| Product(s): | ContextCapture | ||
| Version(s): | All | ||
| Environment: | N\A | ||
| Area: | N/A | ||
| Subarea: | N\A |
How to merge 3MX files
Background
User has models of several areas and wishes to merge the files into a single file for more convenient viewing
Steps to Accomplish
Requirements and recommendations
Adjacent 3mx file production
1.1 Requirements
To be merged into a 3mx file, the adjacent 3mx must each have:
- The same coordinate system (SRS)
- The same coordinates origin
SRS: You can select any coordinate system, but this must be the same for all the productions
After launching the first production, go to its Properties tab and look for the Coordinates origin values. The other productions must share the same origin.
To do this, when selecting the same SRS in the following productions, open the advanced options…
Then select Custom Origin and enter the same coordinates as used for the first production.
1.2 Recommendations
To be able to merge 3MX productions, we also recommend the following:
- Avoid having an overlap between the initial productions. To this, the user can produce the individual 3MX using a kml or dgn for the production extents.
- If the productions were not created in the same reconstruction, we recommend setting the same SRS and origin for each reconstruction. This is not a requirement, but it could prevent bad artefacts in the model intersection area.
Once all the productions of the ‘sub’-3mx are completed, carry on to the next section.
3MX combination
2.1 Production folders combination
The first step is to merge the production Windows folders.
For the 2 productions P1 and P2 we have the production folders:
…/Production1/Scene/P1.3mx and …/Production1/Scene/Data
…/Production2/Scene/P2.3mx and …/Production2/Scene/Data
Modify the production data as follows:
- Create a directory …/Merged_Production/Scene
- In this directory (…/Merged_Production/Scene) Copy P1.3mx file and rename it Merged_Production.3mx
- Copy also (in this directory …/Merged_Production/Scene) the two Data folders and rename them Data_1, and Data_2
2.2 Final 3mx file edition : Merged_Production.3mx
- Open Merged_Production.3mx in Notepad++
- Identify the "layers": field and copy the description of P2.3mx after P1.3mx. The two descriptions are contained in the layers field, between { …} brackets and separated by a comma.
- Edit the "root": of each layer (from …Data/Production.3mxb to … Data_1/Production_P1.3mxb, same for P2)
After the fusion, the resulting 3MX file should be as shown below:
Once the 3mx edition is complete, you can Save and close the text editor and open the merged 3mx in ContextCapture Viewer.
Note:
This proposed method is a workaround and not the preferred solution for viewing multiple models. Ideally we would recommend that the blocks are merged at the Aerotriangulation stage and a new Reconstruction and Production created.. This method can be used when that option is not possible
| Original Author: | Felix James |