Feature Spotlight, VentusAR

Feature Spotlight: Handling objects in the way – in a Photo Wireline


VentusAR, like many visualisations systems, uses a bare earth terrain model. This gives some advantages (compliance with SNH guidelines being a big one), but provides a few challenges too. One of the biggest challenges is that you can end up producing visualisations that don’t look right because there are trees between you and the turbine.

Dumglass project with trees in the foreground
Superimposed photo wirelines of Dumglass project. Click for full version.

In this example, the turbine is in the correct location in the respect to the landscape (i.e the turbine is on the hillside behind the trees).  This makes visualisation look invalid because the turbine should be behind the trees where as it is shown in front.

There are several approaches to how to deal with this kind of problem. You could try using a detailed Digital Surface Model (DSM) for the area. This would require someone to survey the tree top heights then load that into VentusAR as a Custom Terrain Service.

However within VentusAR there is a much simpler way. We call this feature using a trace.

Creating a Trace

The video below shows how a trace can be created for a capture stored in the gallery.  To add a trace:

  • Choose Start Trace from the right-hand panel
  • Draw around the area using your finger or stylus
  • Choose Use Trace from the right-hand panel

VentusAR Trace from Linknode Ltd on Vimeo. Note this video has no sound.

Pro Tip: Use a stylus – A finger has an approx pixel size of 60px, where as a stylus (such as the Adonit Jot Pro we supply in the Field Kit) has a size of approx 10px making it much more accurate.

Adonit Jot Pro in action
The Adonit Jot Pro Stylus in action