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Hey everyone! I’m looking for some free photogrammetry software to use with a non-profit organization I volunteer with. We have an extremely limited budget, so I started looking into being able to do 3D scans using photos from a digital camera. I will need software that will run on a Windows 10 machine.

I know there’s Autodesk’s 123D Catch and then a few others that require you to jump between a few programs. While these work ok for my kids, I’m looking for something that can get a little more detail from the scans. Does anyone have any recommendations for free software? Most of the software I’m finding is specific to Android or Apple devices. I’d like to avoid that if possible.

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Hi Jory,

I had the same query and there aren’t many options. I went for a DIY scanner with free software based on a RaspberryPi and that might not be a viable option but if interested here my insights.

I have been using Freelss for a while and it does a great job of processing scans. Although it runs on linux/Pi hardware you might be able to find some help from technical savvy people to run it on windows through some smarts (like VMware) or use a raspberrypi.

Another option is to use Meshlab which is free but you need some help in order to learn to process photos since there are thousands of settings and options. See for an impression what steps to take From Scan to Printable Mesh Tutorial (Page 1) — ATLAS 3D & FreeLSS — SoliForum - 3D Printing Community

Davidscanner is the commercial software and not cheap (in order of a thousand Dollars when I looked at it a few years ago) but it does the job. Wish there were more options!

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Another vote here for FreeLSS for scanning. Definitely worth paying the $25 for the licenced version, there are a number of updates which improve performance significantly over the opensource one.

I use a Raspberry Pi based scanner running FreeLSS and then post process in Windows using Meshlab and Meshmixer.

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hi jory, If you are interested in an economic and efficient 3D scanner, you can try to see this MakerScanner - MakerBot Industries

cheers

Veronica

Apixè3d

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123 Catch is what we have used. It comes with an easy Android app for phone and tablet that uploaded the Autodesk server. Also something to look into is Autodesk ReCap. It now has the option where you upload all your images and register them right from your desktop.

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I used autodesk momento with good results (check my profile pics) it’s free, in beta, but it does take a lot of skills to take good pictures. No expensive cameras needed - I used a phone actually. A temp matt spray I can recommend is plasti-dip and you can draw reference line on it. Very useful for reflective or clear objects lacking details.

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Link? I didn’t see it on the Autodesk site.

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Oh looks like they went out of beta a few months back and now it’s Autodesk Remake. And they are charging money now for the pro version - $190 per year. I campared the two and the pro version has give more functionalities, but they can all be done post processing with free software like meshmixer. Not as convenient but you can’t beat free.

No matter how good the scans are, you have to do post processing anyway. In comparing Momento to agisoft I found momento had some smoothing post processing.

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Old post, but i wanted to add my opinion, i spent a lot of time searching for the best.

I think right now the big players are:

Agisoft: we all know it, still a great solution.
Pix4d: excellent for drones, not really for objects
Recap: free photogrammetry software with great tools.
Zephyr: free photogrammetry software with great tools, but much better UI and sharper geometry.

I use photogrammetry to 3Dprint my scan and right now i am in love with zephyr.

Everything else is either unprofessional or not ready for daily professional use.

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Not a single one of these is free. I do not believe there is a free option available

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recap and zephyr are free.

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