Skanect 1.8.3: Fixing memory usage and uploading issues

[Nicolas Tisserand]

Dear Skanect Users,

We've just released a maintenance version of Skanect that fixes the following issues:

• Excessive overall memory usage causing Skanect to eventually crash, after long scanning sessions.
• Colors of uploaded models appearing washed-out when rendered on Sketchfab.
• Failures to open the model web page upon successful Shapeways uploads.

You can download it here:

https://s3.amazonaws.com/com.occipital.skanect/skanect-1.8.3-macosx-x64.zip
https://s3.amazonaws.com/com.occipital.skanect/Skanect-1.8.3-win64.exe

Thanks to all of you who helped us with reporting these issues.

Happy scanning!

NT, for the Occipital team.

[Ezequiel Cruz]

La verdad nunca comento, pero Muchas gracias por el soporte, se agradece mucho felicidades.

[Bart]

Hi Nicolas,

Can you share any news on when we might see an update that improves textures? SOme of us are still spending way too much time in the workflow required. Personally I've been using ItSeez3D to get great textures and then transferring them to critical areas of skanect models. But the process is not very efficient way to spend my time when the rest of the Skanect program does what we need. Just improved textures is the most immediate request for enhancement I have.
Also, please put the revision number somewhere acccessible in the program - an 'about' tab could be the simplest answer.


Thanks.

[sebastian heath]

I just want to add my voice to this request. It seems that Skanect relies pretty deeply on per vertex color and just generates a UV texture from that info when requested on export? If that's right (and happy to be corrected) that's too bad as it seem to toss out what must be a lot of really nice color info being collected by my iPad's fine camera. Right now, color is very blurry on models.

  I suppose there might be extra time added by building UV textures more deeply into the pipeline. But that's OK. I can wait for the sensor and/or cpu to do all its work.

[toknowy...@gmail.com]

better textures please... perhaps they're waiting for 1.9? if that's the case can we get a rough estimate on the release of 1.9?

[Nicolas Burrus]

Hi,

We hear your requests about getting high-res in Skanect!

Just wanted to let you know that we've just released the first step,
which is high-res and custom focus position support in the Structure
SDK: http://forums.structure.io/t/announcing-structure-sdk-0-5/4080 .

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[TechLite]

Looks promising Nicolas. Can't wait for the new Structure App release.
Thanks.

[TechLite]

Hi,
When can we expect the Structure app to be updated using the new SDK? Hi res textures starts with better pictures so anything you can do to get it out there will be very much appreciated.

Thanks.


On Friday, May 22, 2015 at 2:48:46 PM UTC-4, Nicolas Burrus wrote:

[Giaplay]

Hi there

When can we expect new Structure sensor SDK be work on Skanect? It has been for some time.. 

Nicolas Tisserand於 2015年5月15日星期五 UTC+8上午7時25分51秒寫道：

[Nicolas Burrus]

Indeed, but we're working on it!

[guitarbill]

Sorry for posting this here but newbie me is new to Google forums.  Will your software become compatible for Windows 10?  If so what timeframe are we looking at?

thanks

gb

[Nicolas Burrus]

We will support it yes, but hopefully it will just work :-)

Would be interesting to hear back from users who already switched, I
know some had to reinstall Microsoft drivers for Kinect for Windows,
not sure if other issues popped out.

[Tobby Ryan]

Yes, Skanect works great on Windows 10. After installing a fresh copy on my laptop, it performed perfectly after installing the MS 1.8SDK. and this is on my i7 laptop with an old Intel HD 3000 graphics card. I even got a few extra fps out of it.
I give it a thumbs up.

[Judy Edwards]

I bought a new Asus laptop (for the higher end video card and SSD) and immediately updated it to Windows10. As far as I can tell, SkanectPro with Kinect is working fine. Now, just to learn the best process for full rig, full body scanning. If anybody out there who is performing full body scanning would like to consult a little, I would love to hear from you. I'm struggling with a few issues.

[Tobby Ryan]

Judy,
Which preference would you prefer, the walk around the object, or the turn the object around and keep the kinect semi-still(and pan up and down)?   I have a kinect attached to a makerslide rail with a roller carriage. The carriage has a pulley at the top and i litterally pull the string to raise/lower the kinect. The person stands on a turntable that slowly turns around.

Fred Kahl has done a great tutorial for this such system as i borrowed mine from him. I redid the turntable simular to his version #2 turntable. Here are links to his inital progress.
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:127968
http://makezine.com/projects/guide-to-3d-printing-2014/scan-o-tron-3000/

here is a link to his version 2 turntable
http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:729923

I am using a simular version of version #2, but i am using a lawnmower v-belt and v-belt pulleys instead of wooden versions.

[Richard Grenfell]

Hi Judy,

I built a turntable similar to Fred Kahl's version 2, but have since upgraded the motor to a bigger one and mounted the motor differently. When I get some time and in the spirit of open source, document my motor bracket and tensioning system.

For scanning I have built my own using a track, belt and pulley system by a german company "ITEM" http://www.item24.com.au/en/home/products/product-catalogue/products/1001180288.html and have automated it so I can do selfies.

I also have redesigned the bracket that holds my asus scanner so that, it can tilt to get better images of tops of heads and to tilt up to get better scans under hems of skirts.

The brain for my "machine" is an second hand Alcorn McBride "interactivator" chosen because I had been programming that brand of PLC for years , It was cheap and came in a nice box with user friendly buttons on it it.

The little controller I have used for the scan head tilting is a Gilderfluke "miniBrick8" again chosen because of years of experience in programming it.

I have also included some H-Bridges found on Ali-express to turn the motors on and off and to control their direction.

At the moment a selfie scan takes about 3 minutes, and when I get time I will work on my scan routine to see if I can speed it up.

It should be noted that one of the many day jobs I juggle is programming automated Christmas displays and have quite a bit of experience in control systems

I also have structure sensor/iPad combination too

$0.02

Rich.

[Tobby Ryan]

Maybe we should start up a section for examples/designs of users equipment full with pictures.  (just a thought) i would be happy to show mine as well.

[Judy Edwards]

I bought first a 24" and then a 32" variable speed turn table and also a vertical rig that can pan up and down. I adapted the Resolvecamera dolly/track system onto gridwall for this purpose. The Kinect has a 3d printed tripod adapter and is fastened to the dolly system. It's pretty professional looking.

1) How far of a distance from the turn table do you place the scanner (I've started with a Kinect)?

2) Does the entire subject need to be in the Skanect bounding box even though you are panning up and down?

3) Can you pause scanning?

4) When it warns you to go back to the last pose, what do you do from there if you can't pause the scanning somehow?

[Tobby Ryan]

My answers to:
1.i usually stay within 2.5-3ft from the base of my camera rig to the turntable.
2 Technically no, but you will have issues doing partials of reconstructions to gather all the data and merge into an external program, best practic is yes. keep the subject within bounding box, as it will confuse subject if you show live output afterwards. Also helps you to not have to remember to "fix" it in post as much.
3. Stop and start, no pausing that i am aware of.
4. If you lose tracking, have the camera back to the same height, and let the subject rotate back into place to pick up tracking. if you go too high and only say have thier head, try moving the camera down an inch or two on the screen to where it is below the greened object. it will bump it into place to where it has more geometry.(aka shoulders = more geometry)

Find a volunteer and practice with.
yes, flat objects = bad. such as long capes (as you cant see the other side of the persons legs, or flat shields such as Captain Americas vintage shield, or a knight's shield.  when having to deal with some flat objects like that, scan part while they rotate, and when they rotate away, move the camera up/down to get the sides of it with their body geometry. this way it doesn't drop tracking completely.. for capes ..add a few extra fluffs/ripples. that helps have more geometry (or if removable, add in post)

[Richard Grenfell]

An easy way to determine the distance from the scanner to the to the subject is to rotate the screen view of your computer to a side view and it will show you instantly where it object is in relation to the bounding box to the scanner.

However I have found that with my asus scanner items inside the bounding box, close to the scanner, can actually be too close to the scanner to scan. When this is the case I purposly scan the object deliberately on the back edge of the box, and reprocess the scan with the bounding box shifted back

[Tobby Ryan]

i do love the ...oops, i need to move my bounding box, but yet, i got the data so it will be fine in post.   I took a model scanned live, then later zoomed in to parts of it with the bounding box, and meshmixed them together to make a real hi-res model. it was awesome.

I have accidentally forgotten to do the height x 2. scanned the whole person anyways, then later moved the bounding box to the top, exported, bottom, exported, then mixed.:) 

[David Broderick]

I emailed tech support about this and they said that Skanect does not support the SDK at all and does not use the SDK.  So looks like it will be a long wait to ever get improved Colorization with Skanect.  Better chance if someone develops an app using the 0.5 SDK. Not sure why the Structure app does not use the 0.5 SDK.

This product has a lot of potential but is just not very good at this time.

[Tobby Ryan]

Just curious,
Any surprises/updates for the Holidays/After Holiday season?

Tobby

[cs hui]

Hi,

help! Help!

I got a free version of Skanect 1.8 for windows.  In the recording phase, I do not know the use of the Delay, Limit, Gain control and Auto buttons and the camera icon.   I just want to start and stop recording at the time I want.  It seems to me that all the buttons are not working at all.  It just records until my PC runs out of memory.

On Thursday, May 14, 2015 at 4:25:51 PM UTC-7, Nicolas Tisserand wrote:

[Tobby Ryan]

When you hit record, it turns into a stop icon, where you can hit stop.
You can turn the delay down to None to not have a delay from start.
the limit is a maximum of 60 seconds currently if you wish to have a timed recording. I believe the Skanect crew are working on changing that to a maximum of 180 seconds in the next version update.

[Tobby Ryan]

just curious about any updates planned this year. Tax time is rolling around and I am thinking about purchasing a structureio and ipad.

it seems like most of the Kinect software competitors have pretty much either discontinued support, or quit the Kinect business, aka disappeared.

Any good news coming forth?

On Thursday, May 14, 2015 at 7:25:51 PM UTC-4, Nicolas Tisserand wrote:

[Judy Edwards]

I am interested in news of any updates as well. I have both the Kinect and an iPad Air2/StructureIO sensor. I am hoping that an update will utilize more of the latter equipment's higher quality scanning capabilities. I refuse to pay the ridiculous charges to use other software.

[Nicolas Burrus]

We are trying to get a new release ready, and supporting the higher
resolution color images coming from the iPad is definitely our top #1
priority.

[David Broderick]

Are you looking for Beta Testers as I think we have a great setup for optimum transfer of high res color images?  We have an IPAD Air 2 with Structure Sensor/Skanect and a dedicated 5Ghz Wifi channel just for the Uplink transfer to Skanect and a very recent Asus RT-AC3200 router.  This is setup in a small office environment so the scanning is done no more than 25 feet from the router.

Thanks,
David

[Judy Edwards]

Any tentative release date you can share?

[Francisco Serpa Natale]

Greetings.

My video card gt 660 burned ,
I wonder what would be the best to use with skanect .
the gtx 780TI hi the gtx 970 .
thank you

[Tobby Ryan]

I have a GTX970 and get 28.9 - 30 fps from xbox360 kinect and also the occipital structure scanner device. mine only has 3gb ddr5 onboard though.
The Gtx 780TI has more cuda cores.  The more Cuda Cores, the faster the capture of the frames per second. I am not certain if they cap at 30fps or go higher.  I do know at 30fps, there is a LOT of data for a scan of a 5'11" person.
i would estimate around 2200 captures for about 2.5min at around 28fps,   636 captures for about 2.5 minutes at 12fps.  

This is just a rough estimation. Desktop GPU GTX970 , laptop=cpu capture only.

As with everything, i would suggest personal preference within your budget.  Are you wishing to to more than just scan? gamer rig, etc?

[Flip Phillips]

Sadly, I'm -still- having trouble when loading models and re-fusing them. Using the CPU the fusion runs for a few seconds then sort of 'goes crazy' and loses track of everything. When I try to use the GPU it constantly complains about being out of memory. 

I've got a MBP with a GT650M in it. I can -typically- re-fuse if I do it -when- I acquire the model (eg w/o quitting skanect). If I try to load in a previous scan it just won't do it at all. 

This is on a MBP w/ 16GB, GT650, 10.11.4, latest CUDA.

[Tobby Ryan]

Nicolas?
Still curious on any info/updates. I now have a structurio device and ipad air 2. My desktop is still doing great with the GTX970 as well.I would be happy to test if needed.


Tobby

[Nicolas Burrus]

Hi Tobby,

We're still working on the next update with high-res color streaming
from an iPad + Structure Sensor. Hoping to get there in the coming
weeks.

[Nicolas Burrus]

It should be working with Windows 8, did you encounter specific issues with it?

On Fri, Apr 8, 2016 at 11:30 PM, Yash Yande <yash...@gmail.com> wrote:
> I think skanect 1.8 is not working with windows 8

[Leonardo Pantano]

 Hello, i have downloaded this and try almost everything and just FAIL this FAIL always FAIL crash my pc, is funny bcs i try free version and works and after i both the full version this just kill my pc all the time i start this it is so far not funny you guys are selling a software what dons´t works so i guess you should re consider to be more honest or bring a solution has fast you can, i feel really unhappy and totally disapoint this software untill you guy fix this and work this out then we can talk about again, but now really i think that you should just stop sell it becasue you know this have a big problem inside.

[charli...@occipital.com]

Leonardo, what operating system on what hardware are you using?