Re: CameraBagPlugin v1.5 now allows more than 50 cameras

by digitaltrails » Thu Sep 24, 2020 1:25 am

I don't understand... What can I use the plug-in for? Can you give an example of what I can do with it?
No worries. I'll describe one example.

I have a site where the SH3D model is correctly located and oriented according to the map/GPS coordinates. I wanted to look at how shading at a site would change during a winter's day. To do this I needed to generate sequences of images from the same point of view but for different times of the day.

To do this I used the plugin to export and import the camera positions. I exported the following camera position:

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#name,x,y,z,pitch,yaw,fov,time,cameraType,viewType,observerSizeType
Overview0800,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T08:00:00.186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize


I then edited the exported CSV and duplicated the position multiple times, but each time I advanced the time by 30 minutes:

Code: Select all

#name,x,y,z,pitch,yaw,fov,[b]time[/b],cameraType,viewType,observerSizeType
Overview0800,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]08:00:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview0830,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]08:30:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview0900,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]09:00:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview0930,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]09:30:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview1000,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]10:00:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview1030,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]10:30:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview1100,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]11:00:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview1130,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]11:30:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview1200,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]12:00:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview1230,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]12:30:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview1300,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]13:00:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview1330,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]13:30:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview1400,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]14:00:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview1430,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]14:30:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview1500,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]15:00:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview1530,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]15:30:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview1600,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]16:00:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize
Overview1630,15858.19,-5870.0215,23499.879,59.0,1.0,63.0,2018-06-21T[b]16:30:00[/b].186+12:00[Pacific/Auckland],PINHOLE,topview,variableSize


I imported all these new camera positions and had SH3D generate images for all of them (which I could also optionally recombine into a video).

The above could have been achieved by manually creating each camera position inside SH3D, but I wanted to do months worth of such images. To create large numbers of camera positions it is easier to use some external tool (such as a spreadsheet or shell-script). Additionally I needed more points than the SH3D user interface would normally allow. Plus I wanted to be able to use the same sequences in different SH3D models created for the same site.

In general the plugin might be useful if you want to externally generate and manage large numbers of camera positions, or would like some way to externally store and restore more than the 50 permitted by the SH3D user interface.