Who doesn’t love a good 3D model? Simple to explore with the click of a mouse, these 360-degree overviews can provide professionals with a better understanding of an area or structure of interest—in an instant—not to mention, they’re just great to look at.
On Sketchfab.com—the world’s largest platform for publishing, sharing and discovering 3D content—more than a million users have made their 3D work available for society’s viewing pleasure. And while senseFly has its own channel, sketchfab.com/senseFly, senseFly operators around the world have been uploading their 3D models to the site for years for others to view and enjoy too. From quarries, to villages, to glaciers, senseFly drone mappers have flown it all.
Below are some of the most popular Sketchfab 3D models derived from senseFly-collected drone data (or UAV data). We selected these particular models by filtering out the “most liked” and “most viewed” models on Sketchfab tagged with either “eBee” or “albris” (senseFly’s fixed-wing and multirotor drone brands). In most cases, these drone’s images were processed using Pix4D photogrammetry software.
Quarry Quality
User: capturingaworld
Platform: eBee
Description: A 3D mesh of a roadstone quarry. The firm’s eBee drone, running on eMotion 2 flight planning software, captured 428 images of the quarry, which were then processed with Postflight Terra 3D (powered by Pix4D).
Mountain Modelling
User: sr-prod
Platform: eBee RTK
Description: A 3D scan of the Mont Gelé south-east slope in Lac des Vaux, Valais, Switzerland.
Cross Construction
User: McQSean
Platform: albris
Description: A 3D model of ‘Cross at the Crossroads’, America’s largest cross, in Effingham, Illinois, created with Pix4D software.
https://sketchfab.com/models/782c2f3e2d2a4605851e09ae3c3152c6
Up To Par
User: Horus Dynamics
Platform: eBee
Description: A 3D scan of a golf course in Bergamo, Italy with a ground sampling distance of 4 cm per pixel GSD.
Matterhorn Mapping
User: Pix4D
Platform: eBee
Description: The result of a widely-recognised 2013 collaboration between Pix4D, senseFly and Drone Adventures. More than 2,000 images were taken by several eBee drones in 11 flights in just under 6 hours, then processed using Pix4Dmapper. The average ground sampling distance of the project? 20 cm per pixel. The results? Simply stunning. Watch the making of video.
Alps Assessment
User: senseFly
Platform: eBee Plus with senseFly S.O.D.A. RGB camera
Description: This 3D model explores a recent dataset of Switzerland’s Great Aletsch Glacier, the largest glacier in the Alps. All of the project’s data was collected during one eBee Plus flight. The drone was carrying a high-resolution senseFly S.O.D.A. RGB camera and PPK was used to then precisely georeference this imagery. Due to the mountainous terrain, the flight was planned in eMotion 3 based on SRTM elevation data.
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