merge chunks does it work without dense point clouds ?

[Steve003]

Hi,
http://www.re3dan.com/combiningchunks
says merge chunks uses dense point clouds, however making mesh from depth maps gives finer detail so an article proves, and agisoft has that ability after align photos one can choose build mesh source depth maps. skipping dense PointCloud making.

However if the project involves merge chunks, such merge CANNOT THEN WORK as the article above shows merge needs dense point clouds instead !

... then I find an Agisoft article which sheds some light on it.

https://agisoft.freshdesk.com/support/solutions/articles/31000157701-manual-chunk-alignment-standard-edition-
which shows a choice of choosing dense point OR model OR depth maps.
so one needs such for BOTH chunks, either make a model from the dense point cloud and combine it with the model from the mesh from Dense Point cloud, or go and make a dense point cloud after having made the mesh ! more time and can one do that ?

so if merge chunk using mesh option, mesh from depth map will need a mesh making from the dense point cloud before merge chunk can be made.

or there is the depth map option which exists after align and before mesh is made, would that be as good ?

With that option though, how can one align the chunks when there is nothing model wise to rotate and place with the other chunk ?

surely a mesh or DPC is needed to view both and place together, such as in the tutorial I found on thee statue and stately home.

Steve003

[Alexey Pasumansky]

Hello Steve,

You can merge chunks at any point after the cameras are aligned:
- build depth maps in chunks separately, merge chunks, build mesh in the merged chunks from preserved depth maps,
- build meshes in separate chunks, merge chunks with merge models option enabled,
- merge chunks with the alignment only, run build depth maps and build mesh operations in the merged chunk.

There is no requirement to have depth maps, dense cloud or mesh pre-generated in the chunks prior to the merging operation, but if it makes manual chunk alignment more convenient, you can have them.