THE DRONEVIBES PODCAST
This week we talk about the Pix4D Drone Mapping Software (www.pix4d.com). We also discuss a question from a listener in Australia who wanted to know what our flight log preferences are.
Below is a video that Petr talked about on the podcast…
Using Drones for 3D site Modeling: 3D Model of Archaeological Site, created with DJI Phantom 4 Drone and Pix4D Mapper Software from NotAdrone on Vimeo.
This video is a fly-through animation of a 3D model of archaeological excavation site – an 1860 brewery storage cellar in Williamsburg (now Brooklyn), NY. This site was uncovered during a construction project and will not be preserved. Archaeologist Celia Bergoffen has led the project of unearthing the site and documenting it before it’s destroyed. As a part of this effort, she has approached Petr Hejl about capturing the site by a drone and using the video along with other ground and interior video material to create a full high resolution 3D model of the top and the inside of the cellar. What you see in the animation is a lower resolution 3D model created from a video captured by flying over the site in grid pattern with DJI Phantom 4 Drone, no ground footage was used to create this particular model. The drone was flown at low altitude (just above the railing surrounding the site, with the camera pointed straight down, in a double-grid pattern with 70% side overlap). Two double-grid flight videos were uploaded to Pix4D mapper software to create this model. The program was set to extract every 30th frame – at 30fps, this would be an equivalent of capturing a still image every 1 second. Total of 1187 frames have been used to create this model.
Rapidly evolving drone and computer technology makes it now possible to create high resolution 3D digital models of real world structures and sites at relatively low cost, making them an invaluable tool for archaeologists, architects, environmental engineers, educators, and many other professionals.
Big thanks to Celia Bergoffen for all her hard work in lieu of preserving our past for the future.
To learn more about drone mapping and 3D modeling services, please, contact Petr Hejl at notadrone.com.
Equipment: DJI Phantom 4 Drone
Software: Pix4D mapper
Lead Archaeologist: Celia Bergoffen
Drone camera operator: Petr Hejl
Model & Video Animation Created by: Petr Hejl
