Tgi3D SU Amorph and PhotoScan Update (v1.20)
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Thank you!
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How does the license work?
One license per PC or per simultaneous user?
(Thea for example lets you install on up to three PCs but only use one at a time.)
Since I'm most interested in the texturing bit I think it's a bit too expensive if I need to buy three licenses.
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Hi Pixero,
Thank you for your interest in Tgi3D SU Amorph.
Currently our licenses are issued "per computer" (allowing faster, local license verification without internet connection). The scheme you describe, what is called "single-user license", permits multiple copies (up to a certain amount) to be installed under the same license but allow a single use at a given time. This requires that the software be in contact with the license servers at all times and allow only one copy to be operational at a given time.
We are aware that many users now own multiple computers (at least one at home and one at work) and need to be able to use the same software on each without any additional cost. We are trying to figure out a remedy for this, we may move to a similar licensing scheme as described which will require some development time or maybe have a "2 for 1 sale"
.To our existing customers; please rest assured that any remedy we come up with will be "backward compatible", i.e. you will be able install multiple copies for single concurrent use (if we move to user based licensing scheme) or get another copy for free (if it is a sale)
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Thanks for your response. I'll try to clarify. I have a highly simplified tree trunk that I've smoothed. I select the smoothed face and select Create Texture and tick the UV Unwrap method with Create UV. You can see in the attached images that the UV Map could do with some pulling around so that faces don't overlap. Is there any way to do this? If not, how can I control how it unwraps?
Many thanks
Rob
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Hi Rob,
Currently we do not have a way to edit the UV map. We do have plans for additional mapping methods, other than unwrap and spherical. For now, you can try following approaches here.
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Try "spherical" as the mapping method. If the resulting UV map is not distorted too much, it may be a better mapping method here. To minimize distortion in this method you can work with smaller chunks.
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You can select the area that had an overlap and portions from the surrounding area. Use "create texture" again on this area. The texture that has already been mapped will be preserved and then you can fix the texture to fit seamlessly with the surrounding texture in the image editor.
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The "unwrap" method tries to map the geometry with no distortion, so in order to minimize overlaps or unusual tears you may try to apply texture in smaller chunks (in your case two chunks may be enough). Using a similar idea described in (2) you select second chunk to include portions of already textured area together with the non-textured area and then fit the following texture seamlessly in the image editor.
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Thank-you for these awesome tools -- I use the free version now but plan to purchase the full version in the near future
Best,
Jason. -
You won't be disappointed Jason. I guarantee it!
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Great work! You all are putting together such an impressive toolset. I love the free version, but all of these new features are really twisting my arm to make the purchase. My only request would be that the check for updates feature at startup be either streamlined or set to a manual check. Ever since installing the free Amorph edition, my waiting times at SU startup have tripled.
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@earthmover said:
My only request would be that the check for updates feature at startup be either streamlined or set to a manual check. Ever since installing the free Amorph edition, my waiting times at SU startup have tripled.
Yes, that waiting actually made me uninstall the free version.
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Jason, Rich and Adam, Thank you for your kind words.
@earthmover said:
My only request would be that the check for updates feature at startup be either streamlined or set to a manual check. Ever since installing the free Amorph edition, my waiting times at SU startup have tripled.
Adam and Jan, we have been looking into this issue. "Check for updates" is not the problem. In any case it only checks for updates every 10 loads or so, not in every start. We have some ideas we are testing right now and hopefully we will be able to speed up the loading process.
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The startup time for Sketchup is I'd guess at least doubled if not trebled when Tgi3D tools is auto-loaded... You can't disable its loading and manually load it later as you need it, because using load or require with the tgi3d.rbs file seems to give errors...
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@gulcanocali said:
Hi Pixero,
We are aware that many users now own multiple computers (at least one at home and one at work) and need to be able to use the same software on each without any additional cost. We are trying to figure out a remedy for this, we may move to a similar licensing scheme as described which will require some development time or maybe have a "2 for 1 sale"
.Of all the single-user schemes I think I like the Messiah verison best. It's like a USB dongle, but using a standard (one of your own) USB memory stick.
Works great -
Sorry, but it isn't quite clear to me if Amorph is included when you buy PhotoScan?
They both seems to be able to make good models from photos.
I've been using Imagemodeler and Photomodeler for many years now, combined with SketchUp. Since Autodesk bought RealViz and removed Imagemodeler from open/single sales (need to buy Max or similar), and Photomodeler is not quite so good at modelling (and also quite pricey and with a very expensive licensing policy for us that don't live in USA/Canada - being forced to buy from local dealers with bloated prices), the availabilty of easy-to-use and affordable photogrammetry software is very limitied. That LockView tool looks very promising!
It looks like PhotoScan (Amorph) will do the job fine?
There's no calibrated cameras, but I hope that they take into account lens parameters/distortions?I'm downloading Amorph/Free and PhotoScan/Trial right now
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Yes Amorph is included in tgi3D Photoscan. Photoscan is a standalone piece of software that exports to .skp. In fact when you choose export, SU will open with your Photoscan calibrated images loaded as scenes. It Photomatch on steroids
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@unknownuser said:
Yes Amorph is included in tgi3D Photoscan. Photoscan is a standalone piece of software that exports to .skp. In fact when you choose export, SU will open with your Photoscan calibrated images loaded as scenes. It Photomatch on steroids
Thanks
Then I suppose that if you first buy Amorph and later want the full PhotoScan version then you could have those $150 deducted from the full price?
I asked support the same question, but they probably don't work at weekends (like the rest of us do
At the moment I cannot afford to spend $1000 on a tool that I currently don't really need, but Amorph I need/want right now.. -
I can't answer the upgrade to Photoscan part. But if you haven't availed of the 30 day trial yet then you'll survive the weekend playing with both.
But I do know the Tgi developers are hard at work with some user feedback suggestions been implemented. And the new UV addition looks pretty awesome.
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@unknownuser said:
I can't answer the upgrade to Photoscan part. But if you haven't availed of the 30 day trial yet then you'll survive the weekend playing with both.
I just downloaded both, but had planned to start with Amorph. A bit short of time currently..
I hope that the PhotoScan trial period doesn't start counting until after installing?@unknownuser said:
But I do know the Tgi developers are hard at work with some user feedback suggestions been implemented. And the new UV addition looks pretty awesome.
Looking forward to that too
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Hi bjornkn,
Sorry for the late reply. I do checkout SCF during the weekends and try to answer any questions as fast as I can but this weekend was a bit busy for me outside work.
@Rich, Thank you for answering with bjornkn's questions in the meantime.
@bjornkn said:
Sorry, but it isn't quite clear to me if Amorph is included when you buy PhotoScan?
Yes, Tgi3D SU PhotoScan includes ALL the capabilities of Tgi3D SU Amorph, and to answer your later question: If you want to buy PhotoScan after you have already purchased Tgi3D SU Amorph, the price of Tgi3D SU Amorph will be deducted from the purchase price of Tgi3D SU PhotoScan. However the price deduction process is not automated on our website. If and when they decide to upgrade their copies of Tgi3D SU Amorph to Tgi3D SU PhotoScan, we would appreciate our customers to contact our customer support so that their Amorph licenses can be invalidated and new PhotoScan licenses are issued to them together with the price deduction.
@unknownuser said:
Yes Amorph is included in tgi3D Photoscan. Photoscan is a standalone piece of software that exports to .skp. In fact when you choose export, SU will open with your Photoscan calibrated images loaded as scenes. It Photomatch on steroids
Tgi3D SU Photoscan "includes" a standalone executable "called the Tgi3D SU Calibration and Metrology Tool" which does exactly what Rich describes. The second part of Tgi3D SU PhotoScan is the plugin to Google SketchUp which includes ALL of what Amorph has PLUS the "automatic 3D surface fitting to photographs" feature. (BTW our team is working on some powerful improvements to this feature as well to improve the algorithm efficiency and quality of the match)
@bjornkn said:
They both seems to be able to make good models from photos.
That is correct but I would like to make a clarification at this point to avoid any misunderstanding. Tgi3D SU Amorph does not include the Tgi3D Calibration and Metrology Tool. So if you can get good calibrated image sets from another software into SketchUp all the tools Tgi3D SU Amorph has, together with its "view locking" feature, enables you to create 3D models from photographs. One other feature missing from Tgi3D SU Amorph is the "automatic 3D surface fitting to photographs". This feature makes it a lot easier to create surface meshes that match the surfaces accurately especially for complex, organic shapes.
@bjornkn said:
I've been using Imagemodeler and Photomodeler for many years now, combined with SketchUp. Since Autodesk bought RealViz and removed Imagemodeler from open/single sales (need to buy Max or similar), and Photomodeler is not quite so good at modelling (and also quite pricey and with a very expensive licensing policy for us that don't live in USA/Canada - being forced to buy from local dealers with bloated prices), the availabilty of easy-to-use and affordable photogrammetry software is very limitied. That LockView tool looks very promising!
It looks like PhotoScan (Amorph) will do the job fine?
There's no calibrated cameras, but I hope that they take into account lens parameters/distortionsYes, Tgi3D SU Calibration and Metrology tool DOES take into account lens distortions and parameters. There are no calibrated cameras but we do in situ calibration for each set. This avoids errors due to environmental changes and aging.
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Thanks a lot for your in-depth reply
This really looks like it is the "missing link" for me, after being abandoned by Realviz/Autodesk and MetaCreations/Canoma/Adobe.
I wonder why you're not using the work 'photogrammetry' on your product?
If you did I would have found it earlier, instead of bumping into it by accident, because that's what I've been searching for as a replacement for Imagemodeler.Have you ever thought about running an upgrade campaign:
'Abandoned by Autodesk/Realviz? - upgrade to tgi3D PhotoScan for $??? now!' ? -
@bjornkn
Thank you for your kind remaks and suggestions. You are quite right about the word "photogrammetry", we do use it at certain places but not quite the "right" places, I guess, to generate search results.BTW, we have released new versions of our plugins that include some of the most requested updates, see the announcement in the following thread:
http://forums.sketchucation.com/viewtopic.php?f=323&t=36051@pixero,
This new version loads much faster now, I hope you give Tgi3D another try
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