PhotoModeler Idealize

The PhotoModeler Premium comes with a capability called Idealize.

Idealize is a valuable tool for animation work (film production, forensic video analysis), and working in external software where you need to match a real photograph to a 3D scene.

Idealize will take an existing project and use the calibrated camera parameters to produce an idealized camera and images. That is, it will re-map (pixel by pixel) the images removing any lens distortion, non-centered principal, point, and any non-square pixels. It will then adjust the existing marks to match the undistorted image and then assign an idealized camera to the project.

The resulting images and camera positions are suitable for use in most rendering packages which do not handle ‘real world’ cameras (such as Max, Maya, etc.). The end result is far more accurate matches between imported data and your idealized background plates.

These accurately matched background images can be used for advanced modeling in the 3D package (such as Maya) or for animation and simple match-moving tasks.

Note Idealize is not required for any PhotoModeler internal operation – as the internal algorithms all account for lens distortion. This module’s purpose is when ideal images are needed in external packages.

The “Tip 68: Precise Camera Alignment in 3D Studio Max” post shows an example of how this works along with a video.

Another Sample

Demonstrates the alignment of 3d points with a photo, in an external animation package (such as Max), without and with the idealized photo.