Messages

76

Face and Body Scanning / Re: Portrait rig experimentation.

« on: January 21, 2013, 03:07:28 AM »

In this third post I have attached the results from that setup.
I processed at "Smooth" and at "Ultra High" with 1M faces.
You will notice that it is noisy but with a decent amount of detail (again keep in mind this is processed from JPEG and not RAW).

77

Face and Body Scanning / Re: Portrait rig experimentation.

« on: January 21, 2013, 03:01:50 AM »

With this second post I have attached an image where you can see the distances of the cameras and of them to the subject.
As you can see they do not in this test provide that much circular coverage.
I currently have 2 600D and 8 1100D (plus some other cams I can throw in) they are not yet set up in a rig though.

78

Face and Body Scanning / Portrait rig experimentation.

« on: January 21, 2013, 02:55:18 AM »

Hello all!

I had not initially planned on posting the testing I've done until I'd gotten more proper results but I thought that it might be interesting for you to see the crude progression, hehe.

The goal I had for this was to be able to capture a head and shoulder portrait in 3D, at a quality of acceptable level. Later I plan to progress to a fullbody capture solution.
IR, Lee, has already provided a lot of the information needed thru his experimentiation, but I thought it would be a good learning experience to try some different ideas I had.

The setup that I started with consisted of 2 600D and 4 1100D. I used Smart Shooter for the transfer of the files to computer and for checking focus etc. and a simple corded remote trigger connected thru splitters to the cameras. I used "11 inch articulating arms" to be able to attach and easily adjust the camerapositions. For lighting I used this LED light http://www.leds.de/en/LED-lamps-and-luminaires/Ultraslim-LED-Panels/Eco-LED-Panel-coldwhite.html
For the photos in the examples posted I used F14, 1/25th shutter and ISO400 on all the cameras.
An important thing to note was that I shot in JPEG (since I was mostly just testing the multicamera mode on Smart Shooter and checking coverage) not in RAW so a lot more information is possible to be retrieved. The compression in the 1100D is quite harsh and removes a lot of the detail information. So keep this in mind.
So in this first post I attach a picture of the rig (picture taken with mobile phone so please excuse the poor quality).

More to follow.

Best, Magnus.


 

79

Face and Body Scanning / Re: Samsung NX1000

« on: January 20, 2013, 08:50:46 PM »

Hello all!

Great input guys!

Lee, I forgot to add that I am focusing on head and shoulders, portrait so to speak, at first, that is another reason why I went the relatively low MP way. My thought was also that if they do not measure up that I can use them with projected pattern or use in pairs or as pickup-shot coverage.   

I was looking at the Nikon D3200 which is 24,2MP and seems to be at a very decent price, that might be another camera to check out? They also seem to have some wifi-addon. Big drawback is no mirror lock-up!
Here's a review with very handy comparison tool http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/nikon-d3200/20 You can choose lots of different cameras there and compare at different settings.

About light, when I was researching that I found this thread that has some very good info about continuous vs flash http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/thread/3129141 and as you can see there flash should be the primary thing one should look into.
I have to admit to having a soft spot for continuous light since video/film is a dear interest of mine, hehe. My test with light is more to see if and what I can get away with regarding ISO, shutter and F stop. With that one LED light pretty close (maybe 1m or so) to the subject (me) I've managed to get pretty good shots with f14, 1/25 and 400 ISO, that is just with cameras in front in quarter-circle configuration, reconstruction at Ultra High.

Also, that is some very interesting info about hard limit and plateau, thanks!

Best, Magnus.

80

General / Re: good solution..?

« on: January 20, 2013, 07:49:11 PM »

Hello!

Yes, Lee, I actually started with two 600D and then added 1100Ds and wrongly assumed that they would be similar in triggering, hehe.
So that was a necessity due to my lack of proper research. 

Best, Magnus.

81

General / Re: good solution..?

« on: January 20, 2013, 03:33:57 AM »

Hello again!

The triggering in the program, thru USB, is one camera after the other, so for me it was not useful.
 
When I was looking at sync for flash, due to having gotten the odd black image, I found the following page: http://www.cfd.tu-berlin.de/~panek/foto/eos_remote/eos_remote.html It is in german but the charts should speak for themselves. This was due to me having gotten the 1100D which does not have mirror lock-up so I was looking for solutions.
One way I did get around this was using the Canon SpeedLite 580EX II on one of the cameras connected and having the Speedlite set to 2nd curtain sync (good explanation of what it is http://www.thedphoto.com/photography-techniques/2nd-curtain-sync-mode/) and a shutterspeed on that camera that would fall into the timeframe the other cameras were open, which I had set to long shutter. This way one can fire multiple different cameras together even if they are out of sync, one has to be careful about ambient light though, hehe.

Again I want to thank you all and I am just glad if I can contribute something to this since I have gained so much.

Best, Magnus.

82

Face and Body Scanning / Re: Samsung NX1000

« on: January 20, 2013, 03:08:37 AM »

Hello!

I think one thing you need to check out with that camera is if there is any delay when you trigger multiple cameras over wifi. If you will use them with flash then it could get tricky if there are any delays between the cameras.

Regarding your idea, I am working towards something similar and thought I'd share the way I am going forward.
The configuration of cameras I am intending to start with is consisting of mostly Canon 1100D with the IS kit lens.
The reason for this is, cost, they have remote shutter socket and the kit lens is supposedly quite decent (see this review for example http://www.photozone.de/canon-eos/404-canon_1855_3556is_50d). Drawbacks are for example that there is no mirror lock-up so one has to keep that in mind when syncing with flash.
They are 12,2MP but you also have to consider the optical quality of the lenses you will use and another factor is processing time and what kind of output quality you will need from Photoscan.

This will depend a lot on what size of figurines and what kind of 3D printing process you will offer.
I mean if you use a printer with low resolution it would be a waste if you process it in photoscan at the highest settings if all the detail gets lost anyway. That is one point were ReconstructMe and Kinect might actually make sense.
I have actually been thinking of a hybrid system with high quality head from PS and body from RM, too early to tell if that is workable though.
Ofcourse an added product which might make sense is offering the 3D model to the customer, then higher quality might be warranted. That means longer processing times though which ofcourse could be offered for a price reflecting that.
Another important point to consider time-wise is cleanup of the model and preparing for 3D printing, be sure to calculate that properly.

Also lighting is something I would suggest really looking into. Myself I am still torn between flash or maybe going completely continuous light.
I currently am experimenting with this LED light http://www.leds.de/en/LED-lamps-and-luminaires/Ultraslim-LED-Panels/Eco-LED-Panel-warmwhite.html since if you have continuous light sync is not as critically important and it opens up future 4D possibilities. For that particular light flickering is an issue if you need high shutterspeed.
I will hopefully be able to share more in the not too distant future about my setup, so much is still a work in progress and currently I am looking into good solutions for the camera configuration and rig.

Best, Magnus.
 

83

General / Re: good solution..?

« on: January 19, 2013, 09:56:16 PM »

Hello!

I have also been looking at finding a way to trigger and offload images so I thought I'd add some suggestions.
Due to budget reasons (trying to keep it down due to lots of experimentation with rigs) I triggered the cameras I had then (2 Canon 600D and 4 1100D) with a simple corded remote control connected thru splitters to the cameras.
For offloading the files I was looking into the Breezesys solution but due to the cost and me being on the experimental stage I looked into cheaper alternatives.
The program that I found and have been using is Smart Shooter http://hartcw.com/ that the maker sells for 50 USD which has worked for me without issues so far.
With this program I use LiveView to check the focus. I use the cameras in manual focus currently but you can use autofocus and change it thru the program, this affects the triggering though.
I also change the camera settings and then I disable LiveView when I shoot the images so I can use the physical remote shutter. It offloads the images automatically, but I have not looked into if custom naming and folder creation is possible, I have just made different folders per session.
You can also preview the images shot directly in the program which I've found useful.
I currently have over 10 cameras but I have not tested them yet with this setup, so that should be kept in mind as I can't comment on the scaling of the program. Also it should be noted that I've mostly used continuous light so I have limited experience with flash in this kind of setup.

I'd also like to thank you all for sharing information and helping out!

Best, Magnus.