Request: Ability to delete or clear all constrains (tie points, ground control points, or distances)

Hi!

Typically models have only a few constrains (such as tie points, ground control points, or distances). I am working with hundreds of control points and thousands of distances. There are a number of problems:

Feature request: problems 1-6 can easily be solved by adding a button which clears the model of all tie points, ground control points, and all distances. For example “Clear constrains” button.

  1. Problem: The selected ground control point cannot be deleted. If I click on a ground control point and press delete, nothing happens. Feature request: when user selects a ground control point and presses delete, the ground control point is deleted.

  2. Problem: Multiple selected ground control points cannot be deleted. If I select multiple ground control point and press delete, only the first control point is deleted. To delete 400 control points, 400 clicks are required. Feature request: when user selects a number of ground control point and presses delete, all selected ground control points are deleted.

  3. Problem: Multiple selected ground control points cannot be deleted from the settings. If I select multiple ground control point and go their properties, I can disable them, but not delete. Feature request: in the ground control point settings where there is Enable/Disable add there the ability to delete points for example Enable/Disable/Delete or a separate button/property to delete points.

  4. Problem: The selected distance cannot be deleted. If I click on a distance and press delete, nothing happens. Feature request: when user selects a distance and presses delete, the ground distance is deleted.

  5. Problem: Multiple selected distances cannot be deleted. If I select multiple distances and press delete, only the distance is deleted. To delete 4000 distances, 4000 clicks are required. Feature request: when user selects a number of distances and presses delete, all selected distances are deleted.

  6. Problem: Multiple selected distances cannot be deleted from the settings. If I select multiple distances and go their properties, I can disable them, but not delete. Feature request: in the distance settings where there is Enable/Disable add there the ability to delete distances for example Enable/Disable/Delete or a separate button/property to delete distances.

  7. Problem: On the 1st load of a ground control point, the X, Y, Z of that control point are added to the model. If those X,Y,Z are changed in an external software, for example scaled or a the GCP is measured again and does not result in the (exactly) same X,Y,Z, when imported again in Reality Capture, the new readings are ignored and the original GCP X,Y,Z remain unchanged. The user expectation is that the new GCP X,Y,Z overwrites without warning the previous measurement readings. Feature request: If a ground control point is imported with the same name as a ground control point already in the model, the new values replace (overwrite) the old values. (alternate solution): If the user can delete the old GCPs (see requests 1-6) then, this feature is not needed.

  8. Problem: On loading a massive amount of GCPs into the model, Reality Capture reads in also GCPs which are not present in the model. However, when reading in distances, Reality Capture silently refuses to process a file which has distances not present in the model. To be clear, of a file with thousands of distances, if there is even one row which contains a distance not present in the model, the file cannot be processed. User expectation: in distance files containing distances which are not present in the model, such rows are skipped but the rest of the distances are still imported. Feature request: instead of silently failing to import distance file with distances not present in the model, change the behaviour to “skip row”. This means if either the start point or end point of a distance is not present, that row will be skipped and resume on next row.

I hope you consider the requests above. These features are only needed by people who are working with a lot of data. However, adding these features may lead to an increase the usage of Reality Capture and allow it to work together with GIS systems and professional level amounts of data typical to infrastructure projects such as roads or construction sector.

Thank you for reading and considering the requests,
Lauri Uotinen

Hello Lauri,

This is awesome and structured feedback. Thank you very much!

In the meantime, I’ll try to provide you with a couple of tips. Although there isn’t a button to delete a selection of control points, for now, you can make the selection or even select all control points in the 1Ds view and in the console type:

-deleteControlPoint

Same for deleting constraints. Select multiple or all constraints in the 1Ds and type in the console:

-deleteConstraint

I’ll add the other requests to our database of feature requests. Thanks again!

Best regards,
Jakub

Hi Lauri,
just as addition for problem 8, the Suppress error setting should work for that: RealityCapture Help