Retouching a Mesh Layer

Mesh imperfections, such as bumps, irregular surfaces, or floating artifacts, can be flattened, filled, and cleaned up in PhotoMesh using the Manual Retouch tool. This tool allows you to mark the surfaces for flattening and floating artifacts for removal. The output of the Manual Retouch tool is a feature "retouch layer" with attribute information that defines what retouch action should be performed in each area: clean, flatten, and retexture. When rebuilding the project, PhotoMesh uses the manual retouch layer to add a set of constraints to the reconstruction algorithms. Most of the constraints defined apply to the mesh model, and the modified model is then retextured using the project’s photos. There is also an option in the Manual Retouch tool to set a specific file texture, e.g., water or grass, for a marked area, instead of basing texturing on the project’s photos.

You can run the manual retouch tool either on a 3D model (the reconstruction tile’s 3D textured model or the final 3DML) or on orthophoto output. All retouch operations are listed in the Manual Retouch list.

Note:    After performing manual retouch operations, all affected tiles (e.g., tiles that now are intersected by the manual retouch polygon) require rebuilding from the model step. PhotoMesh will automatically determine what processing is required following the change, by rebuilding the project from "Auto". 

To use the Manual Retouch tool:

Note:    The shortcut keys only work when keyboard focus is on the retouch toolbox or the 3D Window.

1.     Do any of the following:

§  In Mesh Mode:

·         In the 3D Window, click the required reconstruction tile. Then on the Tile tab, in the Show group, toggle on Textured Model.

·         In the Build Outputs list, select the 3DML output.

§  In Orthophoto Mode

·          In the Build Outputs list, select the Orthophoto output.

2.     On the Home tab, in the Add group, click the arrow under Retouch, and select Open Manual Retouch Toolbox. The Manual Retouch Toolbox is displayed.

Note:        You can also open the Retouch tool by clicking Manual Retouch Tool from the Manual Retouch list. Alternatively, you can turn on global selection, and then select a manual retouch polygon/polyline in the 3D Window. See "Selecting Objects in the 3D Window" in the "Basic Concepts" chapter for information.

Graphical user interface, application Description automatically generated

Manual Retouch

3.     If you want to tag your edits with your name, click the user name link, and enter your user name. This information is saved in the layer’s username attribute. When multiple users work on the same retouch layer, this attribute enables you to identify the particular user that last worked on each retouch polygon.

4.     Select a mode and perform your retouch operations:

§  Mesh Mode – Mark your edits on a 3D model output (the reconstruction tile’s 3D textured model or the final 3DML mesh model). See "Working in Mesh Mode" for more information.

§  Ortho Mode - – Mark your edits on the orthophoto output. See "Working in Orthophoto Mode" for more information.