Our company just purchased Image Modeler (should arrive today). We will be using it to digitize theatrical sets, so we can bring them into our CAD program.
 
  Since the hardest objects are irregular rock and ground objects, I know that finding common points between views is where the challenge is going to be.  I imagine that projecting something onto the surface will be the best way to help this process.
 
  I've used Photomodeler in the past, and know they have a transparency to use with a regular slide projector for this purpose.  Is this same process viable for Image Modeler?
 
  Anoter idea was to use a line generator with a laser to project a line... and perhaps actually get multiple laser pointers and project a series of parallel lines at about a 24" increment.  
 
  Any suggestions?
 
Joe Dunfee

Hello,
 
  Welcome then to the IM community !
 
 

 
Yes this process works also with ImageModeler. The calibration methods are very similar. It helps you determine same points in space that would be difficult to find otherwise. But it is not an automated process...
It can be useful for calibration and/or even more for modelisation points (It allows also to create regular shapes of your project).
 
If you are only interested in calibration points, may be the best is to add physical markers (legos, papers, sticks, ...) around your scene, at points were you cannot find any interesting features.
 
Also think to take one reference distance (between visible features) on site, that allows measures and constructions at scale in IM.
 

 
Parallel lines are sufficient as the guiding lines (or epipolar lines) will intersect them to get 3d points. So this is also a possibility.
May be not so good for calibration...
 
Tell us about your experiences,
 
Stef

I guess it's not such a hassle projecting spots/lines in a theatre, as you already have spots with colored gels etc that can easily be changed with some spotted gels?
In most circumstances I find that projecting lights isn't really needed, and much less so in ImageModeler than Photomodeler. The big disadvantage is that those spots usually doesn't end up on edges and corners where it would be logical to put your locators and edges.
I have used PM for quite a long time, and IM for a few weeks.
The big advantage of IM is that it is actually a modeller, where it's quite easy to model even objects that are not there yet. This is not very easily done in PM, although it has gotten a lot more modelling abilities lately.
 
Why don't you upload a few photos of a set so that we can have a go at them?