Hey everyone,

I am currently working on a pipeline to extract context from engineering drawings (like P&IDs and technical blueprints) stored in PDFs to feed into an LLM.

Multi-modal LLMs are great, but they aren't quite there yet for heavy-duty engineering files. Here are a few observations and hurdles I’ve hit so far:

• Multimodal LLMs lack precision: Standard vision models can read the overall drawing, but they miss critical component tags, small text, and fine details.
• OCR/Text extraction isn't enough: Pulling just the raw text from drawing tags helps with basic Quality Control (QC), but it completely misses the spatial classification and structural relationships.
• The Planned Workaround: I am planning to use classical Computer Vision (like Hough Transforms) for shape and icon detection. The goal is to extract the symbols and text, map their connections, and build a Graph Database to give the LLM structured context.

Has anyone successfully built a pipeline for this? I would love to hear your thoughts on a few things:

1. Are there specific CV models or open-source frameworks you recommend for engineering symbol detection over traditional Hough transforms?
2. How are you handling the layout/relationship parsing to build your graph edges?
3. Any recommendations for structuring the final graph data so an LLM can query it efficiently via GraphRAG?

If you are working on something similar or have dealt with CAD/PDF parsing for AI, I'd love to hear your suggestions or brainstorm solutions!

What apps/programs do you use to view your scanned models?

I personally use f3d and I'm quite happy with it, but I have been on the lookout for a secondary viewer. Why? Sometimes when my final model looks funny, I need to figure out if it's an issue with the viewer or an issue with the export settings from my photogrammetry program/apps, and it's hard to do that if I use only one viewer exclusively.

Common formats I deal with are .3ds, .obj, .usdz, .ply, and .glb.

I am an industrial design student at Iowa State University, running an exploratory study for my senior project on how people physically control complex 3D software.

Photogrammetry is relevant because processing, alignment, cleanup, and mesh editing demand long sessions of precise navigation. I want to understand where the tools get in the way.

Survey: https://iastate.qualtrics.com/jfe/form/SV_0UJOtQHRXoz1ggu

The survey asks about your processing and editing software, your input devices, the tasks that cause the most friction, and any hardware or shortcut setups you have adopted.

Time: 5–7 minutes. Voluntary. No identifying information in the main survey.
Requirements: 18+, current point-cloud or comparable 3D software use.

This is not spam and not marketing. I have no product. Comments are welcome if you would rather answer here.

Heyo, i'll write my bachelor thesis soon. It will contain 360 cameras/ point clouds based on panoramic phtos. Is there anyone who can help me with topics like camera calibration, agisoft metashape and stuff like that? Thank you already xx (Gerne auf deutsch :D)

White shoe 3d scan to test out the merge component feature of RealityScan. The shoelaces moved when the subject was propped to its sides so it created 2 components: the top and bottom part of the shoes. The software merged them using common reference points from each components.

This project was born out of a desire to convert my mineral and rock collection into a virtual 3D archive that I can carry around and share. The concept is simple: I take one or more photos of my stones and crystals, and the app generates an HD 3D model while also classifying the rock using a local model (HF-CLIP WASM) directly in the browser. I can then view my collection and share it at exhibitions. The plan is to subsequently implement an NFT system to ensure traceability and uniqueness.

https://geo.insightest.app

(A quick Supabase login is currently required to save specimens to a persistent virtual shelf).

I'd appreciate any feedback on the WebGL rendering pipeline, lighting setups for crystalline textures, or mobile performance issues.

Hey everyone!

I’m looking to get a camera for photogrammetry and I’m currently considering a Nikon D810, Canon 5DS R, or Sony A7R II.

I don’t have the budget for a new high-end camera, so I’m looking at used options.

What camera + lens are you using, and how has your experience been with it?

Would you recommend one of these three, or is there another used camera I should look at?

Thanks!

One crisp October morning, as the sun was rising, I spent a few quiet moments alone photographing this amazing statue of country music legend Dolly Parton. It stands at the foothills to the Great Smoky Mountains in the courthouse square of the small town of Sevierville, TN. The six and a half foot statue, not including the rock base, was sculpted by local artist Jim Gray, and unveiled in the courthouse square on May 3rd, 1987.

When asked about her statue, Dolly likes to quote the loving words of her father as saying, “To your fans you may be some sort of an idol. But to the pigeons down at the courthouse, you’re just another outhouse.” And Dolly’s father, before his passing, would sneak out to the statue at night, with a bucket and sponge, to clean the pigeon poop off the statue. RIP Dolly.

Canon 5DSR, 720 Photos, 107 million tris
Photogrammetry scan for my VR Sculpture Garden on VIVERSE.

Hey everyone,

In my country, the market for photogrammetry is still very niche and hasn't really taken off commercially. Because of that, it's hard to gauge whether this is viable as a standalone career or primarily used as a secondary skill.

For those of you doing this professionally: Are you making a full-time living off photogrammetry?

This is for undergraduate thesis. Our goals is develop an edge computing system for photogrammetry. Do you recommend other alternatives for the PC?

Can ayone tell me how to download agisoft metashape pro for free and use it for free. Any crack link or refrence ? Yt is just asking money !

This app is targeted towards people in the AEC industry. But it’s really versatile and can be used by anyone.

An example would be DIY home renovators can use it to scan their property and get accurate dimensions on their phone with pictures and notes while they go to the store to find materials and actually know how much they will need since the dimensions are on their phone.

It has a trial. Please try it out if you can, then cancel it so you don't get charged, and let me know what I can improve. Thank you.

https://apps.apple.com/us/app/scanveyor/id6799243366

So I'm a 3D environment artist (for games), working in the field for a few years now. Recently I decided that I want to scan stuff myself. I was looking into getting a Sony Alpha 7r (III, IV or V (not sure yet)). But I'm really unsure about the choice of lenses. I was reading that higher focal lengths, like 70 mm, for example, produce less distortion, but you need to be further away from the surface or object, while 30-50 mm introduce more distortion, but you can be closer with your camera. So I'm aware that the choice heavily depends on what you want scan exactly. To answer that question: The main thing I will be scanning is floor surfaces like streets, sidewalks, pavements, and dirt or other surfaces like brick walls, concrete, grunge, leaks, stains, and so on. Ideally, my own body height, 1,80m, is enough to be far enough off the ground to capture a reasonable space of ground without having too much distortion. What do you guys think is the sweet spot for that?

Hey everyone, I run archaeoarchive.com, kind of a personal project where I'm trying to build a 3D archive of archaeological and cultural sites as I travel. Not just for cool renders, actually trying to make it useful for preservation down the line.

Right now my setup is pretty simple. I shoot with an iPhone 15 Pro Max, using RealityScan on the phone while I capture so I can see the AR view of where my photo positions actually landed, not just snapping photos blind and hoping. That way I can see gaps in coverage while I'm still on site and go back and fill them in. Then I run everything through Apple's built in Object Capture pipeline for the actual build. Processing happens on a MacBook Air M5 with 16GB RAM.

The issue I keep running into is that some models come out with weird spiky geometry sticking up out of otherwise clean surfaces, and other times a whole section of the model just fails to build at all. There are a few models already up on the site that show this, so you can actually see the spikes and gaps I'm talking about instead of just taking my word for it.

What's confusing me is that the RealityScan AR view showed those spots as covered, dots all over them, plenty of overlap. So my guess is that the actual build pipeline isn't matching up the overlap that's there, maybe because the stone surfaces are repetitive or low on texture, or the lighting changed a bit between passes, something like that.

A few things I'm trying to figure out:

- Is this a known problem with Object Capture on stuff like weathered stone or plaster that doesn't have much texture, even when the coverage looks fine in an AR guide app? If so, are there tricks that actually help, like shooting at an angle with raking light, adding temporary markers for texture, changing how much I overlap shots, or just moving slower?

- Could 16GB of RAM on the M5 Air actually be choking the reconstruction step, or does it just get worse quality instead of failing outright?

- Is there a way to check the point cloud or confidence maps before the final build so I can catch bad spots earlier instead of finding out after a failed render?

- For anyone doing heritage or site documentation, is it worth switching off Apple's pipeline for tricky sites, even if it works fine for smaller objects? Thinking about stuff like RealityCapture, Metashape, or COLMAP.

Separate from all this, I'm also starting to learn Gaussian splatting, mainly for things like quick walkthroughs and viewing purposes, not as a replacement for the actual photogrammetry scans. Just mentioning it in case anyone here works with both and has tips on capture technique that carries over between the two, or things that trip people up going from a photogrammetry mindset into splatting.