Photo Editing in Register 360

I believe the topic of this blog post will highlight a feature that many people either don’t know about or don’t know how to use in Cyclone Register 360.  Of course, I am referring to the photo editing features.  I suppose for many people they don’t need to edit the photos because they aren’t really using them when the export the point cloud out to another file.  I believe these features are invaluable when trying to show a client what a project really looks like or when trying to place a co-worker at a project when they haven’t really been there. 

I believe it’s obvious to say that in order for any of this to work, we need to scan with pictures turned on and import those pictures with scan data into Register 360.  There are two ways I can think of to edit photos within a scan.  The first way requires us to right mouse click on the setup we would like to edit and choose Edit HDR Image. 

The Tone Map Editor will open.

Using the slide bar, move the slider back to darken the photo and forward to brighten the photo.

Multiple photos can be edited at one using the Shift Select  command and ticking the check box in the lower left corner next to Apply to Selection.

Now this might not be what you were hoping for when I mentioned editing photos in Register 360.  Maybe you wanted to actually edit the photos by adding or removing parts to the photo.  The good news is that feature is the second way I mentioned of editing a photo.  To accomplish this, we once again will need to right click on the setup of the photo we want to edit.  This time however, we will need to edit only one photo at a time.  Below is the photo in Register 360 before any edits.

Because Register 360 is a point cloud software and not a photo editing software, we are going to use something else to edit the photo.  So, how do we do that?  We are going to export the data out of Register 360.  Right mouse click on the setup you would like to edit and choose Export Panoramic Images…

Note:  The image should be exported to an empty folder. 

Once the image is exported, you can use your favorite editor to edit the jpg in any way you would like.  After the changes have been saved (using the same name as you exported to), exit the photo editing software and go back to Register 360 and right mouse click on the same setup you exported from and choose Re-Import Panoramic Images…

Note:  This will not work if the image was renamed or is placed into a different folder that doesn’t have the exr file.

The image is now edited and mapped back to the point cloud.

About the Author

Sr. Reality Capture Applications Expert<br><br>Jay offers a broad industry overview that comes from years of in-the-field experience. Jay’s vast experience allows him to help organizations make the most of both Leica Geosystems and Autodesk solutions. He understands the overall workflow from point cloud collection to design presentation and helps teams ensure they’re working with the best tools for the job. His years of industry instruction allow him to educate teams efficiently while they improve their workflows.

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