog window. The number of pages corresponds to the number specified in Build texture dialog box.

Building tiled model
Hierarchical tiles format is a good solution for city scale modeling. It allows for responsive visualizationof large area 3D models in high resolution. The tiled model can be either opened in Metashape itself orwith Agisoft Viewer - a complementary tool included in Metashape installer package, or with some otherexternal application which supports a hierarchical tiles format.
Tiled model is build based on dense point cloud, mesh or depth maps data. Hierarchical tiles are textured
from the source imagery.

Note• Build Tiled Model procedure can be performed only for projects saved in .PSX format.
• More than one instance of Tiled Model can be stored in one chunk. In case you want to savecurrent Tiled Model instance and build new one in current chunk, right-click on Tiled Model anduncheck Set as default option. In case you want to save current Tiled Model instance and edit its
copy, right-click on Tiled Model and choose Duplicate option.

To build a tiled model1.

Check the reconstruction volume bounding box - tiled model will be generated for the area withinbounding box only. To adjust the bounding box use theMove Region,

Resize Region andRotate Region toolbar buttons. Rotate the bounding box and then drag corners of the box to thedesired positions.
2.

Select the Build Tiled Model... command from the Workflow menu.

3.

In the Build Tiled model dialog box select the desired reconstruction parameters. Click OK button
when done.

4.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

47

General workflow

Reconstruction parameters"Build Tiled Model" dialog
Source data
Depth maps. Recommended for large projects when Build Mesh procedure is not feasible due toprocessing time and result management issues.
Dense cloud. Can be used as an alternative to the depth maps based option in case the dense cloud has
been already generated for any other purposes, whereas the depth maps are not stored in the projector have been generated with the filtering option different from Mild.
Mesh. Allows to keep all the details in the tiled model if a very detailed mesh has been generated
previously.
Pixel size (m)Suggested value shows automatically estimated pixel size due to input imagery effective resolution.
It can be set by the user in meters.
Tile size
Tile size can be set in pixels. For smaller tiles faster visualization should be expected.
Face countSuggested values (High, Medium, Low) present optimal number of polygons for a tiled model blockof a corresponding level of detail. It is still possible for a user to indicate the target number of polygons
in the final mesh through the Custom value of the Face count parameter.

48

General workflow

Quality
Specifies the desired reconstruction quality of the depth maps, providing that they are selected as asource option. Higher quality settings can be used to obtain more detailed and accurate geometry, butthey require longer time for the processing. Interpretation of the quality parameters here is similar tothat of accuracy settings given in Photo Alignment section. The only difference is that in this caseUltra High quality setting means processing of original photos, while each following step implies
preliminary image size downscaling by factor of 4 (2 times by each side). For depth maps based tiled
model generation Mild filtering option is used, unless Reuse depth maps option is enabled.
Additionally the following advanced parameters can be adjusted.
Transfer model texture
If there is a textured mesh model in the chunk, its texture can be reused for the tiled model texture
generation instead of source images. The option is only available if Mesh is selected as a Source option
for the tiled model generation.
Enable ghosting filter
In case the scene includes some thin structures or moving objects which fails to be reconstructed aspart of polygonal model, it can be useful to enable this option to avoid ghosting effect on the resulting
texture.
Reuse depth maps
Depth maps available in the chunk can be reused for the tiled model generation operation. Selectrespective Quality and Depth filtering parameters values (see info next to Depth maps label on theWorkspace pane) in Build Tiled Model dialog and then check Reuse depth maps option. The option is
only available if Depth maps are selected as a Source option for the tiled model generation.
Merge tiled modelThis option allows to match the grid of tiles with the existing tiled model in the project and merge
newly created tiles with the existing model to the single tiled model.

Import Tiled ModelIn Metashape you can add a tile model to a project using Import Tile Model command from the File menu.
Tiled model can be imported in Agisoft Tiled Model (*.tls) format.

Building digital elevation model
Digital elevation model (DEM) is a 2.5D model of a surface represented in a form of a regular grid, withheight values stored per every cell of the grid. In Metashape DEM can be rasterized from a dense point
cloud, tie points, mesh or generated directly from depth maps.
Metashape allows to create both digital surface model (DSM), i.e. 2.5D model of the Earth surface with all
the objects on it, and digital terrain model (DTM) which represents the bare ground surface without any
objects like plants and buildings. DTM can be built only based on the dense point cloud data, which should
be classified into ground points and other semantic classes before DTM generation step. See Classifying
dense point cloud section of the manual for information about options to classify/filter dense point cloudin Metashape software.
Metashape enables to perform DSM/DTM-based point, distance, area, and volume measurements, as wellas generate cross-sections for the part of the scene selected by user. Furthermore, DEM can serve asa source for contour lines calculations within Metashape software. More information on measurement
functionality can be found in Performing measurements on DEM section of the manual.

49General workflow

Note• Build DEM procedure can be performed only for projects saved in .PSX format.
• DEM can be calculated for referenced or scaled projects only. So make sure that you have set
a coordinate system for your model or specified at least one reference distance before going tobuild DEM operation. For guidance on Setting coordinate system please go to Coordinate system• More than one instance of DEM can be stored in one chunk. In case you want to save current
DEM instance and build new one in current chunk, right-click on DEM and uncheck Set as
default option. In case you want to save current DEM instance and edit its copy, right-click on
DEM and choose Duplicate option.
DEM is calculated for the part of the model within the bounding box. To adjust the bounding box use the
Resize Region andRotate Region toolbar buttons. Rotate the bounding box and then drag cornersof the box to the desired positions.

To build DEM
1.

Select the Build DEM... command from the Workflow menu.

2.

In the Build DEM dialog box set Coordinate system for the DEM generation or choose the projection
type.

3.

Select source data for DEM rasterization.

4.

Click OK button when done.

5.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

50

General workflow

Build DEM parameters"Build DEM" dialog
Projection type
Geographic - allows to choose a geographic coordinate system from the dropdown list or upload
parameters of a customized geographical coordinate system. The coordinate system set by default
is the coordinate system previously selected for the model itself. You can switch to a different one,
providing that corresponding datum transformation parameters are available.
Planar. Metashape allows to project DEM onto a plane set by the user. You can select projection
plane and orientation of the resulting DEM. The plane can be determined by a set of markers (if there
are no 3 markers in a desired projection plane it can be specified with 2 vectors, i. e. 4 markers). Planar
projection type may be useful for DEM generation in projects concerning facades, for example.
Cylindrical - allows to project DEM on a cylindrical surface. In this case height value is calculated as
the distance from the model surface to the cylindrical surface. Refer to Building orthomosaic section
to see the options.

51General workflow

Source data
It is recommended to calculate DEM based on Dense Cloud data, as this option allows to performthe point classification and surface generation based on the certain classes only. If the classification
is not required and the dense cloud is not needed by the task requirements, Depths Maps option isrecommended. Preliminary elevation data results can be generated from a Tie Points, avoiding Build
Dense Cloud step for time limitation reasons. Mesh and Tiled Model options can be used, if DEM
should follow the polygonal model precisely or dense cloud has not been reconstructed.
Quality
Specifies the desired reconstruction quality of the depth maps, providing that they are selected as asource option. Higher quality settings can be used to obtain more detailed and accurate model, butthey require longer time for the processing. Interpretation of the quality parameters here is similar tothat of accuracy settings given in Photo Alignment section. The only difference is that in this caseUltra High quality setting means processing of original photos, while each following step implies
preliminary image size downscaling by factor of 4 (2 times by each side).
Interpolation
If interpolation mode is Disabled it leads to accurate reconstruction results since only areas
corresponding to point cloud or polygonal points are reconstructed. Usually this method isrecommended for Mesh and Tiled Model data source.
With Enabled (default) interpolation mode Metashape will calculate DEM for all areas of the scenethat are visible on at least one image. Enabled (default) setting is recommended for DEM generation.
In Extrapolated mode the program generates holeless model with some elevation data being
extrapolated up to the bounding box extents.
Point classes
The parameter allows to select a point class (classes) that will be used for DEM calculation.
Metashape generates DEM only for the area inside the bounding box. To calculate DEM for a particular
rectangular part of the project, use Region section of the Build DEM dialog. Indicate coordinates of thebottom left and top right corners of the region you would like to build the DEM for. Suggested values
indicate coordinates of the bottom left and top right corners of the whole area to be rasterized, the area
being defined with the bounding box.
Resolution value shows effective ground resolution for the DEM estimated for the source data. Size of theresulting DEM, calculated with respect to the ground resolution, is presented in Total size section fields.

Import DEM
Metashape allows to import a DEM in project. You can use Import DEM... command from the File menu.
In the Import DEM dialog browse to a file and select coordinate system.
DEM can be imported in GeoTIFF (*.tif) format.

Building orthomosaic
Orthomosaic is a combined image created by seamless merging of the original images projected on theobject surface and transformed to the selected projection. A polygonal model (mesh) or a digital elevation
model can be selected as a surface where the images will be projected to.
Metashape allows using one of the following projection types: Geographic, Planar or Cylindrical.
Geographic projection serves for most typical task of creation an orthomosaic in a geographical coordinate

52

General workflow

system. Planar projection allows to select arbitrary orientation of projection plane which is useful for
projects concerning facades or other non-horizontal surfaces. To minimize distortions for objects of acylindrical shape, like tubes, round towers, tunnels, etc., a Cylindrical projection type can be used.
Metashape enables to perform orthomosaic seamline editing for better visual results (see Orthomosaic andpanorama seamlines editing section of the manual).
For multispectral imagery processing workflow Ortho view tab presents Raster Calculator tool for NDVI
and other vegetation indices calculation to analyze crop problems and generate prescriptions for variable
rate farming equipment. More information on NDVI calculation functionality can be found in Vegetation
indices calculation section.

Note• Build Orthomosaic procedure can be performed only for projects saved in .PSX format for chunkswith the existing mesh or DEM.
• More than one instance of Orthomosaic can be stored in one chunk. In case you want to savecurrent Orthomosaic instance and build new one in current chunk, right-click on Orthomosaic
on the Workspace pane and uncheck Set as default option. In case you want to save current
Orthomosaic instance and edit its copy, right-click on Orthomosaic and choose Duplicate option.
• In the Ortho view a Basemap for the orthophotomosaic can be included as a bottom layer.
Select Show Basemap from the Ortho view toolbar. In Metashape two modes of the Basemap aresupported: Map and Satellite. Map - displays map tiles using Open Street Map. Satellite option
display satellite layer.
If the lighting conditions have been changing significantly during capturing scenario, it is recommended to
use Calibrate colors option from the Tools menu before Build orthomosaic procedure. The option can helpto even brightness and white balance of the images over the data set. Please note that for large data sets
Calibrate colors procedure can turn out to be quite time consuming. See information on color calibration
parameters in Building model texture section.

To build Orthomosaic
1.

Select the Build Orthomosaic... command from the Workflow menu.

2.

In the Build Orthomosaic dialog box select Coordinate system in which the orthomosaic will be
generated or select projection type.

3.

Select type of Surface data that will be used to build the orthophoto.

4.

Click OK button when done.

5.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

53

General workflow

Build orthomosaic parameters"Build Orthomosaic" dialog
Projection type
Geographic - allows to choose a geographic coordinate system from the dropdown list or upload
parameters of a customized geographical coordinate system. The coordinate system set by default
is the coordinate system previously selected for the model itself. You can switch to a different one,
providing that corresponding datum transformation parameters are available.
Planar. Metashape allows to project the orthomosaic onto a plane set by the user, providing that meshis selected as the surface type. You can select projection plane and orientation of the orthomosaic. The
plane can be determined by a set of markers (if there are no 3 markers in a desired projection plane it54

General workflow

can be specified with 2 vectors, i. e. 4 markers). Planar projection type may be useful for orthomosaic
generation in projects concerning facades or other vertical surfaces.
Cylindrical - allows to project orthomosaic on a cylindrical surface. It helps to avoid severe distortions
while projecting cylindrical objects, like tubes, round towers, tunnels, etc.
To project 3D points on a cylindrical surface one needs to: 1) define the cylinder, i.e. define its axis andits radius; 2) drop a perpendicular from the 3D point to the axis of the cylinder - the point of intersectionof the perpendicular and the cylindrical surface is the projection of the 3D point in question; 3) agree
on how to define x and y coordinates of a point on the cylinder. For the purpose of orthomosaic and
DEM generation in cylindrical projection Metashape defines x and y coordinates of a point on thecylinder in the following way: x - along the curve in the zero-plane, y - along the zero-element of thecylindrical surface (zero-line), where zero-plane and zero-line are to be defined.
Metashape offers four methods to perform projecting on cylindrical surface. They differ in how thefour core elements - cylinder axis and radius, zero-plane and zero-line - are defined.
Current Region. The cylinder is inscribed in the Bounding box: the axis goes through the cross signon the bottom side of the Bounding box perpendicular to the bottom plane; the radius is defined as one
half of the shorter side of the rectangle in the bottom of the Bounding box. Zero-plane goes throughthe center of the Bounding box perpendicular to the axis; zero-line belongs to the Bounding box sidewhich is opposite to the side with the vertical marks.
Current View. The axis is set as the line from the viewpoint to the center of rotation for the model.
Radius is defined as one half of the shortest of all the edges of the Bounding box. Zero-plane goes
through the center of rotation for the model perpendicular to the axis; zero-line goes through thehighest point (in monitor-related coordinate system) of the curve in the zero-plane.
Markers. At least three marker are required. The first pair sets the axis. The third marker defines
zero-point, i.e. defines zero-plane and zero-line, on condition that radius is the distance from the third
marker to the axis.
X/Y/Z. The axis is the line parallel to the corresponding Cartesian axis - X/Y/Z, going through thecenter of the Bounding box. Radius (r) is defined as one half of the shortest edge of the Bounding box.
Zero-plane goes through the center of the Bounding box perpendicular to the axis; zero-line is theline opposite to the cut line. The cut line definition for each of the three possible options is illustrated
on the Figure below.

Interior projection option allows to switch to projecting on the inner surface of the cylinder.
Surface
Orthomosaic creation based on DEM data is especially efficient for aerial survey data processing
scenarios allowing for time saving on mesh generation step. Alternatively, mesh surface type allows

55

General workflow

to create orthomosaic for less common, yet quite demanded applications, like orthomosaic generation
for facades of the buildings or other models that might be not referenced at all.
Blending mode
Mosaic (default) - implements approach with data division into several frequency domains which are
blended independently. The highest frequency component is blended along the seamline only, eachfurther step away from the seamline resulting in a less number of domains being subject to blending.
Average - uses the weighted average color value of all pixels from individual images.
In Disabled mode the color value for the pixel is taken from the image with the camera view being
almost along the normal to the reconstructed surface in that point.
Pixel size
Default value for pixel size in Export Orthomosaic dialog refers to ground sampling resolution, thus,
it is useless to set a smaller value: the number of pixels would increase, but the effective resolution
would not. However, if it is meaningful for the purpose, pixel size value can be changed by the user
in coordinate system units or in meters.
Max. dimension (pix)The parameter allows to set maximal dimension for the resulting raster data.
Back face culling
The option allows to neglect on projecting parts of the surface where normals are counter directed tothe targeted projection plane.
Enable hole fillingThis option is enabled on default since it helps to avoid salt-and-pepper effect in case of complicatedsurface with numerous tiny parts shading other parts of the source surface model. Only in case of very
specific tasks might it be recommended to switch the function off.
Enable ghosting filter
This option uses nadir (or close to nadir) images for orthomosaic generation. Other images will not
be taken into account for creating orthomosaic.
Refine seamlines
The option is recommended to be used for DTM-based orthomosaics in order to make automaticallycreated seamlines to bypass buildings and other complex objects in order to avoid visual artefacts on
the final image and time consuming manual orthomosaic patching.
Metashape generates orthomosaic only for the area inside the bounding box. However, if the orthomosaic
should be generated for a particular (rectangular) part of the project, Region section of the Build
Orthomosaic dialog should be used for indication of the coordinates of the bottom left and top right cornersof the region to be applied in the left and right columns of the textboxes respectively. Estimate button
allows you to see the coordinates of the bottom left and top right corners of the whole area.
Estimate button also enables to control total size of the resulting orthomosaic data according to the currently
selected reconstruction area and resolution (Pixel size or Max. dimension parameters). The information isshown in the Total size (pix) section fields.

Import Orthomosaic
Metashape allows to import a orthomosaic in project. You can use Import Orthomosaic... command fromthe File menu. In the Import Orthomosaic dialog browse to a file and select coordinate system.
Orthomosaic can be imported in one of the following formats: GeoTIFF (*.tif), GeoPackage files (*.gpkg),
MBTiles (*.mbtiles), KML files (*.kml, *.kmz), TMS tiles (*.xml, *.zip).

56

General workflow

Building panorama
Metashape is capable of panorama stitching for images taken from the same camera position - camera
station. To indicate for the software that loaded images have been taken from one camera station, one
should move those photos to a camera group and assign Camera Station type to it. For information on
camera groups refer to Loading images to the project section.

To build panorama
1.

Select the Build Panorama command from the Workflow menu.

2.

Setting parameters for building panorama in the Build Panorama dialog.

3.

Click OK button for starting generate panorama.

4.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

Note• Build Panorama procedure can be performed only for projects saved in .PSX format.

Build panorama parameters

57General workflow"Build Panorama" dialog
Preview
Camera group - select camera station for building panorama.
Orientation and rotation parameters - setting orientation and rotation using corresponding buttons
for building panorama.
Parameters
Apply to - select chunk or entire workspace.
Blending mode - selects the method how color values of pixels from different cameras will be
combined in the final panorama (Mosaic, Average, Disabled). Mosaic - implies two-step approach:it does blending of low frequency component for overlapping images to avoid seamline problem(weighted average, weight being dependent on a number of parameters including proximity of the
pixel in question to the center of the image), while high frequency component, that is in charge ofpicture details, is taken from a single image - the one that presents good resolution for the area ofinterest while the camera view is almost along the normal to the reconstructed surface in that point.
Average - uses the weighted average value of all pixels from individual photos, the weight being
dependent on the same parameters that are considered for high frequency component in mosaic mode.
Disabled - the image to take the color value for the pixel from is chosen like the one for the highfrequency component in mosaic mode.
Enable ghosting filter - in case the scene includes some thin structures or moving objects, it can be
useful to switch on this option to avoid ghosting effect on the resulting panorama.
RegionSetup boundaries - set boundaries for the region of panorama to be built. Text boxes in the first line(X) allow to indicate the angle in the horizontal plane and the second line (Y) serves for angle in thevertical plane limits.
Image size (pix) - option enables to control the dimensions of the resulting image file.

Saving intermediate results
Certain stages of 3D model reconstruction can take a long time. The full chain of operations could
eventually last for 4-6 hours when building a model from hundreds of photos. It is not always possible tocomplete all the operations in one run. Metashape allows to save intermediate results in a project file.

Metashape project archive (PSZ)
Metashape Archive files (*.psz) may contain the following information:• List of loaded photographs with reference paths to the image files.
• Camera alignment data such as camera exterior orientation parameters , tie point cloud and set of refined
camera calibration parameters for each calibration group.
• Masks applied to the photos in project.
• Depth maps for cameras.
• Dense point cloud with information on points classification.
• Reconstructed 3D polygonal model with any changes made by user. This includes mesh and texture
if it was built.
• List of added markers as well as of scale-bars and information on their positions.

58

General workflow• Structure of the project, i.e. number of chunks in the project and their content.
Note that since Metashape tends to generate extra dense point clouds and highly detailed polygonal models,
project saving procedure can take up quite a long time.

Metashape project file (PSX)
The software also allows to save Metashape Project file (*.psx) which stores the links to the processing
results in *.psx file and the data itself in *.files structured archive. This format enables responsive loadingof large data (dense point clouds, meshes, etc.), thus avoiding delays on reopening a thousands-of-photos
project. DEM, orthomosaic, panorama and tiled model generation options are available only for projects
saved in PSX format.
You can save the project at the end of any processing stage and return to it later. To restart work simply
load the corresponding file into Metashape. Project files can also serve as backup files or be used to savedifferent versions of the same model.
Project files use relative paths to reference original photos. Thus, when moving or copying the project file
to another location do not forget to move or copy photographs with all the folder structure involved aswell. Otherwise, Metashape will fail to run any operation requiring source images, although the project
file including the reconstructed model will be loaded up correctly. Alternatively, you can enable Storeabsolute image paths option on the Advanced tab of the Preferences dialog available from Tools menu.

Exporting results
Metashape supports export of processing results in various representations: tie points and dense point
clouds, camera calibration and camera orientation data, mesh, etc. Orthomosaics and digital elevation
models (both DSM and DTM), as well as tiled models can be generated according to the user requirements.
Tie point cloud and camera calibration data can be exported right after photo alignment is completed. Allother export options are available after the corresponding processing step.
If you are going to export the results (point cloud / mesh / tiled model ) for the chunk that is not referenced,
please note that the resulting file will be oriented according to a default coordinate system (see axes inthe bottom right corner of the Model view), i. e. the model can be shown differently from what you see
in Metashape window.
To align the model orientation with the default coordinate system use
Toolbar.
Move object andthe unreferenced model.

Rotate object button from the

Scale object instruments can be used to adjust the size and location of

In some cases editing model geometry in the external software may be required. Metashape supports model
export for editing in external software and then allows to import it back as it is described in the Editing
model geometry section of the manual.
Main export commands are available from the File menu.

Point cloud export
To export tie points or dense point cloud1.

Select Export Points... command from the File menu.

59General workflow

2.

Browse the destination folder, choose the file type, and print in the file name. Click Save button.

3.

In the Export Points dialog box select desired type of point cloud: Tie points or Dense point cloud.

4.

Specify the coordinate system and indicate export parameters applicable to the selected file type,including the dense cloud classes to be saved.

5.

Click OK button to start export.

6.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

Split in blocks option in the Export Points dialog can be useful for exporting large projects. It is available
for referenced models only. You can indicate the size of the section in xy plane (in meters) for the point
cloud to be divided into respective rectangular blocks. The total volume of the 3D scene is limited with
the Bounding Box. The whole volume will be split in equal blocks starting from the point with minimum
x and y values. Note that empty blocks will not be saved.
In some cases it may be reasonable to edit point cloud before exporting it. To read about point cloud editingrefer to the Editing point cloud section of the manual.
Metashape supports point cloud export in the following formats:• Wavefront OBJ (*.obj)• Stanford PLY (*.ply)• XYZ Point Cloud (*.txt)• ASPRS LAS (*.las)• LAZ (*.laz)• ASTM E57 (*.e57)• Topcon CL3 (*.cl3)• ASCII PTS (*.pts)• Autodesk DXF (*.dxf)• U3D (*.u3d)• Adobe PDF (*.pdf)• Point Cloud Data (*.pcd)• potree (*.zip)• Cesium 3D Tiles (*.zip)• Agisoft OC3 (*.oc3)

Note• Saving color information of the point cloud is not supported by the OBJ and DXF formats.

60

General workflow• Saving point normals information is not supported by the LAS, LAZ, PTS, CL3 and DXF
formats.
Metashape supports direct uploading of the point clouds to the following resources: 4DMapper (notsupported for tie points), Cesium (not supported for tie points), PointBox, PointScene and Sketchfab. To
publish your point cloud online use Upload Data... command from the File menu.

Tie points and camera calibration, orientation data
exportTo export camera calibration and camera orientation data select Export Cameras... command from theFile menu.
Metashape supports camera data export in the following formats:• Agisoft XML structure (*.xml)• Bundler OUT file format (*.out)• CHAN file format (*.chan)• Boujou TXT file format (*.txt)• Realviz RZML format (*.rzml)• Omega Phi Kappa text file format (*.txt)• PATB project (*.pro)• BINGO project file (*.dat)• ORIMA file (*.txt)• Maya ASCII (*.ma)• AeroSys Exterior orientation (*.orn)• Inpho project file (*.prj)• Summit Evolution project (*.smtxml)• Blocks Exchange (*.xml)• Alembic (*.abc)• Autodesk FBX (*.fbx)

Note• Camera data export in Bundler and Boujou file formats will save tie point cloud data in the samefile.
• Camera data export in Bundler file format would not save distortion coefficients k3, k4.

61

General workflow

To export control points and tie points data one should choose one of the following export formats in the
Export Cameras dialog: BINGO, ORIMA, PATB, Summit Evolution or Blocks exchange. Tie points andControl points can be exported only along with interior and exterion orientation parameters of the cameras.
As a result of export in PATB format, the following files will be written:
example.pro
Project file PATB. It contains information on the units of measurement (microns/millimeters). Thiseliminates the ambiguity in interpreting the data on import.
example.im
File with coordinates of tie points projections on the images.
example.con
File with measured coordinates of the ground control points.
example.ori
File with the calculated parameters of the exterior orientation for the cameras.
example.at
File with the calculated coordinates of tie points (adjusted terrain coordinates).

Note• *.im and *.con formats are input files for PATB and *.ori. and *.at are output formats.
As a result of export in BINGO format, the following files will be written to the destination folder: itera.dat(ITERA file); image.dat (IMAGE COORDINATE file); geoin.dat (GEO INPUT file); gps-imu.dat (GPS/IMU data).
As a result of export in Summit Evolution format two files will be created (*.cam, *.smtxml). File in*.cam format includes information about camera calibration parameters. File in *.smtxml format is Summit
Evolution project file.
To export / import camera calibration data only select Camera Calibration... command from the Tools
menu. Using/

buttons it is possible to load / save camera calibration data in the following formats:• Agisoft Camera Calibration (*.xml)• Australis Camera Parameters (*.txt)• Australis v7 Camera Parameters (*.txt)• PhotoModeler Camera Calibration (*.ini)• 3DM CalibCam Camera Parameters (*.txt)• CalCam Camera Calibration (*.cal)• Inpho Camera Calibration (*.txt)• USGS Camera Calibration (*.txt)• Pix4D Camera Calibration (*.cam)• OpenCV Camera Calibration (*.xml)

62General workflow• Z/I Distortion Grid (*.dat)

Panorama export
To export panorama
1.

Select Export > Export Orthomosaic > Export JPEG/TIFF/PNG... command from the File menu.

2.

Set exporting parameters and click Export... button.

3.

Browse the destination folder and formats.

4.

Click Save button.

Metashape supports panorama export in the following formats:• JPEG (*.jpg)• JPEG 2000 (*.jp2)• JPEG XL (*.jxl)• TIFF/GeoTIFF (*.tif, *.tiff)• PNG (*.png)• BMP (*.bmp)

3D model export
To export 3D model1.

Select Export Model... command from the File menu.

2.

Browse the destination folder, choose the file type, and print in the file name. Click Save button.

3.

In the Export Model dialog specify the coordinate system and indicate export parameters applicableto the selected file type.

4.

Click OK button to start export.

5.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

If a model generated with Metashape is to be imported in a 3D editor program for inspection or further
editing, it might be helpful to use Shift function while exporting the model. It allows to set the value tobe subtracted from the respective coordinate value for every vertex in the mesh. Essentially, this meanstranslation of the model coordinate system origin, which may be useful since some 3D editors, for example,
truncate the coordinates values up to 8 or so digits, while in some projects they are decimals that makesense with respect to model positioning task. So it can be recommended to subtract a value equal to thewhole part of a certain coordinate value (see Reference pane, Camera coordinates values) before exporting
the model, thus providing for a reasonable scale for the model to be processed in a 3D editor program.
Metashape supports model export in the following formats:

63

General workflow• Wavefront OBJ (*.obj)• 3DS file format (*.3ds)• VRML models (*.wrl)• COLLADA (*.dae)• Stanford PLY (*.ply)• X3D models (*.x3d)• STL models (*.stl)• Alembic (*.abc)• Autodesk FBX (*.fbx)• Autodesk DXF Polyline (*.dxf)• Autodesk DXF 3DFace (*.dxf)• Open Scene Graph (*.osgb)• Binary glTF (*.glb)• U3D models (*.u3d)• Adobe PDF (*.pdf)• Google Earth KMZ (*.kmz)
Some file formats (OBJ, 3DS, VRML, COLLADA, PLY, FBX) save texture image in a separate file. The
texture file should be kept in the same directory as the main file describing the geometry. If the texture
atlas was not built only the model geometry is exported.
Metashape supports direct uploading of the models to Sketchfab resource. To publish your model online
use Upload Data... command from the File menu.

Tiled model export
To export tiled model1.

Select Export Tiled Model... command from the File menu.

2.

Browse the destination folder, choose the file type, and print in the file name. Click Save button.

3.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

Metashape supports tiled model export in the following formats:• Cesium 3D Tiles (*.zip)• Scene Layer Package (*.slpk)• PhotoMesh Layer (*.zip)

64General workflow• Agisoft Tiled Model (*.tls)• Agisoft Tile Archive (*.zip)• Open Scene Graph (*.osgb)
Agisoft Tiled Model can be visualized in Agisoft Viewer application, which is included in Agisoft
Metashape Professional installation package. Thanks to hierarchical tiles format, it allows to responsively
visualize large models.
Metashape supports direct uploading of the tiled models to the following resources: 4DMapper, Melown
Cloud, Cesium. To publish your tiled model online use Upload Data... command from the File menu.

Orthomosaic export
To export Orthomosaic
1.

Select Export Orthomosaic... command from the File menu.

2.

In the Export Orthomosaic dialog box specify coordinate system for the Orthomosaic to be saved in.

3.

Check Write KML file and / or Write World file options to create files needed to georeference theorthomosaic in the Google Earth and / or a GIS.

4.

Click Export... button to start export.

5.

Browse the destination folder, choose the file type, and print in the file name. Click Save button.

6.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

Note• Write KML file option is available only if the selected export coordinate system is WGS84 dueto the fact that Google Earth supports only this coordinate system.
• World file specifies pixel size in meters and geographic coordinates of the upper-left pixel of theexporting orthomosaic. This information is already included in GeoTIFF file, however, it could
be duplicated in the external files for some reason. If orthomosaic is exported in JPEG, PNG or
BMP file formats and should have the georeferencing information World file should be written.
If the export file of a fixed size is needed, it is possible to set the length of the longer side of the export
file in Max. dimension (pix) parameter. The length should be indicated in pixels.
Split in blocks option in the Export Orthomosaic dialog can be useful for exporting large projects. You
can indicate the size of the blocks (in pix) for the orthomosaic to be divided into. The whole area will be
split in equal blocks starting from the point with minimum x and y values. Note that empty blocks will
not be saved.
To export a particular part of the project use Region section of the Export Orthomosaic dialog. Indicate
coordinates of the bottom left and top right corners of the region to be exported in the left and right columnsof the text boxes respectively. Reset button allows you to see the coordinates of the bottom left and top
right corners of the whole area.
Alternatively, you can indicate the region to be exported using polygon drawing option in the Ortho viewtab of the program window. (For instructions on polygon drawing refer to Shapes section of the manual.)

65

General workflow

Once the polygon is drawn, right-click on the polygon and set it as a boundary of the region to be exported
using Set Boundary Type option from the context menu.
Default value for pixel size in Export Orthomosaic dialog refers to ground sampling resolution, thus, it
is useless to set a smaller value: the number of pixels would increase, but the effective resolution would
not. If you have chosen to export orthomosaic with a certain pixel size (not using Max. dimension (pix)option), it is recommended to check estimated Total size (pix) of the resulting file to be sure that it is not
too large to be correctly saved to the targeted file format.
For (Geo)TIFF export compression type may be set by the user. The following options are available:
LZW, JPEG, Packbits, Deflate. Additionally, the file may be saved without compression (None valueof the compression type parameter). Write BigTIFF file option allows to save files bigger than standard
TIFF limit of 4Gb. Total size textbox in the Export Orthomosaic dialog helps to estimate the size of theresulting file. However, it is recommended to make sure that the application you are planning to open theorthomosaic with supports BigTIFF format. Alternatively, you can split a large orthomosaic in blocks,
with each block fitting the limits of a standard TIFF file.
While exporting orthomosaic in JPEG format, JPEG quality parameter controls balance between
compression level (i.e. quality of the result) and export file size: the higher the value of the parameter (%)
the more emphasis is on the quality at the expense of a larger resulting file.
The following formats are supported for orthomosaic export:• TIFF/GeoTIFF (*.tif)• JPEG 2000 (*.jp2)• JPEG (*.jpg)• PNG (*.png)• BMP (*.bmp)• Google Earth KMZ (*.kmz)• Google Map Tiles (*.zip)• MBTiles (*.mbtiles)• World Wind Tiles (*.zip)• Tile Map Service Tiles (*.zip)
Metashape supports direct uploading of the orthomosaics to the following resources: 4DMapper, MapBox,
Melown Cloud, Picterra, Cesium. To publish your point cloud online use Upload Data... command fromthe File menu.
Multispectral orthomosaic export is supported in GeoTIFF format only. When exporting in other formats,
only primary channel will be saved. Multispectral orthomosaic has all channels of the original imagery.
Optionally the alpha channel may be included that defines transparency being used for no-data areas ofthe orthomosaic.

To export Multispectral orthomosaic
1.

Select Export Orthomosaic... command from the File menu.

2.

Follow steps 2-3 from Orthomosaic export procedure above.

66

General workflow

3.

Select None value for Raster transform parameter.

4.

Click Export button to start export.

5.

Browse the destination folder, choose GeoTIFF type, and print in the file name. Click Save button.

6.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

To export Seamlines
1.

Select Generate Seamlines... command from the Orthomosaic submenu from the Tools menu.

2.

Click right button on Shapes layer on the Workspace pane.

3.

Select Export Layers from the context menu.

4.

Browse the destination folder, choose the file type, and print in the file name. Click Save button.

5.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

The following formats are supported for seamlines export:• Shape files (*.shp)• KML files (*.kml)• KMZ files (*.kmz)• DXF files (*.dxf)• GeoJSON files (*.geojson)• GeoPackage files (*.gpkg)

NDVI data export
Vegetation index data export is available with the Export Orthomosaic... command from the File menu.
Vegetation index data can be saved as two types of data:
1. as a grid of floating point index values calculated per pixel of orthomosaic (multichannel orthomosaic
if several vegetation indices have been calculated for the project)
2. as an orthomosaic in pseudocolors according to a pallet set by user (exports only data for the firstvegetation index or combined data for selected 3 vegetation indices, providing that False Color value isset for the Color palette parameter).
The format is controlled with Raster transform option in Export Orthomosaic dialog. None value allows
to export orthomosaic generated for the data before any index calculation procedure was performed.

Digital Elevation Model (DSM/DTM) export
Metashape allows to calculate and then export both a digital surface model (DSM) and a digital terrain
model (DTM) (see Building digital elevation model section).

67

General workflow

To export Digital Elevation Model
1.

Select Export DEM... command from the File menu.

2.

In the Export DEM dialog specify coordinate system to georeference the DEM.

3.

Check Write KML file and/or Write World file options to create files needed to georeference theDEM in the Google Earth and/or a GIS.

4.

Click Export button to start export.

5.

Browse the destination folder, choose the file type, and print in the file name. Click Save button.

6.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

Note• Write KML file option is available only if the model is georeferenced in WGS84 coordinate
system due to the fact that Google Earth supports only this coordinate system.
• World file specifies coordinates of the four corner vertices of the exporting DEM. This
information is already included in GeoTIFF elevation data as well as in other supported fileformats for DEM export, however, you could duplicate it for some reason.
If export file of a fixed size is needed, it is possible to set the length of the longer side of the export file inMax. dimension (pix) parameter. The length should be indicated in pixels.
Unlike orthomosaic export, it is sensible to set smaller pixel size compared to the default value in DEM
export dialog; the effective resolution will increase. If you have chosen to export DEM with a certain pixel
size (not using Max. dimension (pix) option), it is recommended to check estimated Total size (pix) of theresulting file to be sure that it is not too large to be correctly saved to the targeted file format.
No-data value is used for the points of the grid, where elevation value could not be calculated based on
the source data. Default value is suggested according to the industry standard, however it can be changed
by user.
Split in blocks option in the Export DEM dialog can be useful for exporting large projects or meeting
special DEM requirements. (See Orthomosaic export section for details.)
To export a particular part of the project use Region section of the Export DEM dialog (see Orthomosaic
export section for details). Similarly to orthomosaic export, polygons drawn over the DEM on the Orthotab of the program window can be set as boundaries for DEM export. (For instructions on polygon drawing
refer to Shapes section of the manual.)
The following formats are supported for DEM export:• GeoTIFF elevation data (*.tif)• Arc/Info ASCII Grid (*.asc)• Band interleaved file format (*.bil)• XYZ file format (*.xyz)• Sputnik KMZ (*.kmz)

68General workflow• Google Map Tiles (*.zip)• MBTiles (*.mbtiles)• World Wind Tiles (*.zip)• Tile Map Service Tiles (*.zip)
Metashape supports direct uploading of the elevation models to the following resources: 4DMapper,
MapBox, Melown Cloud, Cesium. To publish your elevation model online use Upload Data... commandfrom the File menu.

Note• In Metashape DEM export colored from RGB palette is supported. Select Palette option in the
Raster transform section of the Export DEM dialog box. The palette option is supported for thefollowing export formats: TIFF, JPEG, JPEG2000, PNG.

Render Photos
Metashape allows to render frames from viewpoints specified by the user. This may be useful, for example,
in case the target scene is a moving one and it is crucial to keep the number of simultaneously taken frames
minimal during capture. A 3D model can be generated based on some optimal number of photos, and lateron extra frames can be rendered in Metashape software.
This functionality also allows to correct the initial images in such a way as to make them appropriate for
lenticular photography.

Note• This option is available after Align photos step. Please note that it works only for unreferenced
chunk.

To render extra frames from a 3D model1.

Select Render Photos... command of Export subcommand of File menu.

2.

In the Render Photos dialog output image size and filename template.

3.

Check Interpolate image positions.

4.

Specify the number of images to be rendered.

5.

Specify the quality for depth maps calculation (see Building dense point cloud section) and click OK
button.

6.

In the Model view drag the plane of zero parallax to the desired position.

7.

Specify the export area (the part of the scene to be rendered) - adjust the size of the gray plane (dragthe corners). Note that yellow rectangles indicate the footprint for all input images.

8.

Adjust the step between the viewpoints for images to be rendered. They are marked with blue points.
Drag the starting/ending blue dots.

9.

Click OK button in the top part of the Model view.

69General workflow

10. Specify the folder for the rendered images to be stored to and click OK button.

To correct the input images for the lenticular photography
1.

Select Render Photos.. command of Export subcommand of File menu.

2.

In the Render Photos dialog output image size and filename template.

3.

Uncheck Interpolate image positions and click OK button.

4.

In the Model view drag the plane of zero parallax to the desired position.

5.

Specify the export area (the part of the scene to be rendered) - adjust the size of the gray plane (dragthe corners). Note that yellow rectangles indicate the footprint for all input images.

6.

Adjust the step between the viewpoints for images to be rendered. They are marked with blue points.
Drag the starting/ending blue dots.

7.

Click OK button in the top part of the Model view.

8.

Specify the folder for the rendered images to be stored to and click OK button.

Extra products to export
In addition to main targeted products Metashape allows to export some other processing results, like:- Convert Images... command is available from Export submenu of the File menu and allows to export freeof lens distortions and geometrically corrected images. It also allows to convert large images to a pyramidoptimized TIFF format for prompt navigation in the Photo view mode.
In the Parameters section of the Convert Images dialog window the user can check the following options:
Transform to initial calibration (this parameter includes: remove distortion, center principal point andsquare pixels), Apply color correction and Update GPS meta data. Metashape supports export of theimages with GPS data refined during alignment and additionally corrected basing on the GCPs (if thosewere used in the project). Filename template for converted images should also be specified in the dialog
window.
In the Compression section of the Convert Images dialog window the user can set one of the suggested
TIFF compression parameters: LSW, JPEG, Packbits, Deflate; set JPEG quality and specify if Tiled TIFF,
BigTIFF file or TIFF overviews should also be saved. The corrections can be applied to all cameras, entire
workspace, selected cameras or even to a current photo.
- Depth map for any image (Export Depth... command available from photo context menu). You can export
diffuse map, depth map and normal map.
- Individually orthorectified images (Export Orthophotos... command available from Export submenu of
the File menu).
- High resolution image of the model as it is shown in the Model view or in Ortho view mode. Capture
View command available from the context menu shown on right button click in the Model or Ortho view.

Note• You need to have mesh model generated in the chunk in order to export diffuse map, depth map
and normal map.

70

General workflow"Convert Images" dialog

Survey Statistics
Metashape generates a report with Survey Statistics. Survey Statistics contains information about camera
overlap, camera locations, camera rotations and ground control points. To create a report in the PDF format,
read Processing report generation section.

To create Survey Statistics
1.

Select Survey Statistics command from the Tools menu.

2.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

3.

In the Survey Statistics dialog displayed camera overlap, camera locations, camera rotations andground control points. Information about survey statistics can be export in the following format:
JPEG, JPEG 2000, PNG, TIFF, BMP, OpenEXR, TARGA.

4.

Click Close button to close the dialog.

Survey Statistics Tabs
Camera overlap
Image with camera locations and image overlap.

71

General workflow

Camera locations
Image with camera locations and error estimates. Z error is represented by ellipse color. X,Y error are
represented by ellipse shape. Estimated camera locations are marked with a block dot.
Camera rotations
Image shows camera orientations and error estimates
Ground control points
Image shows control and check point locations and error estimates. Z error is represented by ellipse
color. X,Y errors are represented by ellipse shape. Estimated locations are marked with a dot forcontrol points or T-crossing for check points.
Connectivity
During initial image alignment, one or more components are generated. Each component represents a
connected photogrammetric network. In the process of editing tie points or markers, the connectivityof an individual component may be lost, which will lead to incorrect determination of the relativeorientation parameters in the component. The Connectivity tab displays a list of disconnected cameragroups, helping to locate the camera groups where alignment is incorrect. The user can either use
additional markers between listed groups of images or split the groups into separate connectedcomponents.
Rolling Shutter
If the option Enable rolling shutter compensation is enabled in the Camera calibration dialog window
before alignment step, the visualization of the rolling shutter effect can be observed on the tab. On theimage: y-axis of each camera is represented as red line; estimated camera movement is represented
by green line; cameras without rolling shutter effect are grayed out.

Processing report generation
Metashape supports automatic processing report generation in PDF format, which contains the basic
parameters of the project, processing results and accuracy evaluations.

To generate processing report
1.

Select Generate Report... command from the File menu.

2.

Browse the destination folder, choose the file type, and print in the file name. Click Save button.

3.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

Metashape processing report presents the following data:• Orthomosaic sketch.
• Survey data including coverage area, flying altitude, GSD, general camera(s) info, as well as overlap
statistics.
• Camera calibration results: figures and an illustration for every sensor involved in the project.
• Camera positioning and orientation error estimates.
• Ground control and check points error estimates.
• Scale bars estimated distances and measurement errors.

72General workflow• Digital elevation model sketch with resolution and point density info.
• Processing parameters used at every stage of the project.

Note• Processing report can be exported after alignment step.

Survey Data
Fig. Camera locations and image overlap - shows the model and position the cameras is shown and thenumber of overlaps is displayed in color.
Number of images - total number of images uploaded into the project.
Camera stations - number of aligned images.
Flying altitude - average height above ground level.
Tie points - total number of valid tie points (equals to the number of points in the tie points cloud).
Ground resolution - effective ground resolution averaged over all aligned images.
Projections - total number of projections of valid tie points.
Coverage area - size of the area that has been surveyed.
Reprojection error - root mean square reprojection error averaged over all tie points on all images.
Table. Cameras - table with the parameters: camera model, resolution, focal length, pixel size,
precalibrated.
Reprojection error is the distance between the point on the image where a reconstructed 3D point can beprojected and the original projection of that 3D point detected on the photo and used as a basis for the
3D point reconstruction procedure.

Camera Calibration
For precalibrated cameras internal parameters input by the user are shown on the report page. If a camera
was not precalibrated, internal camera parameters estimated by Metashape are presented.
Fig. Image residuals for camera - displays the reprojection errors for the tie points detected on the source
images, averaged across all the images of the calibration group and inside the certain "cells" on the images.
Camera name (focal length) - camera model name and number of images.
Type - camera type.
Resolution - image dimensions in pixels.
Focal Length - focal length in mm.
Pixel Size - pixel size in µm.
Table. Calibration coefficients and correlation matrix - table with the calibration coefficients andparameters of the covariance matrix (F, Cx, Cy, B1, B2, K1, K2, K3, K4, P1, P2).

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General workflow

Camera Locations
Fig. Camera locations and error estimates - presenting camera locations and error estimates. Z error isrepresented by ellipse color. X, Y error are represented by ellipse shape. Estimated camera locations aremarked with a black dot.
X error (m) - root mean square error for X coordinate for all the cameras.
Y error (m) - root mean square error for Y coordinate for all the cameras.
XY error (m) - root mean square error for X and Y coordinates for all the cameras.
Z error (m) - root mean square error for Z coordinate for all the cameras.
Total error (m) - root mean square error for X, Y, Z coordinates for all the cameras.
Total error = sqrt(Sumi=1n [(Xi, est - Xi, in)2 + (Yi, est - Yi, in)2 + (Zi, est - Zi, in)2] / n)Xi, in - input value for X coordinate for i camera position,
Xi, est - estimated value for X coordinate for i camera position,
Yi, in - input value for Y coordinate for i camera position,
Yi, est - estimated value for Y coordinate for i camera position,
Zi, in - input value for Z coordinate for i camera position,
Zi, est - estimated value for Z coordinate for i camera position,

Camera Orientations
Fig. Camera orientations and error estimates - shows camera orientations and error estimates. Arcs
represent yaw error estimates.
Yaw error (in degrees) - error for yaw.
Pitch error (in degrees) - error for pitch.
Roll error (in degrees) - error for roll.
Total error (in degrees) - root mean square error all angles.

Ground Control and Check Points
Fig. GCP locations and error estimates - displays GCP locations and error estimates. Z error isrepresented by ellipse color. X,Y errors are represented by ellipse shape. Estimated GCP locations aremarked with a dot or crossing.
XY error (m) - root mean square error for X and Y coordinates for a GCP location / check point.
Z error (m) - error for Z coordinate for a GCP location / check point.
Error (m) - root mean square error for X, Y, Z coordinates for a GCP location / check point.
Projections - number of projections for a GCP location / check point over all the images.

74General workflow

Error (pix) - root mean square error for X, Y coordinates on an image for a GCP location / check point
averaged over all the images.
Total - root mean square error all the GCP locations / check points.

Scale Bars
Distance (m) - scale bar length estimated by Metashape.
Error (m) - difference between input and estimated values for scale bar length.
Total - root mean square error all the scale bars in Control/Check section.

Digital Elevation Model
Fig. Reconstructed digital elevation model - presenting digital elevation model.
Resolution - effective resolution of the exported DEM. The value depends on the Quality parameter value
used at Build point cloud step, providing that DEM has been generated from dense point cloud.
Point Density - average number of dense cloud points per square meter.

Processing Parameters
Processing report contains processing parameters information, which is also available from Chunk context
menu. Along with the values of the parameters used at various processing stages, this page of the reportpresents information on processing time.
For projects calculated over network processing time will be displayed as a sum of the time spent forprocessing by each node.
Metashape matches images on different scales to improve robustness with blurred or difficult to match
images. The accuracy of tie point projections depends on the scale at which they were located. Metashapeuses information about scale to weight tie point reprojection errors. Key point size is the Sigma of theGaussian blur at the pyramid level of scales at which the key point was found.
In the Reference pane settings dialog tie point accuracy parameter corresponds to the normalized accuracy- i.e. accuracy of tie point projection detected at the scale equal to 1. Tie points detected on other scales will
have accuracy proportional to their scales. This helps to obtain more accurate bundle adjustment results.
On the processing parameters page of the report (as well as in chunk information dialog) two reprojection
errors are provided: the reprojection error in the units of key point scale (this is the quantity that is
minimized during bundle adjustment), and the reprojection error in pixels (for convenience). The Mean
key point size value is averaged Key point size value over all key points. Average tie point multiplicity
value is the ratio of the total number of projections to the number of tie points.

Camera track creation and fly through video
rendering
In Metashape you can create an overview video of the model along a certain trajectory. Camera track can
be created automatically (using simple preset options), imported from external file and edited manually.
Editing and creation of a track is carried out through the animation panel. To open the panel selectAnimation command from the View menu.

75General workflow

To manually create a track and add a viewpoint, click Append button on the Animation pane. Append
option will add the current viewpoint to the active camera track.

To automatically create Horizontal track
1.

Click Create button on the Animation pane toolbar.

2.

Choose Horizontal preset parameter in Create Track dialog window and set the Keyframe count.

3.

Click OK button.

4.

Adjust the position of the viewpoint in the camera track in Model view by dragging the left mousebutton to display it visually.

To automatically create Vertical track
1.

Click Create button on the Animation pane toolbar.

2.

Choose Vertical preset parameter in Create Track dialog window and set the Keyframe count.

3.

Click OK button.

4.

Adjust the position of the viewpoint in the camera track in Model view by dragging the left mousebutton to display it visually.

Horizontal and vertical track presets are basing on the bounding box - the colored side of the box is treatedas XY plane. The center of the bounding box defines the point of focus and the size of the bounding box
defines the rotation radius.
Use
Resize Region andRotate Region toolbar buttons to adjust the size and orientation of thebounding box and then create a new horizontal or vertical animation track, once the orientation of thebounding box fits your needs.

Note• To display the camera track path, select Show animation command from the Show/Hide items
submenu on the Model menu.
Camera track parameters can be adjusted in the Animation Settings dialog window. The following
parameters can be changed: Camera Track Label, Duration (in seconds), Field of view (deg), Smooth
camera track option, Loop camera track option, Rotation angles convention. Click Settings button on the
Animation pane to open Animation Settings dialog.

To record the video
To record the video according to the created camera track to the external file:1.

Click on Capture button on the Animation pane toolbar.

2.

Select the desired export parameters in the Capture Video dialog, such as export video resolution,
compression type and frame rate.

3.

To save the track path to external file click Save button on the Animation pane.

Metashape supports camera track export in the following formats:76

General workflow• Camera Path
• KML
• CSV

Note
• That KML format is only supported for projects georeferenced in geographic/projected systems
convertible to WGS84 system.

Stereoscopic mode
Metashape supports stereoscopic mode. In Metashape hardware stereo is supported only for systems(graphics cards) that support the technology Quad Buffered Stereo.
Before starting to use stereo mode adjust the Stereoscopic Display mode in the General tab of Preferences
dialog available from Tools menu. Metashape supports simply anaglyph display mode (for red/blue
glasses) as well as hardware stereo mode that assumes polarization glasses and professional grade hardware(GPU that supports quad-buffer stereo and 3D monitor). The parameters of the 3D controller can be
adjusted on the Navigation tab available in the Preferences dialog window.
For example, when using Stealth3DMouse controller, virtual com port should be installed before this typeof controller could be selected on the Navigation tab available in the Preferences dialog window. If 3D
controller cannot be configured on the Navigation tab - the steps below should be executed:• check the USB Serial Comport in the Ports section of Device manager dialog;• open Port Settings tab of Properties dialog window, then click on Advanced tab. In the Advanced Settings
dialog switch the COM port number to COM3;• restart the computer;• in Metashape open Preferences dialog window from Tools menu and in the Navigation tab you shouldbe able to select COM3 port then for the Stealth3DMous device.
Working with stereo pairs in Metashape is performed in Model view pane with Top predefined view set up.

Setting up stereo mode1.

Align photos. More information about photo alignment refer to Aligning photos section.

2.

Switch to Model view pane.

3.

Select Top command from Predefined Views submenu of Model menu.

4.

Select Stereo mode view command from the View Mode submenu of the Model menu.

5.

Turn on stereo pair overlay by clicking

Show Images toolbar button.

Navigation
1.

Navigate through overlaying stereo pair with right mouse button pressed.

2.

To control 3D cursor depth, navigate with the right mouse button and Shift key pressed. When using
the 3D controller, height change is performed with the help of a special wheel.

77General workflow

Stereo pair selection
1.

Right button click on the area of interest on the model and select Filter by point command.

2.

In the Photos pane select both images of a stereo pair, right click on the selection and choose Look
Through command.

3.

To avoid switching between stereo pairs while navigating through model, lock current overlaying
stereo pair by clicking

4.

Lock Image toolbar button.

In case you need to select another stereo pair, repeat step two.

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Chapter 4. Referencing
Camera calibration
Calibration groups
While carrying out Align Photo procedure Metashape estimates both interior and exterior camera
orientation parameters, including nonlinear radial distortions. For the estimation to be successful it is
crucial to apply the estimation procedure separately to images taken with different cameras. Once images
have been loaded in the program, Metashape automatically divides them into calibration groups according
to the image resolution and/or EXIF meta data: camera type and focal length. When using manual approachdescribed below it is important to follow the described steps for each calibration group individually.
Calibration groups can be rearranged manually.

To create a new calibration group
1.

Select Camera Calibration... command from the Tools menu.

2.

In the Camera Calibration dialog box, select images to be arranged in a new group.

3.

Choose Create Group command from the selected images context menu.

4.

A new group will be created and depicted on the left-hand part of the Camera Calibration dialog box.

To move images from one group to another1.

Select Camera Calibration... command from the Tools menu.

2.

Choose the source group from the list on the left-hand part of the Camera Calibration dialog box.

3.

Select images to be moved and drag them to the target group on the left-hand part of the Camera
Calibration dialog box.

To place each image into a separate group the Split Groups command can be used. The command isavailable on the right button click on a calibration group name in the left-hand part of the Camera
Calibration dialog box.

Camera types
Metashape supports four major types of camera: frame camera, fisheye camera, spherical camera andcylindrical camera. Additionally RPC camera type is available for satellite imagery that is accompaniedwith the RPC meta information. Camera type can be set in Camera Calibration dialog box available from
Tools menu.
Frame camera. If the source data within a calibration group was shot with a frame camera, for successful
estimation of camera orientation parameters the information on approximate focal length (pix) is required.
Obviously, to calculate focal length value in pixel it is enough to know focal length in mm along with thesensor pixel size in mm. Normally this data is extracted automatically from the EXIF meta data.
Frame camera with Fisheye lens. If extra wide lenses were used to get the source data, standard Metashapecamera model will not allow to estimate camera parameters successfully. Fisheye camera type setting will
initialize implementation of a different camera model to fit ultra-wide lens distortions.

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Referencing

Spherical camera (equirectangular projection). In case the source data within a calibration group was shotwith a spherical camera, camera type setting will be enough for the program to calculate camera orientation
parameters. Only images in equirectangular representation are required with no additional information.
This type of camera will also be used for images obtained from Laser Scanners.
Spherical camera Cylindrical projection. In case the source data within a calibration group is a set of
panoramic images stitched according to cylindrical model, camera type setting will be enough for the
program to calculate camera orientation parameters. No additional information is required.
Satellite images with RPC. To automatically detect the camera type, select Preferences command from
Tools menu. Click Advanced tab and turn on the check box Load satellite RPC data from auxiliary TXT
files.
Optionally rolling shutter compensation can be enabled in the Camera Calibration dialog available from
Tools menu. There are 2 models available in Metashape: Regularized (Tx, Ty) and Full (Tx, Ty, Tz,
Rx, Ry, Rz). When using Regularized model, only 2 parameters for the rolling shutter will be adjusted.
Regularized model is suitable for the case when the drone flies without turning the camera, i.e. during
the shooting to a new route, the camera does not turn and the drone moves in parallel. When using a
Regularized, only two parameters are optimized for each camera: axis shift XY in the plane of the photo.
When using the Full model, 6 parameters are optimized for each camera: shift along the XYZ axes androtation around the XYZ axes.

Note• When using a Full model for rolling shutter, it is recommended to align photos with the Adaptive
camera model fitting option.
In case source images lack EXIF data or the EXIF data is insufficient to calculate focal length in pixels,
Metashape will assume that focal length equals to 50 mm (35 mm film equivalent). However, if the initial
guess values differ significantly from the actual focal length, it is likely to lead to failure of the alignment
process. So, if photos do not contain EXIF meta data, it is preferable to specify focal length (mm) andsensor pixel size (mm) manually. It can be done in Camera Calibration dialog box available from Tools
menu. Generally, this data is indicated in camera specification or can be received from some online source.
To indicate to the program that the camera orientation parameters should be estimated based on the focal
length and pixel size information, it is necessary to set the Type parameter on the Initial tab to Auto value.

Camera calibration parameters
Photogrammetric calibration of cameras is performed to determine the values of the interior orientation of
the cameras, including the parameters of distortion of the camera lens. The camera calibration parameters
can be set manually, if they have been acquired as part of the precalibration procedure.

To specify the camera calibration parameters
1.

Select Camera Calibration... command from the Tools menu.

2.

Select calibration group, that requires re-estimation of camera orientation parameters, on the lefthand side of the Camera Calibration dialog box.

3.

In the Camera Calibration dialog box, select Initial tab.

4.

Modify the calibration parameters displayed on the Initial tab.

5.

Set the Type to the Precalibrated value.

6.

Repeat for every calibration group where applicable.

80Referencing

7.

Click OK button to set the calibration.

The following calibration parameters are available:f
Focal length measured in pixels.
cx, cyPrincipal point coordinates, i.e. coordinates of lens optical axis interception with sensor plane in pixels.
b1, b2Affinity and Skew (non-orthogonality) transformation coefficients.
k1, k2, k3, k4
Radial distortion coefficients.
p1, p2
Tangential distortion coefficients.

Note• Alternatively, initial calibration data can be imported from file using Load button on the Initial
tab of the Camera Calibration dialog box. In addition to Agisoft camera calibration file format it
is possible to import data from Australis, PhotoModeler, 3DM CalibCam, CalCam, Inpho camera
calibration, USGS camera calibration, Pix4D camera calibration, OpenCV, Photomod and Z/I
Distortion Grid formats.
Initial calibration data will be adjusted during the Align Photos processing step. Once Align Photos
processing step is finished adjusted calibration data will be displayed on the Adjusted tab of the Camera
Calibration dialog box. The details about distortion models used in Metashape are given in the Appendix D,
Camera models section.
If very precise calibration data is available and should be preserved during camera calibration procedure,click Select... button next to Fixed parameters: item. In Fixed parameters dialog choose calibration
parameters that are to be fixed and click OK button. The initial values for the chosen parameters will not
be changed during Align Photos and Optimize Cameras operations.
In some cases it may be required to estimate a sub-set of parameters individually for each camera in thecalibration group. In this click Select button and choose these parameters in Image-variant parameters
dialog box.
Adjusted camera calibration data can be saved to file using Save button on the Adjusted tab of the Camera
Calibration dialog box.

Camera calibration for the scanned images with fiducial
marks
Camera calibration for the scanned images is performed based on the fiducial marks information. Once thedata is uploaded all the scanned images from the same analog camera should be placed in the designatedcalibration group. Metashape will automatically put the cameras to the same calibration group, providingthat they have been scanned to the images of the same resolution.
If the scanned images from different cameras have been uploaded to the same chunk, it is required todivide them manually into different calibration groups. It could be done in Camera Calibration dialog

81

Referencing

available from Tools menu. To move images to a designated calibration group manually select camerason the Camera Calibration dialog window and select Merge Groups command from the cameras context
menu.
Metashape enables automatic detection of the majority of the fiducial marks types. See the illustration
below.

Supported fiducial marks.

Note• Fiducial marks detection can be only performed for film cameras. It is essential to enable theFilm camera with fiducial marks option in the Camera Calibration dialog box for all groups that
contain the corresponding scanned images.

To calibrate scanned images with automatically detectable fiducial marks
1.

Select Camera Calibration... command from the Tools menu.

2.

In the Camera Calibration dialog box check Film camera with fiducial marks option.

3.

Close Camera Calibration dialog with OK button.

4.

Run Detect Fiducials... command from the Markers submenu from the Tools menu.

5.

In the Camera Calibration dialog box print in coordinates of the automatically detected fiducial markson the image according to the analog camera certificate. They should be measured in coordinate
system associated with the sensor: origin - in the center of the sensor; axes X - to the right, axes Y- downwards; in millimeters (mm).

6.

Close Camera Calibration dialog with OK button and proceed to general Metashape processing
workflow starting from Align Photos... step. The software will automatically scale and orientate all
the photos according to the fiducial marks information.

In case your fiducial marks type is not among those supported for automatic detection (see Figure above),please place a feature request with Agisoft support team: support@agisoft.com. The current version of
the software allows to perform calibration of the scanned images based on such fiducial marks manuallyfollowing the procedure outlined below.

To calibrate scanned images with non-standard fiducial marks manually1.

Select Camera Calibration... command from the Tools menu.

2.

In the Camera Calibration dialog box check Film camera with fiducial marks option.

3.

On the Fiducials tab add fiducial mark instances, the number should be equal to the amount of fiducial
marks used on the original photos.

4.

Print in coordinates of the fiducial marks on the image according to the analog camera certificate.
They should be measured in coordinate system associated with the sensor: origin - in the center ofthe sensor; axes X - to the right, axes Y - downwards; in millimeters (mm).

82Referencing

5.

Close Camera Calibration dialog with OK button.

6.

Then it is necessary to place all the fiducials on each photo from the calibration group.

7.

Open the photo in Photo view.

8.

Zoom in to a fiducial mark center.

9.

Right button click on the targeted fiducial mark and use Place Fiducial command from the context
menu. You will need to choose a corresponding fiducial mark instance from the dropdown list.

10. In case you need to replace one fiducial mark with another right-click fiducial mark and use Replace
Fiducial command from its context menu. You will need to choose a corresponding fiducial markinstance from the dropdown list.
11. After placing all the fiducial mark instances, you can proceed to general Metashape processing
workflow. The software will automatically scale and orientate all the photos according to the fiducial
marks information.

Note• If there is no camera certificate with fiducial marks coordinates information for the data set inquestion, then it will be necessary to additionally run Calibrate Fiducials... command from thecontext menu of the selected images in the Camera Calibration dialog box. All the images fromthe respective calibration group should be selected for the purpose.
• It is recommended to mask out all the margins with auxiliary information on scanned photos to
avoid negative effect on the stability of the further processing.

Analyzing calibration results
Metashape provides a number of tools to analyze camera calibration results available from context menu
of a camera group in the Camera Calibration dialog.
Distortion
Distortion tab presents estimated camera distortion plot. Total, Radial, Decentering, Corrections
and Residual options are available in the tab. Distortion graph represent the distortion values anddirection according to the adjusted calibration coefficients values. It shows the plot in the discrete
vectors mode for a central point in the corresponding image cell. Residuals presents residuals graphwhich allows to evaluate how adequately the camera is described with the applied mathematicalmodel. Note that residuals are averaged per cell of an image and then across all the images in a cameragroup. Scale reference under the plot indicates the scale of the distortions/residuals.
ProfileProfile tab presents increase of the corresponding radial and decentering distortions with distancefrom the center of the image. Profiles can be saved as image.
Correlation
Correlation tab presents:• Adjusted values of the internal camera orientation parameters;• Errors - standard deviation, read more in Covariance matrix section;• Correlation values for internal camera orientation parameters - reflect the degree of correlation
between the corresponding parameters.

83Referencing

Vignetting
Vignetting tab presents radiometric distortion of the lens. Metashape uses radiometric distortion
parameters of the lens from photos meta data, in case there is no information about radiometricdistortion of the lens in photos meta data Vignetting tab is inactive. Radiometric distortion can becalculated manually using Calibrate Colors command available from the Tools menu, read more in
Building model texture section.

Georeferencing
To set georeferenced coordinates of systems for a project, it is necessary to use data on geographicalreference (ground control points (markers) coordinates and/or camera coordinates data). If there is nogeographic reference data, then the project will be created in the local coordinate system.
Initially Metashape expects both GCPs and camera coordinates data to be specified in the same coordinate
system and assigns it as the coordinate system of the chunk. In such a case all the outputs by default will
be referenced in this particular coordinate system.
If the GCPs and camera coordinates data is measured in different coordinate systems, Metashape allows
to input this data as is, provided that either all the coordinate systems are based on the same datum orfor all of them transformation-to-WGS84 parameters are specified in the coordinate system definition or
manually set in the datum transformation settings dialog.
Metashape supports a wide range of various geographic and projected coordinate systems, including
widely used WGS84 coordinate system. Besides, almost all coordinate systems from the EPSG registry
are supported as well.
Information about the coordinates of images or markers is usually stored in a separate text file that is
imported into the project.

Methods to input coordinates data
Reference coordinates can be specified in one of the following ways:• Loaded from a separate text file (using character separated values format). This method is suitable forimage coordinates and for markers.
• Entered manually in the Reference pane. This method is suitable for image coordinates and for markers).
• Loaded from GPS EXIF tags (if present).

To load reference coordinates from a text file
1.

Click
Import toolbar button on the Reference pane. (To open Reference pane use Reference
command from the View menu.) Browse to the file containing recorded reference coordinates andclick Open button.

2.

In the Import CSV dialog set the coordinate system if the data presents geographical coordinates.

3.

Select the delimiter and indicate the number of the data column for each coordinate.

4.

Indicate columns for the orientation data if present. Make sure that the proper angle triple (according
to the source data) is set: [yaw,pitch,roll], [omega, phi, kappa], [phi, omega, kappa] or [alpha, nu,
kappa].

84

Referencing

5.

Optionally, indicate accuracy values for coordinates and rotation angles.

6.

Click OK button. The reference coordinates data will be loaded onto the Reference pane.

Note• Information on the accuracy of the source coordinates (x, y, z) as well as of the source orientation
angles can be loaded with a CSV file as well. Check Load Accuracy option and indicate thenumber of the column where the accuracy for the data should be read from. It is possible toindicate the same accuracy column for all three coordinates/angles.

Example of a reference coordinates file in CSV format (*.txt)
The reference coordinates can be loaded onto the Reference pane using character separated text file format.
Each reference point is specified in this file on a separate line. Sample reference coordinates file is provided
below:# <label> <longitude> <latitude> <height> <yaw> <pitch> <roll>
IMG_01.JPG 40.165011 48.103654
433.54 15.54 0.39
0.87
IMG_02.JPG 40.165551 48.103654
434.72 15.73 0.38
1.21
IMG_03.JPG 40.166096 48.103640
435.63 15.67 0.24
1.04
Individual entries on each line should be separated with a tab (space, semicolon, comma, etc) character.
All lines starting with # character are treated as comments.
Records from the coordinate file are matched to the corresponding cameras or markers basing on thelabel field. Camera coordinates labels should match the file name of the corresponding photo including
extension. Marker coordinates labels should match the labels of the corresponding markers in the project
file. All labels are case insensitive.
Metashape can interpret degrees, minutes, seconds signs in a CSV file. An example entry:

IMG00001.jpg,19°39'59.99"E,60° 20'0.05"N,100.073997
Alternatively, a "colon" sign can be used as a delimiter:

IMG00002.jpg,19:39:59.99E,60:20:0.05N,100.073997

Note• Character separated format does not include information about coordinate system used. Relevant
coordinate system should be set in the Reference Settings dialog after loading the file withcoordinates data.
• Altitude value should indicate the height above the ellipsoid (or above geoid, if corresponding
compound coordinate system is selected in the Reference pane settings dialog), not the height
above mission start point, etc.

85

Referencing

To assign reference coordinates manually1.

Switch to the View Source mode using
View Source button from the Reference pane toolbar. (Toopen Reference pane use Reference command from the View menu.)

2.

On the Reference pane select x/y/z or angle data cells and press F2 button on the keyboard to assign
values to corresponding coordinates/angles.

3.

Repeat for every marker/camera position (orientation angle) needed to be specified.

4.

To remove unnecessary reference coordinates select corresponding items from the list and press Del
key.

5.

Click

Update toolbar button to apply changes and set coordinates.

Note• Additionally, it is possible to indicate accuracy data for the coordinates / orientation angles.
Select Set Accuracy... command from the context menu of an image on the Reference pane andinput accuracy data both for position (i.e. x,y,z coordinates) and orientation (i.e. [yaw, pitch,roll], [omega, phi, kappa], [phi,omega,kappa] or [alpha, nu, kappa] angles) data. It is possible
to select several cameras and apply Set Accuracy... command simultaneously to all of them.
Alternatively, you can select Accuracy (m) or Accuracy (deg) text box for a certain cameraon the Reference pane and press F2 button on the keyboard to type the text data directly onto
the Reference pane. Note that "/" delimiter allows to enter different accuracy data for x, y, z
or orientation angles ([yaw, pitch, roll], [omega, phi, kappa], [phi,omega,kappa] or [alpha, nu,
kappa]) data respectively.

To load reference coordinates from GPS EXIF tags
1.

2.

Click
Import EXIF button on the Reference pane. (To open Reference pane use Reference
command from the View menu.) The reference coordinates data will be loaded into the Reference
pane.
If the corresponding options in the Advanced tab o the Preferences window are checked on, it isalso possible to load camera orientation angles and location/rotation accuracy parameters from XMP
extension of the image header. The data will be loaded upon clicking

Import EXIF button.

RTK/PPK camera coordinates data
If the source data includes RTK/PPK measurements, it is important to input accuracy values for all therespective cameras onto the Reference pane. Otherwise default accuracy value (10 m) will be assumed for
all camera coordinates in the chunk, hence, the value of the RTK/PPK measurements will efficiently belost and the processing results will not be referenced with expected accuracy. In case the coordinates input
for the cameras are measured for the point where the measuring instrument is mounted (not the camera
itself) it is also necessary to input measurement instrument shift with respect to the camera itself on GPS/INS Offset tab of Camera Calibration dialog available from Tools menu.
After reference coordinates have been assigned Metashape automatically estimates coordinates in a local
Euclidean system and calculates the referencing errors. To see the results switch to the View Estimated or
View Errors modes respectively using

View Estimated and86

View Errors toolbar buttons.

Referencing

GPS/INS Offset

GPS offset.
Rotation angles for the camera coordinates in Metashape are defined around the following axes: yaw axis
runs from top to bottom, pitch axis runs from left to right wing of the drone, roll axis runs from tail to noseof the drone. Zero values of the rotation angle triple define the following camera position aboard: camera
looks down to the ground, frames are taken in landscape orientation, and horizontal axis of the frame isperpendicular to the central (tail-nose) axis of the drone. If the camera is fixed in a different position,
respective yaw, pitch, roll values should be input on GPS/INS Offset tab of Camera Calibration dialog.
The signs of the angles are defined according to the right-hand rule. See Figure below.

87Referencing

INS offset.

Note• Step 5 can be safely skipped if you are using standard GPS system (not that of superhigh
precision).
In Select Coordinate System dialog it is possible to ease searching for the required georeferencing systemusing Filter option. Enter respective EPSG code (e.g. EPSG::4302) to filter the systems.

Ground control and check points
Metashape supports control and check points. Control points are used to reference the model. While checkpoints are used to validate accuracy of the camera alignment and optimization procedures results.

To load coordinates for control and check points
1.

Click
Import toolbar button on the Reference pane. (To open Reference pane use Reference
command from the View menu.) Browse to the file containing control and check points coordinatesand click Open button.

2.

In the Import CSV dialog set the coordinate system if the data presents geographical coordinates.

3.

Select the delimiter and indicate the number of the data column for each coordinate.

4.

Optionally, indicate accuracy values for coordinates.

5.

Click OK button. The reference coordinates data will be loaded onto the Reference pane on Markers
section.

88Referencing

How to specify control or check point types
1.

Select marker on the Reference pane.

2.

Ensure that the selected marker has at least two projections placed on the aligned images. You should
check points box. If the check box is enabled, the point is the control point. When check box is disable,
the point is the check point.

3.

Input control/check point coordinates information to the Source Values tab of the Reference pane.

4.

Enable marker on the Reference pane to make it a control point or disable to use it as a check point.

5.

Control and check point errors can be inspected on the Errors Values tab.

Note•

After you change the point type click

Update toolbar button from the Reference pane.

• After use the Update button, the 7th parametric transformation is performed.

Placing markers on the images
The position of markers is determined by their coordinates in the images. To determine the spacialcoordinates of the markers, it is necessary to measure planar coordinates of the markers on at least 2 images.
Metashape supports two approaches to marker placement: manual marker placement and guided marker
placement. Manual approach implies that the marker projections should be indicated manually on each
image where the marker is visible. Incorrect projection markers affect accuracy. Be careful when placing
the markers on the images, specify the exact position, and see that the markers are not obscured by foreign
objects (for example, grass or foliage). In such cases, it is better not to put a marker on such an image.
Manual marker placement does not require 3D model and can be performed even before image alignment.
In the guided approach marker projection is specified for a single image only. Metashape automaticallyprojects the corresponding ray onto the model surface and calculates marker projections on the rest of
the photos where marker is visible. Marker projections defined automatically on individual photos can befurther refined manually. Reconstructed 3D model surface is required for the guided approach.
Guided marker placement usually speeds up the procedure of marker placement significantly and also
reduces the chance of incorrect marker placement. It is recommended in most cases unless there are any
specific reasons preventing this operation.

To place a marker using guided approach
1.
2.

Open an image where the marker is visible by double clicking on its name.
Switch to the marker editing mode using

Show Markers toolbar button.

3.

Right click on the image at the point corresponding to the marker location.

4.

Select Add Marker command from the context menu. New marker will be created and its projections
on the other photos will be automatically defined.

Note• If the 3D model is not available or the ray at the selected point does not intersect with the modelsurface, the marker projection will be defined on the current image only.

89Referencing• Guided marker placement can be performed in the same way from the 3D view by right clicking
on the corresponding point on the model surface and using
Create Marker command from thecontext menu. While the accuracy of marker placement in the 3D view is usually much lower, it
may be still useful for quickly locating the photos observing the specified location on the model.
To view the corresponding photos use
Filter Photos by Markers command again from the3D view context menu. If the command is inactive, please make sure that the marker in questionis selected on the Reference pane.
•

If the circle under the flag is
the marker is not selected.

red in the Model view, the marker is selected. Ifyellow -To place a marker using manual approach
1.

2.
3.

Create marker instance using
Add marker button on the Workspace pane or by Add Marker
command from the Chunk context menu.
Open the image where the marker projection needs to be added by double clicking on the photos name.
Switch to the marker editing mode using

Show Markers toolbar button.

4.

Right click at the point on the image where the marker projection needs to be placed. From the context
menu open Place Marker submenu and select the marker instance previously created. The marker
projection will be added to the current image.

5.

Repeat the previous step to place marker projections on other photos if needed.

To save up time on manual marker placement procedure Metashape offers guiding lines feature. Whena marker is placed on an aligned image, Metashape highlights lines, which the marker is expected to lie
on, on the rest of the aligned photos.

Note• If a marker has been placed on at least two aligned images Metashape will find the marker
projections on the rest of the photos. The calculated marker positions will be indicated with
icon on the corresponding aligned photos in Photo view mode.
Automatically defined marker locations can be later refined manually by dragging their projections on thecorresponding photos.
The commands Unpin marker and Block marker are available from the context menu of the marker on
the image. To reset the updated marker position, select Unpin marker command, the marker will display
as a blue flag. If Blocks marker option is selected, then the marker projection on particular image will
not be displayed.

To refine marker location
1.

Open the image where the marker is visible by double clicking on the image's name. Automaticallyplaced marker will be indicated with

2.

icon.

Switch to the marker editing mode using

90

Edit Markers toolbar button.

Referencing

3.

Move the marker projection to the desired location by dragging it using left mouse button. Once themarker location is refined by user, the marker icon will change to

Note• To list photos where the marker locations are defined, select the corresponding marker on theWorkspace pane. The photos where the marker is placed will be marked with a
Photos pane. To filter photos by marker use
context menu.

icon on theFilter by Markers command from the 3D view

In those cases when there are hesitations about the features depicted on the image, comparative inspectionof two photos can prove to be useful. To open two photos in Metashape window simultaneously Move to
Other Tab Group command is available from Photo tab header context menu.
Metashape supports automatic marker projection refinement based on the image content. Choose RefineMarkers command from the Markers submenu of the Tools menu.

To open two images simultaneously
1.

In the Photos pane double click on one image to be opened. The image will be opened in a new tabof the main program window.

2.

Right click on the tab header and choose Move to Other Tab Group command from the context menu.
The main program window will be divided into two parts and the image will be moved to the second
part.

3.

The next image will be opened with a double click will be visualized in the active tab group.

Metashape automatically assigns default labels for each newly created marker. These labels can be changed
using the Rename... command from the marker context menu in the Workspace / Reference pane.

Working with coded and non-coded targets
Coded and non-coded targets are specially prepared, yet quite simple, real world markers that can add
up to successful 3D model reconstruction of a scene. Targets are artificial markers placed in the scene toprovide manual image correspondences in case automatic matching fails. Coded and non-coded targets canmark object point to be used for georeferencing. In the figure of coded targets their identifier is recorded,
which allows to automatically and accurately compare their projections on different images. The difference
between coded and non-coded targets is that while a non-coded target looks like an ordinary full circle
or a figure (circle / rectangular) with 4 segments, the coded target has a ring parted in black and whitesegments around the central full circle.

Coded targets advantages and limitations
Coded targets (CTs) can be used as markers to define coordinate system and scale of the model or astrue matches to improve alignment procedure. Metashape functionality includes automatic detection andmatching of CTs on source images, which allows to benefit from marker implementation in a project whilesaving time on manual marker placement. Moreover, automatic CTs detection and marker placement ismore precise then manual marker placement.
Metashape supports four types of circle CTs: 12 bit, 14 bit, 16 bit and 20 bit. While 12 bit pattern is
considered to be decoded more precisely, 14 bit, 16 bit and 20 bit patterns allow for a greater number of
CTs to be used within the same project.

91

Referencing

To be detected successfully CTs must take up a significant number of pixels on the source images. This
leads to a natural limitation of CTs implementation: while they generally prove to be useful in close-range
imagery projects, aerial photography projects will demand too huge CTs to be placed on the ground, for
the CTs to be detected correctly. Hence, for aerial photography projects it makes sense to consider noncoded targets implementation.

Coded targets in workflow
CTs supported by Metashape can be generated by the program itself.

To create a printable PDF with coded targets
1.

Select Print Markers... command from the Tools menu.

2.

Specify the CTs type and desired print parameters in Print Markers dialog.

3.

Click OK.

Once generated, the pattern set can be printed and the CTs can be placed across the scene to be shot andreconstructed.
When the images with CTs seen on them are loaded to the program, Metashape can detect and match theCTs automatically.

To detect coded targets on source images
1.

Select Detect Markers... command from the Tools menu.

2.

Specify parameters of detector in Detect Markers dialog according to the CTs type.

3.

Click OK.

Metashape will detect and match CTs and add corresponding markers to the Reference pane.
CTs generated with Metashape software contain even number of sectors. However, previous versions ofMetashape software had no restriction of this kind. Thus, if the project to be processed contains CTs fromprevious versions of Metashape software, it is required to disable parity check in order to make the detectorwork.

Non-coded targets implementation
Non-coded targets can also be automatically detected by Metashape (see Detect Markers dialog). However,for non-coded targets to be matched automatically, it is necessary to run align photos procedure first.

Non-coded targets
Non-coded targets are more appropriate for aerial surveying projects due to the simplicity of the pattern
to be printed on a large scale.
When non-coded targets are detected Metashape allows automatic matching of detected non-coded targets
with referencing coordinates imported from file. When importing referencing coordinates check the Ignorelabels box in the Import CSV dialog. Metashape will try to match all markers for which 3D coordinates havebeen estimated during image alignment (not only non-coded target markers) with imported referencing

92

Referencing

coordinates. If automatic marching fails, manual re-naming of non-coded target markers is required inaccordance with CSV file information.

Coordinate system
In Metashape available to set the coordinate system for the chunk. It may differ from the coordinate systemthat cameras and/or markers use.

Setting coordinate system for chunk
1.

Click

Settings button on the Reference pane toolbar.

2.

In the Reference Settings dialog box select the Coordinate System for chunk - in the very first
dropdown menu list.

3.

If it is necessary to set individual coordinate system selection for cameras and markers in the
Reference pane settings dialog by checking the corresponding option and selecting proper coordinate
systems.

4.

Specify the assumed measurement accuracy in the left-hand side part of the dialog.

5.

If the information about GPS system shift with respect to the camera itself is available, it is worth
inputting it on GPS/INS Offset tab of Camera Calibration dialog available from Tools menu. See
GPS offset, INS offset images.

6.

Specify the assumed image coordinates accuracy in the corresponding column of the dialog.

7.

Specify Capture distance parameters for the datasets where the images are captured with the obliquecamera mount (more than 20-30 degrees from the vertical).

8.

Click OK button to initialize the coordinate system and estimate geographic coordinates.

Note• When the coordinate information for the camera locations is present in the Source values tabof the Reference pane and the Capture Distance parameter is not defined, the Reference Pair
Preselection will consider only XYZ coordinates for preliminary identification of the overlapping
image pairs. For each camera the certain number of closest neighbors will be selected for theimage matching operation.
• When the Capture Distance parameter is input and camera orientation angles (yaw, pitch, rollor omega, phi, kappa) are present along with the XYZ camera locations in the Reference pane,then for the neighbors estimation the following points are considered: from the original camera
locations the vector is sent according to the orientation angles, the length of the vector is equal
to the Capture Distance parameter values. So for each camera the new 3D location is calculated(X'Y'Z') and these new points are used for the neighbors estimation.
• If camera orientation angles are not loaded to the Source values tab or Reference preselection is
not enabled in the Align Photos dialog, the Capture Distance parameter will be ignored.

Coordinate system editor
If the target coordinate system is not on the list, it is possible to set its parameters manually. In SelectCoordinate System dialog choose any coordinate system and click

93

Edit button. (Obviously, it is optimal

Referencing

to select a coordinate system which parameters are the most similar ones to the target coordinate system.)Enter the proper name for the system to be shown on the list and edit all the parameters according to thecoordinate system definition.

Configurable datum transformation
If the project coordinate system should be converted to WGS84, Datum Transformation Settings dialog
is aimed at controlling proper parameters for the conversion. The dialog can be accessed via
button next to Coordinate System selection field in the Reference Settings dialog.

Settings

Using different vertical datums
By default Metashape requires all the source altitude values for both cameras and markers to be input asvalues measured above the ellipsoid. However, Metashape allows for the different geoid models utilization
as well. Metashape installation package includes only EGM96 geoid model, but additional geoid models
can be downloaded from Agisoft's website if they are required by the coordinate system selected in the
Reference pane settings dialog. Downloaded geoid model from the supported list should be copied to\geoids\ folder in Metashape installation directory before using the corresponding coordinate system fromGUI.
Please refer to the following web-page to review the list of supported geoid models: http://
www.agisoft.com/downloads/geoids/.

Additional features of the Reference pane
To view the estimated geographic coordinates, reference errors and variance switch between the View
Estimated, View Errors and View Variance modes respectively using

View Estimated,

View Errors

andView Variance toolbar buttons. A click on the column name on the Reference pane sorts themarkers and cameras by the data in the column. At this point you can review the errors and decide whether
additional refinement of marker locations is required (in case of marker based referencing), or if certain
reference points should be excluded.
To save the errors and/or estimated coordinates use

Export toolbar button on the Reference pane.

To reset a chunk georeferencing, use Reset Transform command from the chunk context menu on theWorkspace pane. [R] indicator of a chunk being georeferenced will be removed from the chunk's nameon the Workspace pane.

Note• Unchecked reference points on the Reference pane are not used for georeferencing andoptimization. Use context menu to check/uncheck selected items. See Ground control and checkpoints section.
• After adjusting marker locations on the images, the coordinate system will not be updated
automatically. It should be updated manually using
pane.

Update toolbar button on the Reference• Metashape allows to convert coordinates data between different coordinate systems. To calculate
the coordinates of the camera positions and/or markers in a different coordinate system use
Convert toolbar button on the Reference pane.

94Referencing

Optimization
Optimization of camera alignment
Optimize Cameras command performs a full bundle adjustment procedure on the aligned
photogrammetric block, simultaneously refining exterior and interior camera orientation parameters andtriangulated tie point coordinates. The adjustment is performed based on all available measurements andcorresponding accuracies, i.e. coordinates of projections of tie points and markers on images in image
coordinate system; GPS coordinates of camera positions; GCP coordinates; scale bar distances.

Note• If markers are used for the optimization process, it is recommended to distribute the control
points evenly over the survey object. It is also necessary that the markers are not located on one
straight line.
To ensure maximum geometric accuracy of processing results, it is important to always run optimization
procedure after adding/editing measured values and/or their accuracies, e.g. loading GPS camera
coordinates, adding GCPs, changing accuracy settings.

Note• By default optimization adjusts both exterior and interior camera orientation parameters. When
working with a precalibrated camera, it is possible to load available calibration in the Camera
Calibration dialog and set the parameters as fixed. Fixed parameters will not be adjusted during
optimization step.

To optimize camera alignment
1.
2.

Set the marker and/or camera coordinates to be used for optimization (if not done yet).
Click

Settings toolbar button on the Reference pane and set the coordinate system (if not done yet).

3.

In the Reference Settings dialog box specify the assumed accuracy of measured values as well as theassumed accuracy of marker projections on the source images.

4.

Click OK button.

5.

Indicate relative GPS device and/or INS to camera coordinates (if info is available) on GPS/INS Offset
tab of Camera Calibration dialog available from Tools menu.

6.

Check Adjust GPS/INS offset box.

7.

Click OK button.

8.
9.

Click

Optimize toolbar button on the Reference pane.

In Optimize Camera Alignment dialog box check additional camera parameters to be optimized.

10. Click OK button to start optimization.

Note• Step 5 can be safely skipped if you are using standard GPS (not that of extremely high precision).

95

Referencing• Using RTK / PPK camera coordinates data will also provide more accurate results. More details
about using RTK / PPK data can be found in Coordinate system section.
• The optimization procedure discards active depth maps, dense cloud and mesh model from the
chunk. It is recommended to rebuild these objects after performing the optimization.
• The optimization process can improve the results of alignment and reduce the errors.

Optimize Camera Alignment parameters"Optimize Camera Alignment" dialog window
Fit additional corrections
With this option enabled Metashape estimates additional coefficients that are necessary to achieve
better accuracy. There are different corrections that allow to compensate the distortions that cannot
be described by the Brown's model (see Appendix D, Camera models section). This option may be
helpful for the datasets acquired drone with RTK/PPK, when no GCPs are used.
Adaptive camera model fittingThis option enables automatic selection of camera interior orientation parameters to be adjusted. Read
more about in Aligning photos section.
Estimate tie point covariance
The function allows to estimate the covariance values of the tie points.
Image coordinates accuracy for markers indicates either how precisely the markers were placed by the useror how precisely the markers were adjusted by the user after being automatically placed by the program.
Capture distance parameter is used to make reference preselection mode of alignment procedure work
effectively for oblique imagery. See Aligning photos for details.
Camera, marker and scale bar accuracy can be set per item (i.d. per camera/marker/scale bar) using
Accuracy column on the Reference pane. Accuracy values can be typed in on the pane per item or for a96

Referencing

group of selected items. Alternatively accuracy values can be uploaded along with camera/marker data asa text file (see Assigning reference coordinates subsection of Coordinate system). Additionally different
accuracy per coordinate can be indicated using "/" as a separator between values in the Accuracy column.
GPS/INS offset values specified by the user can also be adjusted by Metashape with respect tomeasurement accuracy that may be indicated on the GPS/INS tab of Camera Calibration dialog. Uncheck
Adjust GPS/INS offset box to allow for adjustment procedure.
Generally it is reasonable to run optimization procedure based on the markers data only. The coordinatesof GCPs are measured with significantly higher accuracy compared to GPS coordinates of the camera
positions. Thus using the markers data gives more precise optimization results. It is also quite often that
GCPs and camera coordinates are measured in different coordinate systems, thus using both cameras andmarkers data in optimization simultaneously is not possible.
The results of the optimization procedure can be evaluated with the help of error information on the
Reference pane. In addition, distortion plot can be inspected along with mean residuals visualized per
calibration group. This data is available in the Camera Calibration dialog (accessible form Tools menu)
from the context menu of a camera group - Distortion Plot... command. Note that residuals are averaged percell of an image and then across all the images in a camera group. Scale reference under the plot indicatesthe scale of the distortions/residuals. Read more in What do the errors in the Reference pane mean? section.
In case the optimization results are not satisfying, they can be recalculated with lower values of accuracy
parameters, i.e. assuming ground control measurements to be more accurate.

Covariance matrix
If additional analyses is required, extra option Estimate tie point covariance can be selected on running
the Optimization procedure. As a result, Metashape will calculate covariance matrix for the bundle
adjustment calculations. Covariance matrix captures the uncertainty of the transformation. Covariancematrix diagonal elements are variances, σii2; the positive square root of the variance, σ, is called thestandard deviation. Standard deviation values for the camera position coordinates and rotation angles canbe inspected on the Reference pane - View Variance tab. Covariance matrix off-diagonal elements arecovariances, σij. The value of each covariance reflects the degree of correlation between the corresponding
parameters. Calculated covariance values for the tie points can be inspected in the Model view using Point
Cloud Covariance command available from View Mode submenu of Model menu. Vector associated witheach tie point indicates the direction and value of the largest error for the tie point estimated position (large
semi-axis of the error ellipsoid determined by the covariance values). The color code is aimed to help toperceive the general distribution of the errors across the tie point cloud at a glance.

Scale bar based optimization
Scale bar is the representation of any known distance within the scene. The known distance can be astandard ruler or a specially prepared bar of a known length. The scale bar is a handy tool to apply
additional reference data to the project. The scale bars can prove to be useful when there is no way toplace ground control points all over the scene. The scale bars also allow to save field work time, since it issignificantly easier to place several scale bars with precisely known length, than to measure coordinatesof multiple markers using special equipment. In addition, Metashape allows to use the distance between
camera positions as a scale bar (mostly for rigged camera systems in controlled environment), thus making
it possible to avoid marker and/or ruler placement within the scene. Surely, scale bar based information
will not be enough to set a coordinate system, however, the information can be successfully used while
optimizing the results of image alignment. It will also be enough to perform measurements in Metashape
software. See Performing measurements on 3D model.

97Referencing

To add a scale bar between markers
1.

Place markers at the start and end points of the future scale bar. For information on marker placement
please refer to the Coordinate system section of the manual.

2.

Select both markers on the Reference pane using Ctrl button.

3.

4.
5.

SelectCreate Scale Bar command form the Model view context menu. The scale bar will becreated and added instantly to the Scale Bar list on the Reference pane.
Switch to theView Source mode using the Reference pane toolbar button.

Double click on the Distance (m) box next to the newly created scale bar name and enter the known
length of the bar in meters.

To add a scale bar between cameras
1.

2.

3.
4.

Select the two cameras on the Workspace or Reference pane using Ctrl button. Alternatively, thecameras can be selected in the Model view window using selecting tools from the toolbar.
SelectCreate Scale Bar command form the context menu. The scale bar will be created and added
instantly to the Scale Bar list on the Reference pane.
Switch to theView Source mode using the Reference pane toolbar button.

Double click on the Distance (m) box next to the newly created scale bar name and enter the known
length of the bar in meters.

To run scale bar based optimization
1.
2.

3.
4.

On the Reference pane check all scale bars to be used in the optimization procedure.
Click
Settings toolbar button on the Reference pane. In the Reference Settings dialog box specify
the assumed accuracy of measured scale bar lengths.
Click OK button.
Click
Optimize toolbar button. In the Optimize Camera Alignment dialog box check additional
camera parameters to be optimized if needed. Click OK button to start optimization.

After the optimization is complete, the estimated coordinates of the cameras and markers will be updated
as well as all the georeferencing errors. To analyze optimization results switch to the View Estimated modeusing the Reference pane toolbar button. The estimated scale bar distance will be displayed in the scalebar section of the Reference pane.

To delete a scale bar
1.

Select the scale bar to be deleted on the Reference pane.

2.

Right-click on it and chose Remove Scale Bars command from the context menu.

98Referencing

3.

Click OK for the selected scale bar to be deleted.

What do the errors in the Reference panemean?
To analyze errors switch to the View Errors mode using the corresponding button on the Reference pane.

Cameras section
1.

Error (m) - residual per coordinate or in 3D space. That is distance between the input (source) andestimated positions of the camera.

2.

Error (deg) - residual per orientation angle or in 3D space (that is root mean square error calculated
over all three orientation angles).

3.

Error (pix) - root mean square for reprojection errors for each valid tie point detected on the image.

4.

Total error - root mean square for all the values in the corresponding column.

Reprojection error is the distance between the point on the image where a reconstructed 3D point can beprojected to and the original projection of the 3D point detected on the image and used as a basis for the
3D point reconstruction procedure.

Markers section
1.

Error (m) - residual per coordinate or in 3D space. That is distance between the input (source) andestimated positions of the marker.

2.

Error (pix) - root mean square for the reprojection error for the marker calculated over all images
where marker projection is placed.

3.

Total error (Control points and Check points) - root mean square for all the values in the corresponding
column.

If the total reprojection error for some marker seems to be too large, it is recommended to inspect
reprojection errors for the marker on individual images. The information is available with Show Info
command in the marker context menu on the Reference pane.
In Metashape the estimated check point coordinates, that are displayed (as well as the error values) on
the Reference pane, are calculated based on minimization of the reprojection error only, without taking
into account measured check point coordinates in 3D-space. Thus the displayed values do not correspondthe adjusted coordinates from the bundle adjustment step, and are calculated solely from weighted image
measurements.
On the other hand, estimated coordinates of the control points correspond to the adjusted values, as they
are calculated taking into account both reprojection error and measured object space coordinates. Thisapproach allows for better detection of the measurement errors.
To observer the difference between measured (source) and triangulated (estimated) control point
coordinates only, temporary uncheck the corresponding entry on the Reference pane (thus making it acheck point) and observe the values on the Errors tab. Note that Update button shouldn't be pressed afterconversion of a control point to a check point, otherwise the estimated values would be recalculated withthe given reference point excluded from the computation.

99

Referencing

Scale Bars section
1.

Error (m) - residual for the distance, it equals the difference between the input (source) scale bar
length and the measured distance between two cameras or markers representing start and end pointsof the scale bar.

2.

Total error (Control scale bars and Check scale bars) - root mean square for all the values in thecorresponding column.

100Chapter 5. Measurements
Performing measurements on 3D model
Metashape supports measuring of distances on the model, as well as of surface area and volume of thereconstructed 3D model. All the instructions of this section are applicable for working in the Model viewof the program window, both for analysis of Dense Point Cloud or of Mesh data. When working in the
Model view, all measurements are performed in 3D space, unlike measurements in Ortho view, which
are planar ones.

Distance measurement
Metashape enables measurements of distances between the points of the reconstructed 3D scene.
Obviously, model coordinate system must be initialized before the distance measurements can be
performed. Alternatively, the model can be scaled based on known distance (scale bar) information to
become suitable for measurements. For instructions on setting coordinate system please refer to the
Coordinate system section of the manual. Scale bar concept is described in the Optimization section.

To measure distance1.

SelectRuler instrument from the Toolbar of the Model view.

2.

Click on the point of the model where the measurement should be started from.

3.

Upon the second click on the model the distance between the indicated points will be shown rightin the Model view.

4.

The distance can be measured along the polyline drawn with the Ruler.

5.

To complete the measurement and to proceed to a new one, please press Escape button on the
keyboard. The result of the measurement will be shown on the Console pane

Shape drawing is enabled in Model view as well. See Shapes section of the manual for information on
shape drawing. Measure command available from the context menu of a selected shape allows to learn thecoordinates of the vertices as well as the perimeter of the shape.
To measure several distances between pairs of points and automatically keep the resulting data, markers
can be used.

To measure distance between two markers
1.

Place the markers in the scene at the targeted locations. For information on marker placement pleaserefer to the Coordinate system section of the manual.

2.

Select both markers to be used for distance measurements on the Reference pane using Ctrl button.

3.

4.

SelectCreate Scale Bar command form the 3D view context menu. The scale bar will be created
and an instant added to the Scale Bar list on the Reference pane.
Switch to the estimated values mode using
toolbar.

101

View Estimated button from the Reference paneMeasurements

5.

The estimated distance for the newly created scale bar equals to the distance that should have beenmeasured.

To measure distance between cameras
1.

2.

3.

4.

Select the two cameras on the Workspace or Reference pane using Ctrl button. Alternatively, thecameras can be selected in the Model view window using selecting tools from the Toolbar.
SelectCreate Scale Bar command form the context menu. The scale bar will be created and an
instant added to the Scale Bar list on the Reference pane.
Switch to the estimated values mode using
toolbar.

View Estimated button from the Reference pane

The estimated distance for the newly created scale bar equals to the distance that should have beenmeasured.

Note• Please note that the scale bar used for distance measurements must be unchecked on the Reference
pane.
• The distance values measured by Metashape are displayed in meters.

Shape-based measurements
Polyline and Polygon measurements
1.

Indicate a line to make a cut of the model using
Model view.

Draw Polyline

Draw Polygon tool from the2.

Double click on the last point to indicate the end of a polyline.

3.

Right button click on the polyline/polygon and select Measure... command from the context menu.

4.

In the Measure Shape dialog displayed coordinates points, perimeter and coordinate system.

Point measurement
1.

Select Point measurement from the Toolbar of the Model view.

2.

Right button click on the point and select Measure... command from the context menu.

3.

In the Measure Shape dialog displayed coordinate point and coordinate system.

Surface area and volume measurement
Surface area or volume measurements of the reconstructed 3D model can be performed only after the scaleor coordinate system of the scene is defined. For instructions on setting coordinate system please refer tothe Coordinate system section of the manual.
102Measurements

To measure surface area and volume1.

Select Measure Area and Volume... command from the Tools menu.

2.

The whole model surface area and volume will be displayed in the Measure Area and Volume dialog
box. Surface area is measured in square meters, while mesh volume is measured in cubic meters.

Volume measurement can be performed only for the models with closed geometry. If there are any holes
in the model surface Metashape will report zero volume. Existing holes in the mesh surface can be filled
in before performing volume measurements using Close Holes... command from the Tools menu.

Performing measurements on DEM
Metashape is capable of DEM-based point, distance, area, and volume measurements as well as ofgenerating cross-sections for a part of the scene selected by the user. Additionally, contour lines can becalculated for the model and depicted either over DEM or Orthomosaic in Ortho view within Metashapeenvironment. Measurements on the DEM are controlled with shapes: points, polylines and polygons. For
information about how to create and work with shapes please refer to Shapes section of the manual.

Point measurement
Ortho view allows to measure coordinates of any point on the reconstructed model. X and Y coordinatesof the point indicated with the cursor as well as height of the point above the vertical datum selected by
the user are shown in the bottom right corner of the Ortho view.

Distance measurement
To measure distance with a Ruler
1.

SelectRuler instrument from the Toolbar of the Ortho view.

2.

Click on the point of the DEM where the measurement should be started from.

3.

Upon the second click on the DEM the distance between the indicated points will be shown rightin the Ortho view.

4.

The distance can be measured along the polyline drawn with the Ruler.

5.

To complete the measurement and to proceed to a new one, please press Escape button on the
keyboard. The result of the measurement will be shown on the Console pane.

To measure distance with shapes
1.

Connect the points of interest with a polyline using
toolbar.

Draw Polyline tool from the Ortho view

2.

Double click on the last point to indicate the end of a polyline.

3.

Right button click on the polyline and select Measure... command from the context menu.

4.

In the Measure Shape dialog inspect the results. Perimeter value equals to the distance that shouldhave been measured.

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In addition to polyline length value (see perimeter value in the Measure Shape), coordinates of the verticesof the polyline are shown on the Planar tab of the Measure Shape dialog.

Note• Measure option is available from the context menu of a selected polyline. To select a polyline,
click on it by the left mouse button. A selected polyline is colored in red.

Area and volume measurement
To measure area and volume
1.

Draw a polygon on the DEM using

Draw Polygon instrument to indicate the area to be measured.

2.

Right button click on the polygon and select Measure... command from the context menu.

3.

In the Measure Shape dialog inspect the results: see area value on the Planar tab and volume values
on the Volume tab.

Metashape allows to measure volume above best fit / mean level / custom level planes. Best fit and meanlevel planes are calculated based on the drawn polygon vertices. Volume measured against custom level
plane allows to trace volume changes for the same area in the course of time.

Note• Measure option is available from the context menu of a selected polygon. To select a polygon,
click on it by the left mouse button. A selected polygon is colored in red.

Cross sections and contour lines
Metashape enables to calculate cross sections, using shapes to indicate the plane(s) for a cut(s), the cut
being made with a plane parallel to Z axis. For a polyline/polygon the program will calculate profiles along
all the edges starting from the first drawn side.

To calculate cross section
1.

Indicate a line to make a cut of the model using
the Ortho view toolbar.

Draw Polyline /Draw Polygon tool from2.

Double click on the last point to indicate the end of a polyline.

3.

Right button click on the polyline/polygon and select Measure... command from the context menu.

4.

In the Measure Shape dialog inspect the results on the Profile tab of the dialog.

Generate Contours... command is available either from DEM label context menu on the Workspace paneor from the Tools menu.

To generate contours
1.

Select Generate Contours... command from Tools menu.

2.

In the Generate Contours dialog select DEM as the source data for calculation.

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3.

Set values for Minimal altitude, Maximal altitude parameters as well as the Interval for the contours.
All the values should be indicated in meters.

4.

Click OK button once done.

5.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

6.

When the procedure is finished, a shape layer with "contours" label will be added to the project filestructure shown on the Workspace pane.

Contour lines can be exported using Export Contours command from the contour lines label context menu
on the Workspace pane. Alternatively the command is available from the File menu. In the Export Contour
Lines dialog it is necessary to select the type of the contour lines to be exported. A shape file can store thelines of the same type only: either polygons or polylines.

Transform DEM
Metashape supports transformation of the digital elevation models. Different DEMs can be subtracted one
from another for the changes observation purposes.

"Transform DEM" dialog

To transform DEM
1.

Select DEM from which you want to transform on the Workspace pane.

2.

Select Transform DEM... command from Tools menu.

3.

In the Transform DEM... dialog select the check Calculation difference box and select the file fromthe drop-down list for calculation.

4.

Press OK button to calculate transform DEM.

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5.

In the dialog box click Yes button in order to create a new DEM instance with the calculation result.
If No button in pressed, the result will overwrite the active DEM instance contents.

6.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

7.

When the procedure is finished, a layer with transform DEM label will be added to the project filestructure shown on the Workspace pane.

Vegetation indices calculation
The vegetation index is used to analyze vegetation cover and is calculated as a result of operations withdifferent spectral channels. There are many vegetation indices for example such as: Normalized Difference
Vegetation Index (NDVI), Enhanced Vegetation Index (EVI), Green Normalized Difference Vegetation
Index (GNDVI) and so on.

Multispectral cameras
Metashape enables to calculate NDVI and other vegetation indices based on the multispectral imagery
input. Vegetation index formula can be set by the user, thus allowing for great flexibility in data analysis.
Calculated data can be exported as a grid of floating point index values calculated per pixel of orthomosaic
or as an orthomosaic in pseudocolors according to a palette set by the user. In case several indices
are calculated for the same orthomosaic, the results can be exported as a multichannel orthomosaic,
one channel per index. Furthermore, values of 3 different vegetation indices can be mixed to represent
combined results as a false color "RGB" image.

Reflectance calibration
In Metashape you can execute the reflectance calibration of multispectral image data acquired using
MicaSense (RedEdge, Altum), Parrot Sequoia and DJI Phantom 4 Multispectral cameras based on imagesof the radiometric panel and/or sun sensor meta data. Metashape can automatically sort out calibration
images to the special camera group on the Workspace pane if the image meta data says that the images arefor calibration. The images will be disabled automatically (not to be used in actual processing). If there isno such information in the image meta data, the calibration images will be detected automatically duringcalibrate reflectance procedure, providing that the radiometric panel has a proper QR-code attached.

Note• Please do not forget to add reflectance calibration images to the chunk together with the main
image set.

To perform reflectance calibration
1.

Choose Calibrate Reflectance from the Tools menu.

2.

Press Locate Panels button. As a result the images with the panel will be moved to the separate folder
and the masks would be applied to cover everything on the images except the panel itself. If you areusing the panel for the first time, and its calibration is not added to Metashape internal database yet,you will be prompted to load calibration from CSV file.

3.

If you don't have a CSV file with calibration information, you can enter calibration values manually.
It can be done manually in Calibrate Reflectance dialog or using Select Panel... button. In the Select106Measurements

Reflectance Panel dialog it is possible to: load reflectance information from a CSV file; save current
table (wavelength / reflectance factor); edit the name of a panel in the database (the name is used in
Calibrate Reflectance dialog); remove the panel from the database.
4.

Check on Use reflectance panel and Use sun sensor options in the Calibrate Reflectance dialog toperform calibration based on panel data and/or image meta information.

5.

Click OK to start calibration process.

Vignetting correction
Reflectance calibration results can be improved based on the vignetting correction.
Vignetting is modeled in Metashape using a 3 degree bivariate polynomial:V(x, y) = exp(sumij cij * xi * yj)- where x and y represent normalized pixel coordinates, so that top left corner of the image has coordinates(-1, -1), and bottom right corner has coordinates (1, 1).
- cij are vignetting coefficients in Metashape vignetting model. Coefficients can be obtained by converting
coefficients from XMP image meta data into a Metashape model or calculated during Calibrate Colors
process.
To compensate vignetting in the image, each pixel value is divided by corresponding vignetting factor.
I' = I / exp(sumij cij * xi * yj)
wherex = 2 * (i + 0.5) / w - 1
y = 2 * (j + 0.5) / h - 1
i, j - integer column and row pixel coordinatesw, h – image width and height in pixels
x, y - normalized pixel coordinates
I - pixel intensity in the original image with vignetting
I' - pixel intensity in the corrected image without vignetting

Vegetation index calculation
To calculate a vegetation index
1.
2.
3.

Open orthomosaic in the Ortho tab double-clicking on the orthomosaic label on the Workspace pane.
Open Raster Transform tool using

Raster Transform button from the Ortho view toolbar.

On the left-hand side of the Transform tab of the Raster Calculator dialog all the bands of the input
images are listed. Set a vegetation index expression on the Output Bands side of the tab using keyboard

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input and operator buttons of the raster calculator if necessary. If the expression is valid, the line will
be marked with
4.

sign.

You can set several vegetation index expressions to be calculated. Uselines in the list of output bands.

,

buttons to add/delete

5.

Click OK button to have the index (or indices) calculated. The result - orthomosaic with vegetationindex (or indices) information, each index being stored in a separate channel, can be exported withExport orthomosaic command from the File menu. For guidance on the export procedure, please refer
to NDVI data export section of the manual.

6.

Alternatively to Step 5, if you would like to have the index visualized in Ortho view of Metashapewindow for inspection, follow Steps 6-12. Check Enable transform box and switch to the Palette tabof the Raster Calculator dialog.

7.

Select output band in Use band field on the Palette tab.

8.

9.

Click
Update button to have the histogram of the index values shown on the left-hand side of the
Palette tab.
Select the range of meaningful index values either manually on the histogram or apply automaticallycalculated range with the Auto button at the bottom of the tab.

10. Select palette preset from the drop-down list on the right-hand side of the Palette tab.
11. Click Apply button. Once the operation is completed - all the vegetation indices are calculated, theindex values stored in the selected output band (indices calculated according to the selected output
band expression set on the Transform tab of the Raster Calculator) will be shown in the Ortho view,index values being visualized with pseudocolors according to the palette set in the Raster Calculator
dialog.
12. You can either continue your work in Raster Calculator or click OK button to close the dialog.
Palette defines the color for each index value to be shown with. Metashape offers several standard palettepresets on the Palette tab of the Raster Calculator dialog. A preset (Heat, NDVI, Gray scale) can be chosenfrom the drop-down list on the Palette tab of the Raster Calculator dialog. Alternatively, the user can
upload the palette from a Surfer Color Spectrum (*.clr) file (an external tool.

Import Palette), preliminary prepared in

The palette can also be edited within Metashape environment using
Add Color andRemove Colorbuttons on the Palette tab of the Raster Calculator dialog. For each new line added to the palette a certain
index value should be typed in. Double click on the newly added line to type the value in. A customized
palette can be saved for future projects using
Calculator dialog.

Export Palette button on the Palette tab of the Raster

The range of meaningful index values can be manually adjusted on the left-hand side of the Palette tab or
set automatically with the Auto button at the bottom of the tab. Interpolate colors option can be checked
to introduce intermediate colors to the output image.
False color value on the drop-down list of the palette presets allows to visualize combined results ofparticular 3 vegetation indices tackled as false RGB colors.

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Note• If you change the index expression for selected output band on the Transform tab, do not forgetto adjust Palette settings for visualization purposes: click Update button on the Palette tab tohave the histogram of the index values updated, set the range of the meaningful values, chosethe proper color palette.
• If you would like to inspect values of a different vegetation index, not the one already shown,
you need to set the corresponding formula in the selected band of the Output Band list on theTransform tab of the Raster Calculator dialog.
• If you would like to see original multispectral orthomosaic, with no index calculation applied,uncheck Enable transform option on the Transform tab of the Raster Calculator dialog and click
Apply/OK button. If the input images have three channels marked as R, G, B, then the orthomosaic
will be visualized as an RGB image (or false RGB). Otherwise, the spectral data from the firstchannel will be visualized in gray scale.

Prescription maps generation
The prescription map is generated based on the orthomosaic with calculated index (NDVI). Normalized
Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) a dimensionless index that describes the difference between visible
and near-infrared reflectance of vegetation cover. NDVI is calculated by the following formula:
NDVI = (NIR - RED)/(NIR + RED)
where
NIR - reflectance in the near-infrared region of the spectrum
RED - reflectance in the red region of the spectrum
Select Generate Prescription Map command on the Orthomosaic submenu from the Tools menu.
First specify the area with the boundary shape in a vector layer (if there is no shape layer in the project,
orthomosaic is used in its entirety). Make sure that the selected area has been transformed according to
the specified rule (raster transform operation is performed and NDVI is calculated). The histogram of theindex values for the first transformed channel is used for visual analysis and serves as a ground base forsetting the number of classes and choosing the method of clusterization. The number of classes set by theuser corresponds to the number of zones marked on the histogram.
In Metashape available 2 clusterization methods: Jenks natural breaks and Equal intervals clustering:- when using the Jenks natural breaks clustering method, the histogram splitting occurs automatically as
the method prescribes;- when using the Equal intervals clustering method, the histogram is split into equal intervals from the minindex value to the max index value. Min and Max index values are calculated automatically.
Then a grid with a defined sell size is applied to the raster. The index values in the grid cell are averaged
and each cell is assigned to a class depending on the cell index value.
After the clusterization is completed the cells that fall into the same cluster are combined in a separate class.
The clusters are written into a vector layer named Prescription. The resulting layer contains several groupsof polygons (MultiPolygon): each polygon corresponds to a separate cluster and each group corresponds
to a separate class. The attributes of each class include the average value of the index (zonal_mean) andits' ordinal number starting from 1 (class_id) as well as the value for prescribed rate.

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Measurements"Generate Presctiption Map" dialog window
The following parameters can be adjusted:
Boundary shape layer
Layer with polygon for which the Prescription map will be generated (if there are no shape layer, thewhole orthomosaic will be used).
Cell size (m)Sets cell size in meters.
ClassesSpecifies the number of classes.
Methods for clusterization
Jenks natural breaks and Equal intervals clustering
Histogram displays the index histogram and the division into zones.

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The table includes Zonal mean index values, Area (ha) and Rate(kg/ha) for each class (indicated by
the class number in table lines). The values in the table can be changed manually if needed.
Total amount (kg)Sets total amount of fertilizer in kilograms. The value for the Total amount can be changed if required.
To change the fertilizer consumption select Prescription map on the Workspace pane and choose
Prescription map properties... command from the context menu. In the Fertilizers table set the desired
value for Rate or for the Total amount.
To export Prescription map in Shape file format select Prescription map on the Workspace pane and choose
Export Layers... command from the context menu.

Modified visible range cameras
Modified visible range cameras provide data in the form of three channel imagery, but those channels
do not contain standard R, G, B spectrum range information due to some physical manipulation done on
the sensor. For example, a Colored Infrared (CIR) camera by MAVinci records Red+NIR data in the firstchannel, Green+NIR data in the second channel, and NIR data in the third one.
Modified visible range cameras are used for vegetation monitoring along with multispectral cameras. To
calculate vegetation indices with Metashape the data captured with a modified camera should be calibrated
first. This means we need to get pure R, G, NIR values to apply vegetation index formula. To performthe calibration, one needs calibration matrix data. In this context, a calibration matrix is a matrix of linear
transformation of source light intensity values in each channel into absolute values of intensity.
In case of CIR camera by MAVinci, calibration matrix can be calculated based on the histograms for thefollowing relations: NIR/R, NIR/G. Calibration matrix spectrum values will be equal to the values of thecut offs (kR, kG) of the corresponding histograms: C = {(kR, 0, -1), (0, kG, -1), (0, 0, 1)}. Then the vector of
the absolute intensity values for R, G, NIR spectrum bands, scaled according to NIR intensity value, canbe calculated as X1=C*X0, where C [3x3]- CIR calibration matrix, X0 [3x1]- vector of the source valuesof the intensity for each band.
Metashape offers dialog to manually input values of the calibration matrix - see Color Matrix section of
the CIR Calibration tab in the Raster Calculator dialog. (The tab is available for 3 bands imagery only. If
the project deals with multispectral imagery, there is no need to calibrate the data.) One can either print in
the values, or select the values with sliders on the histograms. For a CIR camera by MAVinci, calibration
matrix values can be set automatically with the Auto button.
Once the calibration matrix values are set, click Apply button for Metashape to perform the calibration.
After that you can proceed to Transform and Palette tabs of the Raster Calculator to calculate vegetation
indices as described in the section above. Metashape will use calibrated values as Input Bands on theTransform tab.

Index based contour lines
Metashape enables to calculate contour lines based on the calculated index values.

To calculate contour lines based on vegetation index data
1.

Select Generate Contours... command from the orthomosaic icon context menu on the Workspace
pane, while index data is shown in the Ortho view.

2.

Select Orthomosaic as the source for the contours calculation.

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3.

Adjust the min/max value and the interval parameters for the task.

4.

Press OK button to calculate index values.

5.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

6.

When the procedure is finished, a shape layer with "contours" label will be added to the project filestructure shown on the Workspace pane. The contour lines will be shown over the index data on the
Ortho tab.

Powerlines detection
Metashape supports automatic powerlines detection. The algorithm uses aligned images to detect
powerlines. Detected powerlines will be saved as shapes (3D polylines) in one or more shape layers. Read
more about shape properties in Shapes section.

Note• The shape layer with the powerlines can be used together with the Plan Mission tool to indicate
the danger zone for a drone flight.

Detect Powerlines
1.

Select the Detect Powerlines command from the Tools menu.

2.

Choose parameters in Detect Powerlines dialog box.

3.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

Detect Powerlines parameters"Detect Powerlines" dialog
Use model for visibility checks
Helps to reconstruct more powerlines in scenes with difficult geometry where wires are occluded by
the model in images.
Min altitude from DEM (m)To exclude road marking or, for example, fences, we recommend setting this parameter, which
requires to generate DEM as an additional preliminary step.

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Number of vertices per line
During drawing powerlines, a large number of vertices can be created in the line. It is possible to limit
the number of vertices by specifying the desired maximum number of vertices per line. The value "0"can be set to avoid the number of vertices to be limited.

Stereoscopic measurements and vectorization
Metashape supports performing measurements and vectorization in stereo mode on stereo pairs(overlapping photos).

Measurements and vectorization

Note• The Snapping tool in Metashape will help you to do vectorization. The following snapping types
are available: Axis, Vertex and Edge. To use snapping mode, click Axis Snap, Vertex Snap, Edge
Snap on the toolbar and press Shift button when you start drawing shapes.
1.

2.
3.

4.

To measure distance click
Ruler toolbar button, hold right mouse button and left click on the firstpoint, than move 3D cursor to the next point and left click on it.
To draw point, click

Draw Point toolbar button and left click on the point of your interest.

To draw polyline click
Draw Polyline toolbar button, left click on the first point, than move 3D
cursor to the next point, and left click on it. Perform double left click to finish the polyline.
To draw polygon click
Draw Polygon toolbar button, left click on the first point, than move 3D
cursor to the next point, and left click on it. Perform double left click to finish the polygon.

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Chapter 6. Editing
Using masks
Overview
Masks are used in Metashape to specify the areas on the photos which can otherwise be confusing to
the program or lead to incorrect reconstruction results. Masks can be applied at the following stages ofprocessing:• Matching of the images• Building Depth Maps
• Building Mesh from the depth maps source with the strict volumetric masks option applied• Building Texture• Building Tiled Model• Building Orthomosaic• Building Panorama

Alignment of the photos
Masked areas can be excluded during feature point detection. Thus, the objects on the masked partsof the photos are not taken into account while estimating camera positions. This is important in the
setups, where the object of interest is not static with respect to the scene, like when using a turn tableto capture the photos.
Masking may be also useful when the object of interest occupies only a small part of the photo. In
this case a small number of useful matches can be filtered out mistakenly as a noise among a muchgreater number of matches between background objects.

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Editing

Building dense point cloud
While building dense point cloud, masked areas are not used in the depth maps computation process.
Masking can be used to reduce the resulting dense cloud complexity, by eliminating the areas on thephotos that are not of interest.
Masked areas are always excluded from processing during dense point cloud and texture generation
stages, including Tiled Model generation process.
Let's take for instance a set of photos of some object. Along with an object itself on each photo somebackground areas are present. These areas may be useful for more precise camera positioning, so it
is better to use them while aligning the photos. However, impact of these areas at the building dense
point cloud is exactly opposite: the resulting model will contain object of interest and its background.
Background geometry will "consume" some part of mesh polygons that could be otherwise used formodeling the main object.
Setting the masks for such background areas allows to avoid this problem and increases the precisionand quality of geometry reconstruction.
Building orthomosaic
During building orthomosaic process, masked areas on the photos are not used for building
orthomosaic.
Building texture atlas
During texture atlas generation (for single mesh model and tiled model), masked areas on the photos
are not used for texturing. Masking areas on the photos that are occluded by outliers or obstacles helps
to prevent the "ghosting" effect on the resulting texture atlas.

Loading masks
Masks can be loaded from external sources, as well as generated automatically from background images
if such data is available. Metashape supports loading masks from the following sources:• From alpha channel of the source photos.
• From separate images.
• Generated from background photos based on background differencing technique.
• Based on reconstructed 3D model.

To import masks
1.

Select Import Masks... command from the File menu.

2.

In the Import Mask dialog select suitable parameters. Click OK button when done.

3.

When generating masks from separate or background images, the folder selection dialog will appear.
Browse to the folder containing corresponding images and select it.

4.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

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Editing"Import Masks" dialog
The following parameters can be specified during mask import:
MethodSpecifies the source of the mask data.
From Alpha - load masks from alpha channel of the source photos.
From File - load masks from separate images.
From Background - generate masks from background photos.
From Model - generate masks based on reconstructed model.
Operation
Specifies the action to be done in case a second mask is imported for the photo.
Replacement - new mask will be loaded and stored instead of the original one.
Union - two masks will be united and stored.
Intersection - the intersection of the two masks will be stored as a new mask for the photo.
Difference - only the difference between two masks will be stored as a new mask for the photo.
Filename template (not used in From alpha mode)
Specifies the file name template used to generate mask file names. This template can contain special
tokens, that will be substituted by corresponding data for each photo being processed. The following
tokens are supported:{filename} - file name of the source photo without extension.
{fileext} - extension of the source photo.
{camera} - camera label.
{frame} - frame number.
{filenum} - sequential number of the mask being imported.

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For example, {filename}_mask.png template can be used if masks are available in PNG format andhave a _mask suffix.
Tolerance (From Background method only)
Specifies the tolerance threshold used for background differencing. Tolerance value should be set
according to the color separation between foreground and background pixels. For larger separation
higher tolerance values can be used.
Apply toSpecifies whether masks should be imported for the currently opened photo, active chunk or entire
Workspace.
All cameras - load masks for active chunk.
Entire workspace - load masks for all chunks in the project.
Selected cameras - load mask for the currently checked cameras (if any).
Current photo - load mask for the currently opened photo (if any).

Generate masks
The Generate masks tool allows to create masks from the mesh model. Due to the nature of the shooting,
not the whole object may be placed in focus, which will lead to blurred areas in the pictures. The texture
will be more blurry than possible if built texture uses the images data from defocus areas. The tool allows
to exclude such areas prior to the texture blending procedure by applying the masks automatically to out
of focus areas.

To generate mask
1.

Select Generate Masks command from the Mesh submenu from the Tools menu.

2.

In the Generate Masks dialog select suitable parameters. Click OK button when done.

3.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

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Editing"Generate Masks" dialog
The following parameters can be specified in Generate Masks dialog:
Operation
Specifies the action to be done in case a second mask is imported for the photo.
Replacement - new mask will be loaded and stored instead of the original one.
Union - two masks will be united and stored.
Intersection - the intersection of the two masks will be stored as a new mask for the photo.
Difference - only the difference between two masks will be stored as a new mask for the photo.
Mask defocus areas
Enabled applying masks to the areas that are out of focus based on the depth information of each point.
Fix coverage (for Replace and Union operations only)
Allows to avoid blind spots on the model surface when generating masks.
Blur threshold
The Blur threshold parameter defines the allowed blur radius on a photo in pixels. In most cases, werecommend using the 2 or 3 pixels.
Apply toSpecifies whether masks should be created for the currently opened photo, active chunk or entire
Workspace.
All cameras - generate masks for active chunk.
Entire workspace - generate masks for all chunks in the project.
Selected cameras - generate mask for the currently checked cameras (if any).
Current photo - generate mask for the currently opened photo (if any).

Editing masks
Modification of the current mask is performed by adding or subtracting selections. A selection is createdwith one of the supported selection tools and is not incorporated in the current mask until it is merged witha mask using Add Selection or Subtract Selection operations.

To edit the mask
1.

Open the photo to be masked by double clicking on its name on the Workspace / Photos pane. The
photo will be opened in the main window. The existing mask will be displayed as a shaded region
on the photo.

2.

Select the desired selection tool and generate a selection.

3.

Click on

Add Selection toolbar button to add current selection to the mask, or

Subtract

Selection to subtract the selection from the mask.
Invert Selection button allows to invert current
selection prior to adding or subtracting it from the mask.

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The following tools can be used for creating selections:
Rectangle selection tool
Rectangle selection tool is used to select large areas or to clean up the mask after other selection tools
were applied.
Intelligent scissors toolIntelligent scissors is used to generate a selection by specifying its boundary. The boundary is formedby selecting a sequence of vertices with a mouse, which are automatically connected with segments.
The segments can be formed either by straight lines, or by curved contours snapped to the object
boundaries. To enable snapping, hold Ctrl key while selecting the next vertex. To complete theselection, the boundary should be closed by clicking on the first boundary vertex.
Intelligent paint toolIntelligent paint tool is used to "paint" a selection by the mouse, continuously adding small image
regions, bounded by object boundaries.
Magic wand tool
Magic Wand tool is used to select uniform areas of the image. To make a selection with a Magic
Wand tool, click inside the region to be selected.
The range of pixel colors selected by Magic Wand is controlled by the tolerance value. At lower
tolerance values the tool selects fewer colors similar to the pixel you click with the Magic Wand tool.
Higher value broadens the range of colors selected.

Note• To add new area to the current selection hold the Ctrl key during selection of additional area.
• To subtract a part from the current selection hold the Shift key during selection of the area tobe subtracted.
• To reset mask selection on the current photo press Esc key.
A mask can be inverted using Invert Mask command from the Edit menu. The command is active in Photoview only. Alternatively, you can invert masks either for selected cameras or for all cameras in a chunkusing Invert Masks... command from a photo context menu on the Photos pane.
The masks are generated individually for each image. If some object should be masked out, it should bemasked out on all photos, where that object appears.

Exporting masks
Created masks can be also saved for external editing or storage.

To export masks
1.

Select Export Masks... command from the File menu.

2.

In the Export Mask dialog select suitable parameters. Click OK button when done.

3.

Browse to the folder where the masks should be saved and select it.
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4.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

"Export Masks" dialog
The following parameters can be specified during mask export:
Export masks forSpecifies whether masks should be exported for the currently opened photo, active chunk or entire
Workspace.
Current photo - save mask for the currently opened photo (if any).
Active chunk - save masks for active chunk.
Entire workspace - save masks for all chunks in the project.
File typeSpecifies the type of generated files.
Single channel mask image - generates single channel black and white mask images.
Image with alpha channel - generates color images from source photos combined with mask datain alpha channel.
Mask file names
Specifies the file name template used to generate mask file names. This template can contain special
tokens, that will be substituted by corresponding data for each photo being processed. The following
tokens are supported:{filename} - file name of the source photo without extension.
{fileext} - extension of the source photo.
{camera} - camera label.
{frame} - frame number.
{filenum} - sequential number of the mask being exported.
For example, {filename}_mask.png template can be used to export masks in PNG format with _mask
suffix.

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Note• When importing/exporting mask for the current photo only, Metashape will prompt for the actual
image instead of image folder. Mask file names parameter will not be used in this case.

Editing point cloud
The following point cloud editing tools are available in Metashape:• Automatic filtering based on specified criterion (tie points only)• Automatic filtering based on applied masks (dense cloud only)• Automatic filtering based on points colors (dense cloud only)• Automatic filtering by class (dense cloud only)• Automatic filtering by selection (dense cloud only)• Automatic filtering by confidence (dense cloud only)• Reducing number of points in point cloud by setting tie point per photo limit (tie points only)• Reducing number of dense cloud points by setting up point spacing value• Colorize dense point cloud• Sample points operation to create dense point cloud from the mesh or tiled model• Manual points removal

Note• Point cloud editing operation can be undone/redone using Undo/Redo command from the Edit
menu.

Filtering points based on specified criterion
In some cases it may be useful to find out where the points with high reprojection error are located within
the tie point cloud, or remove points representing high amount of noise. Point cloud filtering helps to selectsuch points, which usually are supposed to be removed.
Metashape supports the following criteria for point cloud filtering:
Reprojection error
Maximum reprojection error is calculated in normalized units for all images where tie point wasmeasured.
maxi |x'i - xi| / si
where
x'i - coordinates of the point projection according to adjusted orientation parameters on the i-th image
in pixels,

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xi - measured point projection coordinates on the i-th image in pixels,
si - the scale of the image that was used for measuring the coordinates of the corresponding projection
on the i-th image.
High reprojection error usually indicates poor localization accuracy of the corresponding point
projections at the point matching step. It is also typical for false matches. Removing such points canimprove accuracy of the subsequent optimization step.
Reconstruction uncertainty
Ratio of the largest semi-axis to the smallest semi-axis of the error ellipse of the triangulated 3D point
coordinates. The error ellipse corresponds to the uncertainty of the point triangulation alone without
taking into account propagation of uncertainties from interior and exterior orientation parameters.
sqrt(k1 / k3)
where
k1 - largest eigenvalue of the tie-point covariance matrix,
k3 - smallest eigenvalue of the tie-point covariance matrix
High reconstruction uncertainty is typical for points, reconstructed from nearby photos with small
baseline. Such points can noticeably deviate from the object surface, introducing noise in the point
cloud. While removal of such points should not affect the accuracy of optimization, it may be usefulto remove them before building geometry in Point Cloud mode or for better visual appearance of thepoint cloud.
Image countNumber of images where the tie point was measured.
Metashape reconstruct all the points that are visible at least on two photos. However, points that are
visible only on two photos are likely to be located with poor accuracy. Image count filtering enables
to remove such unreliable points from the cloud.
Projection Accuracy
Average image scale that was used for measuring coordinates of the projections of the tie-point.
sumi si / nwhere
si - the scale of the image that was used for measuring the coordinates of the corresponding projection
on the i-th image,n - number of images where tie-point was measured
This criterion allows to filter out points which projections were relatively poorer localized due to theirbigger size.

To remove points based on specified criterion
1.
2.

Switch to Point Cloud view mode using

Point Cloud toolbar button.

Select Gradual Selection... command from the Model menu.

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3.

4.

In the Gradual Selection dialog box specify the criterion to be used for filtering. Adjust the thresholdlevel using the slider. You can observe how the selection changes while dragging the slider. ClickOK button to finalize the selection.
To remove selected points use Delete Selection command from the Edit menu or click
Selection toolbar button (or simply press Del button on the keyboard).

DeleteFiltering points based on applied masks
To remove points based on applied masks
1.

Switch to Dense Cloud view mode using

Dense Cloud toolbar button.

2.

Choose Select Masked Points... command from the Dense Cloud submenu of the Tools menu.

3.

In the Select Masked Points dialog box indicate the photos whose masks to be taken into account.
Adjust the edge softness level using the slider. Click OK button to run the selection procedure.

4.

To remove selected points use Delete Selection command from the Edit menu or click
Selection toolbar button (or simply press Del button on the keyboard).

DeleteFiltering points based on points colors
To remove points based on points colors
1.

Switch to Dense Cloud view mode using

Dense Cloud toolbar button.

2.

Choose Select Points by Color... command from the Dense Cloud submenu of the Tools menu.

3.

In the Select Points by Color dialog box the color to be used as the criterion. Adjust the tolerance
level using the slider. Click OK button to run the selection procedure.

4.

To remove selected points use Delete Selection command from the Edit menu or click
Selection toolbar button (or simply press Del button on the keyboard).

DeleteFiltering points by class
To select objects of the same type in Dense Cloud, you can filter by class. Classification is performed
automatically, you should choose only the class interested.

Filter by class1.

Switch to Dense Cloud view mode using

Dense Cloud toolbar button.

2.

Choose Filter By Class... command from the Dense Cloud submenu of the Tools menu.

3.

In the Select Point Classes dialog box choose classes to be used as the filter. Click OK button to run
the selection procedure.

4.

The result of the filtering will be shown in the Model view.

5.

Select Reset filter command from the Dense Cloud submenu of the Tools menu to cancel filtering
by classes

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Filtering points by selection
Filter by selection
1.
2.

Switch to Dense Cloud view mode using
Select points to be filter

Dense Cloud toolbar button.

Rectangle Selection,

Circle Selection or

Free-Form Selection tools.

3.

Choose Filter By Selection... command from the Dense Cloud submenu of the Tools menu.

4.

The result of the filtering will be shown in the Model view.

5.

Select Reset filter command from the Dense Cloud submenu of the Tools menu to cancel filtering
by classes

Filtering points by confidence
Metashape supports dense point cloud filtering by confidence value. To perform such filtering Calculate
point confidence option should be enabled in the Build Dense Cloud dialog before the dense point cloudof interest is generated.

Filter by confidence
1.

Switch to Dense Cloud view mode using

Dense Cloud Confidence toolbar button.

2.

Choose Filter by Confidence... command from the Dense Cloud submenu of the Tools menu.

3.

In the Select Confidence Range dialog box choose min and max value to be used as the filter. The
values define the number of depth maps involved in the point generation.

4.

Click OK button to run the selection procedure.

5.

The result of the filtering will be shown in the Model view.

6.

Select Reset filter command from the Dense Cloud submenu of the Tools menu to cancel filteringby confidence.

Tie point per photo limit
Tie point limit parameter could be adjusted before Align photos procedure. The number indicates the upper
limit for matching points for every image. Using zero value doesn't apply any tie-point filtering.
The number of tie points can also be reduced after the alignment process with Tie Points - Thin Point
Cloud command available from Tools menu. As a results tie point cloud will be thinned, yet the alignment
will be kept unchanged.

Filter dense cloud
In Metashape it is possible to reduce the number of the dense cloud points by setting the point spacing
parameter manually which defines the regular grid step.

To filter dense point cloud1.

Select Filter dense cloud command from the Dense Cloud submenu of the Tools menu.

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2.

In the Filter Dense Cloud dialog box specify Point spacing in meters to be used.

3.

Click OK button to run the selection procedure.

4.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click Cancel button.

Note• In the confirmation dialog box click Yes button if a new dense cloud instance with result
calculation should be created in the active chunk. If No button is pressed the dense cloud filteringresult will overwrite the active dense point cloud instance.

Colorize Dense Cloud
Metashape supports the option to colorize dense point clouds with the colors from the images ororthomosaic.

To colorize dense cloud1.

Select an active Dense Cloud in the Workspace pane.

2.

Choose Colorize Dense Cloud... command from the Dense Cloud submenu of the Tools menu.

3.

In the Colorize Dense Cloud dialog box select Source data from Orthomosaic orImages option.

4.

Click on the OK button to start the procedure. The progress dialog box will appear displaying thecurrent processing status.

Sample points
Sample points tool creates a dense point cloud based on a Mesh or Tiled model.

To create the dense point cloud from the polygonal surface
1.

Select Sample Points command from the Dense Cloud submenu of the Tools menu.

2.

In the Sample Points dialog select the source polygonal surface type (mesh or tiled model) and desired
point spacing value. Target point count based on the input parameters will be displayed in Estimatedpoints field.

3.

Click on the OK button to start the procedure. The progress dialog box will appear displaying thecurrent processing status. To cancel processing click Cancel button.

The following parameters can be specified in Sample points dialog:
Source data
Specifies the source polygonal surface for the dense point cloud generation (Mesh or Tiled model).
Points spacing
Specifies the desired distance between points of the dense cloud to be generated.
Estimated points
Defines the expected number of points to be generated.

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Manual points removal
Incorrect points can be also removed manually.

To remove points from a point cloud manually1.

Switch to Tie Point Cloud view mode using
mode using

2.

3.

Point Cloud toolbar button or to Dense Cloud view

Dense Cloud toolbar button.

Select points to be removed using
Rectangle Selection,
Circle Selection or
Free-Form
Selection tools. To add new points to the current selection hold the Ctrl key during selection of
additional points. To remove some points from the current selection hold the Shift key during
selection of points to be removed.
To delete selected points click the

Delete Selection toolbar button or select Delete Selectioncommand from the Edit menu. To crop selection to the selected points click the
toolbar button or select Crop Selection command from the Edit menu.

Crop Selection

Deleting points via Crop Selection or Delete Selection tools simply invalidates them, i.e. the points will
still be stored in the project and they can be restored (all deleted points). If all the deleted points need to
be deleted without the possibility of recovery, then use Compact Dense Cloud command from the Dense
Cloud submenu of the Tools menu, and then save the project.

Classifying dense point cloudMetashape allows not only to generate and visualize dense point cloud but also to classify the points within
it. There are two options: automatic division of all the points into two classes - ground points and the rest,and manual selection of a group of points to be placed in a certain class from the standard list known for
LIDAR data. Dense cloud points classification opens way to customize Build Mesh step: you can choose
what type of objects within the scene you would like to be reconstructed and indicate the corresponding
point class as a source data for mesh generation. For example, if you build mesh or DEM based on groundpoints only, it will be possible to export DTM (as opposed to DSM) at the next step.

Automatic classification of ground points
For the user to avoid extra manual work Metashape offers feature for automatic detection of ground points.

To classify ground points automatically1.

Select Classify Ground Points... command from the Dense Cloud submenu of the Tools menu.

2.

In the Classify Ground Points dialog box select the parameters for the classification procedure.

3.

Click OK button to run the classification procedure.

Automatic classification procedure consists of two steps. At the first step the dense cloud is divided into
cells of a certain size. In each cell the lowest point is detected. Triangulation of these points gives the first
approximation of the terrain model.
Additionally, at this step Metashape filters out some noise points to be handled as Low Points class.

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At the second step new point is added to the ground class, providing that it satisfies two conditions: it lies
within a certain distance from the terrain model and that the angle between terrain model and the line toconnect this new point with a point from a ground class is less than a certain angle. The second step isrepeated while there still are points to be checked.

"Classify Ground Points" dialog
The following parameters control automatic ground points classification procedure
Max angle (deg)Determines one of the conditions to be checked while testing a point as a ground one, i.e. sets limitation
for an angle between terrain model and the line to connect the point in question with a point from aground class. For nearly flat terrain it is recommended to use default value of 15 deg for the parameter.
It is reasonable to set a higher value, if the terrain contains steep slopes.
Max distance (m)Determines one of the conditions to be checked while testing a point as a ground one, i.e. sets limitation
for a distance between the point in question and terrain model. In fact, this parameter determines theassumption for the maximum variation of the ground elevation at a time.
Cell size (m)Determines the size of the cells for point cloud to be divided into as a preparatory step in groundpoints classification procedure. Cell size should be indicated with respect to the size of the largest
area within the scene that does not contain any ground points, e. g. building or dense forest.
Erosion radius (m)Determines the indentation (in meters) from unclassified points to create an additional area from theobject, it is useful when classifying houses and trees to exclude the remaining "stumps" when building
DTM.

Automatic dense cloud multi-class classification
Metashape allows for semantic classification of dense point clouds to solve the task of higher-levelinterpretation of the reconstructed data. Using the machine learning techniques Metashape enables
automatic dense cloud classification to any combination of the following classes: Ground, High
Vegetation, Building, Road, Car and Man-made.

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To start the automatic multi-class classification1.

Select Classify Points... command from the Dense Cloud submenu of the Tools menu.

2.

In the Classify Points dialog box select the source point class for the classification procedure in the"From" field.

3.

Select the target classes from the list in "To" field.

4.

Define Confidence parameter in 0 - 1 range. Higher value of the parameter means that the point
which class cannot be reliably assigned, will remain unclassified.

5.

Click OK button to run the classification procedure.

"Classify Points" dialog

Note• If you are not satisfied with the automatic multi-class classification results or would liketo contribute and improve the classificator, please send the manually labeled point clouds
according to the guidelines published on the following page to support@agisoft.com: http://
www.agisoft.com/support/tips-tricks/

Manual classification of dense point cloudMetashape allows to associate all the points within the dense cloud with a certain standard class (see
LIDAR data classification). This provides possibility to diversify export of the processing results withrespect to different types of objects within the scene, e. g. DTM for ground, mesh for buildings and point
cloud for vegetation.

To assign a class to a group of points
1.
2.

Switch to Dense Cloud view mode using using
Select points to be placed to a certain class using

Dense Cloud toolbar button.
Rectangle Selection,

Circle Selection or

Free-Form Selection tools. To add new points to the current selection hold the Ctrl key during

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selection of additional points. To remove some points from the current selection hold the Shift key
during selection of points to be removed.
3.

Select Assign Class... command from the Dense Cloud submenu of the Tools menu.

4.

In the Assign Class dialog box select the source point data for the classification procedure and thetargeted class to be assigned to the selected points. Click OK button to run classification procedure.

Dense point cloud classification can be reset with Reset Classification command from Tools - Dense Cloud
menu.

Editing model geometry
The following mesh editing tools are available in Metashape:• Decimation tool
• Photoconsistent mesh refinement tool
• Close holes tool
• Smooth tool
• Colorize vertices• Automatic filtering based on specified criterion• Manual polygon removal• Fixing mesh topology
More complex editing can be done in the external 3D editing tools. Metashape allows to export mesh andthen import it back for this purpose.

Note• For polygon removal operations such as manual removal and connected component filtering it
is possible to undo the last mesh editing operation. There are Undo/Redo commands in the Edit
menu.
• Please note that Undo/Redo commands are not supported for mesh decimation and this operation
cannot be undone.

Decimation tool
Decimation is a tool used to decrease the geometric resolution of the model by replacing high resolution
mesh with a lower resolution one, which is still capable of representing the object geometry with highaccuracy. Metashape tends to produce 3D models with excessive geometry resolution, so mesh decimation
is usually a desirable step after geometry computation.
Highly detailed models may contain hundreds of thousands of polygons. While it is acceptable to workwith such a complex models in 3D editor tools, in most conventional tools like Adobe Reader or Google
Earth high complexity of 3D models may noticeably decrease application performance. High complexity
also results in longer time required to build texture and to export model in PDF file format.
In some cases it is desirable to keep as much geometry details as possible like it is needed for scientific andarchive purposes. However, if there are no special requirements it is recommended to decimate the model

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down to 100 000 - 200 000 polygons for exporting in PDF, and to 100 000 or even less for displaying in
Google Earth and alike tools.

To decimate 3D model1.

Select Decimate Mesh... command from the Tools menu.

2.

In the Decimate Mesh dialog box specify the target number of polygons, which should remain in the
final model. Click on the OK button to start decimation.

3.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click on the Cancel button.

Note• Texture atlas is discarded during decimation process. You will have to rebuild texture atlas after
decimation is complete.

Photoconsistent mesh refinement tool
Metashape allows to refine already reconstructed mesh with respect to camera photos. This is iterative
process that can further recover details on surface. For example it can recover basrelief or ditch.

To refine mesh
1.

Check the model - it will be refined with respect to camera photos. You can duplicate it with rightclick on the model and selecting Duplicate... to refine the copy of model.

2.

Select Refine Mesh... command from the Tools menu.

3.

In the Refine Mesh... dialog box specify the target quality of refinement, number of iterations andsmoothness. Click on the OK button to start refinement.

4.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click on the Cancel button.

Refinement parameters
Quality
Specifies the desired refinement quality. Higher quality settings can be used to obtain more detailed
and accurate geometry, but they require longer time for processing. Interpretation of the quality
parameters here is similar to that of accuracy settings given in Building dense point cloud section.
Iterations
Number of refinement iterations. In some cases additional iterations are able to recover more details,
but it will lead to proportional slow down.
Smoothness
Smaller smoothness parameter leads to better features recovering but also it can increase noise. Bigger
smoothness parameter leads to better noise suppression, but can smooth out features too. Changing
smoothness value can help to balance between noise suppression and features recovering.

Colorize model vertices
In Metashape the mesh model vertices can be colorized using images, tie points or dense cloud points
colors, or orthomosaic data.

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To colorize model vertices
1.

Select Colorize Vertices command in Mesh submenu from the Tools menu.

2.

In the Colorize Model dialog box select source data for the operation.

3.

Click on the OK button to start the procedure.

4.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click on the Cancel button.

Close holes tool
Close Holes tool provides possibility to repair your model if the reconstruction procedure resulted in amesh with several holes, due to insufficient image overlap for example.
Some tasks require a continuous surface disregarding the fact of information shortage. It is necessary to
generate a close model, for instance, to fulfill volume measurement task with Metashape.
Close holes tool enables to close void areas on the model substituting photogrammetric reconstruction
with extrapolation data. It is possible to control an acceptable level of accuracy indicating the maximum
size of a hole to be covered with extrapolated data.

To close holes in a 3D model1.

Select Close Holes... command in Mesh submenu from the Tools menu.

2.

In the Close Holes dialog box indicate the maximum size of a hole to be covered with the slider.

3.

Click on the OK button to start the procedure.

4.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click on the Cancel button.

Note• The slider allows to set the size of a hole in relation to the size of the whole model surface.

Smooth tool
The Smooth tool allows you to make the model smoother and remove irregularities on the surface. Sometasks require a sleek surface disregarding of details or real object more smooth than mesh in Metashape.
You can apply the tool to the entire mesh or only to the selected area.

Note• To apply smoothing to a specific area, you must first select it and then apply the tool.

To smooth mesh1.

Select Smooth mesh... command in Mesh submenu of Tools menu.

2.

In the Smooth mesh dialog box set the Strength parameter using slider. You can also enable checkbox Apply to selected faces.

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3.

Click OK when done. To cancel processing click Cancel button.

Note• Fix borders option can be applied to the models with the open edges, it allows to preserve theposition of the mesh vertices along the open edges when using smoothing.

Polygon filtering on specified criterion
In some cases reconstructed geometry may contain the cloud of small isolated mesh fragments surroundingthe "main" model or big unwanted polygons. Mesh filtering based on different criteria helps to selectpolygons, which usually are supposed to be removed.
Metashape supports the following criteria for face filtering:
Connected component size
This filtering criteria allows to select isolated fragments with a certain number of polygons. The
number of polygons in all isolated components to be selected is set with a slider and is indicated inrelation to the number of polygons in the whole model. The components are ranged in size, so thatthe selection proceeds from the smallest component to the largest one.
Polygon size
This filtering criteria allows to select polygons up to a certain size. The size of the polygons to be
selected is set with a slider and is indicated in relation to the size of the whole model. This function
can be useful, for example, in case the geometry was reconstructed with the extrapolation and there
is a need to remove extra polygons automatically added by Metashape to fill the gaps; these polygons
are often of a larger size than the rest.
Vertex confidenceThis filtering criteria allows to select polygons using confidence value. This parameters available
only if during build model use Depth map as Source data. The value is displayed as a percentage andcorresponds to the percentage of confidence from the maximum value of all confidence.

To remove small isolated mesh fragments
1.

Select Gradual Selection... command from the Model menu.

2.

In the Gradual Selection dialog box select Connected component size criterion.

3.

Select the size of isolated components to be removed using the slider. Size of the largest component
is taken for 100%. You can observe how the selection changes while dragging the slider. Click OK
button to finalize the selection.

4.

To remove the selected components use Delete Selection command from the Edit menu or click
Delete Selection toolbar button (or simply press Del button on the keyboard).

To remove large polygons
1.

Select Gradual Selection... command from the Model menu.

2.

In the Gradual Selection dialog box select Polygon size criterion.

3.

Select the size of polygons to be removed using the slider. Size of the largest polygon is taken for
100%. You can observe how the selection changes while dragging the slider. Click OK button to
finalize the selection.

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4.

To remove the selected components use Delete Selection command from the Edit menu or click
Delete Selection toolbar button (or simply press Del button on the keyboard).

Note that Metashape always selects the fragments starting from the smallest ones. If the model contains
only one component the selection will be empty.

Manual face removal
Unnecessary and excessive sections of model geometry can be also removed manually.

To remove part of the mesh polygons manually1.

Select rectangle, circle or free-form selection tool using
or

2.

3.

Rectangle Selection,

Circle Selection

Free-Form Selection toolbar buttons.

Make the selection using the mouse. To add new polygons to the current selection hold the Ctrl key
during selection of additional polygons. To remove some polygons from the current selection holdthe Shift key during selection of polygons to be excluded.
To delete selected polygons click the

Delete Selection toolbar button or use Delete Selectioncommand from the Edit menu. To crop selection to the selected polygons click the
toolbar button or use Crop Selection command from the Edit menu.

Crop Selection

To grow or shrink current selection
1.

To grow current selection press PageUp key in the selection mode. To grow selection by even a larger
amount, press PageUp while holding Shift key pressed.

2.

To shrink current selection press PageDown key in the selection mode. To shrink selection by evena larger amount, press PageDown while holding Shift key pressed.

Fixing mesh topology
Metashape is capable of basic mesh topology fixing.

To fix mesh topology
1.

Select View Mesh Statistics... command from the Tools menu.

2.

In the Mesh Statistics dialog box you can inspect mesh parameters. If there are any topologicalproblems, Fix Topology button will be active and can be clicked to solve the problems.

3.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click on the Cancel button.

Editing mesh in the external program
To export mesh for editing in the external program1.

Select Export Model... command from the File menu.

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2.

In the Save As dialog box, specify the desired mesh format in the Save as type combo box. Select thefile name to be used for the model and click Save button.

3.

In the opened dialog box specify additional parameters specific to the selected file format. Click OK
button when done.

To import edited mesh1.

Select Import Mesh... command from the File menu.

2.

In the Open dialog box, browse to the file with the edited model and click Open.

Note• Metashape supports loading models in Wavefront OBJ, 3DS, STL, COLLADA, Stanford PLY,
Autodesk FBX, Autodesk DXF, OpenCTM and U3D file formats only. Please make sure to selectone of these file formats when exporting model from the external 3D editor.
• Please be aware that it is important to keep reference information for the model if any.

ShapesShapes are used to indicate boundaries either for export or for measurement procedures. Shapes can be
drawn over DEM or Orthomosaic as well as over model using buttons from the Ortho/Model view toolbar.
Alternatively, shapes can be loaded from external files (SHP, KML, KMZ, DXF, GeoJSON formats aresupported) using Import Shapes... command of Import... submenu available from the File menu. Shapes
created in Metashape can be exported using Export Shapes... command of Export... submenu available
from the File menu.

Drawing shapes
To draw a shape on DEM/Orthomosaic/Model
1.
2.

Open the surface on which you want to draw (DEM, Orthomosaic or Model). Double clicking on
DEM, Orthomosaic or Model label on the Workspace pane.
SelectDraw Point /Draw Polyline /Draw Polygon instrument from the toolbar.

3.

Draw a point/polyline/polygon on the DEM/orthomosaic/model with a cursor. By default the shapevertex will be put on the available surface, however, in Metashape is it possible to draw the shapes
on a given plane (for example, at a certain height). To set up the drawing plane, select polyline or
polygon shape with three or more vertices or three markers placed in 3D. Then right click on theselection and choose Set Drawing Plane command from the context menu. To reset Drawing Plane
select the corresponding command from the context menu.

4.

Double click on the last point to indicate the end of a polyline. To complete a polygon, place the end
point over the starting one.

5.

6.

Once the shape is drawn, a shape label
will be added to the chunk data structure on the Workspace
pane. All shapes drawn on the same model (and on the corresponding DEM and orthomosaic) will
be shown under the same label on the Workspace pane.
The program will switch to a navigation mode once a shape is completed.

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Drawing shapes in 3D (on the model) solves issues with building basements and other features which are
not visible on the orthomosaic. However, drawing on a model might not be accurate enough. For this case
Metashape offers possibility to draw a shape on source photos and automatically reconstruct it in 3D.

To automatically reconstruct a shape in 3D
1.

Enable Attach markers option available in Markers submenu of Tools menu.

2.

Open a photo in Photo view double clicking on the photo thumbnail in the Photo pane.

3.

SelectDraw Point /Draw Polyline /Draw Polygon instrument from the toolbar.

4.

Draw a point/polyline/polygon on the photo with a cursor.

5.

Double click on the last point to indicate the end of a polyline. To complete a polygon, place the end
point over the starting one. All the vertices will be indicated with markers.

6.

Switch to Model view to see that the shape has been reconstructed in 3D automatically.

7.

To refine the position of the shape, filter photos by shape using the corresponding command from theshape context menu. The shape must be selected - to select a shape double click on it.

8.

Inspect all the relevant photos to refine markers-vertices positions where necessary. The position of
the shape in 3D will automatically be refined.

After a shape has been drawn, it can be edited using Insert Vertex / Delete Vertex commands from thecontext menu. Delete Vertex command is active only for a vertex context menu. To get access to the vertex
context menu, select the shape with a double click first, and then select the vertex with a double click on
it. To change position of a vertex, drag and drop it to a selected position with the cursor. Positions of themarkers-vertices cannot be changed in the Model view.
Shapes allow to measure distances both on DEM and 3D model and to measure coordinates, surface
areas and volumes on 3D model. Please refer to Performing measurements on 3D model, Performing
measurements on DEM sections of the Manual for details.
Shapes added to the particular chunk of the project can be organized into layers. The first layer is generated
automatically on creation of the first shape and is placed into the Shapes folder on the project tree. This
layer is meant to serve as a background thus named No Layer. It is originally set as default one to store
all the shapes.
To create a new layer use Create Shape Layer command from the context menu of the Shape folder on
the Workspace pane. A layer can be set as default one using Set as default command from the context
menu of the layer name on the Workspace pane. A newly created layer can be renamed with a relevant
command from the context menu.
Export Layers... command from the context menu of a layer allows to save shapes from the layer in oneof the supported export formats available: SHP, DXF, KML, KMZ, GeoJSON, GeoPackage.
A shape can be labeled and saved to a certain layer using Properties... command from the context menuof the shape in the Model/Ortho view.

Shape properties
The style of the shape layer can be defined in Metashape. It is possible to assing the label, border color, fillcolor and fill style (for polygons) and transparency for the layer. Attribute table customization is available
from the shape properties dialog for each shape, where an attribute and its value can be specified.

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Note• Polygon fill style is applied only in Ortho view mode.

To set properties for a shape
1.

Right-clink on the selected shape in the Model, Ortho or Photo view mode.

2.

Select Properties... command from the context menu.

3.

Assign the shape to an existing layer from the list or create a new one by clicking on Add Layer button.

4.

Populate the attribute table for the shape.

5.

Click OK if to complete the settings.

It is possible to modify the style of the shape layer in the Metashape from the shape Properties pane. To
open the Properties pane, select Properties command from the View menu. Properties (Label, Description
and Layer) for the selected shape will appear in this pane. To customize the layer style for this shape,
double click on the Layer line and click on the Edit layer button. Parameters can be modified in the opened
Shape layer properties dialog.

Orthomosaic and panorama seamlines editing
Metashape software offers various blending options at orthomosaic and panorama generation step for theuser to adjust processing to their data and task. However, in some projects moving objects can cause
artefacts which interfere with visual quality of the orthomosaic and panorama. The same problem may
result from oblique aerial imagery processing if the area of interest contains high buildings or if the user has
captured facade from too oblique positions. To eliminate mentioned artefacts Metashape offers seamline
editing tool. The functionality allows to choose manually the image or images to texture the indicated partof the orthomosaic/panorama from. Thus, the final orthomosaic and panorama can be improved visuallyaccording to the user's expectations. Automatic seamlines can be turned on for inspection in the Ortho
view with pressing theShow Seamlines button from the Ortho view toolbar.

To edit orthomosaic or panorama seamlines
1.

Draw a polygon on the orthomosaic/panorama usingarea to be retextured.

Draw Polygon instrument to indicate the2.

Select Assign Images... command from the context menu of the selected polygon.

3.

In the Assign Images dialog box select the image to texture the area inside the polygon from.
Orthomosaic/panorama preview on the Ortho tab allows to evaluate the results of the selection. ClickOK button to finalize the image selection process.

4.

Click

Update Orthomosaic button from the Ortho view toolbar to apply the changes.

Assign Images dialog allows to activate multiple selection option. If the Allow multiple selection option ischecked, it is possible to assign several images to texture the area inside the polygon from. However, in
this case there is no possibility to preview the resulting orthomosaic or panorama. It is necessary to click
Update Orthomosaic button from the Ortho view toolbar to apply the changes and see the results. Until
the changes are applied, the area of interest will be marked with a net of blue color to indicate that someedits are waiting for enforcement. Blending method selected at build orthomosaic/panorama step will be

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implemented at orthomosaic/panorama editing step.Assign Images dialog, alternatively, allows to exclude
selected images from texturing the area of interest. Check Exclude selected images option to follow thisway. Please note that in this case preview illustrates the image to be excluded, i.d. the results one should
expect after applying the changes are not shown. Click
Update Orthomosaic button from the Ortho
view toolbar to apply the changes.If the Assign image operation should be repeated several times, it isrecommended to use
Draw Patch tool available from the Ortho menu or with a corresponding Toolbar
button of the Ortho view menu. In this case it will still be required to draw polygons as in the procedure
above, but the best fit image will be assigned automatically, being selected with respect to the first drawn
vertex of the patch.

Editing textures
Remove lighting
Metashape can delight texture automatically. Generally, removing shadows and recovering lightingneutral color while preserving texture features is impossible - at least because of ambiguity between dark
texture produced by shadows on surface and dark texture produced by dark regions of the surface. But inpractice in many cases heuristics based on some assumptions can provide good results.
Texture delighting tool smooths out dark and light sides of object model and can additionally light up
surface areas that were found to be too dark with respect to ambient occlusion map.
1.

Open project with textured model. In case the external model should be delit, the empty project or new
chunk can be created, add new chunk selecting Add Chunk command from the Workspace context
menu and then import textured mesh using Import Model command in the Import submenu of File
menu.

2.

Duplicate model. To be able to compare delighted texture with the original one afterwards, you should
preliminary duplicate the model and then delight only the second one. To duplicate the model, rightclick on Workspace 3D Model and select Duplicate.

3.

Select Remove lighting command from the Mesh submenu of the Tools menu.

In the Remove lighting dialog box select the kind of parameters to be performed. Options include: color
mode, presets and ambient occlusion. Click OK button when done.
Color mode
You can use two types color mode: Single color and Multi color. Use Single color if the model ishomogeneous and use Multi color if scene presents a combination of the colors.
Presets
Preset configures advanced parameters for some special cases.
Aggressive (for rocks)
Preset, it is adjusted for delighting of rocks, but still sometimes can lead to artefacts.
Ambient occlusion map
Optionally, you can load into Metashape ambient occlusion texture map and the tool will try to recoverambient occlusion dark areas on the model.

Resize texture
Metashape supports texture resizing. Select Resize texture command from the Mesh submenu in the Tools
menu to change the size of the texture.

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In the Resize texture dialog box set the diffuse map size in pix. Click OK button when done.
Diffuse map size (pix)You can set the parameters for resizing texture in order to upscale or downscale it.

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Using chunks
When working with typical data sets, automation of general processing workflow allows to perform routine
operations efficiently. Metashape allows to assign several processing steps to be run one by one without
user intervention thanks to Batch Processing feature. Manual user intervention can be minimized evenfurther due to 'multiple chunk project' concept, each chunk to include one typical data set. For a project withseveral chunks of the same nature, common operations available in Batch Processing dialog are applied toeach selected chunk individually, thus allowing to set several data sets for automatic processing following
predefined workflow pattern.
In addition, multiple chunk project could be useful when it turns out to be hard or even impossible togenerate a 3D model of the whole scene in one go. This could happen, for instance, if the total amountof photographs is too large to be processed at a time. To overcome this difficulty Metashape offers apossibility to split the set of photos into several separate chunks within the same project. Alignment ofphotos, building dense point cloud, building mesh, and forming texture atlas operations can be performed
for each chunk separately and then resulting 3D models can be combined together.
Working with chunks is not more difficult than using Metashape following the general workflow. In fact,
in Metashape always exists at least one active chunk and all the 3D model processing workflow operations
are applied to this chunk.
To work with several chunks you need to know how to create chunks and how to combine resulting 3Dmodels from separate chunks into one model.

Creating a chunk
To create new chunk click on the
Add Chunk toolbar button on the Workspace pane or select Add
Chunk command from the Workspace context menu (available by right-clicking on the root element on
the Workspace pane).
After the chunk is created you may load photos in it, align them, generate dense point cloud, generate meshsurface model, build texture atlas, export the models at any stage and so on. The models in the chunks
are not linked with each other.
The list of all the chunks created in the current project is displayed in the Workspace pane along with flags
reflecting their status.
The following flags can appear next to the chunk name:
R (Referenced)
Indicates that 3D model in the chunk was referenced. Also will appear when two or more chunks arealigned with each other. See information on how to reference the model in Coordinate system.
S (Scaled)
Indicates that 3D model in the chunk was scaled based on scale bars information only, with noreference coordinates data being present. See information on scale bar placement in Optimization
section.
T (Transformed)
Indicates that 3D model has been modified manually with at least one of the following instruments:
Rotate object,

Move object or

Scale object.

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To move photos from one chunk to another simply select them in the list of photos on the Workspace pane,
and then drag and drop to the target chunk.

Note• Chunk can contain several instances of the same object (point clouds, 3D model, etc).

Working with chunks
All operations within the chunk are carried out following the common workflow: loading photographs,aligning them, generating dense point cloud, building mesh, building texture atlas, exporting 3D modeland so on.
Note that all these operations are applied to the active chunk. When a new chunk is created it is activatedautomatically. Save project operation saves the content of all chunks. To save selected chunks as a separate
project use Save Chunks command from the chunk context menu.

To set another chunk as active
1.

Right-click on the chunk title on the Workspace pane.

2.

Select Set Active command from the context menu.

To remove chunk
1.

Right-click on the chunk title on the Workspace pane.

2.

Select Remove Chunks command from the context menu.

To rearrange the order of chunks in the Workspace pane simply drag and drop the chunks in the pane.

Aligning chunks
After the "partial" 3D models are built in several chunks they can be merged together. Before merging
chunks they need to be aligned.

To align separate chunks
1.

Select Align Chunks command from the Workflow menu.

2.

In the Align Chunks dialog box select chunks to be aligned, indicate reference chunk with a doubleclick. Set desired alignment options. Click OK button when done.

3.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the current processing status. To cancel processing
click the Cancel button.

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Aligning chunks parameters"Align Chunks" dialog
The following parameters control the chunks alignment procedure and can be modified in the Align Chunks
dialog box:
MethodDefines the chunks alignment method. Point based method aligns chunks by matching photos acrossall the chunks. Marker based method uses markers as common points for different chunks. The
details on using markers are available in the Coordinate system section. Camera based method isused to align chunks based on estimated camera locations. Corresponding cameras should have thesame label.
Accuracy (Point based alignment only)
Higher accuracy setting helps to obtain more accurate chunk alignment results. Lower accuracy setting
can be used to get the rough chunk alignment in the shorter time.
Point limit (Point based alignment only)
The number indicates upper limit of feature points on every image to be taken into account during
Point based chunks alignment.
Fix scale
Option is to be enabled in case the scales of the models in different chunks were set precisely andshould be left unchanged during chunks alignment process.
Preselect image pairs (Point based alignment only)
The alignment process of many chunks may take a long time. A significant portion of this time isspent for matching of detected features across the photos. Image pair preselection option can speed
up this process by selection of a subset of image pairs to be matched.

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Apply mask to (Point based alignment only)
If apply mask to key points option is selected, areas previously masked on the photos are excluded
from feature detection procedure. Apply mask to tie points option means that certain tie points are
excluded from alignment procedure. Effectively this implies that if some area is masked at least on asingle photo, relevant key points on the rest of the photos picturing the same area will be also ignored
during alignment procedure (a tie point is a set of key points which have been matched as projectionsof the same 3D point on different images). This can be useful to be able to suppress background in
turntable shooting scenario with only one mask. For additional information on the usage of masks
please refer to the Using masks section.

Note• Chunk alignment can be performed only for chunks containing aligned photos.
• There is no need to perform chunk alignment for georeferenced chunks, as they are already inthe same coordinate frame.

Merging chunks
After alignment is complete the separate chunks can be merged into a single chunk.

Note• We recommend processing all the images in a single chunk to provide better accuracy and qualityof the final results than the chunking method (separate processing of the sub-sets of the complete
photos set and merging them).

To merge chunks
1.

Select Merge Chunks command from the Workflow menu.

2.

In the Merge Chunks dialog box select chunks to be merged and the desired merging options. ClickOK button when done.

3.

Metashape will merge the separate chunks into one. The merged chunk will be displayed in the projectcontent list on Workspace pane.

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Merge chunks parameters"Merge Chunks" dialog
The following parameters control the chunks merging procedure and can be modified in the Merge Chunks
dialog box:
Merge dense clouds
Defines if dense clouds from the selected chunks are combined.
Merge models
Defines if models from the selected chunks are combined.
Merge DEMs
Defines if DEMs from the selected chunks are combined.
Merge depth maps
Defines if depth maps from the selected chunks are combined.
Merge tie points
Defines if the projections of the tie points for corresponding features should be merged. Since tie
points merging operation assumes re-matching of the features from different chunks, the operation
may be time consuming. Thus it is recommended to disable tie points merging, unless it is requiredby the task specifics.
Merge markers
Defines if markers from the selected chunks are merged (only markers with the same labels would
be merged).
Merge orthomosaics
Defines if orthomosaics from the selected chunks are combined.
Chunks merging result (i.e. photos, point clouds and geometry) will be stored in the new chunk and it may
be treated as an ordinary chunk (e.g. the model can be textured and/or exported).

Note• Dense cloud and model merging operations will be applied only to the active items. Disabled(inactive) items will not be transferred to the merged chunk.

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Batch processing
Metashape allows to perform general workflow operations with multiple chunks automatically. It is usefulwhen dealing with a large number of chunks to be processed.
Batch processing can be applied to all chunks in the Workspace, to unprocessed chunks only, or to the
chunks selected by the user. Each operation chosen in the Batch processing dialog will be applied to every
selected chunk before processing will move on to the next step.
General Workflow

Import/Export

Miscellaneous

Align Photos

Import Masks

Align Chunks

Build DEM

Import Shapes

Calibrate Colors

Build Dense Cloud

Export Cameras

Classify Ground Points

Build Mesh

Export DEM

Classify Points

Build Orthomosaic

Export Orthomosaic

Close Holes

Build Panorama

Export Points

Colorize Dense Cloud

Build Texture

Export Texture

Colorize Model

Build Tiled Model

Export Tiled Model

Convert Images

Generate Report

Decimate Mesh
Detect Fiducials
Detect Markers
Generate Masks
Generate Prescription Map
Load Project
Merge Chunks
Optimize Alignment
Refine Mesh
Remove Lighting
Reset Region
Run Script
Sample Points
Save Project
Smooth Model

To start batch processing
1.

Select Batch Process... command from the Workflow menu.

2.

Click Add to add the desired processing stages.

3.

In the Add Job dialog select the kind of operation to be performed, the list of chunks it should beapplied to, and desired processing parameters. Click OK button when done.

4.

Repeat the previous steps to add other processing steps as required.

5.

Arrange jobs by clicking Up and Down arrows at the right of the Batch Process... dialog box.

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6.

Click OK button to start processing.

7.

The progress dialog box will appear displaying the list and status of batch jobs and current operation
progress. To cancel processing click the Cancel button.

"Batch Process" dialog
When the batch process includes import/export features that are applied to multiple chunks it is reasonable
to use the following templates in the Path field of the import/export jobs:• {filename} - filename (without extension),• {fileext} - file extension,• {camera} - camera label,• {frame} - frame index,• {chunklabel} - chunk label,• {imagefolder} - folder containing images of an active chunk,• {projectfolder} - path to the folder containing current project,• {projectname} - current project filename,• {projectpath} - absolute path to the current project.
The list of tasks for batch processing can be exported to XML structured file using
Batch processing dialog and imported in a different project using

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Open button.

Save button in theAutomation

4D processing
Overview
Metashape supports reconstruction of dynamic scenes captured by a set of statically mounted synchronizedcameras. For this purpose multiple image frames captured at different time moments can be loaded foreach camera location, forming a multiframe chunk. In fact normal chunks capturing a static scene are
multiframe chunks with only a single frame loaded. Navigation through the frame sequence is performed
using Timeline pane.
Although a separate static chunk can be used to process photos for each time moment, aggregate multiframe
chunks implementation has several advantages:• Coordinate systems for individual frames are guaranteed to match. There is no need to align chunks toeach other after processing.
• Each processing step can be applied to the entire sequence, with a user selectable frame range. There isno need to use batch processing, which simplifies the workflow.
• Accuracy of photo alignment is better due to the joint processing of photos from the entire sequence.
• Markers can be tracked automatically through the sequence.
• Intuitive interface makes navigation through the sequence pretty simple and fast.
Multiframe chunks can be also efficient (with some limitations) for processing of disordered photo sets ofthe same object or even different objects, provided that cameras remain static throughout the sequence.

Managing multiframe chunks
Multiframe layout is formed at the moment of adding photos to the chunk. It will reflect the data layout
used to store image files. Therefore it is necessary to organize files on the disk appropriately in advance.
The following data layouts can be used with Metashape:a. All frames from corresponding camera are contained in a separate subfolder. The number of subfolders
is equal to the number of cameras.
b. Corresponding frames from all cameras are contained in a separate subfolder. The number of subfolders
is equal to the number of frames.
c. All frames from corresponding camera are contained in a separate multilayer image. The number ofmultilayer images is equal to the number of cameras.
d. Corresponding frames from all cameras are contained in a separate multilayer image. The number ofmultilayer images is equal to the number of frames.
Once the data is properly organized, it can be loaded into Metashape to form a multiframe chunk. The
exact procedure will depend on whether the multifolder layout (variants a and b) or multilayer (variants
c and d) layout is used.

To create a chunk from multifolder layout
1.

SelectAdd Folder... command from the Workflow menu.

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2.

In the Add Folder dialog box browse to the parent folder containing subfolders with images. Thenclick Select Folder button.

3.

In the Add Photos dialog select Dynamic scene (4D) data layout. For layout a) above select Create
camera from each subfolder. For layout b) select Create frame from each subfolder.

4.

Created multiframe chunk will appear on the Workspace pane.

To create a chunk from multilayer images
1.

Select Add Photos... command from the Workflow menu or click

Add Photos toolbar button.

2.

In the Add Photos dialog box browse to the folder containing multilayer images and select files tobe processed. Then click Open button.

3.

In the Add Photos dialog select the suitable data layout. For layout c) above select Create camera
from each multilayer file. For layout d) select Create frame from each multilayer file.

4.

Created multiframe chunk will appear on the Workspace pane.

It is recommended to inspect the loaded frame sequence for errors. This can be done by scrolling the frame
selector in the Timeline pane and inspecting thumbnails in the Photos pane during scrolling.
In case each frame should be processed completely separately, it is possible to split them using Split
frames... command from the chunk context menu.
Frames can be added from one chunk to another. To do that right-click on the chunk's label in theWorkspace pane and select Add > Add frames command. In the Add Frames dialog select chunk wherefrom the frames will be added and click OK button.
After multiframe chunk is created, it can be processed in the same way as normal chunks. For multiframe
chunks additional processing parameters allowing to select the range of frames to be processed will be
provided where appropriate.

Tracking markers
Metashape allows to automatically track marker projections through the frames sequence, provided that
object position doesn't change significantly between frames. This greatly simplifies the task of labeling ofa moving point if the number of frames is large.

To track markers through the frame sequence
1.

Scroll frame selector in the Timeline pane to the 1st frame. Add markers for the 1st frame as describedin the Coordinate system section.

2.

Select Track Markers... command from the Markers submenu of the Tools menu.

3.

Adjust the starting and ending frame indices if necessary. Default values correspond to tracking fromthe current frame to the end of sequence. Click OK button to start tracking.

4.

Check tracked marker locations. Automatically tracked markers will be indicated with
icons. In
case of a placement error at some frame, adjust the wrong marker location within the frame where
the failure occurred. Once the marker location is refined by user, the marker icon will change to147

Automation

5.

Restart tracking from that frame using Track Markers... command again.

Note• If the ending frame index is smaller than the starting index, tracking will be performed in the
backwards direction.
• Automatic marker tracking is likely to fail in case when structured light is used to add texture
details to the object surface, as the light pattern will not be static with respect to the moving
object surface.

Python scripting
Python scripting in Metashape
Metashape supports Python API, using Python 3.8 as a scripting engine.
Python commands and scripts can be executed in Metashape through one of the following options:
1.
2.

Metashape Console pane can serve as Python rich console.
Click
Run Script button on Console pane toolbar or use
menu to run a Python script.

Run Script... command from the Tools

From command-line using -r argument.
On Windows:
metashape.exe -r <scriptname.py>
On Linux:./metashape.sh -r <scriptname.py>
On macOS:./MetashapePro.app/Contents/MacOS/MetashapePro -r <scriptname.py>
From autorun folder.
for Windows: C:/Users/<user>/AppData/Local/Agisoft/Metashape Pro/scripts/
for Linux: /home/<user>/.local/share/Agisoft/Metashape Pro/scripts/
for macOS: /Users/<user>/Library/Application Support/Agisoft/Metashape Pro/scripts/
on any OS (for all users): <installation folder>/scripts/
For details on Metashape functionality accessible through Python scripts please refer to Python API
Reference document available on Agisoft official website (http://www.agisoft.com/downloads/usermanuals/).
The collection of the sample Python scripts is available on Agisoft GitHub repository: https://github.com/
agisoft-llc/metashape-scripts.

Stand-alone Python module
Metashape can be used as Python 3 package for stand-alone Python module development.

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To configure development environment
1.

Download Metashape Python 3 module for your platform from Agisoft web-site: https://www.agisoft.com/downloads/installer/

2.

Install Metashape Python 3 module

3.

Import Metashape Python 3 module and start development: import MetashapeJava API
Metashape Java API allows to integrate photogrammetric processing engine into applications developed
using Java programming language. It comes in the form of software library and need to be downloaded
separately from Downloads section of Agisoft website.

To configure development environment
1.

Download Metashape Java API from Agisoft web-site: https://www.agisoft.com/downloads/installer/

2.

Unpack downloaded archive and copy libs and jniLibs folders to your project directory.

3.

Add jars from the libs folder to your classpath.

ImportantJava garbage collection system may not release memory associated with Metashape objects in atimely manner as it doesn't know memory consumption of underlying native objects. To prevent
excessive memory consumption it is highly recommended to call delete() method manually for eachobject obtained using Metashape Java API when it is no longer needed.
For details on Metashape Java API functionality please refer to the included javadoc package. Also pleasetake a look at examples available in the samples directory to get started.

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Chapter 8. Distributed processing
Local network processing
Overview
Agisoft Metashape can be configured to run on a computer cluster where processing is distributed on
several computer nodes connected to a local network. In such configuration multiple Metashape instances
running on different processing nodes can work on the same task in parallel, effectively reducing the total
processing time needed.
Processing tasks are divided between the nodes on a chunk by chunk or frame by frame basis (whenpossible). In addition a more fine grained distribution can be optionally enabled for image matching
and alignment, generation of dense point clouds, tiled models, DEMs and orthomosaics, as well asmesh generation from depth maps, in which case processing of individual chunks/frames will be further
subdivided between several processing nodes.
Communication between processing nodes, server and clients is performed using TCP connections. In
addition, shared network storage accessible for all processing nodes and clients is used for storing thesource data and intermediate processing results.

Cluster components

Server
The server node coordinates operation of all processing nodes, maintaining a task queue for all projects
scheduled for processing. The clients can connect to the server to start new processing tasks or monitor
progress of existing ones.

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The server itself doesn't perform any processing and can easily run on slow hardware. The server
component is critical for operation of the cluster, and is not fault tolerant. Measures should be taken to
ensure continuous operation of the server node.
The server node accepts TCP connections from processing nodes and clients. Additional slave servers canbe connected to the master server to perform replication of processing queue for additional fault tolerancein critical environments.

Processing nodes
Processing nodes perform actual calculations, and thus need to be run on fast hardware. Each processing
node connects to the server on startup and waits for a task to be assigned. Once the task is available, thenode starts processing, informing the server about the progress. When processing is finished, the results
are stored on shared network storage, and the server is informed about completion. Then a node switches
to the next task when it becomes available.
Processing nodes can be added or removed from the cluster as needed. Abnormal shutdown of processing
node doesn't cause cluster failure in most cases. Nevertheless, it is highly recommended to stop particular
nodes using Agisoft Network Monitor before disconnecting them from the cluster.

Clients
Clients can connect to the server node to control cluster operation or to monitor its status. New tasks can besubmitted for processing using Agisoft Metashape software configured as a network client, while cluster
monitoring is performed using Agisoft Network Monitor. Multiple clients can be connected to the server
node simultaneously.

Cluster setup
Before proceeding to the following steps please make sure that shared network storage is accessible fromall processing and client nodes using the same absolute path. It should be either mounted to the same folder
on all nodes (Linux), or should have the same UNC network path (Windows). In case such configuration
is not possible (for example in mixed Windows/Linux cluster), a path prefix can be specified on each node
to compensate for the differences.

Starting server
It is recommended to configure server with a static IP address, not dynamically assigned one. This IP
address will be needed for each processing node and client.
The server process can be started by executing Metashape with the following command line arguments:
metashape --server --host <ip>[:port]--server parameter specifies that Metashape should be started in a server mode.
--host <hostname>[:port] parameter specifies the network interface to be used for communication withclients and processing nodes. In case port value is omitted, the default port 5840 is used. The host parametercan be specified multiple time, in which case the server will listen for connections on multiple interfaces.
--master <hostname>[:port] parameter switches the server to slave mode and starts replication of thespecified master server. In case port value is omitted, the default port 5840 is used.
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Distributed processing

metashape --server --host 10.0.1.1
In this case Metashape will use 10.0.1.1 interface for both clients and processing nodes with default port
value.

Starting network nodes
The processing node can be started by executing Metashape with the following command line arguments:
metashape --node --host <ip>[:port] [--root prefix]--node parameter specifies that Metashape should be started as a processing node.
--host <hostname>[:port] parameter specifies IP of the server to connect. In case port value is omitted,
the default port 5840 is used. The host parameter can be specified multiple times, in which case the node
will automatically connect to the next server in the list if the previous one becomes unavailable. This isuseful when using slave servers.
--root <path> parameter can be used to specify network storage mount point or prefix path in case it is
not the same across network.
--priority <priority> parameter can be used to specify the priority of the node. Higher number means
higher priority.
--capability {cpu, gpu, any} parameter can be used to specify whether the node should work on CPUonly tasks, GPU-supported tasks only or will receive any tasks.
--gpu_mask <mask> parameter set GPU device mask for GPU-supported tasks.
--cpu_enable {0,1} parameter can be used to enable or disable CPU during the GPU-supported tasks.
--absolute_paths {0,1} parameter can be used to set the absolute paths option.
--timestamp parameter can be used to append timestamps to the output messages.
--auto-submit parameter can be used to enable automatic crash report submission.
--email <address> parameter specifies email address to be included in the crash reports.
--comment <text> parameter specifies optional comment to be included in the crash reports.
Example:metashape --node --host 10.0.1.1 --root /mnt/datasets
This command will start processing node using 10.0.1.1 as a server IP with default port 5840.

Checking cluster status
Start Agisoft Network Monitor application. In the host name field enter server IP used for client
connections (10.0.1.1 in our example). Modify port values in case non-default port was specified. Click
Connect button when done.
A list of available network nodes currently connected to the server will be displayed in the bottom part of
the window. Please make sure that all started processing nodes are listed. Agisoft Network Monitor foreach node allows to modify the node priority, capability, CPU enable flag, GPU mask and to pause/resume152

Distributed processing

the node. The priority for the tasks can be also altered and tasks themselves can be paused, resumed andaborted via Agisoft Network Monitor.
The top part lists tasks currently being processed (finished tasks are removed from the list as soon as they
are completed). The task list will be empty if no processing was started yet.

Starting network processing
1.

Configure Agisoft Metashape for network processing.
Start Agisoft Metashape on any computer connected to the cluster network.
Open Preferences dialog using Preferences... command from the Tools menu. On the Network tab
make sure Enable network processing option is turned on, and specify the server IP used for client
connection in the Host name field. In case non-default port was configured on a server, modify the
port value accordingly.
In case you are going to process a few single-frame chunks with large number of photos, please makesure that Enable fine-level task subdivision option is turned on in the Advanced tab of Preferences
dialog. The subdivision will be automatically applied when possible to all the supported operations(Match Photos, Align Cameras, Build Depth Maps, Build Mesh from Depth Maps, Build Dense
Cloud, Build Tiled Model, Build DEM, Build Orthomosaic, Classify Points). In case you are going
to process a large number of small chunks, or chunks with large number of frames, fine-level task
subdivision can be disabled, therefore each chunk or frame will be processed on the single node only
without any further internal distribution applied.
Press OK button when done.

2.

Prepare project for network processing.
Open the project file to be processed. Make sure that the project is saved in Metashape Project (*.psx)
format. Processing of projects in Metashape Archive (*.psz) format is not supported in network mode.

ImportantPlease make sure that source images are located on shared network storage and not on a local
hard drive. Otherwise processing nodes will be unable to load them.
3.

Start processing.
Start processing using corresponding command from the Workflow menu, or using Batch Process
command to execute a command sequence. A network progress dialog should appear displaying
current progress.

4.

Wait for processing to complete.
You can disconnect from the server at any time using Disconnect button in the Network Progressdialog in case you need to work on other projects. Processing will continue in the background.
To see processing status after you have disconnected from the server simply open corresponding .psx
project on the network storage. Alternatively you can use Agisoft Network Monitor to see processing
status for all projects being processed.

5.

Inspect processing results.
After processing is finished, click Close button to close Network Progress dialog. The project withprocessing results will be displayed in Metashape window.

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Cluster administration
Adding processing nodes
New processing nodes can be added by starting Agisoft Metashape on additional computers in the network
node mode, as outlined in the Starting network nodes section above.

Removing processing nodes
Aborting or disconnecting processing node during cluster operation is not absolutely safe, and can lead toproject corruption if performed during final project update at the end of processing. Although the chancesof this situation are relatively low, we strongly recommend against such approach. To safely disconnect
processing node from the cluster you need to stop processing on this node using Agisoft Network Monitor
first.
1.

Start Agisoft Network Monitor. Make sure the server IP is properly configured in the host name fieldand click Connect button.

2.

In the bottom list of network nodes identify the node to be removed. From the node menu selectPause command to stop the node after it finishes current job, or Stop command to abort processing
immediately.

3.

Wait until the Batch # and Progress items for a selected node become empty. This indicates that thenode has finished processing. The status of the node should be Paused.

4.

Now you can safely disconnect the node by aborting Metashape process.

Using server replication
In case of abnormal termination of the server node processing queue will be lost, and all incomplete tasks
will need to be restarted from the beginning. To avoid such problem it is possible to set up one or moreslave servers, that will be automatically synchronized with a master server. In case of a master server
failure, it will be possible to resume processing by switching to the one of the available slave servers.
Here is an example setup of a cluster with a server replication:
metashape --server --host 10.0.1.1
metashape --server --host 10.0.2.1 --master 10.0.1.1
metashape --node --host 10.0.1.1 --host 10.0.2.1 --root /mnt/datasets
These commands will start a master server at 10.0.1.1 interface and a slave server on 10.0.2.1 interface. In
addition a node will be configured to look for an active master server at 10.0.1.1 and 10.0.2.1 addresses.
In case of a master server failure the node will automatically reconnect to another master server.

Important• In case of a master server failure, slave servers will not switch to a master state automatically.
An operator will need to switch one of the slave servers to a master state manually using Reset
Master Server command from the Agisoft Network Monitor File menu and connect remaining
slave servers to a new master. In the unattended environment this can be automated using a
Python or Java API.

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Distributed processing• Before switching to a new master server please make sure that original master server is disabled
and will not be unexpectedly restored (due to a temporary network failure for example).
Simultaneous operation of two master servers will result in inconsistent project state and further
processing will fail.

Installing server and nodes as a Windows service
It is possible to configure server and nodes to run as a service on Windows. In this log in.
The following command line parameters are used to manage Windows service settings:--service {install,remove,start,stop} parameter can be used to configure Windows service.
--service-name <name> optional parameter for Windows service name. Required when multiple services
needs to be installed on the same computer.
Examples:metashape --service install --node --host 10.0.1.1 --root /mnt/datasets
metashape --service install --server --host 10.0.1.1
metashape --service start
metashape --service stop
metashape --service remove

Note• These commands must be executed from Administrators Command Prompt as they requireelevated privileges.

Cloud processing
Overview
Agisoft Metashape presents cloud processing option integrated into the application user interface forthose who are interested in high quality outputs for big datasets, without need to invest into hardware
infrastructure.

Starting cloud processing
Cloud processing option is only accessible for those Metashape license owners who have registered on
Agisoft Cloud page: https://cloud.agisoft.com/. Personal account page provides information about current
subscription plan, storage space and processing hours available, projects published in the cloud, invoices
and personal data. Having completed the registration and having chosen the appropriate payment plan,
one should input Agisoft Cloud account credentials to the Network tab of Preferences dialog in Metashape
application.

Setting up cloud processing in Metashape1.

Select Preferences command from the Tools menu.

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2.

Input your Agisoft account credentials to the Network tab in Preferences dialog.

3.

Check the box for Enable cloud processing option to turn it on . Check that Enable network processing
option is turned off.

4.

Click OK button when done.

Once the cloud processing option is enabled, each time the processing operation is run in Metashape aconfirmation dialog will appear, asking if the operation should be executed locally or in the cloud. If
the cloud processing option is selected in the dialog, the project data and related source imagery will be
uploaded/synchronized with the data in your personal Agisoft Cloud account. To monitor the status of the
project, you can use Project tab on the personal account page.
Do not disable Internet connection nor shut down the computer when uploading process is in progress. You
can disconnect, however, once the processing has been started according to the indication in the programinterface and in the web interface of your personal account.
Next time you open a local project for which a processing operation in Agisoft Cloud is finished the
updated project files will be downloaded from the cloud and synchronized with your local project copy.

Download project from the cloud
To download project from the cloud1.

Select Download Project... command from the Cloud submenu of the File menu.

2.

Select the project to be downloaded from the list.

3.

Click OK to start the download process.

Visualize project results
To make cloud project available for visualization in web interface, it is necessary to publish it, first.
Publication is a process of preparing processing results for 3D visualization in web interface. The
publication is only available for georeferenced PSX projects. Each publication takes up storage space.
When processing a new project in Agisoft Cloud for the first time, you may check Publish results option
in the Schedule processing in the cloud Metashape dialog. If Publish results option is checked on during
the first processing of the current project in Agisoft Cloud, results of further processing iterations for thesame project will be published automatically.
Furthermore, it is possible to publish project via Agisoft Cloud web interface.
When the project is published, use View button to inspect project results.
To unpublish the project (i.e. disable the possibility to view the project processing results online) use
Unpublish button on the projects page of your personal account. The Unpublish button is available when
the project is selected from the list.

Upload project into the cloudIf the cloud processing option is enabled and properly configured (valid email and password are input tothe Network tab of Preferences dialog) in Metashape, each time the processing operation in run in Agisoft
Cloud, a synchronization procedure will be started and the source imagery together with the project file
directory will be uploaded to your Agisoft Cloud account.

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Optionally, it is possible to upload project to Agisoft Cloud from Metashape user interface manually,
without running any processing operation.

To upload project into the cloud1.

Select Upload Project... command from Cloud submenu of the File menu.

2.

Click Yes button to confirm the operation and start the upload process.

Download photos from the cloud
To download photos from the cloud1.

In Metashape user interface open the project which the photos should be downloaded for.

2.

Select Download Photos... command from the Cloud submenu of the File menu.

3.

In the Download Photos dialog specify the target folder for the images and select the images to be
downloaded from the list.

4.

Click OK to start the download process.

Note• Cloud processing is supported only for projects saved in Metashape Project (*.psx) format.
• All the files related to a certain project can be removed to free the disk space available for thesubscription plan from your personal account in Agisoft Cloud web interface.
• Some operations do not support processing in the cloud (for example, no of the export operations
are supported). If the Batch Process task sent to the Cloud includes such operations, the warning
message will be displayed and the batch processing task list should be adjusted before sending
it to the Agisoft Cloud again.

Share cloud project
In Agisoft Cloud the following project sharing methods are available: share a project with a link and sharea project via email. Each project by default is in private mode. When private mode is activated, only theowner of the project has access to view project visualization in the web interface and download it via
Metashape desktop application.

To share project with a link
1.

Click on the Share button on the project visualization page or select Share option in the project menu
on My Projects page.

2.

In the Share pop-up window select Anyone with the link can view option from the dropdown menu,
copy the link and close the pop-up window.

When share with a link option is activated, each person who has the link will be able to view projectvisualization in web interface without need to create an account on Agisoft Cloud.
In case it is needed to securely share the project with a person or a number of people, it is possible to share
published or unpublished projects by including someone's email into the sharing list. When share via email

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option is activated, invited users will have access to view the project visualization in web interface anddownload its copy via Metashape desktop application.

To securely share project via email
1.

Click the Share button on the project visualization page or select Share option in the project menu
on My Projects page.

2.

In the Share pop-up window select Invited people can view and download option from the dropdown
menu, insert email of the person who you want to grant the access to the project to and click the Invite
button. Then close the pop-up window.

Note• Those who have an account on Agisoft Cloud will be notified by email and granted the accessto view the project visualization in web interface and download its copy via Metashape desktop
application.
• Those who have no account on Agisoft Cloud will be invited via email to create an account tobe able to view the project visualization in web interface and download its copy via Metashapedesktop application.

To turn off sharing and switch the project to the private mode
1.

Click Share button on the project visualization page or select Share option in the project menu on
My Projectspage.

2.

In the Share pop-up window select Turn off sharing option in the project menu on My Projects page.

To close the access to the project to a certain person
1.

Click the Share button on the project visualization page or select Share option in the project menu
on My Projectspage.

2.

Delete email of a person who you want the access to the project be closed to by clicking the Delete
button represented as a cross mark. Then close the pop-up window.

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Appendix A. Graphical user interface
Application window
General view

General view of application window

Model view
Model view tab is used for displaying 3D data as well as for mesh and point cloud editing. The view ofthe model depends on the current processing stage and is also controlled by mode selection buttons on
the Metashape toolbar.
Model can be shown as a dense cloud, with class indication or without, or as a mesh in shaded, solid,
wireframe or textured mode. Along with the model the results of photo alignment can be displayed. These
include tie point cloud and camera positions visualized data. Additionally tiled textured model can bedisplayed and navigated in the model view.

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Metashape supports the following tools for navigation in the 3D view:
Tool

Keyboard modifier

Rotation Tool

Default

Pan Tool

Ctrl key pressed

Zooming Tool

Shift key pressed

All navigation tools are accessible in the navigation mode only. To enter the navigation mode click the
Navigation toolbar button.
Metashape offers two different navigation modes: Object navigation and Terrain navigation. Switching
between the navigation modes can be performed from the Navigation Mode submenu of the View menu.
Object navigation mode allows for 3-axis rotation control, while Terrain navigation mode restricts control
to 2-axis rotation only, z-axis being kept vertical all the time.
In Object navigation mode the rotation with mouse can be performed while left mouse button is pressed,
whereas holding right mouse button allows for model tilt. In Terrain navigation mode mouse buttons
functionality is inverted and left button is responsible for tilt, whereas right button for rotation.

Note• Zooming into the model can be also controlled by the mouse wheel.

Ortho view
Ortho view is used for the display of 2D processing results data: digital elevation model, full resolution
orthomosaic, raster transformed orthomosaic as well as shapes data. Switching between DEM andorthomosaic can be performed using the corresponding button on the toolbar or by double-clicking on therespective icon on the Workspace pane, providing that both products have been generated.
Orthomosaic can be displayed in the original colors or in colors according to the palette set for vegetationindex values visualization.
Additional instruments allow to draw points, polylines and polygons on the orthomosaic and/or digital
elevation model to perform point, linear, profile and volume measurements. Also polygonal shapes areallowed to be set up as inner or outer boundaries, that will be used for the definition of the area to beexported. Using polygonal shapes allows to create custom seamlines on the orthomosaic, which can be
useful for some projects enabling to eliminate blending artefacts.
Switching to Ortho view mode changes the contents of the Toolbar, presenting related instruments andhiding irrelevant buttons.

Photo view
Photo view tab is used for displaying individual images as well as corresponding depth maps in semitransparent representation, markers, shapes and masks on them.
In the Photo view tab it is allowed to create markers, refine their projections, draw shapes and adjust
positions of shape vertices and to draw masks on the images. Additionally in Photo view tab it is possible
to display the residuals for the tie points and markers providing that the corresponding camera is aligned.
Photo view is visible only if any image is opened. To open an image in Photo view mode double-click on
the label of the corresponding camera on the Workspace, Reference or Photos pane.

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For multicamera systems which have several sensors assigned to the same layer Photo view tab will bevertically split into corresponding number of sub-frames.
Switching to Photo view mode changes the contents of the Toolbar, presenting related instruments andhiding irrelevant buttons.

Workspace pane
On the Workspace pane all elements comprising the current project are displayed. These elements can
include:• List of chunks in the project• List of cameras and camera groups in each chunk• List of markers and marker groups in each chunk• List of scale bars and scale bar groups in each chunk• List of shape layers in each chunk• Tie points in each chunk• Components in each chunk• Depth maps in each chunk• Dense point clouds in each chunk• 3D models in each chunk• Tiled models in each chunk• Digital elevation models in each chunk• Orthomosaics in each chunk• Panoramas in each chunk• Camera tracks in each chunk
Buttons located on the Workspace pane toolbar allow to:• Add chunk• Add photos• Add marker• Create scale bar• Enable or disable certain cameras or chunks for processing at further stages.
• Remove items
Each element in the list is linked with the context menu providing quick access to some common
operations.

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Photos pane
Photos pane displays the list of photos / masks / depth maps in the active chunk in the form of thumbnails.
Buttons located on the Photos pane toolbar allow to:• Enable / disable certain cameras• Remove cameras• Rotate selected photos clockwise / counterclockwise (for display purposes only)• Reset current photo filtering option• Switch between images / masks / depth maps thumbnails• Increase / decrease icons' size or display detailed information on photos including EXIF data

Console pane
Console pane is used for:• Displaying auxiliary information• Displaying error messages• Python commands input
Buttons located on the Console pane toolbar allow:• Save log (in HTML, XHTML or Plain Text format)• Clear log• Execute Python script

Reference pane
Reference pane is designed for:• Displaying and editing camera and / or marker coordinates• Displaying and editing scale bars lengths• Displaying and editing camera orientation angles• Displaying estimation errors• Displaying and editing accuracy parameters for camera/marker coordinates, camera angles and scale
bar lengths
Buttons located on the pane toolbar allow:• Import / export reference coordinates• Convert reference coordinates from one system to the other• Optimize camera alignment and update data

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Graphical user interface• Switch between source coordinates, estimated coordinates, errors and variance values• Specify the coordinate system and measurement accuracy to be assumed through Settings dialog

Shape Properties pane
Properties pane is designed for:• Displaying and editing labels for selected shapes• Displaying and editing description for selected shapes• Displaying and editing existing attribute values for selected shapes• Adding new attributes for the selected shape• Assigning shape layer to the selected shapes• Editing label and style for shape layer assigned to the selected shapes
Buttons located on the pane toolbar allow:• Add attribute• Remove attribute

Jobs pane
Jobs pane is designed for:• Monitoring the processing status for active and background projects• Organizing the background processing queue• Switching between the projects
Buttons located on the pane toolbar allow:• Start / pause / cancel the selected tasks• Change the order of the tasks in the processing queue• Clear the processing tasks history

Note• You can switch between projects by right-clicking on the project name.

Timeline pane
Timeline pane is designed for:• Working with multi-frame chunks
Buttons located on the pane toolbar allow:• Add / remove frames from chunk163

Graphical user interface• Play / stop frame sequence• Adjust frame rate through Settings dialog

Animation pane
Animation pane is designed for:• Creating a new camera track from pre-sets (Horizontal, Vertical) with the given number of the keyframes• Loading camera track from external file in supported formats (Autodesk FBX, Camera Path)• Exporting camera track• Playing the viewpoint camera movement according to the track• Rendering the frame sequence to the form of the separate images for the keyframes• Rendering the frame sequence to the form of the video file
• Appeneding current viewpoint to the camera track• Removing keyframes from the camera track• Changing the selected keyframes positions in current camera track sequence• Settinging the camera track parameters (label, duration, field of view, loop camera track)
Buttons located on the pane toolbar allow:• Create new track• Load camera track• Save camera track• Start / stop the animation according to the camera track• Capture video file
• Append current viewpoint to the active camera track• Remove selected keyframes from the active camera track• Move selected keyframes up• Move selected keyframes down
• Update selected keyframe to the current viewpoint• Change camera track settings

Note• To open any pane select a corresponding command from the View menu.
• To display the track path, select Show animation in Show/Hide items submenu from the Model
menu.

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Graphical user interface• You can adjust the position of the viewpoint in Model view by dragging the left mouse button
to display it visually.

Menu commands
File Menu
Creates an empty Metashape project.

New

Opens Metashape project file.

Open...

Appends existing Metashape project file to thecurrent one.

Append...

Saves Metashape project file.

Save

Saves Metashape project file with a new name.

Save As...

Uploads current project to Agisoft Cloud.

Upload Project...
Download Project...

Downloads project from the list of the projects
currently available in Agisoft Cloud.

Download Photos...

Downloads images from Agisoft Cloud for thecurrent project.
Saves tie point cloud or dense point cloud.

Export Points...

Saves 3D model.

Export Model...

Saves a tiled model as hierarchical tiles.

Export Tiled Model...

Exports generated orthomosaic.

Export Orthomosaic...

Exports generated digital elevation model.

Export DEM...
Generate Report...

Generates Agisoft Metashape processing report in
PDF and HTML formats.

Export Cameras...

Exports camera positions, orientation data and tie
points measurements.

Export Markers...

Exports marker projections / estimated marker
locations.
Exports reference.

Export Reference

Exports masks.

Export Masks...

Exports shapes from the selected layers.

Export Shapes...

Exports model texture.

Export Texture...

Exports spherical panorama for camera stations.

Export Panorama...
Export Orthophotos...

Exports orthorectified images corresponding toindividual cameras.

Convert Images...

Exports the images corresponding to the original
camera with distortion or color correction applied.

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Graphical user interface

File Menu
Generates lenticular images for the current scene.

Render Photos...

Imports camera positions and orientation data.

Import Cameras...

Imports marker projections.

Import Markers...

Imports reference data.

Import Reference
Import Masks...

Imports masks or creates mask from model orbackground.

Import Shapes...

Imports shapes to be used for editing or
measurements.
Imports points in a form of the dense point cloud.

Import Points...

Imports polygonal mesh model.

Import Model...

Imports texture and applies it to the current model.

Import Texture...

Imports tiled model.

Import Tiled Model...

Imports digital elevation model.

Import DEM...

Imports orthomosaic.

Import Orthomosaic...

Imports laser scans data.

Import Laser Scans

Imports video in a form of frame sequence andsaves the extracted frames as images.

Import Video...

Uploads generated products (points, textured meshmodels , tiled models, orthomosaics or digital
elevation models) to one of the supported websites.

Upload Data...

Closes the application window.

Exit
Edit Menu

Undo the last editing operation.

Undo

Redo the previously undone editing operation.

Redo

Enable or disable snap type (Axis, Vertex, Edge,
2D snap).

Snap type

Adds current selection to the mask.

Add selection

Subtracts current selection from the mask.

Subtract selection

Inverts current selection for the photo.

Invert Selection

Inverts current selection of faces / points / cameras.

Invert Selection

Grows current selection of mesh faces.

Grow Selection

Shrinks current selection of mesh faces.

Shrink Selection

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Graphical user interface

Edit Menu
Removes selected faces from the mesh or selected
points from the point cloud.

Delete Selection

Crops selected faces / points.

Crop Selection

Inverts mask for the current photo.

Invert Mask

Resets mask for the current photo.

Reset mask

Rotates the photo clockwise.

Rotate right

Rotates the photo counterclockwise.

Rotate left

View Menu
Increases magnification in the active view mode.

Zoom In

Decreases magnification in the active view mode.

Zoom OutReset View

Resets the viewport to display the complete modelor photo.

Capture view

Saves screenshot of current view of the project(Model/Ortho/Photo)Shows or hides Workspace pane.

WorkspaceShows or hides Timeline pane.

Timeline

Shows or hides Animation pane.

AnimationShows or hides Reference pane.

ReferenceShows or hides shape Properties pane.

Properties

Shows or hides Photos pane.

PhotosShows or hides Console pane.

ConsoleShows or hides Jobs pane.

Jobs

Shows or hides Toolbar.

ToolbarSwitches to or from Full Screen mode.

Full Screen

Workflow Menu
Add Photos...

Loads additional photos to be processed by
Metashape.

Add Folder...

Loads additional photos from folders to beprocessed by Metashape.
Estimates camera positions and tie point cloud.

Align Photos...

Generates dense point cloud.

Build Dense Cloud...

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Graphical user interface

Workflow Menu
Generates polygonal mesh model.

Build Mesh...

Generates texture map for the mesh model.

Build Texture...

Generates tiled textured model.

Build Tiled Model...

Generates digital elevation model.

Build DEM...

Generates orthomosaic.

Build Orthomosaic...

Generates panorama.

Build Panorama...

Aligns multiple chunks.

Align Chunks...

Merges multiple chunks into the single chunk.

Merge Chunks...

Opens Batch Process dialog box.

Batch Process...
Model Menu

Switches to navigation mode.

Navigation
Rectangle Selection

Rectangle selection tool for the elements of theModel view.

Circle Selection

Circle selection tool for the elements of the Modelview.

Free-form Selection

Free-form selection tool for the elements of theModel view.

Gradual selection...

Selects faces / points based on the specified
criterion.
Switches to the 3D point drawing tool.

Draw Point

Switches to the 3D polyline drawing tool.

Draw Polyline

Switches to the 3D polygon drawing tool.

Draw Polygon

Switches to 3D coordinate and linear distancemeasurement tool.

Ruler

Switches to object movement tool.

Move Object

Switches to object rotation tool.

Rotate Object

Switches to object scaling tool.

Scale Object

Resets the transformations applied to the object.

Reset Transform

Update the transformations to the object.

Update Transform

Switches to volume movement tool.

Move Region

Switches to volume rotation tool.

Rotate Region

Switches to volume resize tool.

Resize Region

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Graphical user interface

Model Menu
Resets the transformations applied to the volume todefault.

Reset Region

Displays or hides Basemap.

Show Basemap
Show Cameras

Displays or hides camera positions estimatedduring image alignment.

Show Thumbnails

Displays or hides image thumbnails in the camera
placeholders.
Displays or hides shapes.

Show Shapes

Displays or hides marker positions.

Show Markers

Displays or hides item labels.

Show Labels
Show Images

Switches stereographic image overlay mode on/
off.

Lock Image

Locks current image in stereographic image
overlay mode.
Displays or hides region selector.

Show Region

Displays or hides animation track.

Show Animation

Displays or hides the trackball.

Show Trackball

Displays or hides the auxiliary on-screen
information.

Show Info

Displays or hides the grid.

Show Grid

Displays all enabled aligned chunks in projectworkspace.

Show Aligned Chunks

Displays all elements at the same time.

Show All

Hides all elements.

Hide All

Displays tie point cloud reconstructed during photoalignment.

Point Cloud

Displays tie point cloud colored by variance.

Point Cloud VarianceDisplays dense point cloud.

Dense Cloud
Dense Cloud Confidence

Displays dense point cloud colored according to
the confidence values.

Dense Cloud Classes

Displays dense point cloud colored according to
the point classes.

Model Shaded

Displays 3D model in the shaded mode withvertices colored with interpolated colors.
Displays 3D model in the solid mode.

Model Solid

Displays 3D model in the wireframe mode.

Model Wireframe

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Graphical user interface

Model Menu
Displays 3D model with vertices colored according
to the confidence values.

Model Confidence

Displays 3D model in the textured mode.

Model Textured

Displays tiled model with applied texture.

Tiled Model Textured

Displays tiled model without texture in the solid
model.

Tiled Model Solid

Displays tiled model in the wireframe mode.

Tiled Model Wireframe

Displays digital elevation model.

DEM

Displays orthomosaic.

Orthomosaic

Displays diffuse map for the textured mode.

Diffuse Map

Displays normal map for the textured mode.

Normal Map

Displays occlusion map for the textured mode.

Occlusion Map
Perspective/Orthographic

Switches visualization view between Perspective
and Orthographic.

Stereo Mode

Enables or disables stereo view mode according to
the parameters specified in Preferences dialog.
Switches viewport to one of the predefined views.

Predefined views

Switches between Object and Terrain navigation
modes for the Model view window. Object
navigation mode allows for 3-axis rotation control,
while Terrain navigation mode restricts control to
2-axis rotation only, z-axis being kept vertical all
the time.

Navigation Mode

Photo Menu
Switches to navigation mode.

Navigation

Rectangle selection tool.

Rectangle Selection

Intelligent Scissors selection tool.

Intelligent Scissors

Intelligent Paint selection tool.

Intelligent Paint

Magic Wand selection tool.

Magic Wand

Switches to the 3D point drawing tool.

Draw Point

Switches to the 3D polyline drawing tool.

Draw Polyline

Switches to the 3D polygon drawing tool.

Draw Polygon

Switches to 3D coordinate and linear distancemeasurement tool.

Ruler

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Graphical user interface

Photo Menu
Opens next photo from the list in the Photos pane.

Open Next Photo
Open Previous PhotoOpens previous photo from the list in the Photos
pane.

Go To Next Marker

Zooms to the next marker projection on the opened
photo.

Go To Previous Marker

Zooms to the previous marker projection on theopened photo.
Turns mask shading on or off.

Show Masks

Displays or hides the depth maps overlay.

Show Depth Maps

Displays or hides intensity map overlay for thelaser scans.

Show Intensity

Displays or hides shapes.

Show Shapes

Displays or hides markers.

Show Markers

Displays or hides the residuals of each marker.

Show Marker Residuals

Displays or hides item labels.

Show Labels

Displays or hides tie point projections used for thecamera alignment.

Show Points

Displays or hides the residuals of each point.

Show Point Residuals

Displays all elements at the same time.

Show All

Hides all elements.

Hide All
Ortho Menu

Switches to navigation mode.

Navigation
Rectangle Selection

Rectangle selection tool for the elements of the
Ortho view.

Circle Selection

Circle selection tool for the elements of the Orthoview.

Free-form Selection

Free-form selection tool for the elements of the
Ortho view.
Switches to the 2D point drawing tool.

Draw Point

Switches to the 2D polyline drawing tool.

Draw Polyline

Switches to the 2D polygon drawing tool.

Draw Polygon

Switches to the patch drawing tool.

Draw Patch

Switches to the 2D rectangle drawing tool.

Draw Rectangle

Switches to coordinate and linear distancemeasurement tool.

Ruler

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Graphical user interface

Ortho Menu
Displays or hides basemap (map and satellite).

Show Basemap

Displays or hides orthomosaic seamlines.

Show Seamlines

Displays or hides camera positions according
to the estimated location for aligned cameras orreference coordinates for not aligned cameras.

Show Cameras

Displays or hides marker positions.

Show Markers

Displays or hides shapes.

Show Shapes

Displays or hides item labels.

Show Labels

Displays all elements at the same time.

Show All

Hides all elements.

Hide All

Switches to the digital elevation model display
mode.

DEM

Switches to the orthomosaic display mode.

Orthomosaic

Enables or disables hillshading mode of digital
elevation mode visualization.

Hillshading

Tools Menu
Creates markers from coded targets on photos.

Detect Markers...

Detects fiducial marks on the images.

Detect Fiducials...

Generates printable PDF file with coded targets.

Print Markers...
Track Markers...

Tracks marker locations across the frame
sequence.

Attach Markers

Enables or disables the mode where every newly
drawn shape has markers attached to its vertices.

Refine Markers

Enables or disables automatic marker projection
refinement based on the image content.

Build Point Cloud...

Builds tie point cloud based on the estimatedcamera parameters available.
Thins tie point cloud by reducing the number ofprojections on the individual photos to the given
limit.

Thin Point Cloud...

Displays View Matches dialog for visual
representation of the common tie points between
the image pairs.

View Matches...

Sample points...

Re-build a dense cloud based on a built model(mesh or tiled model).

Filter Dense Cloud...

Decimates the dense point cloud according to theuser-defined point spacing distance.

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Graphical user interface

Tools Menu
Colorize Dense Cloud...

Applies colors to the dense cloud points basing on
source images or orthomosaic.

Invert Point Normals...

Inverts normals for the selected points of the dense
cloud.

Classify Ground Points...

Classifies dense point cloud based on the user
defined settings.

Classify Points...

Automatically classifies dense point cloud to the
supported classes.
Assigns class to the selected points.

Assign Class...
Reset Classification...

Resets assigned classes for the selected pointclasses.

Select Points by Masks...

Selects dense cloud points according to the masksof the selected images.

Select Points by Color...

Selects dense cloud points according to the color
and tolerance.

Select Points by Shapes...

Selects dense cloud points according to theselected shapes.

Filter By Class

Filters the points in the dense cloud according to
the selected classes.

Filter By Confidence

Filters the points in the dense cloud according to
the calculated confidence value.

Filter By Selection

Filters the points in the dense cloud according to
the selected points.
Resets all applied dense cloud filters.

Reset Filter
Compact Dense Cloud...

Permanently removes all deleted points from thedense cloud.

Restore Dense Cloud...

Restores all deleted points of the dense cloud thatwere once marked as removed.

Update Dense Cloud...

Updates statistics of the dense cloud, including
point numbers and assigned classes.
Starts photoconsistent mesh refinement operation.

Refine Mesh...

Decimates mesh to the target face count.

Decimate Mesh...

Smooths mesh.

Smooth Mesh...

Closes holes on the model surface.

Close Holes...

Applies colors to the mesh vertices basing on
source images, orthomosaic or point cloud.

Colorize Vertices...

Starts resize texture operation for mesh.

Resize texture...

Starts the delighting operation for mesh texture.

Remove Lighting...

Starts generate masks based on the built mesh.

Generate masks...

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Graphical user interface

Tools Menu
Collects and displays mesh statistics.

View Mesh Statistics...

Displays mesh UV mapping.

View Mesh UVs...
Measure Area and Volume...

Displays surface area and volume of the polygonalmodel.

Filter By Selection

Filters the faces of the polygonal model according
to the selected points.
Resets all applied mesh filters.

Reset Filter

Displays digital elevation model transformation
dialog.

Transform DEM...

Applies all the manual edits to the orthomosaic.

Update Orthomosaic
Reset Orthomosaic

Resets all applied edits to default orthomosaic
stitching.

Remove Orthophotos

Removes individually orthorectified images fromthe project contents.

Generate Seamlines

Creates the shape layer with the polygonal shapes
as copies of the orthomosaic patches.

Generate Prescription Map

Creates the shape layer with the prescription map
information based on the orthomosaic index.
Displays lens calibration dialog.

Calibrate Lens...

Displays the calibration board on screen.

Show Chessboard...

Displays camera calibration dialog box.

Camera Calibration...

Starts the optimization of exterior and interior
parameters of the aligned cameras.

Optimize Cameras...

Displays reflectance calibration dialog for preciseradiometric calibration of multispectral data basedon reflectance panel and sun sensor data.

Calibrate Reflectance...

Displays the color correction dialog for thebrightness and white balance compensation of theimages.

Calibrate Colors...

Displays the primary channel selection dialog.

Set Primary Channel...
Set Brightness...

Adjusts image brightness and contrast for moreconvenient display.

Set Raster Transform...

Displays Raster Calculator dialog for NDVI andother vegetation indices calculation.
Generates contours based on DEM according
to the elevation levels or based on Orthomosaic
according to the vegetation index values.

Generate Contours...

Creates mission plan based on available meshmodel.

Plan Mission...

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Graphical user interface

Tools Menu
Reduces the number of enabled cameras in theactive project to optimize the coverage in case ofexcessive overlap.

Reduce Overlap...

Starts image based powerlines detection operation.

Detect Powerlines
Survey Statistics...

Displays the survey statistics dialog in a form ofinteractive report.

Run Script...

Displays Run Script dialog box for Python script
execution.
Displays preferences dialog box.

Preferences...

Help Menu
Displays help contents.

Contents

Checks if Metashape update is available fordownload.

Check for Updates...

Displays the activation dialog for activation /deactivation of the product using the activation key
or borrowing / returning borrowed floating license
to the license server.

Activate Product...

Displays program information, version number andcopyright.

About Metashape...

Toolbar buttons
General commands
Creates a new Metashape project file.

New

Opens a Metashape project file.

Open

Saves a Metashape project file.

Save

3D view commands
Undo the last editing operation.

Undo

Redo the previously undone editing operation.

Redo

Navigation tool.

Navigation

Rectangle selection tool.

Rectangle Selection

Circle selection tool.

Circle Selection

Free-form selection tool.

Free-Form Selection

Resets current selection.

Reset Selection

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Graphical user interface

3D view commands
Volume translation tool.

Move region

Volume resize tool.

Resize region

Volume rotation tool.

Rotate Region

Resets region according to the actual point cloud.

Reset Region

Model translation tool.

Move Object

Model rotation tool.

Rotate Object

Model resize tool.

Scale Object

Resets all transformations applied to the model.

Reset Transform

Update transformations parameters for the model.

Update Transform

Switches to the 3D point drawing tool.

Draw Point

Switches to the 3D polyline drawing tool.

Draw Polyline

Switches to the 3D polygon drawing tool.

Draw Polygon

3D coordinate and linear distance measurement
tool.

Ruler

Removes selected faces / points.

Delete Selection

Crops selected faces / points.

Crop Selection
3D view settings

Increases magnification.

Zoom In

Decreases magnification.

Zoom OutResets model view.

Reset View

Displays tie point cloud reconstructed during
image alignment.

Point Cloud

Displays tie point cloud colored by variance.

Point Cloud VarianceDisplays dense point cloud model.

Dense Cloud
Dense Cloud Confidence

Displays dense point cloud colored according to
the confidence values.

Dense Cloud Classes

Displays dense point cloud colored according to
the point classes.

Model Shaded

Displays 3D model in the shaded mode withvertices colored with interpolated colors.
Displays 3D model in the solid mode.

Model Solid

Displays 3D model in the wireframe mode.

Model Wireframe176

Graphical user interface

3D view settings
Displays 3D model with vertices colored according
to the confidence values.

Model Confidence

Displays 3D model in the textured mode.

Model Textured

Displays diffuse map for the textured mode.

Diffuse Map

Displays normal map for the textured mode.

Normal Map

Displays occlusion map the textured mode.

Occlusion Map

Displays tiled model with the applied texture.

Tiled Model Textured

Displays tiled model in the solid mode.

Tiled Model Solid

Displays tiled model in the wireframe mode.

Tiled Model Wireframe

Displays digital elevation model.

Show DEM

Displays orthomosaic.

Show Orthomosaic

Displays or hides basemap.

Show Basemap
Show Cameras

Displays or hides camera positions, reconstructedduring image alignment.

Show Thumbnails

Displays or hides image thumbnails in the camera
placeholders.
Displays or hides 3D shapes.

Show Shapes

Displays or hides positions of markers placed on
the model.

Show Markers

Displays or hides stereographic image overlay.

Show Images

Locks current image in stereographic image
overlay mode.

Lock Images

Displays or hides enabled aligned chunks.

Show Aligned Chunks

Photo view commands
Undo the last mask editing operation.

Undo

Redo the previously undone mask editing
operation.

Redo

Switches to the navigation mode.

Navigation

Rectangle selection tool.

Rectangle Selection

Intelligent scissors tool.

Intelligent Scissors

Intelligent paint tool.

Intelligent Paint

Magic wand tool.

Magic Wand

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Graphical user interface

Photo view commands
Changing the parameters of the magic wand.

Magic Wand Options

Resets current selection.

Reset Selection

Switches to the 3D point drawing tool.

Draw Point

Switches to the 3D polyline drawing tool.

Draw Polyline

Switches to the 3D polygon drawing tool.

Draw Polygon

3D coordinate and linear distance measurement
tool.

Ruler

Adds current selection to the mask.

Add Selection

Subtracts current selection from the mask.

Subtract Selection

Inverts current selection.

Invert Selection

Adjusts image brightness and contrast for moreconvenient display.

Set Brightness

Rotates the image clockwise.

Rotate Right

Rotates the image counterclockwise.

Rotate Left

Increases magnification.

Zoom In

Decreases magnification.

Zoom OutResets the viewport to display the whole image.

Reset View

Enables or disables the mask shading overlay.

Show Masks
Show Depth Maps

Enables or disables the depth map overlay of theselected level.

Show Intensity

Displays or hides intensity map overlay for laserscans.
Displays or hides shapes on the current image.

Show Shapes

Displays or hides marker projections.

Show Markers

Displays or hides residuals related to marker
projections.

Show Marker Residuals

Displays or hides tie point projections.

Show Points

Displays or hides residuals related to tie point
projections.

Show Point Residuals

Ortho view commands
Switches to the navigation mode.

Navigation

Rectangle selection tool.

Rectangle Selection

178

Graphical user interface

Ortho view commands
Circle selection tool.

Circle Selection

Free-form selection tool.

Free-Form Selection

Resets current selection.

Reset Selection

Switches to the point drawing tool.

Draw Point

Switches to the polyline drawing tool.

Draw Polyline

Switches to the polygon drawing tool.

Draw Polygon

Switches to the patch drawing tool.

Draw Patch

Switches to the rectangle drawing tool.

Draw Rectangle

2D linear distance measurement tool.

Ruler
DEM

Switches to the digital elevation model display
mode.

Hillshading

Enables or disables hillshading mode of digital
elevation mode visualization.
Switches to the orthomosaic display mode.

Orthomosaic
Set Brightness

Adjusts image brightness and contrast for moreconvenient display.

Set Raster Transform

Displays Raster Calculator dialog for NDVI andother vegetation indices calculation.
Applies all the manual edits to the orthomosaic.

Update Orthomosaic
Zoom In

Increases the magnification of the image in the
Ortho view.

Zoom Out

Decreases the magnification of the image in the
Ortho view.

Reset View

Resets the viewport to display the complete
orthomosaic or DEM.

Show Basemap

Displays or hides basemap in a form of satellite orvector map.
Displays or hides orthomosaic seamlines.

Show Seamlines

Displays or hides camera positions according
to the estimated location for aligned cameras orreference coordinates for not aligned cameras.

Show Cameras

Displays or hides marker positions.

Show Markers

Displays or hides shapes.

Show Shapes

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Graphical user interface

Hot keys
For convenient operation in the Metashape it is possible to use Hot keys. Below is a list of default hot keys
that can be customized in the Preferences dialog. Select the Customize button at the Shortcuts menu item.

GeneralCreate new project

Ctrl + N

Save project

Ctrl + S

Open project

Ctrl + O

Run Script

Ctrl + R

Full Screen

F11

Model View
Undo (only for Delete, Assign Class / Classify
Ground Points,Masking and Close Holes
operations)Ctrl + Z

Redo (only for Delete, Assign Class / Classify
Ground Points,Masking and Close Holes
operations)Ctrl + Y

Switch between navigation and any otherpreviously selected modeSpace

Zoom In

Ctrl + +Zoom Out

Ctrl + -Reset view0

Switch to stereoview mode

9

Switch between orthographic and perspective view 5
modes
Change the angle for perspective view

Ctrl + mouse wheel

Assign dense cloud class (only if some points are
selected)

Ctrl + Shift + C

Predefined Views
Top

7

BottomCtrl + 7

Right

3

Left

Ctrl + 3

Front

1

Back

Ctrl + 1

Rotate View
Rotate Up

8

Rotate Down

2

Rotate Left

4

180

Graphical user interface

Rotate View
Rotate Right

6

Photo View
Next photo (according to Photos pane order)

Page Up

Previous photo (according to Photos pane order)

Page Down

Go to the next marker on the same photo

Tab

Go to the previous marker on the same photo

Shift + Tab

Navigation modeV

Selection Tools
Rectangle selection

MIntelligent scissors

LIntelligent paintP

Magic wandW

Add selection

Ctrl + Shift + A

Subtract selection

Ctrl + Shift + S

Invert selection

Ctrl + Shift + I

181

Appendix B. Supported formats
Images
Input formats

Undistort formats

JPG

JPG

TIFF

TIFF

PNG

PNG

BMP

BMP

OpenEXROpenEXRJPEG 2000

JPEG 2000

JPEG XLJPEG XLTARGA
Digital Negative (DNG)
Portable Bit Map (PGM, PPM)
Multi-Picture Object (MPO)
Norpix Sequence (SEQ)
AscTec Thermal Images (ARA)

Camera calibration
Import formats

Export formats

Agisoft Camera Calibration (*.xml)

Agisoft Camera Calibration (*.xml)

Australis Camera Parameters (*.txt)

Australis Camera Parameters (*.txt)

Australis v.7 Camera Parameters (*.txt)

Australis v.7 Camera Parameters (*.txt)

PhotoModeler Camera Calibration (*.ini)

PhotoModeler Camera Calibration (*.ini)

3DM CalibCam Camera Parameters (*.txt)

3DM CalibCam Camera Parameters (*.txt)

CalCam Camera Calibration (*.cal)

CalCam Camera Calibration (*.cal)

Inpho Camera Calibration (*.txt)

Inpho Camera Calibration (*.txt)

USGS Camera Calibration (*.txt)

USGS Camera Calibration (*.txt)

Pix4D Camera Calibration (*.cam)

Pix4D Camera Calibration (*.cam)

OpenCV Camera Calibration (*.xml)

OpenCV Camera Calibration (*.xml)

Photomod Camera Calibration (*.x-cam)

Photomod Camera Calibration (*.x-cam)

Z/I Distortion Grid (*.dat)

Z/I Distortion Grid (*.dat)

Camera flight log
Input format

Estimated positions

Agisoft XML (*xml)

Agisoft XML (*xml)

182

Supported formats

Input format

Estimated positions

Character-separated values (*.txt, *.csv)

Character-separated values (*.txt)

EXIF meta data
MAVinci CSV (*.csv)
APM/PixHawk Log (*.log)
C-Astral Bramor log (*.log)
TopoAxis telemetry (*.tel)

GCP locations
Input format

Estimated positions

Character-separated values (*.txt, *.csv)

Character-separated values (*.txt)

Agisoft XML (*.xml)

Agisoft XML (*.xml)

Interior and exterior camera orientation
parameters
Import camera positions

Export camera positions

Agisoft XML (*.xml)

Agisoft XML (*.xml)

Autodesk FBX (*.fbx)

Autodesk FBX (*.fbx)

Alembic (*.abc)

Alembic (*.abc)

Realviz RZML (*.rzml)

Realviz RZML (*.rzml)

Bundler (*.out)

Bundler (*.out)

Inpho Project File (*.prj)

Inpho Project File (*.prj)

BINGO (*.dat)

BINGO Project (*.dat)

Blocks Exchange (*.xml)

Blocks Exchange (*.xml)

N-View Match (*.nvm)

N-View Match (*.nvm)

PATB Camera Orientation (*.ori)

PATB Project (*.pro)

VisionMap Detailed Report (*.txt)

Boujou (*.txt)
Maya ASCII (*.ma)
CHAN files (*.chan)
ORIMA (*.txt)
AeroSys Exterior Orientation (*.orn)
Summit Evolution Project (*.smtxml)
Omega Phi Kappa (*.txt)

Tie points
Import tie points

Export tie points

Bundler (*.out)

Bundler (*.out)

183

Supported formats

Import tie points

Export tie points
BINGO (*.dat)
ORIMA (*.txt)
PATB (*.ptb)
Summit Evolution Project (*.smtxml)
Blocks Exchange (*.xml)

Tie point / dense point cloud
Import formats

Export formats

Wavefront OBJ (*.obj)

Wavefront OBJ (*.obj)

Stanford PLY (*.ply)

Stanford PLY (*.ply)

ASCII PTS (*.pts)

ASCII PTS (*.pts)

ASPRS LAS (*.las)

ASPRS LAS (*.las)

LAZ (*.laz)

LAZ (*.laz)

ASTM E57 (*.e57)

ASTM E57 (*.e57)

Point Cloud Data (*.pcd)

Point Cloud Data (*.pcd)

PTX format (*.ptx)

XYZ Point Cloud (*.txt)
Cesium 3D Tiles (*.zip)
Scene Layer Package (*.slpk)
Universal 3D (*.u3d)
Autodesk DXF (*.dxf)
potree (*.zip)
Agisoft OC3 (*.oc3)
Topcon CL3 (*.cl3)
Adobe 3D PDF (*.pdf)

Mesh model
Import mesh

Export mesh

Wavefront OBJ (*.obj)

Wavefront OBJ (*.obj)

3DS models (*.3ds)

3DS models (*.3ds)

COLLADA (*.dae)

COLLADA (*.dae)

Stanford PLY (*.ply)

Stanford PLY (*.ply)

Alembic (*.abc)

Alembic (*.abc)

STL models (*.stl)

STL models (*.stl)

OpenCTM models (*.ctm)

VRML models (*.wrl)

Universal 3D models (*.u3d)

Universal 3D models (*.u3d)

Autodesk FBX (*.fbx)

Autodesk FBX (*.fbx)

Autodesk DXF (*.dxf)

Autodesk DXF Polyline (*.dxf)

184

Supported formats

Import mesh

Export mesh
Autodesk DXF 3DFace (*.dxf)
Binary glTF (*.glb)
X3D models (*.x3d)
OpenSceneGraph Binary (*.osgb)
OpenSceneGraph Text (*.osgt)
Google Earth KMZ (*.kmz)
LandXML (*.xml)
Adobe PDF (*.pdf)

Texture maps
Import texture

Export texture

JPG

JPG

TIFF

TIFF

PNG

PNG

BMP

BMP

TARGA

TARGA

JPEG 2000

JPEG 2000

OpenEXROpenEXR

Portable Bit Map
Digital negative
Multi-Picture Object
Norpix Sequence File
AscTec Thermal Images

Orthomosaic
Import orthomosaic

Export orthomosaic

GeoTIFF Raster Data (*.tif)

GeoTIFF Raster Data (*.tif)

GeoPackage (*.gpkg)

GeoPackage (*.gpkg)

Google Earth KML/KMZ (*.kmz)

Google Earth KML/KMZ (*.kmz)

MBTiles (*.mbtiles)

MBTiles (*.mbtiles)

Tiled Map Service Tiles (*.zip)

Tiled Map Service Tiles (*.zip)
Google Map Tiles (*.zip)
World Wind Tiles (*.zip)
JPG
JPEG 2000 (.jp2)
JPG XL
PNG
BMP

185

Supported formats

Digital elevation model (DSM/DTM)
Import DEM

Export DEM

GeoTIFF elevation (*.tif)

GeoTIFF elevation (*.tif)
Arc/Info ASCII Grid (*.asc)
Band interleaved file format (*.bil)
XYZ (*.xyz)
GeoPackage (*.gpkg)
Sputnik KMZ (*.kmz)
Google Map Tiles (*.zip)
MBTiles (*.mbtiles)
World Wind Tiles (*.zip)
Tile Map Service Tiles (*.zip)

Tiled models
Import tiled model

Export tiled model

Agisoft Tiled Model (*.tls)

Agisoft Tiled Model (*.tls)
Agisoft Tile Archive (*.zip)
Cesium 3D Tiles (*.zip)
Scene Layer Package (*.slpk)
PhotoMesh Layer (*.zip)
OpenSceneGraph Binary (*.zip)
OpenSceneGraph Text (*.zip)

Laser Scans
Import laser scans
ASTM E57 (*.e57)
PTX (*.ptx)
Dynamic Depth images (*.jpg, *.jpeg)

Shapes and contours
Import shapes

Export shapes/contours

Shape Files (*.shp)

Shape Files (*.shp)

DXF Files (*.dxf)

DXF Files (*.dxf)

KML files (*.kml)

KML Files (*.kml)

KMZ files (*.kmz)

KMZ Files (*.kmz)

GeoJSON files (*.geojson)

GeoJSON files (*.geojson)

GeoPackage files (*.gpkg)

GeoPackage files (*.gpkg)

186

Supported formats

Import shapes

Export shapes/contours

Survey Points (*.txt)

Survey Points (*.txt)

Video
Import video

Export video

AVI (*.avi)

AVI (*.avi)

Flash video (*.flv)
MOV (*.mov)
MPEG-4 (*.mp4)
WMV (*.wmv)

187Appendix C. Metashape Preferences
Metashape settings are available in the Metashape Preferences dialog window. The following settings areavailable in the Metashape Preferences dialog window: General, GPU, Network, Appearance, Navigation,
Advanced. All the parameters that are used to configure the program are described in this appendix.

General tab

General tab
The following settings are available in the Metashape Preferences (General tab) dialog window:

188

Metashape Preferences

User Interface
Language - the GUI language can be selected from the available list: English, Chinese, French,
German, Italian, Japanese, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish.
Default view - the representation of the project can be selected. This parameter indicates how the
project is first represented when opened in Metashape. The available options are: Point cloud, Dense
cloud , Tiled model or Model.
Theme - the GUI appearance. The available options are Dark, Light and Classic. The theme set bydefault in Metashape Professional edition is Light.
Shortcuts for the menu and GUI commands can be adjusted via Customize... button.
Stereoscopic Display
Mode - allows to select the stereo mode. Metashape supports Anaglyph, Hardware, Vertical Split andHorizontal Split stereo modes.
Parallax - the value is used for the stereoscopic mode (Anaglyph or Hardware) of Model view. The
value is changed from 0 (the stereo effect will not be observed, because the parallax value will be0) to 2.
Measurements
Latitude/longitude format - units of measurement for displaying values for latitude and longitude(decimal degrees or degrees, minutes, seconds).
Units - the preferable Units, that will be used in the project for all measurements (coordinate system
units, meter, foot, foot (US survey)).
Use derived units - allows to enable or disable using derived units in the project. If this option isdisabled, meters will be used in the report and in measurements. If this option enable then km, cm,
mm, etc. can be used in measurements and in the report (if the scale of the results is appropriate).
Miscellaneous
Check for updates on program startup - allows to enable the option to receive notifications about
the release of new Metashape version.
Write log to file - indicate the path to the Metashape log file. The file contains information about theprocessing of the project. Log file can be shared with Agisoft support team in case any problem arises
during the data processing in Metashape.

189

Metashape Preferences

GPU tab

GPU tab
The following settings are available in the Metashape Preferences (GPU tab) dialog window:
GPU devices
The list of all detected GPU devices is presented.
Use CPU when performing GPU accelerated processing
The option to use CPU.

190

Metashape Preferences

Network tab

Network tab
The following settings are available in the Metashape Preferences (Network tab) dialog window:
Local Network
Enable network processing - allows to use network processing.
Host name - specify the server IP used for client connection
Port number - modify the port value. In case non-default port was configured on a server.

191

Metashape Preferences

Root - allows to modify root for local network.
Cloud
Enable cloud processing - allows to turn on cloud processing at Agisoft Cloud.
Email - specify email for Agisoft Cloud processing.
Password - specify password for Agisoft Cloud account.
Proxy Server
Enable proxy server - allows to turn on using proxy server.
Use system proxy settings - enable using system proxy settings.
Host name - specify host name.
Port number - specify port number.

192

Metashape Preferences

Appearance tab (Model View)

Appearance tab (Model View)
The following settings are available in the Metashape Preferences (Model View on Appearance tab) dialog
window:
General
Background color - allows to set the color for background for Model view.

193Metashape Preferences

Text color - allows to set the color for Label in Model view.
Model color - allows to specify the color for 3D model in the solid mode in Model view.
Interpolation - allows to choose the interpolation method to be used when displaying images (Nearest
neighbor or Bilinear).
Trackball size - allows to specify the size of the trackball that it will be displayed in the Model view.
The value varies from 0% to 100%. When using 100%, the trackball will be displayed at the full heightof the Model view. If set 0% - the trackball doesn't display in the Model view.
Point size - allows to set the size of the point for tie point cloud and dense point cloud to display
in the Model view.
Variance scale - allows to set the scale value for displaying the variance in the Model view.
Default view - allows to select the view of the model when it is opened: Perspective or Orthographic.
Default shape color - allows to set the color that will be displayed when opening or creating a layer
with shapes in Model view.
Stereo Cursor
Cursor type - allows to set the cursor type (crosshair, crosshair with point, point, circle with point).
Cursor color - allows to choose the color for cursor.
Cursor size - allows to set the cursor size in pixels.
Cursor thickness - allows to set the cursor thickness in pixels.
Grid
Color - allows to specify the color for grid in Model view.
Transparency - allows to set the transparency in percent. The transparency value varies from 0%
to 100%. The higher the value, the more transparent the grid will be (0% - not transparent, 100% maximum transparency).
Line count - allows to set line counts.
Cell size - allows to set the cell size in pixels or meters.
Plane - allows to set the plane for grid (XY, XZ or YZ). The grid will be created in the plane that
selected and will be parallel to the location of the axes in the project.
RegionColor - allows to set the color for region (bounding box).
Base color - allows to set base colors for region (bounding box).
Transparency - allows to set the transparency in percent. The transparency value varies from 0% to
100%. The higher the value, the more transparent the region will be (0% - not transparent, 100% maximum transparency).
Camera Track
Color - allows to specify the color for camera track.

194

Metashape Preferences

Thickness - allows to set the thickness in pixels.
Drawing Plane
Color - allows to set the color for drawing plane.
Transparency - allows to set the transparency in percent. The transparency value varies from 0% to
100%. The higher the value, the more transparent the drawing plane will be (0% - not transparent,
100% - maximum transparency).

Appearance tab (Ortho View)

Appearance tab (Ortho View)

195

Metashape Preferences

The following settings are available in the Metashape Preferences (Ortho View on Appearance tab) dialog
window:
General
Background color - allows to set the color for background for Ortho view.
Text color - allows to set the color for Label in Ortho view.
Interpolation - allows to select the interpolation method to be used when displaying images (Nearest
neighbor, Bicubic or Bilinear).
Show shape labels - allows to enable/disable show shape labels in the Ortho view.
DEM
DEM palette - allows to set the palette for DEM (Default, Grayscale, Custom). Use the Edit Palettebutton next to the drop-down list for edit palette colors.
DEM mode - allows to set the mode for DEM (Altitude or Slope).
Hillshading
Light source azimuth - allows to set the light source azimuth for hillshading (from 0 to 360).
Light source altitude - allows to set the source altitude (from 0 to 360).
Seamlines
Color - allows to set the color for seamlines. Colors can be chosen from Basic colors or set the color
manually.
Thickness - allows to set the thickness in pixels (from 1 pixel to 3 pixels). The parameter changes
the thickness for seamlines in Ortho view.

196Metashape Preferences

Appearance tab (Photo View)

Appearance tab (Photo View)
The following settings are available in the Metashape Preferences (Photo View on Appearance tab) dialog
window:
General
Background color - allows to set the color for background for Photo view. It may be useful to set acontrasting background when creating a mask manually to see the edges of the images.
Text color - allows to select the color for Label in Photo view.

197Metashape Preferences

Interpolation - allows to select the interpolation method to be used when displaying images (Nearest
neighbor, Bicubic or Bilinear).
Residuals scale - allows to set residuals scale for tie points in Photo View.
Marker crosshair - allows to set the type for marker crosshair (cursor, circle with crosshair, circle
with point).
Show shape labels - allows to enable/disable show shape labels in the Photo view.
Masks
Fill color - allows to set the color for masks.
Border color - allows to set the color for the mask border. By default, the white color will be used.
Transparency - allows to set the transparency in percent. The transparency value varies from 0%
to 100%. The higher the value, the more transparent the mask will be (0% - not transparent, 100%- maximum transparency).

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Metashape Preferences

Navigation tab

Navigation tab
The following settings are available in the Metashape Preferences (Navigation tab) dialog window:
Controllers
Enable HID-compliant controller - allows to enable or disable using HID-compliant controller.
Enable Stealth Z-Mouse controller - allows to enable or disable using Z-mouse controller.
Enable Stealth S-Mouse controller - allows to enable or disable using S-mouse controller. Available
controllers will be displayed in the drop down list.

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Metashape Preferences

Controller Settings
Controller - allows to enable controller from the drop-down list. To update the list of available
controllers, click the Update button next to the drop-down list.
Translation - allows to set the translation for controller (Sensitivity, Invert axes). The Sensitivity
value varies from 0 to 100. To apply this value to a specific axis, enable the checkbox for thecorresponding axis in the Invert axes section.
Rotation - allows to set the rotation for controller (Sensitivity, Invert axes). The Sensitivity value
varies from 0 to 100. To apply this value to a specific axis, enable the checkbox for the corresponding
axis in the Invert axes section.
Table (Button and Function)
In the Controller Settings section set functions for controller buttons: to assign a new function, doubleclick on the corresponding line and select preferable function from the drop-down list. If the function
is not set for the button, the value None will be displayed in the Function section.

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Metashape Preferences

Advanced tab

Advanced tab
The following settings are available in the Metashape Preferences (Advanced tab) dialog window:
Project Files
Keep key points - allows to enable option for saving key points into project.
Keep depth maps - allows to enable option for saving depth maps for the project. This option helps
save processing time in cases when the dense point cloud needs to be re-built (for a part of the project)after its initial generation or when both mesh and dense cloud are based on the same quality depth
maps.

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Metashape Preferences

Store absolute image paths - allows to enable option for saving absolute image paths. Recommend
enable this parameter if project is not moved to another folder or computer.
Export/Import
Strip file extensions from camera labels - allows to enable option for delete file extensions fromcamera labels during load photos into project.
Load camera calibration from XMP meta data - allows to enable option for automatic loading
camera calibration data from XMP.
Load camera orientation angles from XMP meta data - allows to enable option for automatic
loading of rotation angles elements of exterior orientation from XMP.
Load camera location accuracy from XMP meta data - allows to enable option for automatic
loading location accuracy value from XMP file.
Load GPS/INS offset from XMP meta data - allows to enable option for automatic loading GPS/INS offset from XMP meta data.
Load satellite RPC data from auxiliary TXT files - allows to enable option for automatic loading
satellite RPC data from auxiliary TXT files.
Miscellaneous
Enable fine-level task subdivision - option allows for internal splitting of some tasks to sub-jobs,
thus reducing the memory consumption during processing of large datasets. The tasks that support
fine-level distribution are: Match Photos, Align Cameras, Build Depth Maps, Build Dense Cloud,
Build Tiled Model, Build DEM, Build Orthomosaic and Classify Points
Enable VBO support - allows to turn on parameter for speed up the navigation in the Model viewfor dense point clouds and high polygonal meshes.
Enable mipmap generation - allows to enable parameter to display the texture using mipmap.
Enable rich Python console - allows to enable using rich Python console.
Copy last shape description for new shapes - allows to copy last shape description when creatinga new shape.
Max basemap cache size - setting max cache size for basemap in megabyte.
Tweaks... - button for creating tweaks. It is suggested to use this button only if it was recommended
by the Agisoft technical support team.
Cleanup Projects... - button for cleanup projects.
Reset All Settings - button for reset all settings.

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Appendix D. Camera models
Agisoft Metashape supports several parametric lens distortion models. Specific model which approximatesbest a real distortion field must be selected before processing. All models assume a central projection
camera. Non-linear distortions are modeled using Brown's distortion model.
A camera model specifies the transformation from point coordinates in the local camera coordinate system
to the pixel coordinates in the image frame.
The local camera coordinate system has origin at the camera projection center. The Z axis points towards
the viewing direction, X axis points to the right, Y axis points down.
The image coordinate system has origin in the middle of the top-left pixel (with coordinates (0.5, 0.5)).
The X axis in the image coordinate system points to the right, Y axis points down. Image coordinates aremeasured in pixels.

Image and camera coordinate systems
Equations used to project a points in the local camera coordinate system to the image plane are provided
below for each supported camera model.
The following definitions are used in the equations:(X, Y, Z) - point coordinates in the local camera coordinate system,(u, v) - projected point coordinates in the image coordinate system (in pixels),f - focal length (in pixels),
cx, cy - principal point offset (in pixels),203

Camera models

K1, K2, K3, K4 - radial distortion coefficients (dimensionless),
P1, P2 - tangential distortion coefficients (dimensionless),
B1, B2 - affinity and non-orthogonality (skew) coefficients (in pixels),
w, h - image width and height (in pixels).

Frame cameras
x=X/Z
y=Y/Z
r = sqrt(x2 + y2)
x' = x(1 + K1r2 + K2r4 + K3r6 + K4r8) + (P1(r2+2x2) + 2P2xy)
y' = y(1 + K1r2 + K2r4 + K3r6 + K4r8) + (P2(r2+2y2) + 2P1xy)
u = w * 0.5 + cx + x'f + x'B1 + y'B2
v = h * 0.5 + cy + y'f

Fisheye cameras
x0 = X / Z
y0 = Y / Z
r0 = sqrt(x02 + y02)x = x0 * tan-1r0 / r0
y = y0 * tan-1r0 / r0
r = sqrt(x2 + y2)
x' = x(1 + K1r2 + K2r4 + K3r6 + K4r8) + (P1(r2+2x2) + 2P2xy)
y' = y(1 + K1r2 + K2r4 + K3r6 + K4r8) + (P2(r2+2y2) + 2P1xy)
u = w * 0.5 + cx + x'f + x'B1 + y'B2
v = h * 0.5 + cy + y'f

Spherical cameras (equirectangular projection)u = w * 0.5 + f * tan-1(X / Z)v = h * 0.5 + f * tan-1(Y / sqrt(X2 + Z2))
where:
f = w / (2 * pi)

204Camera models

Note• Spherical (equirectangular) camera model doesn't support distortions. All distortions should becorrected before loading images in Metashape.
• In case you are capturing panoramas with a rotated frame/fisheye camera, we recommend toprocess original images in Metashape using camera station function instead of stitching them inexternal software.

Spherical cameras (cylindrical projection)u = w * 0.5 + f * tan-1(X / Z)v = h * 0.5 + f * Y / sqrt(X2 + Z2)
where:
f = w / (2 * pi)

Note• Spherical (cylindrical) camera model doesn't support distortions. All distortions should becorrected before loading images in Metashape.
• In case you are capturing panoramas with a rotated frame/fisheye camera, we recommend toprocess original images in Metashape using camera station function instead of stitching them inexternal software.

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Appendix E. What do some error
messages in Metashape mean?
In some cases warning or error messages may be displayed after unexpected termination of the processing
operation in Metashape. Below is the list of some messages which could be encountered and our commentson the possible origins of the issue together with the recommendations for resolving the problem.
Empty extent - Bounding box is misplaced during Build Tiled Model or Build Orthomosaic operationand doesn't contain any information or all the cameras for the related area are disabled.
Empty camera list - no cameras are pointing to the area of the orthomosaic generation.
Empty frame path - the selected operation (for example, import DEM) requires the project to be
saved in PSX format.
Empty surface - Bounding box is misplaced during Build Mesh operation and doesn't contain any
information.
Index Overflow - usually such a message is observed when the Arbitrary mesh generation method isused based on a very big dense point cloud. To reduce the number of points you can use Filter Dense
Cloud option in the Tools menu or shrink the bounding box to the smaller volume using Resize Region
instruments in the Model view mode.
Null dense point cloud - missing dense cloud for the operation based on it (like mesh generation orclassification).
Null model - missing mesh model for the operation based on it (like mesh decimation).
Null point cloud - missing tie point cloud for the operation based on it (like mesh generation).
Media resource couldn't be resolved - indicates that some video codecs are missing in the system,
so we can suggest to install "K-lite Codec pack" or similar in order to guarantee the Import Video
operation. Note that you do not need to install any auxiliary utilities in addition to the codecs
themselves.
Some photos failed to align - the message indicates that some images were not aligned as a resultof the adjustment process. This may be due to poor image quality or insufficient overlap. We canrecommend you try to select images in the Workspace pane and select Align Selected Cameras
command from the context menu.
Zero resolution - Bounding box is misplaced prior to the Build Dense Cloud operation and doesn't
contain any information (almost no tie points are present in the bounding box and therefore no depth
maps can be generated).

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