Import 360° Panos From a SLAM Equipped Mobile Device or Drone

Modified on Fri, 21 Feb at 1:04 PM

USE CASE:

To import 360° panoramic images to Cintoo independent from any 3D data (i.e. point cloud) also captured by the SLAM equipped mobile device or drone.

For importing panos along with the point cloud, see Uploading a generic E57 file with its camera path in CSV format

PREREQUISITES:

You must have 360° panoramic images captured by a SLAM equipped mobile device or a drone/UAV
- Panoramic image files must be in JPG or PNG format only.
- Panoramic image files must be spherical images (see example below)

You must also have, or are able to extract/generate,a file (typically in TXT or CSV format) with all of the following information for each panoramic image captured:
- File name for each panoramic image along with its file extension (.jpg or .png)
- X,Y,Z coordinates expressed in Meters
  - If you have georeferenced your point cloud, it is mandatory that your X,Y,Z coordinates for the panos are transformed in the same coordinate system and origin as your point cloud.
- Rotation angles in Degrees (i.e. Heading or Yaw-Z axis, Pitch-Y Axis, Roll-X axis)
  - If angles are in Radian, convert them to Degrees.

PREPARE THE CSV INPUT FILE TO BE READ BY CINTOO CONNECT

For Panos with Heading Only:
- If other angles (e.g. Pitch, Yaw, etc.) are present, they should be equal to 0. If they are not equal to 0 then skip to Panos with 3 Axis Rotation section below.
  
  1. Open the file (generally a TXT or a CSV file) with one text editor.
  
  2. Keep only the relevant Columns, in the following order: Filename,X,Y,Z,Heading
  
  3. Save your file as CSV and place it in the same folder of your Panos files.
  
  4. Open the CSV with a text editor and ensure that:
  - Point “.” is the decimal separator
  - Comma “,” is the value separator
  - If not, edit/replace to match this convention, and save.

For Panos with 3 Axis Rotation:
- Normally in your original file , you shall have 3 angles Roll, Ptich and Heading or Yaw with angles values not at 0 (or rarely). If you have only Heading/Yaw, or all Roll and Pitch are equal to 0 then use steps from For Panos with Heading Only section above.

1. Open the file (generally a TXT or a CSV file) with one text editor.

2. Keep only the relevant Columns, in the following order (Yaw or Heading):
Filename,X,Y,Z,Roll(x),Pitch(y),Yaw(z)
and add qx,qy,qy,qz in the header line

3. Save your file as text file.

TRANSFORM ANGLES TO QUATERNIONS

a) Using manual process (for each pano, line in the file), open the following website:

https://www.andre-gaschler.com/rotationconverter/

Fill in the values:

1. Ensure to select correct Unit for Angle input (normally Degrees, but you may also have and use Radians)

2. Ensure To select correct Unit for Angle Output (Degrees)

3. Go down to EULER ANGLES, Select ZYX

4. Copy paste the Values for X (Roll), Y(Pitch), Z(Yaw) angles from your text file

5. Now, just copy/paste to your Text File the result shown in QUATERNION (without the brackets [ / ] and spaces)

6. In your text file, delete the columns Roll(x),Pitch(y),Yaw(z)

7. Save your file as CSV and place it in the same folder of your Panos files.

8. Open the CSV with a text editor and ensure that:

Point “.” is the decimal separator
Comma “,” is the value separator
If not, edit/replace to match this convention, and save.

b) Using Automatic Calculation in Excel (contact [email protected]):

Open the file Cintoo Quaternions calculation.xlsx
Ensure in Excel to use the correct Decimal separator (“.” Or “,” depending on your regional settings)
Copy/Paste your file data in the First Tab (RAW-CLEANED)
Delete the unnecessary lines (depending on the inputs you have)
Go to the Second Tab (QUATERNIONS), and depending on your inputs: Either delete the Unnecessary lines or Copy/stretch down the lines (with formulas) up to your input lines (same number of lines as your first tab inputs)
Finally, got to the Last/Third Tab (Cintoo CSV): Repeat the operation of unnecessary lines or additional lines as previous step. Stay in the last Tab, and just SAVE AS the file as CSV format (say OK to the 2 warning messages)à place it in the same folder as your panos files.
You can close EXCEL (without saving)
Open the CSV with a text editor and ensure that:
- Point “.” is the decimal separator
- Comma “,” is the value separator If not, edit/replace to match this convention, and save.

IMPORT 360° PANOS TO CINTOO

1. Now in Cintoo, browse to your Workzone, click Prepare and Upload or select Upload 360° Images from the drop-down menu:

2. Cintoo Connect will open. In the Terrestrial Laser Scan Tab, browse and select your CSV file, and click Import.