Workflow for archaeological excavations and documentation

[kanxul]

Hello to all photogrammetry enthusiasts,

I take my frist steps in RC and I am currently trying to developt a workflow for archaeological documentation on an excavation. So far I have used a different software - but due to certain geopolitical circumstances, this is now becoming more difficult.

Creating section profiles is always a tricky business. RC has some pretty cool features in this regard.

At the end I need an orthophoto with the following information. I created the orthophoto (as a PNG with world file with the height in DHHN2016) in RC and imported it into QGIS and created the following view.

So far so good, but I still need the start and end coordinates in UTM of the projection plane. Quasi the center line of the bounding box. Here I have calculated the coordinates using the information on the center coordinates, rotation around the Z-axis and the length of the bounding box. But I’m too lazy to do the math every time?

Is there a more elegant way?

Best regards

[OndrejTrhan (otrhan)]

Hi @kanxul
It is not so elegant, but you can check the ortho’s sides coordinates inside RealityCapture and just rewrite them.

[kanxul]

Hi otrhan,

thanks for your reply! That was the second possible way I found out.

The coordinates correspond to the 3D coordinates of the respective pixel on the surface of the point cloud/mesh?

In that case, it would be good, if the image coordinates (in pixels and meters) were also displayed. Then I could measure the cutting or digging edge in the image. Is this possible?

[OndrejTrhan (otrhan)]

Hi
Yes, the values are projected coordinates of the pixels on the ortho.
But I suppose this could be not useful for your needs. I suppose it would be better to export simplified version or your ortho as Top view and check the edge coordinates in GIS application, like:

I suppose this is not possible to show for the ortho. But you can create the cross sections on your model or the profile using the Measure tool:

[kanxul]

Hi ortrhan,

I have found all the information I need. These coordinates correspond to the start and end coordinates of the center line of the selection box.

That already helps.

NW, NE, SW, SE correspond to the corners of the projection/image. The only thing missing is the height.

It would be cool if this could be exported as a CSV with the set CBS (here EPSG:25832).
For example.

name, Corner, East, North, Alt”
PR12,NW,344258.253,5666728.253,32.255
PR12,NE,344250.323,5666728.390,32.255
PR12,SW,344258.253,5666728.253,31.200
PR12,SE,344250.323,5666728.390,31.200

[OndrejTrhan (otrhan)]

Hi @kanxul
As those results are part of the report you should be able to create your own export/report.
But I checked the commands for ortho and they are mostly in degrees.
If you want to dive into it you can check these:
https://rchelp.capturingreality.com/en-US/appbasics/reports.htm
https://rchelp.capturingreality.com/en-US/appbasics/reports_functions_and_variables.htm
https://rchelp.capturingreality.com/en-US/appbasics/reports_fav_ortho.htm

You can also check the XML file of the showed ortho report there: C:\Program Files\Capturing Reality\RealityCapture\Reports to gets the idea how it works.

[kanxul]

Hi @OndrejTrhan ,

that’s great. It’s working!!! Thanks a lot!