Single camera scanning thread?

[mala]

What this forum has needed for a long time is a face/body scanning FAQ thread that is permanently pinned at the top of the page...

[Wishgranter]

Again, in this forum are a LOT of user, even more are not registered.. from my view here are active approx 25+- users !!!! So how they "reward" work of us ? they write at least THANX ? no :-(

OK this will be a "little" selfish but:
 a lot of people jump on the photogrammetry "train" and they do some work, they say im the good one, generating models without optimizations, "tricks" and few more things, then they get work for CHEAP, they undercut prices and when its here say good project, something bigger what involves EXPERTISE on how to process it perfect they win it because they set low prices, we can do it with left hand. Then the client get ROUGHT results, is upset, and cease to use externall services, because he try it later with standard settings on same dataset, get same results as the cheap one and say WHY should i pay a even more to someone ? can do it myself :-D

few of my external work was so that i need reconstruct model more than 10 times (28+H) to get the  results that was wort the money...... who has done it this way ?? no one because they think AGI is magical tool, it is not, and mostly not in beginner hands..... Yes not everyone is a PRO, but overall the quality is failing down......  Therefore its better to contact people here with PM or email, ask for help, but mostly you do ask the "easy" things without reading ANY book about photogrammetry, any whitepaper and want professional outputs without knowlege...... Don?t worry its same with laser scanners, when 15 companies come to win bigger work and they cannot do simple easy object, present DEMO project what is possible, and later they win a part of the project ( go cheap ), they start to ask for help on it, how to solve it !!!! im get angry, and that the same here.....

Tutorials - it depend on what want - need to do, mostly the special stuff is solved on  project-to-project basis.  If interested will create a TUTORIAL thread where can write on what precise you want to see....  OK ?

[mala]

No need to get angry... I was merely agreeing with some other posts here that a lot of the questions are generally the basic ones and these are constantly repeated... the obvious solution to this is to have a pinned FAQ thread like many many other forums have.

I'm not sure if your rant was aimed at me or others, but I would just like to point out that I've been using Photoscan for years for face scanning, it was me that suggested to Lee (Infinite) that he should try the software, the rest is history... the whole reason all these "mini-me" 3D printing companies sprang up in the last few years is due to Lee openly talking about his Photoscan process.
Just to put that in context I have never made a single penny from using Photoscan, i don't offer a scanning service, I design and build hardware.

In regard to people supplying scan services "on the cheap" of course people are going to come along and undercut prices that is the nature of the world we live in.
But professional companies are always willing to pay more for quality and experience, where as you would not return to someone who did a bad job never mind how cheap it was.
In the world I come from we have a saying "You are only as good as your last gig!"

The often repeated questions here are:
What camera should i use ?
what lens ?
What camera settings ?
What lighting ?
How to control multiple cameras ?
How to download from multiple cameras ?
How to solve problem of certain textile/clothings ?

What is wrong with having these in a FAQ thread ?
Of course there could be other FAQ related to the processing side as well.

Cheers,
Mala

[Mr_Curious]

Sorry but you can't stuff the genie back in the bottle by trying to keep knowledge a "secret"  that is pure BS...IMHO of course.  If people don't want to share knowledge that is fair enough... but trust me, someone else will do it... and for free and those are the people who will actually grow their business in the "digital" marketplace.  That cat is well and truly out of the bag.

Let's put it this way, I would have considered investing in the guys seminar... but now... no freaking way.

Good luck guys.

MC

[admir]

I think Agi should do what other software packages do, despite Photoscan Standard being cheap, offer free upgrades, beta program,etc... for people willing to be involved in such program. Participants get wishes heard in less noisy environment, there are discussions on features etc.. Those users should share workflows, demo and example scenes... for public in return. I am active (most of the time) part of beta programs for couple 3d apps and return you get from that is most of the time good, developers adding features that most beta participants voted, etc... From my perspective, Standard version is cheap and we have it, i would love to own Pro because of the couple features that would help me in work but the price is to high. I think there are a few users who could help with tutorials/examples and get something from Agi in return for time and knowledge invested. Its NOT dig at Agi its just suggestion, as community will rise and more and more people will use Photoscan it needs great base of knowledge.

M2c,

Admir

[Wishgranter]

   a GOOD discusion - take it as a way to say AGI team what you think, what can be improved.......... 

[Marcel]

OK this will be a "little" selfish but:
 a lot of people jump on the photogrammetry "train" and they do some work, they say im the good one, generating models without optimizations, "tricks" and few more things, then they get work for CHEAP, they undercut prices and when its here say good project, something bigger what involves EXPERTISE on how to process it perfect they win it because they set low prices, we can do it with left hand. Then the client get ROUGHT results, is upset, and cease to use externall services, because he try it later with standard settings on same dataset, get same results as the cheap one and say WHY should i pay a even more to someone ? can do it myself :-D

While I completely  understand your problem (it sucks to be undercut by somebody doing shoddy work), being secretive about things or only sharing with a small group of people won't prevent that from happening. There will always be 'cowboys' around.

I think the way Lee handles his business is brilliant. Yes, he undermines his own position by freely sharing his knowledge. But at the same time if anybody asks "who is the leading Photogrammetry expert?" his name is at the top of the list.  That is why he has such an impressive client list.

Tutorials - it depend on what want - need to do, mostly the special stuff is solved on  project-to-project basis.  If interested will create a TUTORIAL thread where can write on what precise you want to see....  OK ?

That's an excellent initiative! I would be glad to help, but I am leaving on a long trip in 3 days. I'll keep an eye on it.

From my perspective, Standard version is cheap and we have it, i would love to own Pro because of the couple features that would help me in work but the price is to high.

The current Pro version seems to be priced for people doing DEMs and aerial photography work. I can imagine 3500$ is doable compared to rental costs of an airplane and a fancy aerial camera.

But I agree that for most artists the Pro version is priced too high, especially since we only need it for the phyton support and one or two other functions.  It's hard to justify the price for just these things. We have one Pro license but I am not the one using it. So whenever I need something that can only be done with a Pro function, I have to send the files to somebody else.

I think it would make sense if there was a "Pro Artist" version that is more geared towards artists and is stripped of all the DEM stuff.  If it was priced around 750$ I would buy it in a heartbeat.

That said: Agisoft is giving us simply amazing support. If we have a problem they often respond the same day and that alone is worth the price of the Pro license.

[FoodMan]

I think it would make sense if there was a "Pro Artist" version that is more geared towards artists and is stripped of all the DEM stuff.  If it was priced around 750$ I would buy it in a heartbeat.

+1

[EMULAT3D]

I think it would make sense if there was a "Pro Artist" version that is more geared towards artists and is stripped of all the DEM stuff.  If it was priced around 750$ I would buy it in a heartbeat.

+1

+1

I have no use for DEM in my character and props workflow, I just can't justify the cost of Pro to be able to properly align my model. Yes it sucks doing workarounds this limitation, but it's doable. I'd gladly pay for a Pro Artist version of Photoscan.

While we are making suggestions to Agisoft, I'd love to see them revamp the website with user galleries and projects that have used Agisoft. You guys are #1 in the field right now, you really need to start doing some bragging.

[Mr_Curious]

 "You guys are #1 in the field right now, you really need to start doing some bragging. "

+1

I agree wholeheartedly !!!

Cheers

 

[stihl]

Again, in this forum are a LOT of user, even more are not registered.. from my view here are active approx 25+- users !!!! So how they "reward" work of us ? they write at least THANX ? no :-(

*snip*

And what do you think you will gain from having everything secretive? A more lucrative paycheck?

Do you honestly think that the 25 people that were viewing this thread had anything constructive to add? Because I think if they did, they would've shared what they know. Instead there are at least 25 people who learned something from this thead. And since when is sharing information a negative thing? Your post baffles me.

[Wishgranter]

Depend on how you see it........ No im not seeing lucrative payback, im saying that very very little people reply on this forum, im saying from my own experience cannot and want not be much precise that they TAKE info from here and post NOTHING even if they could help everyone and that NOT a superduper secrets or something that way..... - as i say before its better to contact people with PMs, ASK the right way that someone contact YOU back with answer.......

[Mr_Curious]

as i say before its better to contact people with PMs, ASK the right way that someone contact YOU back with answer.......

Respectfully I disagree with this statement.

IMHO the preferred way is to ask a question in an open public forum and let as many "experts" answer the question as possible.... multiple heads are always better than one.  Moreover, by having the answers to questions in an open, public forum... everyone can benefit from the knowledge shared, not just a single party.

Obviously, if people want to take things further and have their own private discussions... great!  But it's beneficial to everyone when ideas, techniques and solutions are not discussed behind closed doors.

Again... just my opinion.

Cheers,

MC

[jeffreyianwilson]

I killed the thread because I was getting hate mail.  The seminar was for free yet certain members here acted like they paid for it.  I was torn to pieces in private emails which I care not to re-publish.

I was criticized for giving information away for free, what I said was wrong, my cameras sucked or I didn't know what I was doing.

I have no tolerance for this kind of abuse.

Please refer to my own facebook page or Zbrushworkshops for future content but I won't ever post in this forum again.

Jeff

[Mr_Curious]

I killed the thread because I was getting hate mail.  The seminar was for free yet certain members here acted like they paid for it.  I was torn to pieces in private emails which I care not to re-publish.

I was criticized for giving information away for free, what I said was wrong, my cameras sucked or I didn't know what I was doing.

I have no tolerance for this kind of abuse.

Please refer to my own facebook page or Zbrushworkshops for future content but I won't ever post in this forum again.

Jeff

Hey Jeff,

I'm sorry to hear that you got a load of abuse for trying to be helpful.

I understand and respect your decision but I'm sorry that it happened and I'm sure that most of us here don't condone that sort of behavior.

Cheers,

MC