Photo stitching software for large photos

[TechSightDrone]

I am looking for real world software that can stitch houndres of photos together to create a large high quality Arial photo. Their seems to be many applications available, but many that I tested are unstable and inaccurate. Is their any suggestions for software that really works?

 

[TonyPHX]

I use open drone map to stitch together photos for mapping purposes.

Drone Mapping Software - OpenDroneMap™

Drone mapping software. Generate maps, point clouds, 3D models and DEMs from images, any orientation, any camera.

www.opendronemap.org

Your description above though doesn't indicate if you tried this one or not. Is this one of the ones that is "unstable"?

 

[Phantomrain.org]

I am looking for real world software that can stitch houndres of photos together to create a large high quality Arial photo. Their seems to be many applications available, but many that I tested are unstable and inaccurate. Is their any suggestions for software that really works?

One of out clients @zeusfl uses Drone Link and Drone Deploy to take the pictures but I am not sure what he uses to merge them < I will update with the software he uses. Edited.

He uses Agisoft Metahape Pro for the merging of the pictures and the Drone Link for the work flow.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water

 

[TonyPHX]

One of out clients @zeusfl uses Drone Link and Drone Deploy to merge thousand of pictures for mapping. You might consider that if it was not on your list.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water

I'll have to look closer at Dronelink. I use Dronelink to take the pictures, but I was unaware it could also stitch them together. Interesting!

 

[Phantomrain.org]

I'll have to look closer at Dronelink. I use Dronelink to take the pictures, but I was unaware it could also stitch them together. Interesting!

No , Drone link does not merge the pictures , it just take them I have to edit that.
You want to use Agisoft Metahape Pro is what he uses for 5K software to merge the Pictures.

He has some excellent videos on the subject.

 

[zeusfl]

You can do that even with photoshop. But I personally use Agisoft Metashape Professional for 3D modeling and also orthomosaic.

 

[Phantomrain.org]

Right there is the beauty of tagging someone, within seconds you can get a response.

Phantomrain.org
Gear to fly in the Rain. Land on the Water.

 

[BigAl07]

We do this a LOT but not locally. We, thus far, have used Subscription Based stitching providers but I'm currently testing other "local" options.

Currently my work flow is:

• Design/Layout the Flight in Drone Deploy
• Capture the images using Drone Deploy
• Transfer the captured DATA to MapsMadeEasy where all stitching etc is done as a per map fee

I installed WebODM last night and started a large map on it but didn't check on it this morning before heading to the office to see if it completed or how it did IF it completed.

 

[BigAl07]

I use open drone map to stitch together photos for mapping purposes.

Drone Mapping Software - OpenDroneMap™

Drone mapping software. Generate maps, point clouds, 3D models and DEMs from images, any orientation, any camera.

www.opendronemap.org

Your description above though doesn't indicate if you tried this one or not. Is this one of the ones that is "unstable"?

Good afternoon Tony. Do you do many large maps say 400 images and up? I've got one to process that's a tad (IIRC) over 880 images.

 

[Chrislaf]

I am looking for real world software that can stitch houndres of photos together to create a large high quality Arial photo. Their seems to be many applications available, but many that I tested are unstable and inaccurate. Is their any suggestions for software that really works?

Maybe if you indicate the software you have already tried and ruled out and the type of aerial photos you are after, it will help narrow down the suggestions. You are not clear whether you are interested in mapping type images or traditional panos. The kind of software suggested can be very different.

Chris

 

[zeusfl]

The process is very power consumption and processing demands. I have an AMD Ryzen 9 5050X with a GeForce RTX 3070, 128GB of Memory, and processing about 500 pictures in good quality can take about 6-8 hours depending if you select Mid-high or High. This is why online processing services are maybe a better option with a better output.

@BigAl07 how do you manage the ground control points when you do this online?

 

[TonyPHX]

No , Drone link does not merge the pictures , it just take them I have to edit that.
You want to use Agisoft Metahape Pro is what he uses for 5K software to merge the Pictures.

He has some excellent videos on the subject.

Very cool. I will look at Agisoft as well!!

 

[TonyPHX]

The process is very power consumption and processing demands. I have an AMD Ryzen 9 5050X with a GeForce RTX 3070, 128GB of Memory, and processing about 500 pictures in good quality can take about 6-8 hours depending if you select Mid-high or High. This is why online processing services are maybe a better option with a better output.

@BigAl07 how do you manage the ground control points when you do this online?

I run ODM on my M1 Pro Max and have been processing 300-500 pictures in an hour or so. Meanwhile, the i9 windows machine is still chugging for hours. Of course, I wll end up sending jobs to the Intel box because the mac is supposed to doing so much more. : )

 

[TonyPHX]

Good afternoon Tony. Do you do many large maps say 400 images and up? I've got one to process that's a tad (IIRC) over 880 images.

Yes, biggest I have done was north of 1200 pics. Learned a few memory management fixes on the ODM setup, but got them done.

 

[BigAl07]

@BigAl07 how do you manage the ground control points when you do this online?

Nothing I've done required any GCP's. They have been used for Marketing, Crop Inspection, Construction Progress Tracking only.

 

[TechSightDrone]

Maybe if you indicate the software you have already tried and ruled out and the type of aerial photos you are after, it will help narrow down the suggestions. You are not clear whether you are interested in mapping type images or traditional panos. The kind of software suggested can be very different.

Chris

Thank you for the advice. The software I have used so far without success for various reasons like accuracy, quality degradation, crash with photos North of 800 etc was as follows: Microsoft Ice, Auto Stitch, Hugin, PhotoStitcher. I must confess that in some instances my skills might be lacking. Microsoft Ice is the easiest one for my to use, but lacks accuracy.
My use case is to merge 800+ 4k photos into one single large Arial photo that can be used to inspect roofs and other aspects of a property from above. Also many other uses like progress on development or agriculture planning.
I have used Metashape Standard for 3D models and I really like it, but I don't know if I can get a high detailed 2D Arial photo from it. If it is pos3, then I will really attempt doing it.

 

[zeusfl]

Thank you for the advice. The software I have used so far without success for various reasons like accuracy, quality degradation, crash with photos North of 800 etc was as follows: Microsoft Ice, Auto Stitch, Hugin, PhotoStitcher. I must confess that in some instances my skills might be lacking. Microsoft Ice is the easiest one for my to use, but lacks accuracy.
My use case is to merge 800+ 4k photos into one single large Arial photo that can be used to inspect roofs and other aspects of a property from above. Also many other uses like progress on development or agriculture planning.
I have used Metashape Standard for 3D models and I really like it, but I don't know if I can get a high detailed 2D Arial photo from it. If it is pos3, then I will really attempt doing it.

Yes you can at least in the Professional version. Not sure if the Standard. Using orthomosaic.

• Import pictures
• Align pictures
• Create the dense cloud
• Create the Orthomosaic

I am not sure if you need to create the textures first before being able to do the orthomosaic. I will double-check at home today.

 

[BigAl07]

Yes, biggest I have done was north of 1200 pics. Learned a few memory management fixes on the ODM setup, but got them done.

So other than Trial & Error how/where do you learn more about WebODM? I'm having a heck of a time and can't seem to get any reply from Customer Service (only been 2 days just to be fair).

 

[Meta4]

Microsoft Ice, Auto Stitch, Hugin, PhotoStitcher. I must confess that in some instances my skills might be lacking. Microsoft Ice is the easiest one for my to use, but lacks accuracy.

Those are photographic stitching programs.
You need a mapping program to create accurate orthophoto mosaics.
Agisoft Metashape is the industry standard for that and gives good results.

 

[BigAl07]

Those are photographic stitching programs.
You need a mapping program to create accurate orthophoto mosaics.
Agisoft Metashape is the industry standard for that and gives good results.

I'm using the TRIAL version of MetaShape right now. Whew lots of learning here LOL