BLK3D Import format

Development Pipeline & Plugins
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BLK3D Import format

What is Leica BLK3D?

It is a simple device with the size of a smartphone with two 10 Mpx cameras that are synchronously creating sequential images at the same time. Since the relative position and the distance between two cameras is known, RealityCapture can use this kind of data to automatically scale your model without needing any further actions or input. Then you can take measurements in the scene, add other inputs that are not scaled and align these data together to scale them all.

Please also see the related tutorial on how to scale your scene with Leica BLK3D: Scaling methods used in RealityCapture

How to obtain proper BLK3d data and use them in RealityCapture

  • Use the latest device firmware (there must be an option in setting to capture images in image group mode)

  • Capture only in the image group mode, do not use Stereo (Stereo mode does not store important sensor metadata folders)

  • When using any RealityCapture version before 14258, please check if there is a “.CMI” file in your file structure and import each of the CMI files separately. “.CMI” file can also act as a project file and a separate BLK3D scan. So, in this case, please import every .cmi scan separately, instead of just importing a single CMI file.

Example of the supported file structure:

For the successful import to RealityCapture, you need the “.CMI” file and its main folder with subfolders like "stream" folders (images from both cameras), "additional sensors" and “edm” folder

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Inside the main folder “88993508-e871-4d30-a9f1-fd1c2d5b42fe”

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Inside the 00_inputVideo folder

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Inside the InputVideo_00 folder

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Inside the additional_sensors folder (files in this folder are mandatory)

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Inside edm

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Inside stream_00 folder (these are photos with thumbnails)

*XMP files are created right after importing the “.CMI” file to RealityCapture

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Inside stream_01 folder (these are photos with thumbnails)

*XMP files are created right after importing the “.CMI” file to RealityCapture

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RealityCapture import procedure

  • To import a “.CMI” file, go through the Video Sequence button in the WORKFLOW tab.

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  • After clicking on Import, the videos will be split into frames and loaded into the application. You will be able to find them in the Images root in the 1Ds panel.
  • Now you can proceed with adding other inputs or directly aligning them and further processing like usual.

Have issues with the import of CMI files?

  • Please verify your folder structure if you are not missing any files or folders (compare it to the file structure above)
  • Since the “.CMI” file can also act as a project file and a separate BLK3D scan. So, in this case, please import every .cmi file separately, instead of just importing a single CMI file project file.

FAQ

I´m missing folders above in my file structure and only see the “.CMI” file/s.

  • then your capturing mode was most likely set to Stereo mode. Please go to the BLK3D device settings and set the mode to the Image group mode. Then reshoot your dataset using this mode.