We’ve probably taken taken over 10,000 photos of Desoto Park, our site in Baton Rouge, over the last few weeks for our studio class.
What if we could create a 3-D model of a site using just digital photographs?
Photosynth is capable of doing this, through the conversion of an extremely dense number of photos into 3D points, which are then combined together to form the point cloud. Photosynth analyzes photos in relation to one another, gathering information like angle, focal length, texture, and depth to ultimately create a 3D model of the area. The user can then browse through the point cloud as if the site has been reconstructed with tiny pixels floating in the air. Below is an example of a point cloud converted into a 3D model through thousands of photographs:
The point cloud can then be supposedly “exported” into AutoCAD, through running a script that I don’t fully understand but I think is cool as exaggerated topography.
- A point cloud can be imported into AutoCAD. Just type “import 3D point cloud model of my site” in the command bar.
The applications for design and Landscape Architecture specifically could be numerous- while the point clouds might not be as precise as 3D CAD models (yet), they can be used for diagramming the site and viewing the space as a series of surfaces or points rather than attributing style, texture, and color to them.
Plus, wouldn’t it look cool as Point Cloud Diagram 2 during a studio review?
Did you know I’ve been to Dubrovnik? It looks just like that.
I was not aware! It looks like abunch of dots floating in the air? sweet.