Modeling Interiors

Interiors can be tricky, but it is possible with PhotoModeler.

The primary challenge with interior spaces is to be able to capture a “spread” of images from different angles especially small spaces with a lot of obstructions (eg furniture) preventing point marking. For comparison, photographing the exterior of an object, is typically more straightforward since you can often move to unobstructed positions around the object. However, for many real world situations even with exteriors it does take some thought about how to find the best camera positions. For urban environments, for example, even the exterior of structures can have obstructions from some views or angles.

In any event, the solution for both interior and exterior applications is usually to take more photos of more overlapping segments, that have enough common identifiable points (targets, corners, lines, edges) from image to image. Usually at least 6 identifiable points is a good place to start to get a decent model, but of course more is better. Exactly how many photos is a question that is difficult to provide any generalized answer for, but you’ll want to take more photos than you think you might need, as it is a lot easier to discard photos than to go back to the site to take new ones. Also, it is important to keep in mind that even if you cannot get horizontal separation, you can often get acceptable vertical separation in camera angles by standing on an elevated object etc.

You will probably discover it becomes as much art as science to learn how to position the camera to get an appropriate spread of images that will allow you to model your space with as few photos as possible. Sometimes you need to get creative when taking photos (eg taking photos from outside a window looking in, from an elevated position looking down, etc).