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Panorama Registration

This workflow explains how to add external 360° panoramic images to an existing project in PinPoint Registration Tool and align them pixel-perfect to the 3D scan.

Adding Panoramas to the Project

  1. Go to File | Import | Panoramic Images and import your panoramic images as Spherical projections - for example, images from an Insta360 camera.

  2. The images are added to the project. For convenience, place the imported panoramas in a single group.

Note: Newly imported panoramas start at the 3D model's origin because they don't have poses yet.

Aligning Panoramas

  1. Go to the Register section and click Panorama.

    1. The app will prompt you to create a merged 3D model, which is required for alignment calculations.

  2. Build a merged model - Advanced Colors or Simple, either works.

  3. Use the existing 3D geometry and colours, and exclude the new panoramas from this merge.

  4. Return to Register | Panorama and click Auto-align.

  5. Because localisation uses image features, select a 3D scan with imagery as the reference, then select the panoramas to align and click Localize.

    1. After localisation, you'll see the panoramas move off the origin and distribute through the 3D space.

Manual Correction of Tilted Panoramas

  1. Return to Register | Panorama to review all panoramas:

    1. Use the top-bar arrows or press N to flip through images.

    2. Use the toggle view on the right or press the spacebar to switch between the 2D/3D overlays, and verify alignment.

  2. Move any doubtful images into a "todo" group for manual correction. In our example, three images need manual work.

  3. Start by clicking Reset Pose (the white arrow on the right) to avoid navigating tilted panoramas.

  4. Unlock orientation so 2D and 3D can move independently.

  5. Navigate in 3D to the approximate capture location. Find a distinct, shared view (e.g., the same cabinet) in both 2D and 3D and lock orientation.

    1. From now on, rotations mirror between image and 3D.

  6. Click Set Correspondences.

  7. Click a feature in 2D, then pick the matching point in 3D (the view switches to help you).

Note: You can start in 3D or 2D and press the spacebar any time to change views.

  1. After 4 correspondences, click Align.

    1. For a more stable result, use 6-8 points.

  2. For the failed images, repeat Steps 10-15.

  3. When all images are corrected, dissolve the temporary group.

  4. Go to Control | Masking and paint a mask over the tripod area.

  5. Copy that mask and apply it to all panoramas so tripods aren't projected onto geometry.

  6. Create a new merged 3D model using the original 3D geometry and the newly registered external panoramas for imagery.

The result is a point cloud colourised by the external images and panoramas, perfectly aligned with the 3D geometry.