Many of you will understand the basic idea of reality capture—the process of bringing the real, physical world into the digital, virtual environment, usually through the use of point cloud technology, or even via the easier-to-do process of converting photographs into 3D models, as we do with Photofly and 123D.

Traditionally, it’s always been difficult to use reality capture technology for anything above ground level. But now, do you fancy trying to capture an entire building and surrounding landscapes?
Send in the Drones…

In this situation, someone could send up a drone or MikroKopter, equipped with either a camera or a video camera, circle a building, capturing the dimensions of the building, without ever having to leave the ground. You could also fly it manually, by remote control, eyeballing and controlling the drone’s position until it moved out of the range of his own eyesight.

It’s even possible to program these drones in “automatic” mode, sending it on a specific “mission,” flying to specific GPS locations and heights around the building, at specific speeds and times also. And he could also use “first person view,” which would allow the operator to see what the drone sees, acting as a kind of virtual pilot, who is visually aware of what’s happening up in the clouds, even as he remains safely on the ground.

Check out this video by one our employees, who has used his drone to fly over the Autodesk office in San Rafael and then use that data to create a 3D model. 

Think it might be time to raid the piggy bank, lol :-)