Vobster Photogrammetry Project 

“The plan: Push the boundaries of current consumer technology to create a complete 3d site model”

Resulting from an ‘off the cuff’ remark in a conversation, Marcus took it upon himself, purely as a recreational project, to attempt to model the Vobster Quay quarry, both above and below the waterline by using only consumer grade equipment. The project is ongoing as technology advances and as Vobster Quay keep adding ‘attractions’.

Although not the original plan, the project can be currently be defined by 3 distinct phases:

Phase 1 – 2017 – 2019

Starting with a Canon 5d mk iii camera and Canon EF 8-15mm f/4 L USM Fisheye lens, Marcus divided the quarry into manageable objectives scanning all of the attractions individually. Propelled by manpower alone the sheer size of the task became obvious, Canon then released the 5d mk iv which included an internal intervalometer – this meant the camera could be mounted to an underwater scooter making data-capture far more efficient. Linking all of the ‘attraction’ models together and a subsurface lap the underwater data was aligned with aerial drone data resulting in a model comprised of over 76,000 images.

Phase 2 – 2020 – 2022

Having learned a huge amount during Phase 1, Marcus decided to start over again, putting into practice lessons learned. Phase 2 started with a Canon R5 camera but still with the Canon EF 8-15mm f/4 l USM Fisheye lens. The new plan was to not only model the individual attractions with paths between them, but also attempt to include the reasonably featureless silt areas of the quarry also. Phase 2 also saw experimentation in more user friendly ways to showcase the model data.

Phase 3 – 2023 onwards

The project continues – follow it on Facebook HERE