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Author Topic: Plans for detailed manual?  (Read 2750 times)

ashalota

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Plans for detailed manual?
« on: November 26, 2020, 06:18:09 AM »
Are there any plans to release a detailed manual for Metashape? I've been using it for several years now, and eventually figured out different tricks to get my photo alignments working out exactly as I'd like, but there are still so many features that are a complete mystery to me.

I would really appreciate an overly detailed manual describing every option available and things to consider when choosing them.

Some questions I have right now, with no idea how to solve them, for example:

1) When I add markers are control points between images, align photos, and the resulting Reference pane shows no lat/lng for many of my markers, what does this mean?

2) How does the accuracy option in "Align Photos" affect the results? I can't tell what exactly it does, recently I selected "Highest" (total errror 60m), "High" (total error 4m) "Medium/Low/Lowest" (total error 3m) and am not sure how to interpret this result

3) If adding manual markers, how badly can I mess up the results if I place them incorrectly? Huge issue, minor issue, etc?

4) Does splitting my data into smaller chunks first negatively affect the output, or can it be helpful? My dataset is usually long aerial transects and personally I found best results when splitting into smaller pieces, but I don't really understand why.

Etc... There are so many questions, based on not fully understanding how the program works. A very detailed manual would be an excellent resource to keep on the bookshelf! Thanks.

jedfrechette

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Re: Plans for detailed manual?
« Reply #1 on: November 26, 2020, 07:55:20 PM »
Agreed. The documentation could use a lot of work. I really like the software, but whenever somebody asks me about it the poor documentation is a caveat I always need to bring up.
Jed

SimonBrown

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Re: Plans for detailed manual?
« Reply #2 on: November 27, 2020, 01:23:45 PM »
Its not the manual...but the Accupixel training course goes deeper into the process of photogrammetry and the Metashape workflow.

Plus its endorsed by Agisoft themselves:

https://accupixel.co.uk/metashape-training-courses/

This course will be the foundation of others to follow - the Professional course will build on this. We have started preparing the Pro course and tentative date for publication is early in the new year. Anyone signing up for the Standard course now will enjoy early access plus bundle discount.
Agisoft endorsed online Metashape training - see: https://accupixel.co.uk/metashape-training-courses

cbnewham

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Re: Plans for detailed manual?
« Reply #3 on: November 27, 2020, 08:11:11 PM »
It would be lovely to have an up-to-date and detailed manual.

It seems the software is making great strides, but the documentation isn't keeping up

SAV

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Re: Plans for detailed manual?
« Reply #4 on: December 01, 2020, 06:09:14 AM »
HI Ashalota,

Please see my answers below:

Are there any plans to release a detailed manual for Metashape? I've been using it for several years now, and eventually figured out different tricks to get my photo alignments working out exactly as I'd like, but there are still so many features that are a complete mystery to me.

I agree, it takes quite some time to get 'the hang of it'. A concise but detailed manual would be handy to have. The forum helps a lot though.

Quote
I would really appreciate an overly detailed manual describing every option available and things to consider when choosing them.

Some questions I have right now, with no idea how to solve them, for example:

1) When I add markers are control points between images, align photos, and the resulting Reference pane shows no lat/lng for many of my markers, what does this mean?

It will show estimated lat/lon for these markers if you switch to VIEW ESTIMATED in the reference pane.

Quote
2) How does the accuracy option in "Align Photos" affect the results? I can't tell what exactly it does, recently I selected "Highest" (total errror 60m), "High" (total error 4m) "Medium/Low/Lowest" (total error 3m) and am not sure how to interpret this result

Changing this setting is not really changing the accuracy but the resolution of the imagery for the identification of  key points / tie points which are subsequently used to align the pictures. Accuracy HIGH means that the image is used at full resolution. Medium means the pictures is downscaled by factor of 4 (half length & half width of picture).

Quote
3) If adding manual markers, how badly can I mess up the results if I place them incorrectly? Huge issue, minor issue, etc?

Depending on the set marker accuracy (default is 0.005m) it can have a major influence on your reconstructions results because the accuracy is basically used as a 'weight' where more accurate reference information counts more than less accurate information. Also, if you deactivate a marker in the reference pane then it won't have any influence at all.

Quote
4) Does splitting my data into smaller chunks first negatively affect the output, or can it be helpful? My dataset is usually long aerial transects and personally I found best results when splitting into smaller pieces, but I don't really understand why.

Can help to speed up processing (especially for bigger projects processed on 'smaller' computers). Agisoft has a free python script to help with this process.

Quote
Etc... There are so many questions, based on not fully understanding how the program works. A very detailed manual would be an excellent resource to keep on the bookshelf! Thanks.

Regards,
SAV

ashalota

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Re: Plans for detailed manual?
« Reply #5 on: December 09, 2020, 08:01:09 PM »
Thanks for answering all my questions!
So what I really want is all of that in a big book or pdf, because it is clear that you guys do know all these things but it's hard to find out how it works unless you ask on the forum.