measuring and importing external camera orientations

[Thilo OTH-R]

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to build a dense point cloud of a model with a limited number of pictures (three pictures).
In order to align the photos i want to measure the location and the orientation of the cameras.
The cameras are mounted on tripods and for measuring i can rely on a Faro Arm.

Now here is the question where is the origin of the z-axis of the camera coordinate system or to be precise where is the x-y-plane?
Is it on the sensor of the camera or is it on the the camera lens?

How can i import the camera data (external camera orientations parameters) so that i can define the origin of the model's coordinate system?
How do i have to measure the angles of the camera orientations relatively to the model's coordinate system?


Thank you for the advices.

[Alexey Pasumansky]

Hello Thilo,

You can load only coordinates of the camera locations to set up the coordinate system, so the orientation angles are not necessary. This information can be input manually to the Reference pane or loaded from the CSV file in the following format:
image filename, X-coord, Y-coord, Z-coord

You can use Local Coordinates option and the model will be scaled and positioned according to the coordinates of the checked on instances in the Reference pane.

[Thilo OTH-R]

Thank you for the response.

If I can't support Photoscan in the alignment process with the measured Camera coordinates,
how can I improve the alignment if you consider that i only have three pictures to work with?
(I take the pictures with an Panasonic DMC G5 on a tripod.)