Photogrammetry, Potree, and Me

A view of Washington and Lee's red bricked, white columned colonnade during the summer.

August 5th, 2019

Hello again, Lexington! Over a month later, we’re hard at work again on the Florence As It Was project, this time armed with all the technological aid W&L has to offer. Those final few days in Florence were quite busy - Alice and I were both working on our respective Fulbright application drafts, and we also photographed the archives of the Innocenti, a beautiful space containing records going back to the 15th century. That being said, it’s not the best space for photogrammetry - the lighting was less than ideal and there are all sorts of very intricate details like railings and books that are difficult to model, but we’ll see how it turns out.

Now, in August, Professor Bent and Dave have successfully modeled the Innocenti interior, merging it with the exterior scan we finished in June. I’m hoping that I can quickly model the two medallions I photographed and, using a handy piece of software called Potree, stick those photogrammetric models into the point clouds, letting us see what a restored version of the facade would look like.

On the docket for the following week is working on our Siena models, as the deadline for those is in September, as well as resuming work on the website now that I have a working laptop. We’re hoping to make a number of layout changes so it’s a lot more navigable, so stay tuned for a new and improved project website!