bigben (and others),
really useful post. thanks.
do you use the "image count" criterion on gradual selection? at all levels, it seems to want to remove a very substantial number of points from the sparse cloud.
also, anecdotally, i get the sense that when part of the object is out of focus and not excluded by masking, this affects the quality of the texture model moreso than the geometric accuracy of the mesh. is this correct?