A bit of progress, learned to export alignment components, bring them in and begin consolidating them with control points. The Help refers to a Feature Source setting to relate alignment components via merge using overlaps, use component features, or use all features, but it’s not indicated how to bring these up in Settings, thanks for pointing me.
Secondly, when attempting to find an overlapping region between two alignment components (overlap isn’t via shared images, rather there’s overlap in the coverage), I keep a grid of the master folder with all images open on a second monitor for quick reference, the question then turning to which images appear in a given alignment component. I struggle with this in that the camera poses aren’t listed sequentially. Any reason for that? One wants to readily glance at a list of poses/images in a component, look over to the grid to get oriented, then back again to make selections in populating a 6-panel view to begin settings tie ins. I’m having to hunt just to find the first or last image in the sequence.
Lastly, you say you’ll often work up as big a composition as alignment will carry you, then segment via reconstruction zones with slight overlap and export in right-size mesh chunks. When you’re working on a large set, what control is there in RC to make these reconstruction areas somewhat uniform and logical, i.e. following a pattern that allows you to keep track of what next needs to be exported? Maybe, I just haven’t come across it yet, but I’m thinking a tool for segmenting on all three axis according to chunk size would make this workflow yet more procedural. Just a thought.