UAV Reality Capture

In today’s environment where capturing a mass amount of data happens at the push of a button, be it a laser scanner or a UAV or a combination of both, the data processing to produce 2D plans or be it a 3D model takes time and is not always needed. So why not request a 3D ‘asbuilt’ or ‘reality’ model?

The real-world conditions of a site can be reproduced quickly depending on the area in question and the needs of the project, Site lines, views, design positioning, volume calculations to name a few can be quickly and accurately achieved by with a reality model.

What is Reality Capture/Model?

Reality capture is a term for the use of various technical means to capture a digital 3D model representation of a subject from the real world.

Where traditional 3D modelling techniques are slow and only as accurate as the artist or designer makes them, reality capture survey techniques can survey detailed, accurate digital representations in minutes.

Reality capture can be achieved by a range of techniques such as laser scanning which takes detailed scans of a subject and its measurements, therefore creating a point-cloud data in an xyz axis. This point data is then reconstructed into a 3D model.

Photogrammetry is another method by which reality capture is achieved. This type of reality capture uses photographs to reconstruct a 3D image.

UAV survey of reservoir site.

In this instance a UAV captured 251 high resolution photos with 2, 20-minute flight plans, one circular and one grid formation as seen below:

The resulting 3d textured mesh can be seen below ready for use after a few hours of processing. Design models can then be positioned accurately.

For more information please get in touch with Operations Director, Clif Webb