Pump Station - 3D Mesh

Pump Station photo mesh taken created using Autodesk Recap 360

I stumbled across, what I thought would make, a simple photogrammetry project today, a sewage pump station on the outskirts of the local wetlands. The reason I thought it would be easy is that it is a simple shape and it is surrounded by clear space making it easy to fly the Walkera QR X350 Pro around it.

I turned out to be tougher than I thought. For starters getting the quad absolutely stable is a tough job in even the lightest of winds and watching out for the right lighting is also tough, it was a very sunny day and when the camera was facing towards the sun the photos are all under-exposed. The other challenge is understanding when the GoPro will take a picture, I have it set on a 2 second timer so for each placement I have to wait five seconds or so to make sure I have at least one or two good shots in.

I'm yet to get stuck into all of the functions in Autodesk ReCap 360 to be able to 'manually stitch' photos that couldn't be processed etc. For my second attempt I'm pleased with the results.

Anyway, it's all good fun experimenting and slowly getting better. I'll be sure to go back and try again, next time I'll pay more attention to my methodology and the lighting conditions.

Pump Station photogrammetry mission using my QR X350 Pro and GoPro2 (hard mounted) 

This has been another 'drone adventure' in aerial surveying, inspection and mapping by The Aero Scout.